Transcript How do cultures spread?

Culture
CULTURE NOTES
Culture definition: features of a group of people’s way
of life, passed down through generations by teachings,
examples and imitation. (you will become your parents)
How do cultures develop? 10 % innovation
Examples from USA innovation
Examples from USA diffusion
90 % diffusion
How do cultures spread?
Culture moves with people (migration)
and trade.
The spice
trade.
The Silk Road
When people
move, they take
their language,
religion, foods,
clothing with
them.
Assimilation: joining or fitting in with a larger
culture. (German descendants in the USA.)
Acculturation: a culture accepting an innovation
or diffusion from another culture.
Culture Hearth:
Center of
learning and
innovation
that diffuses
to other
regions
Ethnocentrism:
judging other cultures
by the rules of your
culture.
Xenophobia: fear of outsiders (limit diffusion)
Imprinting: the
acquisition of
information
through our
speech and
behavior.
This is how we pass
along our culture to
others, especially
our children.
Culture bag: helps us make
decisions and influences
how we react to certain
situations.
What we eat, how we
dress, how we speak.
Cultural Baggage: this weighs us down. Pre conceived
notions and ideas (ethnocentrism.)
Culture trait: a single element that makes up a
Culture Complex.
Cultural landscape: (Carl Sauer) forms imposed on the
landscape by the activities of humans.
New York
A “built landscape.
Suburbs
Built landscape.
Society: a voluntary association of individuals for
common ends ; a group of people who happen to live in a
geographic area
Culture: the sum total of the knowledge, attitudes,
and habitual behavior patterns shared and
transmitted by a group. (shared products of human
groups.)
Culture is: learned, universal (we all have one)
Unique: no two are exactly alike, vary geographically
Culture is integrative: culture traits form culture
complexes (systems.)
Dynamic: never static, always changing.
Symbolic: passed down through generations.
Culture is unique and
adaptive.
How would the culture
of the two places relate
to “time?”
What would be
important to know in
Houston?
Or Borger, Texas.
Ethnocentrism
A judgmental perspective
Look at other cultures
through the lens of your
culture.
Leads to ethnic and
religious conflict.
Cultural Relativism
A non-judgmental
perspective.
Look at other
cultures through
their eyes, not
yours.
Hard to do, but work
striving for (can’t we
just all get along?
We all have our limits to cultural relativism.
Are you an ethnocentrism or a cultural relativist.
How do cultures spread?
Expansion diffusion: the number of those
who know increases.
Contagious diffusion: the information moves
to the nearest recipient.
Hierarchal diffusion: information moves through
groups (large to small)
Relocation diffusion: information moves with
migrants.
Culture defines us all.