AP Human Geography: Unit 3 - Culture and Cultural Landscapes

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental cultural concepts, trait classifications, landscape analysis, sequent occupance, and built environments from AP Human Geography Topics 3.1 and 3.2.

Culture

The shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors transmitted (passed down) by a society.

Cultural Traits

Single attributes or characteristics of a culture, including elements such as food preferences, architecture, land use, and clothing.

Cultural Practices

Activities and routines regularly performed by a society, such as tailgating before sporting events, Ramadan fasting, or celebrating quinceañeras.

Cultural Technologies

The tools and technical systems utilized by a society, ranging from agricultural irrigation networks and smartphones to utensils like chopsticks versus forks.

Cultural Attitudes

The foundational societal viewpoints and values that guide perspective, such as individualism, collectivism, views on time, and respect for elders.

Cultural Behaviors

The observable ways people interact with one another in a society, including greetings such as bowing or handshakes, personal space conventions, and tipping in restaurants.

Custom

A repetitive action practiced so widely by a group of people that it becomes a defining characteristic of that culture, such as the standard practice of tipping servers 15–20% in the United States.

Habit

A repetitive action performed by a single individual, such as waking up and scrolling through social media on a phone for the first 30 minutes of every morning.

Subculture

A distinct group within a larger culture whose members share unique beliefs, behaviors, and interests of their own while remaining integrated in the wider society.

Modern/Global Culture

Cultural traits that are widespread, evolve rapidly, and are shared across multiple societies, frequently diffused through migration, global media, and the internet.

Folk Culture

Cultural practices traditionally shared by a relatively small, homogeneous, and typically rural population, commonly transmitted orally or preserved through relocation diffusion.

Indigenous Culture

The culture belonging to the earliest known inhabitants of a region, marked by ancestral territorial connections, unique languages, and traditional spiritual systems.

Material Culture

The tangible, physical artifacts and objects created, utilized, and given value by a society, including clothing, tools, monuments, and buildings.

Nonmaterial Culture

The intangible, abstract creations of a society, such as philosophical values, social norms, language, religious beliefs, and traditions.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to evaluate and judge another culture exclusively through the standards and norms of one's own culture, often assuming one's own cultural practices are normal, superior, or correct.

Cultural Relativism

The practice of examining, evaluating, and understanding a society's cultural traits on their own terms and within their own context rather than through outside standards.

Cultural Landscape

The visible imprint of human activity, values, and identity left upon the physical natural environment.

Built Environment

The human-constructed physical features of a landscape, such as buildings, roadways, bridges, and parks, which embody community priorities and organize spatial activity.

Sequent Occupance

The process where successive cultural groups inhabit a region and leave visible architectural and spatial layers on the landscape over time, such as Spanish colonial structures erected atop Inca ruins in Cusco, Peru.

Land Use

The management, organization, and functional division of geographic space by humans for purposes including agricultural, recreational, residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation needs.

Traditional Architecture

Building designs and techniques that rely on locally sourced materials, historical building forms, and local climate adaptation unique to a specific cultural group or geographic region.

Postmodern Architecture

An architectural movement that rejects modern uniformity by combining historical and classical references with bold colors, dramatic forms, asymmetry, and decorative visual details.

Ethnic Enclave

A geographically concentrated neighborhood where an ethnic minority group clusters together, maintaining distinct cultural identity through language, dining, community organizations, and religious centers.

Gendered Spaces

Areas within the built environment whose access, design, safety perception, or use is shaped by cultural expectations surrounding gender and female labor-force participation.