ss11 midterm

ss11 midterm

Culture

The material and immaterial ways of life of a particular group of people.

Cultural traits

The building blocks of culture. Visible and invisible attributes that combine to make up a group's culture.

Artifacts

Tangible objects created by a culture. What a culture uses.

Sociofacts

The ways in which a culture behaves and organizes institutions. What a culture does.

Mentifacts

The ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge of a culture. What a culture believes.

Cultural norms

Agreed upon cultural practices or standards that guide the behavior of a culture.

Taboo

Behaviors heavily discouraged by a culture.

Cultural relativism

The principle that an individual human's beliefs and actions should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture.

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one's own culture or ethnic group is superior to others; judging other groups through the lens of one's own culture.

Cultural Hearth

An area where civilizations began that radiated its customs, innovations, and ideologies and transformed the world.

Environmental Determinism

The belief that the physical environment, especially things like climate and terrain, actively shapes culture.

Possibilism

The belief that environmental conditions may impact culture in some ways, but people are the primary architects of culture.

Cultural Realm

A large segment of the Earth with uniformity in cultural characteristics.

Diffusion

The process by which an innovation or idea spreads from one place to another over time.

Innovator

A person who is responsible for creating the idea or innovation and initiating the diffusion process.

Adopter

A person who accepts or receives the idea or innovation.

Expansion diffusion

An idea/innovation develops in a hearth and remains strong there, while also spreading outwards.

Contagious diffusion

Diffusion where one person spreads an idea/innovation to multiple people and then those people spread it to multiple people, and so on.

Hierarchical diffusion

The spread of an idea/innovation from one key person or node of authority/power to other persons/places with less power/authority.

Reverse Hierarchical diffusion

Opposite of hierarchical, from less power to more power.

Stimulus diffusion

When something spreads but is changed by the people who adapt the idea/innovation.

Relocation diffusion

The spread of an idea/innovation through the physical movement of people.

Barriers to diffusion

Obstacles that prevent the spread of ideas, including physical, cultural, political, and economic barriers.

Censorship

Many countries around the world censor the internet to maintain traditional values or maintain the political status quo.

Causes of Diffusion

Factors that contribute to the spread of ideas, such as trade, colonialism, war, urbanization, and globalization.

Distance Decay

The idea that the interaction between two places decreases as the distance between them increases.

Time-Space Compression

The reduction of the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communication and transportation technologies.

Cultural Convergence

When two cultures become more similar the more that they interact.

Cultural Divergence

Cultures become less alike over time due to physical and cultural barriers.

Popular Culture

Large heterogeneous societies.

Folk Culture

Small homogenous groups in rural areas.

Cultural Landscape

The structures within the physical landscape caused by human activities.

Ethnicity

A group of people that has a common ancestry or culture.

Ethnic Enclave

Relatively small, ethnically homogenous areas situated within a larger and more diverse cultural context.

Gender Roles

The role or behavior learned by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by prevailing cultural norms.

Gendered Spaces

Areas in which particular genders, and particular types of gender expression, are considered welcome or appropriate.

Indigenous Reservation

An area set aside by the government for the exclusive use of Indigenous people.

Sequent Occupancy

A notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place.

Monotheistic

Religions believing in one God.

Polytheistic

Religions believing in more than one God.

Ethnic Religion

Religions that consist of beliefs and rituals handed down from one generation to the next.

Universalizing Religion

Religions that offer belief systems that are attractive to a universal population.

Cultural Values in Food

Food influenced by cultural values.

Hearths of Popular Culture

Traceable hearths.

Diffusion of Popular Culture

Diffuse rapidly and extensively, hierarchical, technology.

Diffusion of Folk Culture

Diffuse on a smaller scale, slower, relocation.

Sports Origin

Most sports originate from folk.

Architecture and Society

Architecture and the presence of statues and monuments can reveal a lot about the history of a place.

Land Use and Society

The way a society treats its land can tell us a lot about how they view and value nature.

Traditional Architecture

Preservation of the past, conservative or traditional viewpoints.

Modern Architecture

Focus on innovation and progress, lack of cultural/historical preservation.

Religious Expression in Secular States

In secular states, religious expressions are usually limited to places of worship.

Religious Expression in Diverse Places

In diverse places, numerous religions share the landscape.

