What is Culture?
• Material Culture is tangible artifacts
that can be physically left behind, such
as clothing or architecture
• Non-material Culture is thoughts and
ideas of a people, such as religion and
laws
• Habit- A repetitive act that a particular individual
performs
• Custom-A repetitive act of a group, performed
to the extent that it becomes characteristic of
the group.
• Relocation Diffusion- The spread of a
characteristic through migration.
• Taboo-A restriction on behavior imposed by
social custom.
Carl Sauer
• Wherever a human
culture exists, a
cultural landscape
exists as that
culture’s unique
“fingerprint: on their
space on Earth
Sequent Occupancy
• The theory that a place can be occupied
by different groups of people, and each
group leaves its imprint on the place from
which the next group leaves
Romans 43
How did these
invaders change
Great Britain?
Saxons 453
Vikings 793
Normans 1066
Tudors 1484
“Does the Earth make humans
take the actions they do?
Environmental Determinism vs.
Possibilism
• Theory that argues that • Theory that argues that
human behavior is
the natural environment
controlled (determined)
places limits on the set
by the physical
of choices (possibilities)
environment
available to people.
Vegas Baby!
Cultural Determinism
• The theory that the
environment places no limits
or restrictions on humans
whatsoever
• The only restriction is self
created
• Golf course in the desert?
– Pipe in the water
– Use grass seeds which require
less watering
The Pearl, Qatar
Political Ecology
• Government of a
region affects the
environment in
that region, which
in turn affects the
choices available
to people
– Ex) Zoning Laws
Cultural Diffusion vs.
Spatial Diffusion
• The spread of
people’s culture
across space
• The spread of any
phenomenon across space
– Disease
– Drugs
Types of Expansion Diffusion
• The cultural component spreads outward to
new places while remaining strong in the
hearth, or place of origin
• Stimulus Expansion- occurs when the original
idea diffuses from its hearth outward, but the
original idea is changed by new adapters
– Iced Tea diffused south, but southerners made it
“sweet tea”
Expansion Diffusion continued
• Hierarchical Expansionoccurs when the
concept spreads from
one place/person of
power to another
leveled pattern
– Hip Hop diffused from a
few large inner cities to
other large inner cities
to smaller inner cities to
suburbia to rural areas
• Contagious Expansionoccurs when numerous
people or places near the
point of origin become
adopters
– Spread of disease
• Relocation Diffusioninvolves the movement of
original adopters from their
hearth (point of origin)
– Spread of disease
Soccer
• An example of hierarchical diffusion of Pop
Culture.
• In the late 20th Century, the world’s most
popular sport.
• Began in 1800s as a folk culture
• The Dutch were the first continental
Europeans to play soccer in 1870s.
• The British diffused the game throughout their
empire.
• Soccer was further diffused by radio and
television.
Torsten Hagerstrand’s Diffusion S- Curve
Rate of adoption slows and those
who haven’t bought finally buy a cell
phone
People learned, prices fell,
those susceptible became
adopters
Only those who
could afford
them
Ex) Cell Phones
Late adopters
(laggards)
Majority adopters
Early adopters (innovators)
Cultural Convergence, Acculturation
and Cultural Divergence
• Cultural Convergenceoccurs when two cultures
adopt each other’s traits
and become more alike
• Acculturation- occurs
when two cultures come
into contact with one
another and the less
dominant culture adopts
the traits of the more
dominant culture
(assimilation)
• Cultural Divergenceoccurs when two cultures
become increasingly
different, often when one
group moves away from
the territory of one culture
group
Ethnicity
• Core component in cultural identity
• Shared culture traits
– Language, religion, nationality
• Territory is often an underlying trait
• Not biological but rather chosen
• Ethnocentrism- is one group’s use of its cultural
identity as a superior standard by which to judge
others (often causes discrimination)
Ethnic Groups
• Usually spatially divided
• Ghetto- a region in which
an ethnic minority is
forced to live by
economic, legal or
governmental pressures
• Ethnic Enclave- is a
place in which an ethnic
minority is concentrated,
sometimes in a ghetto,
barrio, homeland, favelas
Ethnic Cleansing
• Process in which a racial or ethnic group
attempts to expel from a territory another racial
or ethnic group
• Genocide- the killing of racial or ethnic group
by another racial or ethnic group
– Slobodan Milosevic, the Serb leader led a
genocide campaign against Albanians living in
Kosovo, a region in Serbia
Race
• Refers to a classification system of
humans based on skin color and other
physical characteristics
• Race is biological and not chosen
Folk Culture
• Material culture traditionally practiced
primarily by small, homogeneous (same)
groups living in isolated rural areas
The Amish
• Example of Relocation Diffusion.
