Unit 3 and 4

What is culture defined as in the lecture notes?

Culture is the beliefs, values, practices, behaviors, and technologies shared by a society.

What are the three categories of cultural traits?

Artifacts, sociofacts, and mentifacts.

What are artifacts in cultural studies?

Visible objects and technologies a culture creates.

Define sociofacts.

Structures and organizations that influence social behaviors.

What do mentifacts represent in a culture?

The central, enduring elements reflecting shared ideas, values, knowledge, and beliefs.

What is popular culture?

Widespread behaviors, beliefs, and practices of a society at a given point in time.

What is traditional culture?

Long-established, shared experiences passed from generation to generation.

Define ethnocentrism.

The tendency of ethnic groups to evaluate other groups according to preconceived ideas from their own culture.

What is cultural relativism?

The evaluation of a culture by its own standards.

What is a cultural landscape?

A natural landscape modified by humans, reflecting their cultural beliefs and values.

What is sequent occupance?

The notion that successive societies leave evidence about human character and experiences, shaping the cultural landscape.

How do large cities reflect cultural landscapes?

They contain many ethnic neighborhoods, which are cultural landscapes of people outside their areas of origin.

How does religion impact cultural landscapes?

Religion drives much of what is hidden beneath the observable surface of culture.

What is the relationship between language and culture?

Language is a distinct system of communication that carries human thoughts and cultural identities.

What is meant by 'sense of place'?

The subjective feelings people associate with a geographic location.

Define placemaking.

How people collaborate to create a place where they can live, work, play, and learn.

What is relocation diffusion?

The spread of cultural traits through the migration of people.

What defines expansion diffusion?

When an idea or cultural trait spreads outward from its hearth through contact.

What are the three types of expansion diffusion?

Contagious diffusion, hierarchical diffusion, and stimulus diffusion.

What is acculturation?

When people within one culture adopt some traits of another while retaining their own distinct culture.

Define assimilation in cultural contexts.

When interaction results in one culture adopting almost all the customs, traditions, language, and other traits of another.

What is syncretism?

The blending of traits from two or more cultures to form a new custom, idea, value, or behavior.

What are universalizing religions?

Religions like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Sikhism that are open to membership by all.

What is the significance of territoriality?

The connection of people, their culture, and economic systems to the land.

What distinguishes a nation from a state?

A nation is a cultural entity with shared identity; a state is a political unit.

What is self-determination?

The right of people to choose their own political status.

What is gerrymandering?

The process of drawing legislative districts to secure an advantage for one party.

What factors can lead to devolution?

Physical geography, ethnic differences, economic and social problems.

What is supranationalism?

An alliance of three or more states pursuing common goals.

What are centripetal forces?

Forces that unify a state’s power across space.

What are centrifugal forces?

Forces that challenge state sovereignty and divide a state’s power.