APHG 2-2 Vocab

Sociological Subsystem

The totality of expected and accepted patterns of interpersonal relations and social rituals that characterize a culture, along with the ideological and technological subsystems

Technological Subsystem

The complex of material objects together with the techniques of their use by means of which people carry out their productive activities and that characterize a culture, along with the ideological and sociological subsystems

Cultural Convergence

The tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly share technology and organizational structures in a modern world united by improved developments to transportation and communication

Mentifact

A central element of a culture expressing its values and beliefs, including language, religion, folklore, artistic traditions, and the like. An element in the ideological subsystem of culture

Culture Hearth

A nuclear area within which an advanced and distinctive set of culture traits, ideas, and technologies develops and from which there is diffusion of those characteristics and the cultural landscape features they imply

Sociofact

A rule, custom, or institution that links individuals and groups as part of a culture, including family structure and political, educational, and religious institutions. An element in the sociological subsystem of culture

Multilinear Evolution

A concept of independent but parallel cultural development advanced by the anthropologist Julian Steward (1902-1972) to explain cultural similarities among widely separated peoples existing in similar envrionments but who could not have benefited from shared experiences, borrowed ideas, or diffused technologies

Cultural Integration

The interconnectedness of all aspects of a culture: no part can be altered without creatin an impact on other components of the culture

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population numbers that an area can support on a continuing basis without experiencing unacceptable deterioration; for humans, the numbers supportable by an area's known and used resources - including agricultural and energy sources

Domestication

The successful transformation of plant or animal species from a wild state to a condition of dependency on human management, usually with distinct physical change from wile forebears

Ideological Subsystem

The complex of ideas, beliefs, knowledge, and means of their communication that characterize a culture, along with the technological and sociological subsystems

Cultural Divergence

The likelihood or tendency for cultures to become increasingly dissimilar with the passage of time

Artifact

A material manifestation of culture, including tools, housing, systems of land use, clothing, and the like. An element in the material/technological subsystem of culture