unit 3 Flashcards
Cultural landscape
The modification of the natural landscape by human activities
Cultural geography
The transformation of the land and the ways that humans interact with the environment
Cultural ecology
Studies the relationship between the natural environment and the culture
Environmental determinism
The idea that the physical environment, especially the climate and terrain, actively shaped cultures so that human responses are almost completely molded by the environment. Similar environments produce similar cultures
Possibilism
Cultural heritage is at least as important as the physical environment in shaping human behavior. People are the primary architect of culture
Environmental perception
Emphasizes the importance of human perception of the environment, rather than the actual character of the land. Perception is shaped by the teachings of the culture
Cultural determinism
Human culture is ultimately more important than the physical environment in shaping human actions. Human culture is the molder of the physical environment
Culture
Complex mix of values, beliefs, and behaviors
Values
Culturally defined standards that guide the way people asses things, guidelines for moral living
Beliefs
Specific statements that people hold to be true, and they are almost always based on values
Behaviors
Actions that people take
Norms
The rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members
Material culture
Includes a wide range of concrete human creations which reflect values, beliefs, and behaviors
Artifacts
Concrete human creations
Culture region
An area marked by culture that distinguishes it from other regions
Culture trait
A single attribute of a culture
Culture complex
Common values, beliefs, behaviors, and artifacts that make a group in an area distinct from others
Culture system
A group or interconnected culture complexes that binds its people together
Geographic region
An entire culture system that intertwined with its locational and environmental circumstances
Cultural hearths
The areas where civilizations first began that radiated the customs, innovations, and ideologies that culturally transformed the world
Cultural diffusion
When culture spread from cultural hearths to areas around them
Independent innovations
Developments that can be traced to a specific civilization
Carl Sauer
Said diffusion occurred through the movement of people, goods, and ideas. Author of Agricultural Origins and Dispersals in 1952
Torsten Hagerstrand
Famous geographer
expansion diffusion
when an innovation or idea develops in a strange area and remains strong there while also spreading outward
contagious diffusion
when almost all individuals and areas outward from the source are affected
time-distance decay
the influence of the cultural traits weakens as time and distance increases
hierarchical diffusion
where ideas and artifacts spread first between larger places or prominent people and only later to smaller places or less prominent people
stimulus diffusion
a basic idea, though not the specific trait itself, stimulates imitative behavior within a population
relocation diffusion
individuals or populations migrating from the source areas physically carry the innovation or idea to new areas
migrant diffusion
where the spread of cultural traits is slow enough that they weaken in the area of origin by the time they reach other areas
acculturation
the less dominant culture adopts some of the traits of the more influential one
assimilation
when immigrants lose their native customs, including religion and language
transculturation
a two-way equal exchange of cultural traits
