Studies show that culture change initiated by the common individual is slow, but like the geologic forces shaping our earth, it is persistent and inevitable. Anthropology's response to Freud began the culture-and-personality school that stressed psychological rather than biological foundations of behavior. Recent studies perceive individuals as vessels by which culture is transmitted. Maintenance system models do not consider the process of cultural change. Diversity is necessary for the continued health of society, and behavioral variation can be compared to genetic mutation: variation must have adaptive value to be perpetuated. Most scholars see socio-cultural change through individual variation as much more gradual and less disruptive than do the dialectical theoreticians, who see socio-cultural change as a struggle between social life and individualism. Tradition can support change when there is a synthesis of the old with the new. Anthropological theory seems to be moving away from a perception of individuals marching lock step to the beat of culture. The mechanism by which cultures change or remain the same can only be their individual members. (Author/RM)