Key Issue 2: Where are Leisure and Material Culture Distributed?
Origin & Diffusion of Folk & Popular Music Music researcher Daniel Levitan argues that every culture in human history has had some tradition of music. Music can be used to highlight differences in the origin, diffusion, and distribution of folk and popular culture.
Folk Music The purpose of folk music is to tell stories or to disseminate information about life-cycle events. Folk music typically originates from an anonymous hearth and is transmitted among populations orally. As people migrate, folk music travels with them as part of the diffusion of folk culture.
Popular Music Popular music is deliberately written to be sold and performed. While some forms of popular music contain references to local places or events, the purpose of the music is still to appeal to a variety of people across Earth. As with other elements of popular culture, popular musicians have more connections with performers of similar styles, regardless of where in the world they happen to live, than they do with performers of different styles who happen to live in the same community.
In the past musicians clustered in particular communities according to their shared interest in specific styles. Because of the globalization of popular music, musicians are less tied to the culture of a particular place. Now musicians cluster in communities where other musicians reside regardless of the style of music they play. Musicians are also clustered in large metropolitan areas so they can be near sources of employment.
Origin & Diffusion of Folk & Popular Sports Many sports originated as isolated folk customs and were spread like other folk culture, through relocation diffusion (migration). The contemporary diffusion of organized sports, however, displays the traits of popular culture.
Folk Culture: Origin of Soccer Soccer is an example of a popular folk custom that was popularized and then globalized. The hearth of soccer is believed to be in England in the eleventh century. Following the Danish invasion of England between 1018 and 1042, workers excavating a building site discovered a Danish soldier’s head, which they began to kick. “Kick the Dane’s head” evolved into boys using an inflated cow bladder in the place of the head, and games were played between two villages. The victorious side was the one to kick the ball into the center of the rival village.
Popular Culture: Diffusion of Soccer In the 1800s, soccer transformed from a folk custom to popular culture. Several English soccer clubs formed an association to standardize the rules and to organize professional leagues. Spectators started to pay to see first-class events. Soccer then diffused to other parts of Europe. Soccer later diffused to other parts of the world by new communication systems such as the radio and TV. Today, the global popularity of soccer is exemplified in the World Cup, held every four years.
Olympic Sports If a sport becomes popular enough worldwide, it becomes part of the Olympics. For a sport to be to be included in the Olympics it must be widely played in at least 75 countries (50 countries for women’s sports) and on four continents.
Regionally Distinctive Sports Most other sports have diffused much less than soccer. Cricket, ice hockey, Wushu, baseball, Australia rules soccer, and lacrosse are examples of sports that never became very popular globally.
Distribution of Folk & Popular Clothing People living in folk cultures have traditionally worn clothing in part in response to characteristic agricultural practices and climatic conditions. In popular culture, clothing choices generally reflect class differences and occupations rather than particular environments.
Folk Clothing Preferences People wear distinctive folk clothing for a variety of environmental and cultural reasons. The wearing of traditional clothing in countries dominated by popular culture may be controversial such as the burqa and niqab, traditional clothing for women of Southwest Asia &North Africa. Some European countries have restricted where women can wear these clothes.
Rapid Diffusion of Popular Clothing Styles Popular clothing habits have little regard for the climate or topography of an area. The choice of clothing is linked most closely to occupation and income. The rapid diffusion of popular clothing styles can be attributed to global communication technology. Jeans provide a major example of the diffusion of Western popular culture to other parts of the world. The same clothing styles can be work in different cultural contexts.
Food Customs According to the nineteenth-century cultural geographer Vidal de la Blache, food supply is one of the most enduring connections that tie people to a particular environment. Food preferences are strongly influenced by cultural traditions, and shared food preferences may help to establish social, religious, and ethnic customs.
Popular Food Culture Popular food preferences are impacted more by cultural values than by environmental features. Despite this, some regional differences are apparent between and within countries, and environmental influences remain significant for some items.
