Unit 4 Study Guide

1. Culture - All of a group’s learned behaviors, actions, beliefs,

and objects. It can be visible and invisible.
a. Cultural traits - the building blocks of a culture.
i. VISIBLE
1. A group’s actions, possessions, and influence
on the landscape.
2. Cultural artifact - a physical item, like a car
that represents your values.
ii. INVISIBLE
1. Mentifacts - A force guiding people through
shared belief systems, customs and traditions
b. All these traits form a cultural complex.

2. Culture is passed down by:

a. Imitation - when a child learns a language by repeating
sounds
b. Informal Instruction - when a parent teaches a child to
say thanks for please
c. Formal Instruction-when Ms. Ng teaches you about AP Human
Geography in school

3. Folk culture - small homogeneous groups of people, often living

in rural areas, that are relatively isolated and slow to
change.
a. Folk culture traits:
i. Indigenous populations and languages.
ii. Emphasis on community and conformity.
iii. Families are tight-knit.
iv. Well-defined gender roles.
v. Slow and limited diffusion of the culture, primarily
through relocation diffusion.
vi. Pass down oral traditions and stories.
vii. Building materials produced locally.
viii. Buildings built by the owner or community.
ix. Similar styles of housing within the community that
can be distinctive.
x. Food produced locally, limited by tradition, and
prepared by the family or community.
xi. A local and sometimes regional focus.
xii. Combination of local physical and cultural factors
influence distinctive distributions.
 xiii. Usually includes geographic isolation from other
cultures because of physical barriers—e.g., distance
and mountain ranges diffusing slowly through
migration.

4. Popular Culture - Large; incorporates heterogeneous

populations, is typically urban, and experiences quickly
changing cultural traits.
a. Popular culture traits
i. Urban, connected and multiethnic populations.
ii. Many people speak global languages like English and
Arabic.
iii. Emphasis on individual choice and weakly defined
gender roles.
iv. Diffusion of this culture is rapid and extensive,
today often through mass media and social media.
v. Hierarchical diffusion is common.
vi. widely distributed across many countries with little
regard for physical factors
vii. Materials produced in distant factories with steel
and glass.
viii. Businesses build buildings in a variety of
architectural styles, though there are lots of
similarities between cities.
ix. Food is often imported, with a wide range of choice
and lots of restaurants to eat at.
x. Popular culture is national and global in its focus.
xi. Principal obstacle to access is lack of income to
purchase the material

5. Maintaining Folk Culture in the Face of Popular Culture

a. Popular culture emphasizes trying what is new, rather than
preserving the traditional.
b. Many people, including those in older generations, and who
practice folk culture openly resist popular culture.
c. They try to preserve traditional languages, religions,
values, and foods.
d. They are seldom able to resist the onslaught of popular
culture.
e. Watch this to find out more
i. https://youtu.be/HGD6kAz3FVw

6. Folk Music
a. Transmitted orally
 i. Modifications to songs over successive generations to
represent changes in conditions.
b. Content of songs centers on events in daily life that are
familiar to the majority of people.
i. Life-Cycle events
1. E.g. birth, death, or marriage
ii. Environmental features
1. E.g. agriculture or climate
c. Migration of people also diffuses the music.

7. Folk Music Examples in America

a. Immigrants from Northern England, the Scottish lowlands,
and Ulster in Ireland came through Appalachia from
Virginia to the Carolinas making their way West through
the mountains.
i. Instruments evolved while storytelling and unique
vocalization became rooted.
b. Later influences came from African traditions and led to
gospel and blues blending into folk music.
c. Mongolian folk music:
Batzorig Vaanchig- Mongolian Throat Singing

8. Popular(pop) Music
a. Music written and or performed by specific individuals
with the intent of being…
i. Sold
ii. Performed in front of a paying audience
b. Often displays a high degree of technology
c. Musicians often have strong connections with other similar
musicians that may span the globe.
d. Limited connections with local musicians of different
genres
e. Musicians and studios create nodes and develop a
particular style or genre of music.

