The geographically informed person must understand that culture is an intricate and complex idea. As the learned behavior of people, culture shapes each group’s way of life and its own view of itself and other groups. An increasingly interdependent world results in different culture groups coming into contact more than ever before. Thus, it becomes essential to understand the characteristics and spatial distribution of Earth’s cultural mosaics.
Therefore, Standard 10 contains these themes: Characteristics of Culture, Patterns of Culture, and Cultural Diffusion and Change.
Culture is a complex, multifaceted concept encompassing social structures, languages, belief systems, institutions, technology, art, architecture, dress, foods, and traditions of groups of humans. Each cultural group has a way of life that often results in landscapes and regions with distinctive features. Language, for example, represents and reflects many aspects of a culture and can be analyzed for clues about the values and beliefs of a culture group. Cultural landscapes may overlap, thus forming elaborate mosaics of peoples, places, and environments that can exist at various spatial scales.
Whichever characteristic of culture is considered, it is clear that the mosaics of cultural landscapes on Earth are not static. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected and interdependent, cultural groups have greater and more varied contacts with each other. This increased contact influences the way in which people can reject or borrow, adopt, and adapt new ideas, thus reshaping the characteristics of a cultural region. Culture changes as a result of the migration of people, the diffusion of ideas, and the development of new technologies. The processes of cultural change accelerate with improvements in transportation and communication. Cultures have borrowed attributes from other cultures whether knowingly or not, willingly or not, permanently or not. Cultures change and even disappear as old ways of doing things die out in response to the homogenizing forces of modern society.
As members of a multicultural society, students must understand the diverse spatial expressions of culture. Understanding these themes enables students to place their own cultural background and heritage into the context of a constantly changing multicultural world as well as to recognize and respect other cultures that may be different from their own.
1. A culture has distinctive characteristics
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Identify and describe the characteristics of a culture, as exemplified by being able to
2. Cultures leave imprints on the physical environment in the form of cultural markers
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Identify and describe examples of cultural markers (e.g., buildings, place names, monuments), as exemplified by being able to
3. Cultures change and diffuse in multiple ways
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Describe examples of changes in a culture, as exemplified by being able to
B. Describe examples of the spread of a culture, as exemplified by being able to
1. There are many different cultures, each with its own distinctive characteristics
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Compare the cultural characteristics of different cultures, as exemplified by being able to
2. Multiple cultural landscapes exist and vary across space
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Explain how a cultural landscape is the physical expression of a culture, as exemplified by being able to
B. Compare different cultural landscapes, as exemplified by being able to
3. Changes in cultural characteristics and the distribution of cultures result from migration of people and the diffusion of ideas and technology
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Describe and explain the processes of cultural diffusion, as exemplified by being able to
B. Explain the diffusion of a cultural characteristic, such as religious belief, music style, and architecture, as exemplified by being able to
1. Cultural systems provide contexts for living in and viewing the world
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Describe and explain the characteristics that constitute any particular cultural system (e.g., Amish, Japanese, Maori), as exemplified by being able to
B. Explain how different cultures provide contexts from which people may view the world differently, as exemplified by being able to
2. Cultural landscapes exist at multiple scales
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Identify and analyze the spatial patterns of cultural landscapes at multiple scales, as exemplified by being able to
B. Explain differences in the human imprints on the physical environment of different cultures, as exemplified by being able to
3. Cultures change through convergence and/or divergence
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Identify and explain examples of cultural convergence, as exemplified by being able to
B. Identify and explain examples of cultural divergence, as exemplified by being able to
4. The rate of cultural change has increased as a result of globalization
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Explain how and why globalization has increased the rate of change in cultures, as exemplified by being able to