Acculturation

Cultural modifications resulting from intercultural borrowing usually implying changes in an indigenous culture caused by the imposition of a technologically more advanced culture and a one-way transfer of culture traits. 

Assimilation

The process by which immigrants acculturate into and are eventually absorbed into the mainstream society through increasing interaction over time, gradual merging of foreigners and natives, and loss of cultural traits. 

Buddhism

The universalizing religion started by Siddhartha Gautama in India 2500 years ago. 

Centrifugal Forces

Forces within a state that cause division among populations that live there. 

Centripetal Forces

Forces within a state that cause unity among populations that live there. 

Christianity

The universalizing religion based in the life of Jesus that began in the Middle East in approximately 30 C.E.

Colonialism

The subjugation of one people to another through permanent resettling of a population to a new territory while maintaining political allegiance to their country of origin. 

Contagious Diffusion

The spreading of phenomenon through direct contact between individuals. 

Creolization

The borrowing of ideas and commodities between cultures, most often applied in processes of borrowing of words, phrases, meanings between two languages. 

Cultural Convergence

When cultures or aspects of culture are adopted by a group of people who live away from the aspect's/culture's hearth; could be forced or for practicality; often occurs as interactions between locations increase in intensity or frequency. 

Cultural Divergence

When cultures become less similar to other cultures either through choice - governments resisting and restricting the spread of culture - or through lack of interaction and sharing of ideas. 

Cultural Landscape

The visible record of values, tastes, fears, technologies, etc. that create the identity of a place in the human-built landscape (buildings, structures). 

Cultural Relativism

The idea that moral codes vary from culture to culture and that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based upon the context of that person's culture, rather than judged by the criteria of another cultural group. 

Culture

Shared or learned behaviors of a group of people related to the immaterial (beliefs, values, knowledge, etc.) and material objects and possessions. 

Cultural Norms

shared beliefs, or values and the human behaviors that support these values within a given society, such as the standards of conduct that are met with social approval or disapproval. Cultural norms are the unspoken rules of society transmitted through conformity, internalization, and socialization. There are four different types of cultural norms. They are laws, folkways, mores, and taboos.

Dialects

Language variants based in pronunciation, spelling, grammar, that are spoken by entire groups of people and are geographically distinct from other groups. 

Ethnic Cultures

See folk culture? 

Ethnic Neighborhoods

A voluntary community where people of similar origin reside by choice showing a desire to maintain group cohesiveness. 

Ethnic Regions

The shared spaces of an ethnic group that occurs through two means - longstanding ethnic homelands and as a result of chain migration to regions. For example: Ethnic homelands in North America - Acadiana - Louisiana French identity with Cajun people; Spanish America - New Mexico, Colorado, South Texas; French Canadian - Quebec; whereas ethnic neighborhoods often represent the result of migration. 

Ethnicity

People of a common ancestry or homeland and cultural tradition based in religion, beliefs, customs, and memories of migration or colonization. 

Ethnocentrism

The practice of viewing other cultural groups in relation or compared to one ethnic group's moral values; the practice of viewing one's own cultural moral codes as verifiably correct and using them to judge cultural practices and beliefs of other groups based upon one's own. 

Expansion Diffusion

The spreading of phenomenon in a fast and continuously growing manner from its hearth through either contagious, hierarchical, or stimulus forms. 

Folk Culture

Small, cohesive, stable, isolated, nearly self-sufficient groups that are homogeneous in custom and race; strong family or clan structure, order maintained through sanctions based on religion or family, little division of labor except between the sexes, frequent interpersonal relationships, and material goods mainly of handmade goods. 

Gender

Sociocultural attitudes and behaviors that shape behaviors, products, technologies, environments, and knowledges for a person. 

Gender Roles (Gender Norms)

Social and cultural attitudes about what behaviors, preferences, products, professions, or knowledge is appropriate for women, men, and gender-diverse individuals. 

Globalization

The expansion of economic, political, and cultural processes to the point that they become global in scale and impact. 

Hearth

The location from which an innovation originates. 

Hierarchical Diffusion

The spreading of an idea or phenomenon from a person or place of authority to other persons or places of less authority. 

Hinduism

An ethnic religion with hearth in India and present distribution comprised primarily of people in India. 

Imperialism

The practice of domination of one group of people over another through various forms like settlement, sovereignty, or indirect mechanism of control. 

Indigenous Communities

Groups identified by the fact that they live(d) in a location prior to settlement by colonizers. 

Indo-European

The language family that has the largest number of speakers and widest spread geographically. 

Islam

A universalizing religion with hearth in Mecca whose current distribution includes portions of S. Asia, SE Asia, SW Asia, and North Africa. 

Judaism

An ethnic religion with hearth in SW Asia and current distribution spread among SW Asia, N. America, and Europe. 

Land Use Patterns

The various forms of use of land based upon patterns of agriculture, urbanization, infrastructure, religious and cultural beliefs, etc. 

Language

A system of communication through the use of speech, collection of sounds and symbols, and understood by a group of people to have the same meaning. 

Language Families

A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history. Has the largest variety in grammar and vocabulary. 

Lingua Franca

A language mutually understood and commonly used in communication by people who have different native languages; often used to facilitate trade. 

Multiculturalism

The co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviors. 

Popular Culture

Widespread through heterogenous societies based in division of labor among professions, secular control of governance, weak interpersonal ties, cash economies, machine made goods, global transportation networks, and urban hierarchies. 

Postmodern Architecture

A reaction to the sterile design of modern architecture that features historical styles, eclectic building designs, pleasant forms, and plays on color to create inviting spaces. 

Religion

Organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supranatural, along with associated ceremonial practices. 

Relocation Diffusion

The spreading of an idea or phenomenon from one location to another through physical movement of people. 

Sequent Occupancy

The idea that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape. For example: colonial architecture is prominent in certain sectors of cities in SE Asia and reflects the European influences. 

Sikhism

A universalizing religion with hearth in India and current distribution primarily in India. 

Stimulus Diffusion

The spreading of an underlying idea or phenomenon, adjusted for local customs. 

Syncretism

The union/blending of different systems of thought or belief. 

Toponyms

The name given to a place that often reflects the culture of people living in a location. For example, San Jose reflects both the Spanish language and Catholic religious traditions of Spanish colonizers in the SW portions of the US. 

Trade

The free exchange of goods and services between two parties (also called complementarity when two regions specifically satisfy each other's demands) 

Traditional Architecture

The types and forms of architecture that are indigenous to a region and a people, typically based around the availability of local resources and the climate of the region itself. 

Universalizing Religions

A religion that attempts to appeal to all people and, because of this, often has a wide geographic distribution. 

Urbanization

The growth in the number and percentage of people living in cities. 

World Religions

(See Universalizing)