9. Origin and Diffusion of Folk and Popular Sports

a. Soccer
i. example of global popular sport with folk origins
1. Kick the Dane’s Head
ii. History of soccer:
The History of Football (Soccer) in 90 Seconds | …
b. Sports must be widely practiced to be considered for the
Olympics.
c. Some sports have more distinct regional appeal
i. Cricket
 ii. Wushu
iii. Lacrosse
iv. Sepak Takraw

10. Folk Clothing Preferences

a. Style of clothing worn in response to distinctive
agricultural practices and climatic conditions
i. Folk custom in the Netherlands is to wear wooden
shoes because of practical uses in wet climates.
b. Fur-lined boots protect against cold in arctic climates.
c. Traditional clothing styles/dress
i. Muslim fashion: https://youtu.be/KfovBYEVNMA

11. Popular Clothing Preferences

a. Style of clothing generally reflects occupation, income,
and all forms of media rather than the particular
environment
i. Business suits worn by professionals
ii. Designer clothes worn by the affluent

12. Rapid Diffusion of Popular Clothing Styles

a. Improved communications central to rapid diffusion
i. Time for original designs for women’s dresses to be
designed in fashion capitals and reproductions
available in stores have diminished from years to a
few weeks.
1. Paris or London

13. Fashion
a. Hierarchical Diffusion can occur through a hierarchy of
places
i. The hearth is the point of origin
b. Jeans
i. An important symbol of the diffusion of Western
popular culture.
ii. Locally Diverse
1. Japan
a. customized with patches and cutouts
2. Korea
a. frayed, ripped or shredded
3. Italy
a. cliche on seat of jeans

14. Culture (religion most often) have created preferences and

taboos (behaviors heavily discouraged by a culture)
 a. Pork among Jews and Muslims
i. They can eat Kosher or Halal
b. Beef among Hindus
i. 21 of 29 states in India ban the slaughter of cows
ii. Food taboos: https://youtu.be/Oz-V3wBinCs

15. Terroir - the sum of the effects on a particular food item of

soil, climate and other features of the environment.
a. Wine growing regions based on certain saline soil and a
Mediterranean climate.
b. Cereal grains grown in temperate climates.
c. Designated spaces for gardens is another aspect of
terroir.
i. British communal gardens
ii. Turkish Bostans
d. These areas provide a sense of place.
e. Hotter climate zones have produced a greater variety of
plant species and spices from them. This diversity has led
to more variety in the diets of people of warmer climates.
f. People in the higher latitudes of northern Europe, Russia,
North America in general have had fewer food pathogens and
tended to create recipes based on a few simple herbs and
spices. This led to prevalence in somewhat bland food
with soups and stews as well as bread becoming their
staple.

16. Housing
a. Folk housing can have environmental influences
i. Ex. choice of building materials, climate
considerations, build it themselves.
b. Popular housing will have less environmental influence and
focus on materials that are produced and aesthetics that
buyers want. Built for buyers.

17. Cultural Landscape - The boundaries of a region reflect the

human imprint on the environment resulting in the cultural
landscape
a. the built environment or visible reflection of a culture

18. Placelessness - the loss of uniqueness of place in the

cultural landscape to the point that one place looks like the
next.
a. A UNIFORM LANDSCAPE
b. “Blandscape”
19. Ethnic enclave - clusters of people of the same culture in a
neighborhood
a. surrounded by people of a culture that is dominant in the
region
b. Forced or chosen segregation to buffer from outside
influence or discrimination.

20. Cultural Hearth - The area in which a unique culture or a

specific trait develops
a. Folk cultures have strong connections to their cultural
hearth and a strong sense of place
b. Cultures can be present in Cultural Regions
i. Cultural Regions - broad areas where groups share
similar, but not identical cultural traits
1. Formal, functional, and perceptual regions
c. Because people, goods, and ideas move throughout the
world, cultures spread spatially, well beyond their
hearths.