• Distinctive clothing, farming, and religious
practices.
• Shun mechanical and electrical power.
• Travel by horse and buggy and continue to
use hand tools for farming.
• Number only about 70,000 in US.
• Visible on the landscape in at least 17
states.
Popular Culture
• Is practiced by large, heterogeneous
(different) societies that share habits
despite differences in personal
characteristics, and most frequently
originate in MDCs
• Physical objects, resources, and spaces
that people use to define their culture.
• Pop culture is becoming more dominant,
threatening the survival of folk cultures
Origin of Folk and Popular Cultures
• Folk culture originates from anonymous
sources, at unknown dates, through
unidentified originators.
• Popular culture is most often a product of the
economies of MDCs
• popular music
• fast food
Folk
• Isolated groups
• Spreads through
relocation diffusion,
original group moves
and brings traits with
them
• Not been exposed to
pop culture or they
chose not to adopt
traits
vs.
Pop
• Mass culture that
diffuses rapidly
• Spreads through
expansion diffusion
across space and
varied cultures
– Starbucks- reducing
the diversity of local
coffee shops
throughout the country
Folk Music vs. Country Music
• Composed anonymously • Folk customs may have
and transmitted orally
multiple origins.
• Is transmitted from one • Follows the process of
hierarchical diffusion from
location to another.
hearths or nodes of
• More slowly
innovation.
• At a smaller scale
• Hollywood (movies)
• Through relocation
• Madison Avenue (advertising)
diffusion
• Geographer George Carney
identified 4 major hearths of
• Tell story or convey
country music
information about
• southern Appalachia
• daily activities
• Central Tennessee and
• life-cycle events
Kentucky
• mysterious events
• the Ozark and Ouachita uplands
• north-central Texas
“Pop”ular Music vs. Hip Hop
• Written by specific
individuals for the
purpose of being sold
to a large number of
people.
• Originated around
1900
• Diffusion of American
popular music
worldwide began
during World War II
• Originated in New
York in late 1970s.
• A return to a very
local form of music
expression.
• Diffused rapidly
around the world
through globalization
Isolation Promotes Cultural
Diversity
Food Diversity
• Although food customs are inevitably
affected by the availability of products, food
consumed in neighboring cultural groups
often reflect distinctive traditions
Example of food adaptation is
Soybeans
•
•
•
•
•
•
Excellent source of protein.
Widely grown in Asia.
Fuel for cooking is scarce
Bean Sprouts (germinated seeds).
Soy Sauce (fermented soybeans)
Bean Curd (steamed soybeans).
Example of Food Taboos
• Abipone Indians of Paraguay eat
jaguars and bulls to make
themselves strong.
• The mandrake was thought to
enhance lovemaking in
Mediterranean climates.
• The Ainus in Japan thought that
otters would make one forgetful.
• Europeans first thought potatoes
caused typhoid and tuberculosis
Insects as Food
• Americans avoid eating
insects, despite their
nutritional value.
• In Thailand, giant water
bugs are deep fried as
snack foods.
• Americans consume
insects in most foods
including canned
mushrooms and tomato
paste.