UNIT 3: CULTURAL PATTERNS AND PROCESS

Practices

Customary actions shared by a group.

Technologies

Tools and systems used to solve problems or meet needs.

Attitudes

Feelings or evaluations about people, ideas, or situations.

Behaviors

Actions shaped by individuals and cultural expectations.

Material culture

Physical objects created, used, or valued by a culture.

Nonmaterial culture

Ideas, values, beliefs, language, and customs.

Cultural trait

One element of culture, such as a food or custom.

Folk culture

Traditional culture often associated with smaller communities and passed through generations.

Popular culture

Widely shared culture spread through media, markets, and technology.

Indigenous culture

Culture of peoples with historical ties to a place and distinct traditions.

Cultural relativism

Understanding a culture in its own context rather than judging it by another culture's standards.

Ethnocentrism

Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture.

Cultural landscape

Visible imprint of human activity and culture on the environment.

Placelessness

Loss of local uniqueness as places become more alike.

Sequent occupance

Successive groups leave cultural imprints on a place over time.

Traditional architecture

Building styles shaped by local materials, climate, and long-standing practices.

Cultural hearth

Place where a cultural trait or innovation originates.

Regional pattern

Repeated geographic arrangement of characteristics across a region.

Language

System of communication using words, sounds, signs, or symbols.

Religion

System of beliefs and practices related to sacred or spiritual matters.

Sharia law

Islamic religious and legal principles interpreted and applied in different ways.

Fundamentalism

Strict adherence to core religious or ideological beliefs.

Theocracy

Government in which religious authority or law holds political power.

Blue laws

Laws restricting certain activities, often on Sundays.

Ethnicity

Identity based on shared ancestry, culture, language, history, or traditions.

Place making

Actions that shape spaces to strengthen community use and identity.

Centripetal forces

Factors that unify people and strengthen cohesion.

Centrifugal forces

Factors that divide people and weaken unity.

Relocation diffusion

Spread of traits when people move and bring them elsewhere.

Expansion diffusion

Spread outward from a source while the trait remains strong at its origin.

Contagious diffusion

Rapid spread through direct person-to-person contact.

Hierarchical diffusion

Spread from influential people or places to others.

Reverse hierarchical diffusion

Spread from smaller or less influential places toward larger centers.

Stimulus diffusion

Underlying idea spreads but is adapted by the receiving culture.

Language family

Languages descended from a common ancestral language.

Dialect

Regional or social variation in a language.

Indo-European language family

Major language family including English, Spanish, Hindi, and Russian.

Toponym

Name given to a place.

Universalizing religion

Religion that seeks converts and spreads beyond one ethnic group.

Ethnic religion

Religion closely tied to a particular ethnic group or place.

Buddhism

Religion and philosophy based on teachings associated with Siddhartha Gautama.

Christianity

Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Islam

Monotheistic religion based on belief in one God and the teachings of Muhammad.

Sikhism

Monotheistic religion originating in the Punjab region of South Asia.

Hinduism

Diverse religious tradition originating in South Asia.

Judaism

Monotheistic religion and cultural tradition of the Jewish people.

Urbanization

Growth in the share of people living in urban areas.

Globalization

Increasing connections among places through goods, people, money, information, and culture.

Media

Channels that communicate information and cultural content.

Time-space convergence

Transport and communication advances reduce practical travel or communication time.

Lingua franca

Shared language used by people with different native languages.

Diaspora

Population dispersed from an ancestral homeland while maintaining connections or identity.

Colonialism

Control of a territory or people by another power.

Imperialism

Extension of a country's power over other territories or peoples.

Trade

Exchange of goods and services that can spread cultural traits.

Creolization

Development of a new blended language or culture through contact.

Homogenization

Process by which places or cultures become more similar.

Acculturation

Adopting some traits of another culture while retaining parts of one's own.

Assimilation

Adopting a dominant culture, often losing distinct cultural traits.

Syncretism

Blending elements from different cultural or religious traditions.

Multiculturalism

Coexistence and recognition of multiple cultural groups.

Nativist

Favoring established or native-born populations over immigrants.

Cultural convergence

Process through which cultures become more similar.

Cultural divergence

Process through which cultures become more distinct.

Loss of Indigenous languages

Decline or disappearance of languages traditionally spoken by Indigenous communities.