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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