Unit 3

III. Cultural Patterns and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13–17% 

A. Concepts of culture 

             1. Culture traits 

             2. Diffusion patterns 

             3. Acculturation, assimilation, and multiculturalism 

             4. Cultural region, vernacular regions, and culture hearths 

             5. Globalization and the effects of technology on cultures 

B. Cultural differences and regional patterns 

            1. Language and communications 

            2. Religion and sacred space 

            3. Ethnicity and nationalism 

            4. Cultural differences in attitudes toward gender 

            5. Popular and folk culture 

            6. Cultural conflicts, and law and policy to protect culture 

C. Cultural landscapes 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   

IF YOU ONLY LEARN 8 THINGS IN THIS UNIT...

1. Language is the means of mutually comprehensible communication among people. There are thousands of languages around the world, but many of them are dying.

2. Folk culture is practiced by a relatively small number of people in a particular area. Popular culture is diffused rapidly around the world through mass communications.

3. The largest language family is the Indo-European family of which there are many branches, including the Romance and Germanic languages. The second largest language family if the Sino-Tibetan family, which includes the most spoken language in the world- Mandarin Chinese.

4. Dialects are forms of a language that differ based on vocabulary, syntax, and speed.

5. There are five primary religions in the world today: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (the Western religions) and Hinduism and Buddhism (the Eastern religions). Christianity is the largest religion in the world with just over 2 billion followers. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.

6. Religions defined as monotheistic or polytheistic (worshiping one or more gods) and ethnic or universalizing (people must be born into or can be converted to the religion).

7. There are architectural differences in religious structures around the world. Christians use churches, Jews use synagogues, Muslims use mosques, Hindus use temples, and Buddhists use pagodas.

8. According to Carl Sauer, cultural landscapes can be read and interpreted based on cultural features such as murals, language of signs, religious architecture, and even food preferences. 

unit 3 reading guides

UNIT 3 STUDY GUIDE AND REVIEW

1. What is the difference between a custom and a habit?  

2. Why have popular customs diffused worldwide? (3 Major Hearths)

3. Where do folk customs usually originate from?  

4. What is meant by the term “cultural hearth”?

5. How does globalization affect culture?

6. What are some of the impacts of popular customs?    

7. What is the difference between acculturation and assimilation?

8. What affect does tourism have on local culture?  Explain positive effects.  Explain negative effects.

9. Explain the difference between folk culture and pop culture in terms of population make up, diffusion, ability to change?

10. What is a language family? lingua franca?

11. What is the difference between an isogloss, a dialect, and an accent?

12. What happens to the number of individual languages if people are isolated over long periods of time? Examples

13. Why are some languages becoming endangered?

14. Which language family is spoken by the most people in the world today? Second?

15. Which language is spoken by the most people as a first language?

16. How has language created barriers that reach into politics and political decisions?

17. What effect does language have on cultural landscape? Why is this important?

18. Define monotheism, polytheism, animism, universalizing religion and ethnic religion. Give Examples of each.

19. Be able to identify examples of religious practices as explained in the text.

20. What is the relationship between religion, the physical environment and culture? (Compare/Contrast Ethnic and Universalizing)

21. Can you map the language families on a world map?

22. Can you map the major religions on a world map?

23. Be able to identify the key religions in the United States (location, concentration, density).  Be able to explain factors that led to their current locations.

24. How is gender measured and what does it tell geographers? (GDI, GEM, GII)

25. How do gender roles differ around the world?

26. Difference between Ethnicity and Race.  Examples of each specifically from United States.

27. What is race used for in the United States?

28. Explain Apartheid in South Africa.  Homelands. How was race used?

29. Understand the effects of Ethnicity in ethnic conflicts. (Know examples from assignment)

30. Identify Ethnic Neighborhoods and understand the advantages and disadvantages.