Hearth

The place where an idea/innovation originates from

Charter Group

The first group to establish cultural and religious customs in a place

Diaspora

When people of one culture or religious group are dispersed to various locations

Missionary

A person sent on a religious mission, usually to convert people to their faith

Animism

The belief commonly found in Ethnic African religions that natural objects (stones plants) and events(thunderstorms, earthquakes, etc) have a spirit

Secularism

The separation of religion from civil affairs

Theocracy

A form of government in which a deity of some kind is viewed as the ultimate authority

Fundamentalism

A type of religious movement characterized by strict conformity to a religious text

Abrahamic religion

Islam, Judaism, Christianity

Christianity

2 billion Christians, Catholic, protestant, orthodox, The Bible, Jesus Christ is the savior of humanity, ten commandments, Monotheistic, Universalizing, Southeast Asia(Israel), Contagious, hierarchical, relocation, Catholic-latin america, europe, protestant-north europe, north america, orthodox-eastern europe, Christian church

Islam

1.5 Billion Muslims, Sunni, Shia, Quran, Teachings revealed by prophets, last being Muhammad, Monotheistic, Universalizing, Southeast Asia(Saudi Arabia), Contagious, relocation, In middle east, Mosques

Hinduism

1 billion Hindus, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, shaktism, smartism, The vedas, Believe in the power of meditation and reincarnation, caste system, Polytheistic, Ethnic, Along Indus valley, Contagious, relocation, India, Temples

Buddhism

350 million Buddhists, Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Tripitaka, Reincarnation, pursue Nirvana, Neither monotheistic or polytheistic, Universalizing, South Asia(Nepal), Contagious, relocation, China, eastern Asia, Shrines

Sikhism

30 million Sikhs, Udasi, Nirmala, Nanakpanthi, Khalsa, Sahajdhari, namdhari kuka, nirankari, sarvaria, Guru Granth Sahib, Meditation, devotion to creator, truthful living, Monotheistic, Universalizing, Panjab, Hierarchical, relocation, India, some in Canada, US and UK

Judaism

14 million Jews, Orthodox, conservative, reformed, Torah, God wants people to be just and compassionate, Monotheistic, Ethnic, Southwest Asia, Relocation, Half in Israel, ⅓ in US, rest in middle east, Synagogues

Linguists

People who study languages

Languages in the world

7139 languages in the world

Most widely spoken languages

English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Japanese, Lahnda, Mandarin. 85 spoken by 10-100 million people, 300 spoken by 1-10 million people, Remaining 6500+ languages are spoken by less than 1 million people each

Language Family

A collection of languages related through a common ancestry that existed long before recorded history

Indo-European family

3 billion speakers

Sino-Tibetan family

1.3 billion speakers

Niger-Congo family

437 million speakers

Language Branch

A collection of languages within a family, related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago

Roman branch

French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese etc.

Germanic branch

English, German, Dutch, Swedish etc.

Indo-Iranian branch

Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Kurdish etc.

Language Group

A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display many similarities in grammar and vocabulary

Nomadic warrior theory

Early Indo-Europeans were warrior pastoralists. Domesticated animals and went out in search of areas to graze them. Spread to Europe, Middle East, Siberia, South Asia.

Sedentary farmer theory

Language spread because of expansion of agriculture. Agricultural surplus led to more trade. Spread from Anatolia(Turkey) to Europe, Siberia, Middle East and South Asia.

Official Language

A language designated by a country as the one used by the government for laws, reports and public objects (signs, money, stamps etc).

Dialect

A regional variation of a language distinguished by unique vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling.

Received Pronunciation

The standard form of British English pronunciation.

Isogloss

Word usage boundaries determined by data collected directly from people.

Pidgin Language

A simplified form of a language that allows speakers of two different languages to communicate.

Creolized Language

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

Lingua Franca

A language of international communication.

Isolated Language

A language unrelated to any other and therefore not attached to any language family.

Endangered Language

A language in danger of becoming extinct.

Extinct Language

A language that is no longer spoken or used in daily activities by anyone in the world.

Revived Language

A language that was once extinct but has come back into daily use.

Acculturation

The adoption of cultural traits, such as language, by one group under the influence of another, while still maintaining elements of their own culture.

Assimilation

The process of absorbing one cultural group into another.

Syncretism

When traits from two distinct cultures fuse to form a new cultural trait.

Multiculturalism

The coexistence of several cultures in one society with the ideal of all cultures being valued and worthy of practice.

Nativism

Favoring those born in a country over immigrants.

Centripetal Force

A force that unites people together, leading to the strengthening of a state.

Centrifugal Force

A force that divides people or prevents them from coming together, weakening the state.