Cultural Patterns and Processes

These flashcards cover essential vocabulary and concepts related to cultural patterns and processes, helping students understand key terms for their exams.

Culture

The beliefs, practices, and values of a particular group of people.

Cultural Regions

Areas where many people share an element of culture, such as speaking a particular language.

Diffusion

The process by which cultural elements spread from one area or group to others.

Creolized Language

A language that is formed by blending elements from two or more languages.

Cultural Hearth

The area in which a unique culture or a specific trait develops.

Taboos

Behaviors heavily discouraged by a culture.

Folk Culture

The beliefs and practices of small, homogenous groups of people often living in rural areas.

Traditional Culture

Cultures that pass down long-held beliefs, values, and practices and resist rapid changes.

Globalization

The increased integration of the world economy and cultures.

Popular Culture

Cultural elements that are well known and widely accepted, often spread through mass media.

Cultural Landscape

The visible reflection of a culture in its environment.

Mentifacts

Intangible concepts or beliefs that shape a culture’s nonmaterial aspects.

Sociofacts

Ways people organize their society and relate to one another.

Acculturation

When an ethnic group adopts the values and practices of a larger group but still maintains elements of their own culture.

Assimilation

When ethnic group can no longer be distinguished from the receiving group.

Syncretism

The blending of two distinct cultural traits into a new hybrid trait.

Centripetal Forces

Factors that unify people within a culture or society.

Centrifugal Forces

Factors that divide or pull apart a culture or society.

Hierarchical Diffusion

The spread of culture outward from the most interconnected places.

Relocation Diffusion

The spread of culture and/or cultural traits by people who migrate and carry their cultural traits with them.

Contagious Diffusion

When a cultural trait spreads continuously outward from its hearth through contact among people.

Stimulus Diffusion

When an underlying idea from a culture hearth is adopted by another culture but modified to fit their local customs.

Ethnic Enclaves

Clusters of people of the same culture surrounded by a dominant culture.

Diaspora

The scattering of a population from its original homeland.

Language Family

A group of languages that share a common ancestry.

Pidgin Languages

Simplified languages that develop as a means of communication between speakers of different native languages.

Creole Languages

Languages that emerge from the mixing of languages and evolve to have their own grammar and vocabulary.

Isoglosses

The boundaries between variations in pronunciations or word usage.

Toponyms

Place names that often provide insights into the geographic, historical, or cultural significance of locations.

Glocalization

The adaptation of global products to fit local cultures.