AP Human Geo - Unit 3

Culture

A group’s learned belief, behaviors, actions and objects

Cultural Traits

Elements of a culture

Cultural Complex

A series of interrelated cultural traits

Cultural Hearth

An area where a religion or ethnicity began

Cultural Diffusion

The spread of culture

Globalization

Refers to the increased integration of the world economy

Horizontal Diversity

Cultural groups that are unique from each other, but the people within the group are homogenous

Vertical Diversity

Cultural groups in which people are heterogenous

Artifacts

Tangible elements of culture

Mentifacts

Nontangible elements of culture

Toponyms

Names of places

Ethnicity

Group of people who have common experiences and share the same language, history, or ancestry

Hearth of Shinto

Japan

Hearth of Christianity

Jerusalem

Hearth of Hinduism

Indus River Valley, India

Hearth of Buddhism

Northern India (Nepal)

Hearth of Islam

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Hearth of Sikhism

India/Pakistan

Sequent Occupancy

Creating new cultural imprints on the landscape

Cultural Patterns

A series of cultural traits that create behavioral patterns

Nationality

People’s connection to a particular country

Centripetal Forces

Forces that unify a group of people

Centrifugal Forces

Forces that divide a group of people

Theocracies

Countries whose government is run by religious leaders

Ethnocentric

Beliving one own’s culture as superior and “right”, and other’s as weird or “wrong”

Cultural Relativism

Believing that other cultures are simply different, not weird or “wrong”

Relocation Diffusion

Spread via migration

Expansion Diffusion

Spread via interactions WITHOUT migration

Types of Expansion Diffusion

Contagious diffusion, hierarchical diffusion, and stimulus diffusion

Contagious Diffusion

Spread via contious contact (domino effect)

Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread via interconnected places, or places of infulence and hearth (Cell phones)

Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread via lower status to higher status group (street tacos)

Stimulus Diffusion

When a culture adopts a cultural trait and modifies it

Imperialism

Influencing another group of people in a variety of ways

Colonialism

When people move into and settle on the land of another country

Lingua Franca

A common language used by people who do not share the same native language

Pidgin Language

Simplified mixture of two languages

Creole Language

A new combined language

Cultural Convergence

The idea that cultures are becoming more similar to one another and sharing cultural traits

Cultural Divergence

The idea that cultures change over time

Adherents

Believers of a faith

Ethnic Religion

Religion that emphasize shared cultural traits and history

Universal Religion

Religion that actively seeks converts, regardless of ethnic backgrounds

Types of Universalizing Religions

Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism

Types of Ethnic Religions

Hinduism, Judaism

Acculturation

When an immigrant group adopts cultural traits of the place they moved to, but still keeping the values of their original culture

Assimilation

When an ethnic group leaves all previous culture behind and completely adopts new culture

Syncretism

The fusion of two cultural traits into a new hybrid trait

Multiculturalism

Coexistence of multiple culture in one soecity

Nativism

Anti-immigrant ideals