Culture is the mix of values, beliefs, behaviors, and material objects that form a people’s way of life. In AP Human Geography, Unit 3 focuses on how culture originates, how it spreads across space (diffusion), and how human culture interacts with and leaves its mark on the physical environment (the cultural landscape).
Culture and Spatial Patterns
What is the difference between folk culture and popular culture?
Geographers divide culture into two primary categories based on scale, origin, and rate of change.
- Folk Culture: Traditionally practiced by small, homogeneous groups living in isolated, rural areas.
- Origins: Anonymous hearths, dates, and originators. It is passed down orally and changes very slowly.
- Diffusion: Spreads slowly and on a small scale, primarily through relocation diffusion (physical movement of people).
- Examples: Amish communities in the United States, traditional hula dancing in Hawaii, or yurt-building in Central Asia.
- Popular Culture: Found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.
- Origins: Traceable to a specific person or corporation in a particular place (often a developed country’s urban center).
- Diffusion: Spreads rapidly and over a wide area through expansion diffusion (using technology and mass media).
- Examples: Hip-hop music, fast-food chains, blue jeans, and viral social media challenges.
What is cultural landscape?
Coined by Carl Sauer, the Cultural Landscape is the fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group. It is the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the physical landscape.
- Components: Buildings, architectural styles, agricultural patterns (like terraced fields), religious structures (like churches, mosques, temples), transport networks, and signs.
- Key Concept: The cultural landscape is a reflection of a society’s values, technologies, and historical developments.
What is sequent occupance?
Sequent Occupance is the notion that successful societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape.
- Example: In Bolivia, the city of La Paz features an overlay of Incan agricultural terraces, Spanish colonial plazas and Catholic cathedrals, and modern high-rise office buildings. Each layer represents a different era of control and culture.
What is an ethnic enclave?
An Ethnic Enclave is a neighborhood, district, or suburb which retains some cultural distinction from a larger surrounding area. Usually formed through chain migration, these enclaves help new immigrants transition into a new society by offering familiar food, languages, religious services, and community networks.
- Examples: Chinatown in San Francisco, Little Italy in New York, or Koreatown in Los Angeles.
Cultural Diffusion and Assimilation
What is cultural diffusion and what are the types?
Cultural Diffusion is the spread of an idea, innovation, or cultural trait from its hearth (origin point) to other areas. It is split into two primary mechanisms: relocation diffusion and expansion diffusion.
[Cultural Diffusion]
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[Relocation Diffusion] [Expansion Diffusion]
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[Hierarchical] [Contagious] [Stimulus]What is the difference between relocation diffusion and expansion diffusion?
- Relocation Diffusion: The spread of a feature or trend through the physical movement of people from one place to another. The total number of people practicing the trait in the original hearth might actually decrease as they move.
- Example: The spread of Spanish to North and South America due to Spanish colonization and migration.
- Expansion Diffusion: The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in an additive process. It remains strong in the hearth while spreading outward.
What are hierarchical, contagious, and stimulus diffusion?
Expansion diffusion occurs in three distinct ways:
- Hierarchical Diffusion: The spread of an idea from political leaders, social elites, or other persons of power/influence to other persons or places.
- Example: A high-fashion clothing trend starting on runways in Paris and Milan, moving to large cities like New York, and eventually filtering down to suburban shopping malls.
- Contagious Diffusion: The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population, similar to the spread of a virus. It spreads without regard to social status or hierarchy.
- Example: A viral meme spreading across TikTok or Twitter to millions of users in a matter of hours.
- Stimulus Diffusion: The spread of an underlying principle or concept, even though the specific characteristic itself is rejected or modified.
- Example: McDonald’s spreading to India, but adapting its menu to exclude beef (offering the Maharaja Mac made of chicken or veg) due to Hindu dietary laws.
What is acculturation vs. assimilation vs. syncretism?
When different cultural groups come into contact, several processes can occur:
- Acculturation: The adoption of cultural traits (like language or clothing) by one group under the influence of another, while still retaining their own distinct culture.
- Example: An immigrant family learning English and celebrating Thanksgiving, but still speaking Spanish at home and cooking traditional family meals.
- Assimilation: The process by which a group’s cultural features are altered to resemble those of another group. The minority culture is completely absorbed and loses its original identity.
- Example: Historic government boarding schools forcing Native American children to cut their hair, speak only English, and abandon their native religions and customs.
- Syncretism: The combining of elements of two or more different cultures to form a completely new cultural trait.
- Example: Santería, a religion practiced in Cuba that blends traditional West African Yoruba beliefs with Roman Catholicism.
Language
What is a language family vs. a language branch vs. a language group?
Languages are organized hierarchically, resembling a tree:
- Language Family: A collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed long before recorded history.
- Example: Indo-European (the largest family, covering English, Spanish, Hindi, Russian) or Sino-Tibetan (covering Mandarin Chinese).
- Language Branch: A collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago.
- Example: Under the Indo-European family, the Germanic branch, the Romance branch (Spanish, French, Italian), and the Indo-Iranian branch (Hindi, Farsi).
