| Term | Definition |
|---|
| folk culture | a small, cohesive, stable, isolated, nearly self-sufficient group that is homogenous in custom and race; characterized by a strong family or clan structure, order maintained through sanctions based in religion or family, little division of labor other that that between the sexes, frequent and strong interpersonal relationships, and a material culture consisting of mainly handmade goods. |
| subcultures | distinctive groups within a dominant culture |
| material culture | all physical tangible objects made and used by members of a cultural group, such as clothing, buildings, tools and utensils, instruments, furniture and artwork; the visible aspect of culture |
| non-material culture | the wide range of tales, songs, lore, beliefs, superstitions, and customs that passes from generation to generation as part of an oral or written tradition |
| popular culture | dynamic culture based in large, heterogeneous societies permitting considerable individualism, innovation, and change;having a money based economy, division of labor into professions, secular institutions of control, and weak interpersonal ties; producing and consuming machine-made goods |
| indigenous culture | a culture group that constitutes the original inhabitants of a territory, distinct from the dominant national culture, which is often derived from colonial occupation. |
| placelessness | defined by the geographer Edward Relph as the loss of uniqueness of place in the cultural landscape so that one place looks like the next |
| vernacular culture region | a region perceived to exist by its inhabitants; based in the collective spatial perception of the population at large; bearing a generally accepted name or nickname (such as "Dixie") |
| indigenous technical knowledge | highly localized knowledge about environmental conditions and sustainable land-use practices |
| convergence hypothesis | a hypothesis holding that cultural differences among places are being reduced by improved transportation and communications systems, leading to a homogenization of popular culture. |
| cultural imperialism | Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, or artificially injecting the culture or language of one culture into another. It is usually the case that the former belongs to a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter belongs to a smaller, less important one. |
| cultural nationalism | an effort to protect reional and national cultures from the homogenizing impacts of globalization, especially from the penetrating influence of U.S. culture |
| cultural/environmental perception | the belief that culture depends more on what people perceive the environment to be than on the actual character on the environment; perception, in turn, is colored by the teachings of culture |
| cultural landscape/built environment | the artificial landscape; the visible human imprint on the land |
| cultural diffusion | the spread of elements of culture from the point of origin over an area |
| maladaptive diffusion | Diffusion of a process with negative side effects |
| habit | a repetitive act preformed by a particular individual |
| custom | the frequent repetition of an act, to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group of people performing the act. |
| taboo | a restriction on behavior imposed by social custom |
| culture region | an area occupied by people who have something in common culturallly; or a spatial unit that functions politically, socially or economically as a distinct entity |
| culture complex | a group of culture traits all interrelated and dominated by one essential trait: Nationalism is a culture complex. |
| culture trait | any trait of human activity acquired in social life and transmitted by communication. Ex. using chopsticks |
| culture realm | a collective of culture regions sharing related culture systems; a major world area having sufficient distinctiveness to be perceived as set apart from other realms interms of cultural characterisitics and the cultural landscape features they imply. |
| cultural hearth | a focused geographic area where important innovations are born from which they spread |
| cultural lag | the notion that society is unable to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change, and that social problems and conflicts are caused by this lag |
| cultural determinism | Cultural determinism is the belief that the culture in which we are raised determines who we are at emotional and behavioral levels. This supports the theory that environmental influences dominate who we are instead of biologically inherited traits. |
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