Unit 3-1: Cultural Patterns and Processes

Centrifugal Force

A force that threatens the cohesion of a neighborhood, society, or country

Centripetal Force

A force that brings people together and unifies a neighborhood, society, or country

Colonialism

The act of forcefully controlling a foreign territory, which becomes known as a colony

Contagious Diffusion

The wavelike spread of ideas in the manner of a contagious disease or forest fire, moving throughout space without regard for hierarchy

Creole

A combined language that has a fuller vocabulary than a pidgin language and becomes a native language

Cultural Relativism

An approach to understanding other cultures that seeks to understand individuals and cultures from a wider perspective of cultural logic

Cultural Trait

A single aspect of a given culture or society

Ethnic Group

A people of common ancestry and cultural tradition; characterized by a strong feeling of group identity

Ethnocentric Approach

An approach to understanding other cultures that evaluates them from the perspective of the observer's culture

Hierarchical Diffusion

Occurs when ideas leapfrog from one important person, community, or city to another, bypassing other persons, communities, or rural areas

Imperialism

The motivating impulse to control greater amounts of territory

Indigenous Culture

A local culture that is no longer the dominant ethnic group within its traditional homeland because of migration, colonization, or political marginalization

Language

a mutually agreed-upon system of symbolic communication that has a spoken and usually a written expression.

Lingua Franca

A language of communication and commerce spoken across a wide area where it is not a mother tongue

Local Culture

Rural, ethnically homogeneous culture that is deeply connected to the local land; the opposite of popular culture

Long-Lot Settlement

A linear settlement pattern in which each farmstead is situated at one end of a long, narrow rectangular lot; each lot has access to a major linear resource, usually a river or major road

Material Culture

The physical, visible objects made and used by members of a cultural group; includes buildings, furniture, clothing, food, artwork, and musical instruments

Modernist Architecture

A functional, rational, and orderly style for building designs

Multiculturalism

A set of policies that promote the active participation and inclusion of minority groups in national histories, national politics, and cultural institutions with the goal of embracing difference with society

Nonmaterial Culture

Intangible elements of culture including a wide range of beliefs, values, myths, and symbolic meanings passed from generation to generation within given society

Pidgin

A trade language, characterized by a very small vocabulary derived from the languages of at least two or more groups in contact

Placelessness

a feeling resulting from the standardization of the built environment, increasingly on a global scale, that diminishes regional variation and eliminates the unique meanings associated with specific locations

Placemaking

Efforts to use and design public places to better serve the needs of residents and to foster a stronger community

Popular Culture

Heterogeneous culture that is more influenced by key urban areas and quick to adopt new technologies; opposite of a local culture

Postmodern Architecture

A design style that is a reaction against modernist architecture; it has a flair for the dramatic, creating a spectacle while serving a variety of functions

Religion

A structured set of beliefs and practices through which people seek mental and physical harmony with the powers of the universe

Sacred Space

Natural or human-made sites that possess religious meaning and are recognized as worthy of devotion, loyalty, fear, or esteem

Secular

Less influenced or controlled by religion

Sense of Place

How a person feels about a particular place and why it's important to them

Sequent Occupance

Refers to the fact that many places have been controlled or affected by a variety of groups over a period of time; those groups have reshaped the functions or meanings of these places and left behind layers of meaning

Stimulus Diffusion

Occurs when a specific trait is rejected, but the underlying idea is accepted

Cultural Landscape

A natural land that has been modified by humans, reflecting their cultural beliefs and values

Cultural Relativism

The evaluation of a culture by its own standards

Culture

The beliefs, values, practices, behaviors, and technologies shared by a society and passed down from generation to generation

Ethnocentrism

The tendency of ethnic groups to evaluate other groups according to preconceived ideas originating from their own culture

Gendered Spaces

a space designed and deliberately incorporated into the landscape to accommodate gender roles

Sequent Occupance

the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape

Toponym

place name

Commodification

Transformation of goods and services into products that can be bought, sold, or traded

Cultural Appropriation

When one culture adopts customs and knowledge from another culture and uses them for its own benefit.

Distance Decay

Decreasing likelihood of diffusion with greater distance from the hearth

Folk Culture

small homogeneous population; mostly rural and cohesive in cultural traits that are passed down from generation to generation

Hearth

Area or place where an idea, innovation, or technology originates.

Popular Culture

cultural traits such as dress, diet, and music that identify and are part of today's changeable, urban-based, media-influenced, western societies

Time-Space Compression

Increasing connectedness between world cities from improved communication and transportation networks.