21. Diffusion - The spreading of information, ideas, behaviors

and other aspects of culture over wider areas
a. Relocation diffusion - the spread of a cultural trait by
people who migrate and carry their cultural traits with
them
b. Expansion diffusion - the spread of cultural traits
through direct or indirect exchange without migration
i. Contagious diffusion - occurs when a cultural trait
spreads continuously outward from its hearth through
contact among people.
ii. Hierarchical diffusion - the spread of culture
outward from the most interconnected places or from
centers of wealth and importance
1. From one important person, city, or powerful
class to another.
2. It may skip others in a leapfrogging fashion.
iii. Reverse hierarchical diffusion - at times, a trait
diffuses from a lower class to a higher class
1. Tattoos
a. Originally associated with gangs,
violence, WWII, but now used to express
ideas
b. Can be expensive
2. Walmart
 a. Initially created to help the lower and
middle class access upper class items at a
lower price
b. The rich saw Walmart and shopped at
Walmart because it was the same item for a
lower price
iv. Stimulus diffusion - occurs when people in a culture
adopt an underlying idea or process from another
culture, but modify it because they reject one trait
of it
1. Maharaja Mac
a. Mcdonald’s around the world:
37 McDonald's Foods You Probably Haven…
2. Porcelain in Europe

22. Space-time compression occurred because of the Industrial

Revolution
a. improvements in transportation & communication shortened
the time required for movement, trade, or other forms of
interaction between places
b. accelerated cultural change around the world
c. Digital Revolution (started last several decades) only
accelerated this process more

23. Globalization - process of intensified interaction among

peoples, governments, and companies of different countries
around the globe has had a profound impact on culture.
a. Popular culture has grown more widespread during
globalization.

24. The rapid diffusion of popular culture can cause consumers to

lose track of the hearth of a good or idea.
a. When popular culture displaces or replaces local culture,
it will usually be met with resistance.
b. Geographers realize that local cultures will interpret,
choose, and reshape the influx of popular culture.
c. This process of contact results in many outcomes of
cultural convergence and divergence.

25. Assimilation - a process of giving up cultural traditions,

such as food and clothing preferences, and adoption of the
social customs of the dominant culture of the place.
a. often a natural process that may happen over several
generations
 b. often follows relocation diffusion (migration) to a new
place with different culture.

26. Assimilation can also be a forced process where the more

dominant culture forcibly makes subcultures give up their way
of life such as:
a. Native Americans in North America
i. Watch this to find out more:
https://youtu.be/UGqWRyBCHhw
b. Indigenous groups in South America, Asia and Africa
c. Aborigines in Australia
d. Muslim Uyghurs in China
e. Tibetan Buddhists in China
f. Ainu in Japan
g. Central Asians in Russian Empire/Soviet Union

27. The process of a folk culture adjusting to the dominant

culture, while retaining features of their folk
culture...similar to syncretism
a. Syncretism - the creation of those new merged traditions
b. The Amish are an example of this kind of acculturation.
c. Watch this to find out more:
Who Are The Amish People of America? (Pennsylvania)

28. Cultural Appropriation - the process by which other cultures

adopt customs and knowledge and use them for their own benefit
a. Local cultures are sustained through customs
i. Customs - practices that a group of people routinely
follow.
b. A local culture can also work to avoid cultural
appropriation
c. Local cultures desire to keep popular culture out, keep
their culture intact, and maintain control over customs
and knowledge.

