Diffusion of Culture
UNIT 3: CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
Session
2
LEARNING TARGETS
• Define Cultural Convergence
• Compare Acculturation and
Assimilation
• Define Transculturation
• Compare diffusion of Pop
and Folk Culture
• Define Cultural Syncretism
• Define Cultural Imperialism
• Define Cultural Homogeneity
• Discuss the threat of Pop
Culture on Folk Culture
SESSION 2
Diffusion of Culture
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Do you still partake in any forms of folk culture?
What customs and artifacts do you still adhere to?
Do you think you will continue the tradition?
Is the tradition strong enough to continue in future generations?
Activity: How Assimilated Are You?
Acculturation & Assimilation
• Think about your cultural background…
Session
2
• Acculturation: cultural change that results when one group
adopts traits of dominant society…
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Language and Slang
“Anglicize” name…Juan to John, Pierre to Peter
Dress, customs (holidays), entertainment, education and career
Intermarriage
• Assimilation: process where minority population decreases or
loses all together its identifying culture and blends into society
• Must be 2 way street – majority of population recognizes them as members
• Often measured by intermarriage and employment opportunity
• Transculturation: occurs when two cultures of just about equal
power or influence meet and exchange ideas or traits without the
domination found in either acculturation or assimilation
Acculturation & Assimilation
• Cultural Convergence: When two or more cultures come into
contact with one another and share traits becoming more
alike…opposite is Cultural Divergence.
Session
2
- Mass, uniform, and blended cultural traits easily
diffused through technology by a dominant culture
Popular Culture
POPULAR CULTURE
Session
2
Acculturation & Assimilation
Session
2
• Once folk culture has relocated its adherents begin to acculturate and
assimilate based on the strength of the surrounding culture
• In the U.S. in the 19th century there were more German immigrants than
Dutch immigrants, so the Germans were slower to assimilate than the Dutch.
• Pop Culture is mass culture that diffuses both expansively and
hierarchically – starts in large cities and spreads rapidly around
globe …driven by technology and the growing
interconnectedness of the globe.
• Example: McDonalds, KFC, and Subway all have over 10,000 international
franchises
• Popular Culture can sometimes lead to maladaptive diffusion or
the adoption of a diffusing trait that is impractical for a region
or culture
• McDonalds should not exist in India, Levis should not be worn in tropical
areas, etc.
Diffusion Patterns of Culture
• Folk Culture transmitted from one location to another slowly,
often by relocation diffusion and without technology (based on
traditions)
Session
2
Diffusion Patterns of Culture
Session
2
What is cultural convergence? What is cultural
divergence?
What is the difference between acculturation and
assimilation? What is transculturation?
How do folk and pop culture differ in the way they
diffuse? What is maladaptive diffusion?
Check for Understanding: Student Discussion
• Cultural Syncretism/Synthesis: New cultural traits emerge as a
hybrid blend of two distinct parent traits (i.e. the exchange is
never 100% one way…always a mixture)
• Example: The Christmas Tree…Pagan and Christian elements combined
• Cultural Imperialism: One culture is dominant over another (i.e.
imperialism/colonialism)
• Mother country usually dominated indigenous people; taught their
language, their religion, their customs
• Cultural nationalism is the term for resistance against cultural imperialism.
• Cultural Homogeneity: Cultural sameness that is caused by
increased access to popular culture through the internet,
transportation and communication capabilities.
Power of Popular Culture
• Popular culture also has the capability of altering, replacing and
even destroying folk culture…
Session
2
• American TV presents our values – freedom of women, violence, sex,
glorification of youth, upward social mobility…not all societies agree w/ this
• News media dominated by Associated Press and Reuters out of U.S. and GB
Threat of Popular Culture
• Is Pop Culture a threat to Folk Culture?
• Does Pop Culture promote a wasteful life style that is bad for the
environment?
Session
• Leads to uniformity…all looks the same
• Does Pop Culture lead to dominance of Western values and
make people reject traditional values?
• Western dress, food, music, media values can be seen and heard
throughout the globe
• Western view of gender equality threatens some culture’s view of women’s
subservience to men (ex: Taliban – women behaving like westerners were
shot or beaten – walked alone, wore makeup, being educated, etc.)
• Western glorification of sex has led to sex tours, sex slavery, internal
prostitution (men from MDCs go to Philippines, Thailand, S. Korea)
• Pop Culture generates higher volumes of waste/pollution
2
• Discuss with the people around you and then we will
reconvene and discuss as a class
Discussion: Can Pop Culture be Beneficial?
Benefits of Pop Culture
• Can cultural homogeneity and the further expansion of
pop culture be beneficial? In what ways?
Session
2
NEXT CLASS
SESSION 3
Language & Dialects