Unit 3 Ap Hug

Culture

The shared beliefs, values, behaviors, and material goods of a group, learned and passed down over time

Culture Traits

A single element of a culture, like a food, dress style, or custom

Cultural Hearths

Places where cultural traits and innovations originated and spread outward

Diffuse

To spread from one place to another.

Taboo

A restriction on behavior based on cultural or religious beliefs

Traditional Culture

Practices and beliefs passed down over generations, resistant to change.

Folk Culture

Traits of small, rural, relatively isolated groups, passed on by tradition and tied to a specific place.

Indigenous Culture

The culture of a region's native peoples, often tied to ancestral land.

Popular Culture

Culture of large, diverse, often urban groups that changes quickly and spreads widely through media.

Globalization

The growing interconnection of economies, cultures, and politics worldwide.

Artifacts

Material objects of a culture

Mentifacts

Ideas, beliefs, and values of a culture

Sociofacts

Social institutions and relationships of a culture

Placelessness

Loss of a place's unique character as landscapes become standardized

Ethnicity

Identity based on shared ancestry, language, religion, customs, and homeland.

Ethnic Enclaves

Areas where an ethnic group concentrates and keeps its culture within a larger society

Cultural Realm

A large world region with shared cultural traits

Sacred Place

A location with special religious or spiritual significance

Diaspora

The scattering of a people from their homeland to other places

Sequent Occupancy

Successive groups each leaving their imprint on the same place over time

Neocolonialism

Powerful countries using economic, political, or cultural pressure to control weaker ones after formal colonialism ends

Nationality

Identity as a member of a nation or citizen of a state

Centripetal Forces

Forces that unify a state

Centrifugal Forces

Forces that divide a state

Sharia

Islamic law based on the Quran and Hadith

Blue Laws

Laws restricting certain activities or sales on Sundays or religious days

Fundamentalism

Strict, literal adherence to religious principles, often opposing modernization

Theocracy

Government ruled by religious leaders or religious law

Ethnocentrism

Judging other cultures by your own culture's standards and viewing yours as superior

Cultural Relativism

Evaluating a culture by its own standards rather than outside ones

Cultural Appropriation

Adopting elements of a minority culture, often without understanding or credit, by members of a dominant culture

Relocation Diffusion

Spread of a trait through the physical movement of people to new places

Expansion Diffusion

Spread of a trait outward from its source while staying strong in the source area

Contagious Diffusion

Rapid spread through direct contact, regardless of status or hierarchy

Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread from people or places of power or influence down to others

Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread from lower or grassroots levels upward

Stimulus Diffusion

The underlying idea spreads but is modified to fit the new culture

Imperialism

A state extending its power over other territories through conquest, control, or influence

Colonialism

Establishing and directly controlling settlements or territory in a foreign land.

Animism

Belief that natural objects, animals, and places have spirits

Native Speakers

People who learned a language as their first language in childhood

Lingua Franca

A common language used by speakers of different native languages

Pidgin Language

A simplified mix of languages used for communication between groups with no shared language

Creole Language

A pidgin that became the native language of a community, with full grammar

Social Construct

An idea or category created by society rather than a natural fact

Time-Space Convergence

Places feeling closer as technology reduces travel and communication time.

Cultural Convergence

Cultures becoming more alike through interaction and globalization

Cultural Divergence

Cultures becoming more different, often through isolation or resistance to outside influence.

Language Tree

A diagram showing how languages descend from a common ancestor and branch apart

Indo-European Language Tree

The world's largest language family

Romance Languages

Languages descended from Latin

Isogloss

A boundary line marking where a particular language feature stops being used

Dialect

A regional variation of a language in pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar

Toponym

A place name

Homogenous

Uniform throughout; having similar characteristics

Ethnic Religions

Religions tied to a particular ethnic group or place that don't actively seek converts

Universal Religions

Religions that actively seek converts worldwide

Hinduism

Ethnic, polytheistic religion from India; beliefs include karma, reincarnation, and the sacred Ganges.

Polytheism

Belief in multiple gods

Monotheism

Belief in one god

Caste System

Hereditary social hierarchy in Hindu tradition that determines occupation and status

Buddhism

Universal religion founded by Siddhartha Gautama in northern India

Sikhism

Monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak in Punjab, blending Hindu and Islamic ideas

Judaism

Oldest major monotheistic religion, an ethnic religion from Southwest Asia based on the Torah

Christianity

Monotheistic universal religion based on Jesus

Islam

Monotheistic universal religion founded by Muhammad in Arabia

Pilgrimage

A journey to a sacred place for religious purposes

Acculturation

Adopting traits of another culture while keeping one's own

Assimilation

Losing distinct cultural traits by fully adopting the dominant culture

Syncretism

Blending elements of different cultural or religious traditions into a new form

Multiculturalism

Maintaining and valuing multiple cultures within one society

Nativist

Favoring native-born residents and opposing immigration

Shinto

Japan's ethnic, animistic religion centered on worship of kami (spirits in nature)

Taoism (Daoism)

Chinese philosophy/religion, attributed to Laozi, about living in harmony with the Tao ("the Way")

Confucianism

Chinese ethical philosophy based on Confucius, emphasizing social order, respect for elders, and filial piety.