29. Cultural Commodification - The process where cultural

elements become regarded as objects to be bought, sold or
traded on the world market
a. Ecotourism is one way of accomplishing this
i. buying stereotypical souvenirs, eating local food,
global fast food, Disney, Marvel, Nike, Coca Cola,
IKEA

30. Re-territorialization of popular culture – a term referring

to a process in which people start to produce an aspect of
 popular culture themselves, doing so in the context of their
local culture and place, and making it their own.
a. re-territorialization of hip hop
i. When rappers refer to their “gangster life” and the
hardships of it. They usually talk about where they
grow up and that's where the place association is
mentioned

31. Multiculturalism - The coexistence of several cultures in one

society, with the ideal of ALL cultures being valued and worthy
of study.
a. These cultures enrich the lives of all people.
b. Without full assimilation most receiving societies such as
the U.S. are considered multicultural.
c. “The Melting Pot.”
d. Multiculturalism can bring conflict.
e. In some cases that conflict becomes harsh.
i. Nativist, or anti-immigrant, attitudes may form among
the cultural majority
ii. Can sometimes bring violence or government actions
against the immigrant or minority group.
f. This can border on xenophobia
g. Xenophobia - general dislike, almost fear, of people from
other countries and cultures.

32. Cultural relativism - the objective analysis of other

cultures-understanding a culture’s beliefs and practices from
the culture’s point of view.
a. It is not about imposing judgment or assessing the worth
of other cultures

33. Ethnocentrism - often characterized by a belief that one’s

culture is the best or right culture.

34. Universal morals and norms are difficult to accomplish when

each culture views what is right and wrong somewhat, if not
drastically, different.
a. But it does allow us to objectively understand what is
unique among cultures and why people believe what they do
and behave as they do.

35. In order to achieve a more equal global society, many today

take a position that some system of ethics, or a universal
ethic, applies universally, that is, for "all similarly situated
individuals",[1] regardless of culture, race, sex, religion,
 nationality, sexual orientation, or any other distinguishing
features.
a. This is often reflected in global efforts at improving
EVERYONE’S quality of life through universal efforts at
protecting life and liberty
b. Facts and data can often lead us to better understanding
of what universal rights should be promoted and protected.
i. HDI
ii. Social Progress Index

36. Electronic Media

a. Widespread access or lack of access to electronic media
such as TV, Internet and social media can drastically
alter what popular culture people adopt
b. Access to electronic media is often driven by income
i. More income, more access
ii. Less income, less access.
c. Watching TV is the most popular leisure activity in the
world.
i. It has been the most important mechanism by which
popular culture, like sports, has diffused.
d. Internet access has followed a similar pattern of
diffusion to TV.
i. In 1995 most countries did not have Internet service
as the US had 63% of all users.
ii. Internet service expanded rapidly in the United
States from 1995-2000, but the expansion in the rest
of the world has been even more announced.
1. History of the Internet:
This Is The History Of The Internet | Mach |…
iii. Today about 4.8 billion people or around 58% of the
world’s people have access to the Internet.
e. Social media has become one of the most transformative
forces of the 21st century in the last 10-15 years.
i. Facebook
ii. Twitter (now X)
iii. Instagram
iv. Reddit
v. TikTok
vi. VSCO
f. Smartphones - The most powerful tool of cultural
diffusion, all in your pocket
i. TV, Internet and Social Media
Diagrams

Folk culture Popular culture American folk

music

American folk instruments Metro music index

Kate

Hierarchical
Diffusion

Popular music Traditional clothing customs of women in

North
Africa and Southwest Asia in respect to
cultural views of modesty, including the
wearing of a veil
Types of Islamic Veils
Korean style jeans Japanese style jeans

Lady worshiping cow in India Coke vs. Pepsi globally

Coke vs. Pepsi Nationally Folk housing Popular

housing

New England Folk Middle Atlantic Folk Housing Tidewater Folk

Housing Housing

“Blandscape”
“Blandscape”
Other common house types
“Blandscape”

Little Italy Ethnic enclave Chinatown Ethnic Enclave

Contagious Diffusion Contagious Diffusion Tattoo Reverse

Hierarchical
diffusion

Walmart Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion

Stimulus diffusion
Smartphone users per region

Social media —-->