In 1956, Anthony F. C. Wallace published a paper called "Revitalization Movement s" [1] to describe how cultures change themselves.

A revitalization movement is a "deliberate, organized, conscious effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture" (p. 265), and Wallace describes at length the process es by which a revitalization movement takes place. Wallace derived his theory from studies of so-called primitive peoples (preliter ate and homogeneous), with particular attention to the Iroquois revitalization m ovement led by Seneca religious leader and prophet Handsome Lake (1735-1815). Wa llace believed that his revitalization model applies to movements as broad and c omplex as the rise of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or Wesleyan Methodism. Scholars such as Vittorio Lanternari (1963) and Peter Worsley (1968) have develo ped and adapted Wallace's insights.