Chapter 4 Flashcards
Culture
What is an artifact?
Any item, made by humans, that represents a material aspect of culture
Artifacts provide insight into the cultural practices and beliefs of a society.
Define built environment.
The man-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter to neighborhoods to the large-scale civic surroundings.
What does cultural convergence refer to?
The contact and interaction of one culture to another.
What is cultural/environmental perception?
The concept that people of different cultures will observe and interpret their environment differently.
Define cultural landscape.
Modifications to the environment by humans, including the built environment and agricultural systems, that reflect aspects of their culture.
What is a cultural realm?
The entire region throughout which a culture prevails.
List criteria that may define cultural realms.
- Religion
- Language
- Diet
- Customs
- Economic development
What is a cultural hearth?
Locations on earth’s surface where specific cultures first arose.
Define cultural trait.
The specific customs that are part of the everyday life of a particular culture.
What is a cultural region?
A region defined by similar culture traits and cultural landscape features.
What is a custom?
Practices followed by the people of a particular cultural group.
Define folk culture.
Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.
What is food attraction?
Reasons certain cultures/regions eat certain types of food.
What is a habit?
A repetitive act that a particular individual performs.
What is material culture?
The physical manifestations of human activities, including tools, campsites, art, and structures.
Define popular culture.
Dynamic culture based in large, heterogeneous societies permitting considerable individualism, innovation, and change.
What is possibilism?
The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people can adapt to the physical environment.
What is a taboo?
A restriction on a behavior imposed by a social custom.
Define placelessness.
Loss of a distinct local feature in favor of standardized landscapes.
What is relocation diffusion?
Sequential diffusion process in which items are transmitted by their carrier agents as they relocate.
Define acculturation.
When one group of people adopts the culture traits of another culture.
What is cultural assimilation?
The process whereby a minority group gradually adopts the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture.
What is commodification?
The process through which something is given monetary value.
Define cultural appropriation.
The adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture, often viewed negatively.
What is cultural adaptation?
New people adapt to the culture of the previously existing people.
What is immaterial culture?
The beliefs, practices, aesthetics, and values of a group of people.
What is archetectural structure?
The style of a particular culture or society’s buildings.
What are mentifacts?
Ideas, beliefs, and knowledge that comprise the ideological subsystem of culture.
Define sociofacts.
Expected and accepted patterns of interpersonal relations within a group of people.
What is a charter group?
The first ethnic group to establish cultural norms in an area.
Define cultural imperialism.
Dominance of one culture over another, historically a result of colonization.
What is culture?
The ideas, practices, and material objects associated with a particular group of people.
What is a diaspora?
Experiences of people from a common ethnic background living in different regions.
Define diffusion.
Process by which an idea or innovation is transmitted from one individual or group across space.
What is hierarchical diffusion?
An idea or innovation spreads by passing first among the most connected places or people.
What is environmentalism determinism?
How cultural traits are formed and controlled by environmental conditions.
Define ethnic cleansing.
Effort to rid a country or region of everyone of a particular ethnicity.
What is genocide?
Premeditated effort to kill everyone from a particular ethnic group.
Define ethnic enclave.
A relatively small area occupied by a distinct culture or ethnicity.
What are ethnic islands?
Small rural areas settled by a single ethnic group.
What are ethnic neighborhoods?
Concentrations of people from the same ethnicity in certain pockets of the city.
Define ethnicity.
A group of people who share a common identity, involving social and cultural identity.
What is ethnocentrism?
The tendency to evaluate other cultures against the standards of one’s own.
