CHAPTER 2: ROOTS AND MEANING OF CULTURE
OVERVIEW
environment
dominates
1. As used in geography, culture means the
2.
that,
in
modern
everyday
life
societies,
and
activity
patterns.
specialized behavioral patterns and social
5. Earlier cultural stages were in closer contact
systems that summarize the learned way of
with the physical landscape. Paleolithic
life of a group of people. It includes both
populations
tangible and intangible characteristics that
gradually improving their tools, extending
differentiate people and their occupied
their areas of occupancy, and engaging in
landscapes.
inter-group
Recognition
culture
traits,
and
culture
regions
hunter–gatherers,
contact
and
trade.
The
culture
Mesolithic period was marked by increasing
helps
cultural divergence as populations passed
summarize conceptually and spatially the
from food gathering to food production and
infinite
developed
complexes,
of
were
complexity
of
human
societies.
differing
ways
of
life
and
Culture realms are broad segments of the
economy. The Neolithic era designates a
earth's
presumed
stage of cultural development in which new
fundamental similarity in a number of salient
tools, technologies, and social structures
cultural complexes and characteristics. The
were
presumed homogenization of world culture
populations.
surface
that
have
developed
among
sedentary
as an expression of the globalization of
6. Culture hearths were centers of innovation
social, political, and economic traits across
and invention, showing many traits in
earth space has cast doubt on the enduring
common as a result of multilinear evolution
validity of culture realm distinctions.
and independent invention. Diffusions of
3. The physical environment does not shape
cultural traits and complexes from hearth
human thought or actions; environmental
regions dispersed local innovations over
determinism is a now-rejected concept.
wider
Possibilism is the viewpoint that humans are
characteristics
that
the
developed
spread
active
selecting
agents
from
in
the
opportunities
their
technological
levels
shaping
culture,
environment
areas.
or
Common
are
cultural
independently
through
diffusion
the
encourage cultural convergence, particularly
cultural
needs
and
as
make
evident
and
human mobility improve or increase.
attractive.
4. Humans, in their utilization of the natural
transportation,
communication,
and
7. For analytical purposes it is convenient to
recognize subsystems of culture and their
environment, create cultural landscapes,
identifying
components:
the
ideological,
altering—perhaps destroying—the natural
technological, and sociological subsystems
landscape and erecting upon it a built
are associated with respective sets of
mentifacts, artifacts, and sociofacts. The
subsystems do not stand alone; they are
united into coherent integrated cultural
wholes. Cultural integration implies the
interlocking nature of all aspects of a culture.
8. Innovation is cultural change initiated within
the social group itself. Resistance to useful
innovation is termed cultural lag. Spatial
diffusion is the process by which ideas or
innovations are transmitted between groups
across space. Such spread may take the
form of relocation or expansion diffusion.
The latter type may further be subdivided
into distinctive forms of contagious and
hierarchical
diffusion.
Stimulus
diffusion
implies imitative response to a new idea by
a receptive population not able to fully adopt
the specific trait itself. Acculturation is
exhibited when a culture group adopts
characteristics of another, dominant group.
9. Diffusion can be accelerated and facilitated by
improvements
in
transportation
and
communication and by the intermixing of
peoples and cultures. It can be limited and
inhibited by diffusion barriers that may be
physical or cultural in nature.
EXPANDED KEY WORDS LIST
absorbing barrier
acculturation
artifact
carrying capacity
civilization
contagious diffusion
cultural convergence
cultural divergence
cultural ecology
cultural integration
cultural lag
cultural landscape
culture
culture complex
culture hearth
culture realm
culture region
culture trait
diffusion
diffusion barrier
diffusionism
distance decay
domestication
environmental
determinism
expansion diffusion
friction of distance
globalization
hierarchical diffusion
hunter-gatherer
ideological subsystem
independent invention
innovation
interrupting barrier
mentifact
Mesolithic
multilinear evolution
Neolithic
Paleolithic
parallel invention
permeable barrier
Pleistocene overkill
possibilism
relocation diffusion
savanna
sociofact
sociological subsystem
stimulus diffusion
syncretism
technological subsystem
tundra