What Is Cultural Inertia?

Inertia is the tendency of something to go unchanged; it follows that cultural inertia, a topic in sociology, is the resistance for a culture to change. Cultural inertia may work to prevent a more desirable or efficient outcome for society. Nevertheless, there are often attempts to break free from cultural inertia to increase the quality of life for a group of people. Soylent is one of these attempts. Rhinehart and the other makers of Soylent are seeking to streamline our daily lives by partially doing away with the cultural norm of eating food; they envision a better, more productive world that does not spend so much time with food. As there is for most forms of societal change, there are people who find this change unwelcome or even see it
To start, the social effect that Soylent has is largely a positive one. People against the idea of Soylent may argue that it will lead to less socializing because there will be fewer acts of communion over meals. The flaw in this logic is that socializing does not have to be done over food; it can be done by playing sports, joining a club, sharing ideas... the list goes on and on. While bonding over a meal is something that is common in our culture, perhaps it would be beneficial for this norm to abate; after all, if people spend less time figuring out what to eat and preparing meals, there will actually be more available time for other healthier forms of socialization. It is also important to note that Soylent is not supposed to take the place of every meal: the article clarifies that
Apart from the more apparent health benefits it will have like providing a consumer with all the vitamins and nutrients needed, Rhinehart has observed that his “physique has noticeably improved”: his teeth are “whiter,” his skin is “clearer,” his hair is “thicker,” and his dandruff is “gone.” Allotting less time for making and consuming food means more time will be available for exercise, which can further improve health. On a personal note, I have a cousin with cerebral palsy who cannot swallow solid food and takes handfuls of pills for vitamins every day; Soylent could be a solution that would help him save time and money. I also have another cousin who has a weak stomach and must eat bland foods and the “yeasty, comforting blandness” of Soylent would likely work well for him as a replacement for the vitamin pills he needs every day. Despite these positive scenarios, there are some compelling arguments against Soylent from a health perspective. It is a valid criticism that Soylent does not contain phytochemicals such as lycopene (which “has been linked to lower rates of prostate cancer”) and flavonoid compounds (which “have been associated with lower rates of diabetes”). It is also valid to argue that the long-term health impacts that Soylent will have cannot yet be known because it is such a fresh, new product. There is some precedence for a diet mainly