The sales of soft drinks reveal differences in global preferences. While Coca-Cola accounts for more than half of the world’s soft drink sales, Pepsi is another prominent brand, making up one-fourth of the soft drink market. Pepsi is preferred in Québec, where marketing practices tied the soft drink to French Canadian identity. Political influences may play a role in preference, as seen in the Soviet Union and the Arab countries in Southwest Asia & North Africa.
Folk Food Customs The local climate presents a major influence on what can and cannot be grown. The contribution of a location’s distinctive physical features to the way food tastes is known as terroir. Folk cultures have had to adapt their food preferences to conditions in their local environment resulting in distinctive local cuisines around the world. Folk cultures also ascribe value to certain foods that are believed to enhance qualities that are considered desirable in their society.
Food Taboos Environmental and cultural preferences underlie the development of food taboos. Taboos are restrictions on behavior imposed by religious law or social custom. These taboos may help to protect endangered animals or to conserve scarce natural resources. Many religions have food taboos emanating from a need to protect the environment at the religion’s hearth. People in similar climates and with similar levels of income may consume different foods due to differences in social values.
Folk & Popular Housing The house, as theorized by French geographer Jean Brunhes, is a product of both cultural and natural conditions. American cultural geographer Fred Kniffen considered the house to be a good reflection of cultural heritage, current fashion, functional needs, and the impact of environment.
Folk Housing: Environmental Influences Folk housing styles also illustrate the influence of the physical environment, with housing design reflecting both cultural norms and environmental influences. Local conditions influence the type of building materials used and the shape and design of the house to more efficiently heat, cool, or shed water. Even in areas that share similar climates and available building materials, folk housing can vary because of minor environmental differences.
Folk Housing: Cultural Influences The distinctive design of some types of folk housing may also derive primarily from religious values and other customary beliefs. Houses in some folk cultures may have sacred walls or corners. Compass direction may play a big role in where and how the house was built and the arrangement of the interior of the house.
U.S. Folk Houses Older houses in the United States from the east coast toward the Mississippi River display a local folk-culture tradition. Housing built by the pioneers reflected whatever style was prevalent in the area of the East Coast from which they migrated.
Popular Housing Houses built in the 1940s were primarily mass produced and shows the shape, style, and building materials popular at the time the houses were built.
II Key Issue 2: Where are Leisure & Material Culture Distributed?
A Origin & Diffusion of Folk & Popular Music
1 Folk Music—conveys information about life-cycle events, or environmental features
2 Popular Music—written by specific individuals for the purpose of being sold or performed
B Origin & Diffusion of Folk & Popular Sports
1 Folk Culture: Origin of Soccer
2 Popular Culture: Diffusion of Soccer
3 Olympic Sports—practiced in at least 75 countries on 4 continents
4 Regionally Distinctive Sports
a cricket—U.K., former British colonies
b ice hockey—Canada, colder climates
c wushu—China
d baseball—North America diffused to Japan
e Australia rules football f lacrosse—Iroquois
C Distribution of Folk & Popular Clothing
1 Folk clothing preferences—derive from environmental reasons, religious beliefs
2 Rapid Diffusion of Popular Clothing Styles—likely to reflect occupation and income
D Food Customs
1 Popular Food Culture—influenced more by cultural values
2 Folk Food Customs—embedded in local environment
a terroir—sum of the effects on a particular food item of soil, climate, and other features of the local environment
3 Food Taboos a taboo—restriction on behavior imposed by religious law or social custom
E Folk & Popular Housing
1 Folk Housing: Environmental Influences
a available building materials
b Style of construction—steep roofs, snowy areas
2 Folk Housing: Cultural Influences
a Religious beliefs, sacred corners
3 U.S. Folk Houses
4 Popular Housing—massed produced housing
4.2 Key Terms
Taboo Something that is forbidden by a culture or a religion, sometimes so forbidden that it is often not even discussed
Terroir The contribution of a location’s distinctive physical features to the way food tastes.