Important Terminology Folk Culture – traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation. Popular Culture – found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in personal characteristics. Material Culture – the physical objects produced by a culture in order to meet its material needs: food, clothing, shelter, arts, and recreation. Non-Material Culture: non-physical things we value: patriotism, honesty, religion, etc.

Important Terms Habit – repetitive act performed by an individual. Custom – frequent repetition of an act until it becomes characteristic of a group of people..(a widely adopted habit) Taboo – a restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.

Folk culture varies from place to place!!! Folk Culture – rapidly changing and/or disappearing throughout much of the world. Guatemalan Market Portuguese Fishing Boat Folk culture varies from place to place!!! Turkish Camel Market

Folk Culture Stable and close knit Usually a rural community Tradition controls Resistance to change Buildings erected without architect or blueprint using locally available building materials Anonymous origins, diffuses slowly through migration. Develops over time. Clustered distributions: isolation/lack of interaction breed uniqueness and ties to physical environment.

Local Culture—Culture that still has folk components but has recently been influenced by “Pop” culture A group of people in a particular place who see themselves as a collective or a community, who share experiences, customs, and traits, and who work to preserve those traits and customs in order to claim uniqueness and to distinguish themselves from others.

Pop culture varies from time to time!!! Popular culture: people share certain habits (like wearing jeans) despite differences in other personal characteristics. Pop culture covers a larger scale of territory than folk culture…why? Based on rapid simultaneous global connections, rapid diffusion modern tech, communication systems Allows for frequent change in pop culture Pop culture varies from time to time!!!

Popular Culture=Placelessness Wide Distribution—differences from place to place uncommon, more likely differences at one place over time Housing—only small regional variations, more generally there are trends over time Food—Franchises, cargo plans, highways, freezer trucks (have all eliminated a lot of local variation) Limited variations in choice regionally (alcohol/snacks)

FOLK ARCHITECTURE Effects on Landscape: usually of limited scale and scope. Agricultural: fields, terraces, grain storage Dwellings: historically created from local materials: wood, brick, stone, skins; often uniquely and traditionally arranged; always functionally tied to physical environment.

Problems with the Globalization of Culture Often Destroys Folk Culture – or preserves traditions as museum pieces or tourism gimmicks. Mexican Mariachis; Polynesian Navigators; Cruise Line Simulations Change in Traditional Roles and Values; Polynesian weight problems Satellite Television, Baja California

Problems with the Globalization of Popular Culture Western Media Imperialism? U.S., Britain, and Japan dominate worldwide media. Glorified consumerism, violence, sexuality, and militarism? U.S. (Networks and CNN) and British (BBC) news media provide/control the dissemination of information worldwide. These networks are unlikely to focus or provide third world perspective on issues important in the LDCs.

Problems with the Globalization of Popular Culture Accelerated Resource Use Furs, minx, lynx, jaguar, kangaroo, whale, sea otters Inefficient over consumption of meats Mineral extraction for machines, plastics, and fuel New housing and energy and water use Golf courses Pollution—waste from fuel generation and discarded products and materials

How do cultural traits and popular culture diffuse? Hearth: the point of origin of a cultural trait. Contagious diffusion Hierarchical diffusion

With Distance Decay, the likelihood of diffusion decreases as time and distance from the hearth increases. With Time-Space Compression, the likelihood of diffusion depends upon the connectedness among places. Which applies more to popular culture? Time-Space Compression

Factors that affect diffusion Distance Population density Means of communication Nature of the innovation Prestige of the Node

Culture can be spread through Commodification/Glocalization How are aspects of local culture (material, non-material, place) commodified? Commodification-is the transformation of goods, services and ideas into commodities or objects of trade. A commodity at its most basic, according to Arjun Appadurai, is "any thing intended for exchange," or any object of economic value. Living beings can also be commodified. what is commodified? who commodifies it? Glocalization-using globalized products to fit local contexts/cultures.

Authenticity Claims of authenticity abound – how do consumers determine what experience/place is “authentic” and what is not? This is the problem with commodification and glocalization…no one knows what is authentic.

Assimilation vs. acculturation Cultural convergence of equal value (neither assimilation or acculturation) Less ethnocentric transculturation

Local cultures are sustained by maintaining customs. Custom: a practice that a group of people routinely follows. Ex. Makah People of Washington

A. Local Cultures often have two goals: 1. keeping other cultures out. (ie. create a boundary around itself) 2. keeping their own culture in. (ie. avoid cultural appropriation)

B. What role does place play in maintaining customs B. What role does place play in maintaining customs? (rural and urban local) By defining a place (a town or a neighborhood) or a space for a short amount of time (an annual festival) as representing a culture and its values, members of a local culture can maintain (or reestablish) its customs and reinforce its beliefs.

Little Sweden, USA (Lindsborg, KS) Why did the residents of Lindsborg define it as a Swedish place? neolocalism: seeking out the regional culture and reinvigorating it in response to the uncertainty of the modern world.

Urban Local Cultures Can create ethnic neighborhoods within cities. Creates a space to practice customs. Can cluster businesses, houses of worship, schools to support local culture. Migration into ethnic neighborhoods can quickly change an ethnic neighborhood. For example: Williamsburg, NY, North End (Boston), MA