Unit 3 Vocab

Culture

composed of the shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors transmitted by a society.

The 2 types of Culture

Global Culture and Local Culture

Other names for global culture

Popular culture; Modern culture

Other name for local culture

folk culture

local cultures (Folk Cultures)

Small, homogenous groups of people that often live in rural areas are relatively isolated and are slow to change

Modern Culture (Popular culture, Global Culture)

consists of cultural traits that spread quickly across over a large area and are adopted by various groups

Cultural traits

individual elements of culture and include such things as food preferences, architecture, and land use.

custom

Practice routinely followed by a group of people.

habit

a repetitive act that a particular individual performs

cultural complex

group of traits that defines a particular culture

Cultural hearth

area in which a unique culture or a specific trait develops

Taboo

behaviors heavily discouraged by a culture

sense of place

gives inhabitants ties to the area where they live, thus giving them a sense of ownership

Cultural regions

broad areas where groups share similar but not identical cultural traits

Formal region

an area that has officially recognized boundaries defining it.

Functional region

An area organized around a node or focal point (also called "nodal region")

Perceptual region

Based on how people think about a particular area (also called "vernacular region")

cultural landscape

the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape

centrifugal force

tears a nation apart

centripetal force

binds a nation together

Ethnic enclaves

clusters of people of the same culture, but surrounded by people of a culture that is dominant in the region

Cultural realms

Larger areas that include several regions; Cultures within these realms have a few traits they all share, such as language families, religious traditions, food preferences, architecture, or a shared history

Space-time compression

the increasing sense of connectivity that seems to be bringing people closer together even though their distances are the same

Globalization

the process of intensified interaction among people, governments, and companies of different countries around the globe

cultural convergence

The tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly share technology and organizational structures in a modern world united by improved transportation and communication.

cultural divergence

The likelihood or tendency for cultures to become increasingly dissimilar with the passage of time.

Diffusion

The spreading of information, ideas, behaviors, and other aspects of culture over wider areas

Relocation diffusion

the spread of a cultural trait by people who migrate and carry their cultural traits with them

Expansion Diffusion

the spread of cultural traits through direct or indirect exchange without migration

Three types of expansion diffusion

Hierarchical, contagious, and stimulus.

Contagious Diffusion

occurs when a cultural traits spreads continuously outward from its hearth through contact among people

Hierarchical Diffusion

spread of culture outward from the most interconnected places or from centers of wealth and importance

Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion

the processes in which a trait diffuses from a lower class to a higher class

Stimulus Diffusion

occurs when people in a culture adopt an underlying idea or process from another culture, but modify it because they reject one trait of it

Acculturation

occurs when an ethnic or immigrant group moving to a new area adopts the values and practices of the larger group that has received them, while still maintaining major elements of their own culture

Assimilation

when an ethnic group can no longer be distinguished from the receiving group

Multiculturalism

the coexistence of several cultures in one society, with the ideal of all cultures being valued and worthy of study

Nativist

anti-immigrant

cultural relativism

the belief that moral behavior varies among individuals, groups, and cultures, as well as across situations

Ethnocentrism

evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.

Cultural Relativism vs. Ethnocentrism

No culture is superior than another vs. one's culture is superior than all others

sequential occupancy

the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape

centripetal forces

Forces that tend to unite or bind a country together.

centrifugal forces

forces that divide a state - internal religious, political, economic, linguistic, or ethnic differences

language family

A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.

Institutional language

A language used in education, work, mass media, and government.

official language

The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.

literary tradition

A language that is written as well as spoken

Developing language

A language spoken in daily use with a literary tradition that is not widely distributed.

vigorous language

a language that is spoken in daily use but that lacks a literary tradition

extinct language

A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used.

lingua franca

a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

creolization

a cultural process where foreign influences are absorbed and integrated with local meanings (a type of syncretism)

Colonialism

Attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.

imperialism

domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country or region

urbanization

Movement of people from rural areas to cities

globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

Indo-European

A family of languages consisting of most of the languages of Europe as well as those of Iran, the Indian subcontinent, and other parts of Asia

Sino-Tibetan

Language area that spreads through most of Southeast Asia and China and is comprised of Chinese, Burmese, Tibetan, Japanese, and Korean.

linguistic fragmentation

A condition in which many languages are spoken, each by a relatively small number of people.

pidgin

A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca, used for communications among speakers of two different languages.

Creole

A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.

syncretism

A blending of two or more cultural or religious traditions

Universalizing Religion

faiths that claim applicability to all humans and that seek to transmit their beliefs through missionary work and conversion

ethnic religion

religion that is identified with a particular ethnic or tribal group and that does not seek new converts

Christianity

A monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior.

Judaism

A religion with a belief in one god. It originated with Abraham and the Hebrew people. Yahweh was responsible for the world and everything within it. They preserved their early history in the Old Testament.

Hinduism

A religion and philosophy developed in ancient India, characterized by a belief in reincarnation and a supreme being who takes many forms

Sikhism

the doctrines of a monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by Guru Nanak and combining elements of Hinduism and Islam

Islam

A religion based on the teachings of the prophet Mohammed which stresses belief in one god (Allah), Paradise and Hell, and a body of law written in the Quran. Followers are called Muslims.

mosque

A Muslim place of worship

church

Christian place of worship

Synagogue

Jewish house of worship

Buddhism

the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth

Jesus

A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. He is the basis of the world's largest religion.

Muhammad

Arab prophet; founder of religion of Islam.

Abraham

Founder of Judaism who, according to the Bible, led his family from Ur to Canaan in obedience to God's command.

Moses

(Old Testament) the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus

Reincarnation

In Hinduism and Buddhism, the process by which a soul is reborn continuously until it achieves perfect understanding

Old Testament

The forty-six books of the Bible that record the history of salvation from Creation until the time of Christ. Sacred to both Judaism and Chritianity

New Testament

The second part of the Christian Bible, containing descriptions of the life and teachings of Jesus and of his early followers

Quran (Koran)

The holy book of Islam

Arabic

A language that is the official language of several countries of North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the religion of Islam.

Hebrew

Original language of the Jewish people and that of their sacred books.

Torah

A Hebrew word meaning "law," referring to the first five books of the Old Testament.

Shia Islam

minority branch of Islam; belief that only a descendant of Ali can be caliph.

Sunni Islam

a Muslim group that accepts only the descendants of the Umayyads as the true rulers of Islam

Catholic Church

The Christian church of the west, based in Rome, that is under the authority of the pope and has a strict theological and cleric hierarchy

Protestant

a member or follower of any of the Western Christian churches that are separate from the Roman Catholic Church and follow the principles of the Reformation, including the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches.

polytheism

Belief in many gods

Monotheism

Belief in one God

Indigenous Religions

Belief systems and philosophies practiced and traditionally passed from generation to generation among peoples within a tribe or group

Pagan

A follower of a polytheistic religion in ancient times.

Agnosticism

the belief that God's existence cannot be known

sect

A relatively small group that has broken away from an established religion.

Missionary

An individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion.

syncretic religion

Combines two religious traditions into something distinctly new, while containing traits of both

Santeria

Originating in Cuba, a religion that blends African traditions and Christian beliefs

Espiritismo

A Latin American and Caribbean (including Puerto Rico) belief that good and evil spirits can affect human life, such as one's health and luck

Rastafarianism

A religion that began in Jamaica in the 1900s with an emphasis on African pride; it considers Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari) to be divine. Today associated with dreadlocks and reggae