Vocab Words:

1. Culture: The beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a group of people that define their way of life.

2. Cultural trait: A single element of normal practice in a culture, such as wearing a turban.

3. Globalization: The process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or operate on an international scale.

4. Nonmaterial culture: The ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society rather than the physical objects they create.

5. Contemporary culture: The common themes, ideas, or expressions seen in present-day society.

6. Cultural complex: A group of culture traits that are interconnected and represent a particular aspect of culture.

7. Global culture: The diffusion of a single culture throughout the world.

8. Popular culture: Cultural patterns that are widespread among a society’s population.

9. Sociofacts: The structures and organizations of a society that influence social behavior (e.g., family, government).

10. Ethnic enclave: A small area occupied by a distinctive minority culture.

11. Ethnic island: A rural area settled by a single, distinctive ethnic group that placed its imprint on the landscape.

12. Charter group: The dominant first arrivals establishing the cultural norms in a new territory.

13. Culture hearth: The region from which innovative ideas originate.

14. Cultural regions: Areas where people share one or more cultural traits, thus creating a distinct region.

15. Relocation diffusion: The spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another.

16. Neolocalism: A renewed interest in sustaining and promoting the uniqueness of a place.

17. Traditional culture: The customs, beliefs, and practices passed down from generation to generation in a community.

18. Material culture: Physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture.

19. Artifacts: Objects made by humans that represent material culture.

20. Built environment: The human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity.

21. Cultural landscape: The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape.

22. Cultural appropriation: The adoption of cultural elements by one group from another group, often without understanding or respect.

23. Sacred place: A location deemed as holy or significant in a religious or spiritual context.

24. Sacred site: A place that is sacred or holy to a particular religion or culture.

25. Cultural patterns: Recurrent behaviors, practices, or ideas shared by a culture.

26. Taboos: Social or cultural prohibitions against certain practices or behaviors.

27. Mentifacts: The central, enduring elements of a culture, such as ideas, beliefs, and values.

28. Postmodern architecture: A style of architecture that reacts against the strict rules of modernism, often characterized by eclecticism and the use of older styles.

29. Ethnic neighborhoods: Areas within cities that are inhabited by people of the same ethnic background.

30. Diaspora: The scattering of people from their homeland to other places.

31. Blue laws: Laws designed to enforce moral standards, often through restrictions on commercial activities on Sundays.

32. Cultural relativism: The principle of regarding the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from the viewpoint of that culture itself.

33. Constructivist forces: Social forces that shape a group’s identity, history, and societal structures.

34. Sharia: Islamic law based on the teachings of the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet.

35. Fundamentalism: A strict adherence to basic principles of a particular religion.

36. Ethnocentrism: The belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own ethnic group or culture.

37. Centripetal forces: Forces that unify a country, such as a shared sense of common history or a strong national culture.

38. Centrifugal forces: Forces that divide a country, such as internal religious, linguistic, ethnic, or ideological differences.

39. Diffusion: The spreading of something more widely.

40. Cultural diffusion: The spread of cultural beliefs and social activities from one group to another.

41. Contagious diffusion: The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout a population.

42. Hierarchical diffusion: The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places.

43. Stimulus diffusion: The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.

44. Cultural Extinction: Obliteration of an entire culture by war, disease, acculturation or a combination of the three.

45. Cultural Imperialism: The dominance of one culture over another.

46. Cultural geography: the subfield of human geography that looks at how cultures vary over space.

47. Syncretic: Traditions that borrow from both the past and the present

48. Tradition: A cohesive collection of customs within a cultural group