Chapter 5.2 Cultural Geography Pg. 94

Studying Culture  Culture includes all of the features of a people’s way of life.  It is learned and passed down from parents to children.  Language, religion, architecture, clothing, economics, family life, food and government.

Cultural Traits  Activities and behaviors that people often take part in are called cultural traits.  Example: Americans eat with a knife, fork, and spoon. Chinese eat with chopsticks, Ethiopians with their fingers.

Culture Regions  Different ways of life for different groups generate distinctive cultural landscapes around the world.  An area where people have many shared culture traits is called a culture region.  Japan is an example of a country with one culture region.  Some of many different ethnic groups.

continued  Ethnic groups are human populations that share a common culture or ancestry.

Culture Change  Culture traits change through time. Example: clothing.  Some are more complex. 1800’s people rode streetcars downtown to do their shopping, in the 1900’s they used buses and cars eventually took over.

continued  Throughout history processes such as migration, war, and trade have caused cultures to change. New traits are added and others fade away.  When an individual or group adopts some of the traits of another culture the process is called acculturation.

Innovation and diffusion  Innovation – new ideas that a culture accepts. Example: baseball, how to build a boat.  Diffusion – when an idea or innovation spreads from one person or group to another and is adopted. Jazz music in the U.S.

Globalization  A global set of cultural traits is taking hold because of T.V. and internet.  Globalization – connections around the world increase and cultures become more alike.

Traditionalism  The opposite of globalization.  Traditionalism – following longtime practices and opposing many modern technologies and ideas.