SS

Unit 3 - Human Culture

  • ^^culture^^: a set of beliefs, traditions, and aspects of lifestyle that are particular to a group of people
    • %%cultural traits%%: attribute of a culture (can be intermixed with other groups)
    • %%cultural complex%%: combination of all cultural traits (unique to every culture)
    • %%culture systems%%: cultural complexes sharing common cultural traits
    • %%culture regions%%: region with people of similar cultures
    • share a sense of common culture and regional identity
    • borders defined by perceptions and opinions
  • ^^cultural geography^^: study of people’s lifestyle, creations, and relationships with nature
    • how and why people express culture in certain ways
    • material components (ie. artifacts, clothing, architecture) + abstract components (thoughts, ideas, religion, laws)
  • ^^cultural landscape^^: built landscape that is connected to various cultural ideals
    • physical imprint of culture on the environment
    • ex. buildings, artwork, music (Carl Sauer)
  • ^^cultural ecology^^: study of human interaction with the environment (vice versa)
  • ^^sequent occupancy^^: theory that a place can be occupied by multiple groups of people; one group after another
    • ex. england (diverse groups have their own contribution to the cultural landscape in the area)
  • ^^environmental determinism^^: human behavior is determined/controlled by environmental conditions
    • ex. more ideal climates produce better nations
  • ^^possibilism^^: natural environment limits the choices available to a group of people
  • ^^cultural determinism^^: environment places no restrictions on people, but rather cultural norms/standards
  • ^^cultural diffusion^^: creations spread across time (generations) and space (different places)
    • %%expansion diffusion%%: spreads outward to new places remaining strong at its origin
    • @@stimulus@@ (stimulates imitative behavior), @@hierarchical@@ (goes from the higher classes to the middle to lower social classes; birkenstocks), @@contagious@@ (spreads like wildfire; domino theory)
      • ex. hybrid corn, religious creed
    • %%relocation diffusion%%: actual movement of adapters from origin to new place
    • only lasts for a little bit of time before adapting to the culture of a new place
    • %%spatial diffusion%%: the spread of any phenomena across space and time
  • ^^cultural hearths^^: areas where innovation and creation began (origin of cultural creation)
    • ancient hearths were near bodies of water
    • distance = less likely innovation in adopted
    • less diffused in areas further away from cultural hearth
  • ^^cultural convergence^^: two cultures adopt each other traits and become similar
  • ^^cultural divergence^^: two cultures become increasingly different
  • ^^s-curve^^: graph of the diffusion of immigrants based on time and space (==distance-decay theory==)
  • colonialism: process where a country takes over new land for its benefit
    • ex. British
  • ^^imperialism^^: powerful country spreads cultural traditions (language, ethnicity, religion, etc.) to smaller less powerful countries
  • ^^trade^^: exposes goods and services from different cultures to others around the world
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