Studied by 5 people
Aboriginals
Inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or from before the arrival of colonists.
Acculturation
Occurs when an ethnic or immigrant group adopts enough of the ways of the host society to be able to function economically and socially.
Adherents
Someone who supports a particular party, person, or set of ideas.
Agnostic
The belief that the existence of God can't be proven empirically.
Animism
A faith that subscribes to the idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans but also in animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, and other entities of the natural environment.
Apartheid
Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.
Assimilation
Occurs when an ethnic or immigrant group blends in with the host culture and loses many culturally distinctive traits.
Atheism
The belief that God does not exist.
Balkanization
A process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities.
Bigot
One who is narrow-mindedly devoted to their own ideas and groups, and intolerant of (people of) differing ideas, races, genders, religions, politics, etc.
Blockbusting
A practice in which realtors persuade white homeowners in a neighborhood to sell their homes by convincing them that the neighborhood is declining due to black families moving in.
Branch (of a religion)
A large and fundamental division within a religion.
Buddhism
Believe that the human life is one of suffering, and that meditation, spiritual and physical labor, and good behavior are the ways to achieve enlightenment, or nirvana.
Built environment
The human-made space in which people live, work, and engage in leisure activities on a daily basis.
Colonialism
The act of forcefully controlling a foreign territory, which becomes known as a colony.
Caste system
The class or distinct hereditary order in which a Hindu is assigned, according to religious law.
Centrifugal forces
A force that threatens the stick togetherness of a neighborhood, society, or country.
Centripetal forces
A force that brings people together and unifies a neighborhood, society, or country.
Congregation
A local assembly of persons brought together for common religious worship.
Contagious diffusion
The wavelike spread of ideas in the manner of a contagious disease or forest fire, moving throughout space without regard for hierarchy.
Creole
A combined language that has a fuller vocabulary than a pidgin language and becomes a native language.
Cultural appropriation
The process by which cultures adopt customs and knowledge from other cultures and use them for their own benefit.
Cultural convergence
Takes place when cultures become more similar based on shared structures, values, and technology. It is facilitated by faster and more efficient communication and transportation, yielding what some would call time-space convergence.
Cultural divergence
The phenomenon where distinct cultures evolve and separate over time, taking different paths in terms of beliefs and values.
Cultural landscape
The built forms that cultural groups create in inhabiting Earth — farm fields, cities, houses, and so on and the meaning, values, representations, and experiences associated with those forms.
Cultural realm
A geographical region where cultural traits maintain homogeneity.
Cultural relativism
An approach to understanding other cultures that seeks to understand individuals and cultures from a wider perspective of cultural logic.
Cultural trait
A single aspect of a given culture or society.
Culture
The shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors that a society transmits from one generation to the next.
Custom
The frequent repetition of an act, to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group of people performing the act.
Denomination
A division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations into a single legal and administrative body.
Dialect
A regional variation of a language that is understood by people who speak other variations of that language.
Diffusion
The pattern by which a phenomenon such as the movement of people, or their ideas, technologies, or preferences, spreads from a particular location through space and time.
Ebonics
A dialect spoken by some African Americans.
Ethnic cleansing
The forced removal of one ethnic group by another ethnic group to create an ethnically consistent territory.
Ethnic enclaves
A place with a high concentration or an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area.
Ethnicity
Identity within a group of people who share the cultural tradition of a particular homeland or hearth.
Ethnic separatism
Occurs when minority groups fight for independence.
Ethnic religions
A religion identified with a particular ethnic or tribal group that does not seek converts.
Ethnoburb
A suburban area with a cluster of a particular ethnic population.
Ethnocentrism
Based on the belief that one's own culture is inherently superior and that other nations are backwards or underdeveloped because their culture is different.
Ethnonationalism
A form of nationalism in which the nation is defined in terms of ethnic identity.
Expansion diffusion
Occurs when ideas or practices spread throughout a population, from area to area, in a snowballing process, so that the total number of knowers or users and the areas of occurrence increase.
Folk culture
Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.
Fundamentalism
Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religion branch, denomination, or congregation).
Genocide
The systematic killing of members of a racial, ethnic, or linguistic group.
Ghetto
During the Middle Ages, a neighborhood in a city set up by law to be inhabited only by Jews; now used to denote a section of a city in which members of any minority group live because of social, legal, or economic pressure.