- Language Group: A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display many similarities in grammar and vocabulary.
- Example: Under the Germanic branch, the West Germanic group (English, German, Dutch).
What is a lingua franca?
A Lingua Franca is a language mutually understood and commonly used in trade and communication by people who have different native languages.
- Global Lingua Franca: English is the dominant global lingua franca of aviation, science, the internet, and international business.
- Regional Lingua Francas: Swahili in East Africa, Arabic in the Middle East, or Russian in the former Soviet states.
What is the difference between a pidgin and a creole language?
- Pidgin Language: A simplified, makeshift form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca, mixed with elements of local languages. It has no native speakers.
- Creole Language: A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated. Unlike a pidgin, a creole language has developed a formal grammar structure and becomes the first language of a community’s children.
- Example: Haitian Creole, which developed from French mixed with West African languages.
Religion
What are universalizing vs. ethnic religions?
Geographers classify religions based on their origins and how they appeal to people.
- Universalizing Religions: Attempt to be global, to appeal to all people, wherever they may live, not just to those of one culture or location.
- Traits: Precise place of origin based on a single founder, widespread diffusion through active proselytization (seeking converts).
- Major Examples: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.
- Ethnic Religions: Appeal primarily to one group of people living in one place.
- Traits: Unknown or unclear origins, closely tied to the physical environment of its hearth, spreads slowly and primarily through relocation diffusion (migration).
- Major Examples: Hinduism and Judaism.
What are the major branches of Christianity and where are they distributed?
Christianity has three major branches:
- Roman Catholicism: Headed by the Pope. Dominated in Southwestern Europe, Latin America, and French Canada.
- Protestantism: Originated during the Reformation. Dominated in Northern Europe, North America, and Australia.
- Eastern Orthodoxy: Headed by patriarchs. Dominated in Eastern and Southeastern Europe (Russia, Greece, Ukraine).
What are the Five Pillars of Islam?
Islam’s core beliefs are structured around five acts of worship:
- Shahadah (Faith): Reciting the profession of faith.
- Salah (Prayer): Praying five times a day facing Mecca.
- Zakat (Charity): Giving a percentage of one’s wealth to the poor.
- Sawm (Fasting): Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
- Hajj (Pilgrimage): Making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime if physically and financially able.
What are the major branches of Islam (Sunni vs. Shia)?
- Sunni: The largest branch (about 85-90% of Muslims). They believe that the leader of Islam (Caliph) should be chosen by the community based on merit and adherence to Islamic law.
- Shia (Shiite): The smaller branch (about 10-15% of Muslims). They believe that the leader of Islam must be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through his son-in-law, Ali.
- Distribution: Shiites are the majority in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain.
Cultural Identity and Attitudes
What is cultural relativism vs. ethnocentrism?
These terms describe how people evaluate and interpret other cultures:
- Ethnocentrism: The practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture. It often leads to feelings of cultural superiority and xenophobia.
- Cultural Relativism: The practice of judging a culture by its own standards, attempting to understand the beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of the people within that culture.
What are centripetal vs. centrifugal cultural forces?
- Centripetal Forces: Attitudes, values, or cultural traits that unify people and support a state (e.g., a shared common language, a national holiday, or a unifying national religion).
- Centrifugal Forces: Attitudes, values, or cultural traits that divide people, weaken a state, and tear it apart (e.g., linguistic diversity where groups cannot communicate, religious conflicts, or ethnic disputes).
Unit 3 Practice Questions
Test your understanding of Unit 3 concepts with these review questions.
Question 1
McDonald’s offering vegetarian burgers and omitting beef from its menus in India due to Hindu dietary laws is an example of which type of diffusion?
A) Relocation diffusion
B) Hierarchical diffusion
C) Contagious diffusion
D) Stimulus diffusion
Question 2
Which of the following is classified as an ethnic religion?
A) Islam
B) Buddhism
C) Hinduism
D) Christianity
Question 3
The term “sequent occupance” refers to the concept that:
A) Popular culture replaces folk culture over time through technology
B) Successive societies leave behind visible cultural imprints on a place’s landscape
C) Lingua francas eventually split into distinct creole dialects
D) Universalizing religions replace ethnic religions via colonization
Question 4
A simplified, makeshift language developed for trade between two groups with different native tongues, having no native speakers, is known as a:
A) Lingua franca
B) Creole language
C) Dialect
D) Pidgin language
Answer Key
- D — The core concept of McDonald’s spreads, but the specific food items are modified to fit the local culture, which is stimulus diffusion.
- C — Hinduism is historically tied to the Indian subcontinent and does not actively seek converts, making it an ethnic religion.
- B — Sequent occupance refers to the layered imprints left on a landscape by different cultures over history.
- D — A pidgin is a simplified, non-native trade language. If children grow up speaking it as their native language, it becomes a creole.
Want to see how cultural diffusion and colonial languages shaped the political borders of the modern world? Head to our homepage and play Border Run to trace country connections, or try Hidele to test your global culture clues!