Cargo Cults

Cargo Cults, religious movements arising from the impact of modern technology and mercantilism on developing cultures. Such movements appeared, for example, in 19th-century Melanesia and New Guinea when European trading stations and colonial administration became dominant. Possession of trade goods—cargo—came to typify prosperity. The traditional native cultures were weakened by the contact with Westerners, but they deliberately rejected or were unable to adopt Western culture as an alternative. Native groups developed around prophetic leaders, who promised a new age of blessings and salvation that would be heralded by the arrival of special cargoes of European goods. Tribal deities, culture heroes, or ancestors were invoked to drive the foreigners away, and various rituals were enacted to speed the arrival of the promised goods. World War II brought further cultural disruptions to the area, and new cults arose. After the war and the withdrawal of military personnel, some cults built landing strips, believing that planes would continue to arrive bringing cargo.

Typically, cult members do not associate the awaited cargo with the Western economic system that produces it and cannot understand why the goods do not arrive. Eventually, the leaders are discredited by the failure of their prophecies, and the groups disband.

Cargo cults have been explained in various ways. One explanation is that they are social movements that help people cope with the problem of culture contact and change (see Acculturation). Because they express dissatisfaction with current cultural conditions, they are also explained as attempts to launch a redemptive process by which the social and moral order may be rebuilt.