Global culture
A culture that is shared by many worldwide and is based on western ideals on consumption and attitudes towards the physical environment.
Globalization
The process by which businesses and other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.
Glocalization
Adapting global practices to fit local cultural practices and preferences.
Habit
A repetitive act performed by a particular individual.
Heterogeneous
Composed of different parts or elements in a population.
Hierarchical diffusion
Occurs when ideas leapfrog from one important person, community, or city to another, bypassing other persons, communities, or rural areas.
Hierarchical religion
A religion in which a central authority exercises a high degree of control.
Hinduism
The main religion of India which includes the worship of many gods and the belief that after you die you return to life in a different form.
Homogeneous
Of the same or a similar kind or nature.
Ideogram (logogram)
A symbol that represents a word rather than a sound.
Imperialism
The motivating impulse to control greater amounts of territory.
Indigenous (culture)
A culture group that constitutes the original inhabitants of a territory.
Islam
Submission [to the will of God] is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centered on the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad, the religion's founder.
Isogloss
A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate.
Judaism
The religion and the way of life of the Jewish people. It is the oldest of the monotheistic faiths in the Abrahamic tradition which include Christianity and Islam.
Karma
The sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.
Language branch
A collection of Languages related through a common ancestor that can be confirmed through archaeological evidence.
Language family
A group of related languages that share a common ancestry before recorded history.
Lingua franca
A language of communication and commerce spoken across a wide area where it is not a mother tongue.
Literary tradition
A language that is written as well as spoken.
Monotheism
Relating to the belief in only one god.
Multiculturalism
A set of policies that promote the active participation and inclusion of minority groups in national histories, national politics, and cultural institutions with the goal of embracing difference within society.
Nationalism
Sense of belonging to and self-identifying with a national culture; people with a strong sense of nationalism derive a significant part of their social identity from a sense of belonging to a nation.
Nationality
Identity with a group of people who share legal attachment to a particular country.
Nativist
The practice of supporting the wants and needs of residents of a given area over the interests of immigrants.
Official language
The language adopted for use by a government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.
Pidgin
A trade language, characterized by a very small vocabulary derived from the languages of at least two or more groups in contact.
Pilgrimage
A journey to a place considered sacred for religious purposes.
Placelessness
The feeling resulting from the standardization of the built environment; occurs where local distinctiveness is erased and many places end up with similar cultural landscapes.
Placemaking
Efforts to use and design public places to better serve the needs of residents and to foster a stronger community.
Polytheism
The belief in many gods.
Popular culture
Heterogeneous culture that is more influenced by key urban areas and quick to adopt new technologies; the opposite of a local culture.
Race
Historically defined by the physical characteristics of a group, especially skin color.
Racism
The belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
Received pronunciation (RP)
The dialect of English associated with upper-class Britons living in London and now considered standard in the United Kingdom.
Relocation diffusion
Occurs when individuals or groups with a particular idea or practice migrate from one location to another, thereby bringing the idea or practice to their new homeland.
Reverse hierarchical diffusion
Occurs when ideas leapfrog from a lower level of a hierarchy to a higher level.
Romance languages
A group of related languages all derived from Vulgar Latin within historical times and forming a subgroup of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family.
Sequent occupance
Refers to the fact that many places have been controlled or affected by a variety of groups over a period of time; those groups have reshaped the functions or meanings of those places and left behind layers of meaning.
Sharia law
The legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Muslim principles.
Spanglish
A combination of Spanish and English spoken by Hispanic Americans.
Stimulus diffusion
Occurs when a specific trait is rejected, but the underlying idea is accepted.
Syncretism
The blending of beliefs, ideas, practices, and traits, especially in a religious context.
Syncretic religion
Religion that combines elements of two or more different belief systems.
Taboo
A restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.
Terrorism
The calculated use of violent acts against civilians and symbolic targets to publicize a cause, intimidate or coerce a civilian population, or affect the conduct of the government.
Theocracy
The government is presumed to be divinely ordained by God. The highest law of the land is the law of God (in whatever that state's religion is).
Universal religion
A religion that actively seeks new members and believes its message has universal importance and application.
Vulgar Latin
A form of Latin used in daily conversation by ancient Humans, as opposed to the standard dialect, which was used for official documents.
White flight
The mass movement of white people from the city to the suburbs.
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