Culture
III . Cultural Patterns and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13–17%
A . Concepts of culture
1 . Culture traits: a single attribute of a culture, such as bowing to shot respect.
2 . Diffusion patterns Cultural diffusion is the spread of a people's culture across space.
-Expansion diffusion: the cultural component spreads outward to new places while remaining strong in its original
hearth (or place of origin). TYPES OF EXPANSION DIFFUSION:
-Stimulus expansion diffusion: occurs when the innovative idea diffuses from its hearth outward, but the original idea is
changed by the new adapters.
-Hierarchical expansion diffusion: occurs when the diffusion innovation or concept spreads from a place or person of
power to another "lower" level.
-Contagious expansion diffusion: occurs when numerous places or people near the point of origin become adopters.
-Relocation diffusion: the actual movement of the original adaptors from their point of origin (or hearth) to a new place.
3 . Acculturation: two cultures come into contact with one another and the "weaker" of the two adopts traits from the more
dominant culture.
assimilation: the original traits of the weaker culture are completely replaced by the traits of the more dominant culture.
multiculturalism: having to do with many cultures.
4 . Cultural region: area around places and people with similarities in their culture systems. Boundaries are often defined by
perceptions and opinions from people within the shared culture and from observers outside of them.
vernacular regions: group of places linked together because of perceptions about those places.
-Example: the region of the United States called "the Midwest."
culture hearths: areas where innovations in culture began.
5 . Globalization and the effects of technology on cultures
B . Cultural differences and regional patterns
1 . Language (a culture trait, learned from one generation to another) and communications
2 . Religion: a fundamental part of human culture, is a set of beliefs and activities that often help humans celebrate and understand
their place in the world.
-Universalizing religions: have a universal appeal and attract all people to their beliefs.
Examples: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism
-Ethnic religions: attempt to appeal not to all people but to only one group, perhaps in one place or of one ethnicity.
Examples: Judaism and Hinduism
-Monotheistic religions: belief in one supreme being.
-Polytheistic religions: belied in more than one supreme being.
sacred space: a place people infuse with religious meaning.
3 . Ethnicity: a core component of cultural identity and relates to sets of norms that people create to define "their group" through
actual or perceived shared cultural traits.
nationalism: loyalty and devotion to a nation.
-Race: a classification system of humans based on skin color and other physical characteristics. Race is biological.
4 . Cultural differences in attitudes toward gender
-Gender: category of classifying humans reflecting not just biological, but aslo social differences between men and women.
5 . Popular culture: mass culture that diffuses rapidly. Often spreads through expansion diffusion across space and varied cultures.
folk culture: limited to a smaller region and a smaller group of people than popular culture. Usually isolated groups that have long
lasting culture traits have have not changed substantially over long periods. Often spreads through relocation diffusion when
the original group moves to another location and takes their folk traits with them.
6 . Cultural conflicts
-Ethnic cleansing: process in which a racial or ethnic group attempts to expel from a territory another racial or ethnic group.
-Genocide: killing of a racial or ethnic group by another racial or ethnic group.
law and policy to protect culture
C . Cultural landscapes ("built landscape" is the physical imprint a culture makes on the environment) and cultural identity
1 . Symbolic landscapes and sense of place
2 . The formation of identity and place making
3 . Differences in cultural attitudes and practices toward the environment
4 . Indigenous peoples
