#AP Human Geography: Culture - The Night Before Review 🚀

Hey! Let's get you feeling super confident for your AP Human Geography exam tomorrow. We're going to break down culture in a way that's easy to remember and totally makes sense. Let's do this!

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What is Culture?

Culture is like the personality of a group of people. It's everything they share: their stuff, their actions, their beliefs, and their rules. Think of it as a mix of their favorite things, how they do things, and what they believe is important.

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• Culture: Shared material traits, behaviors, beliefs, and norms of a group.
  • Think: The 'software' that runs a society.
• Cultural Hearth: The birthplace of new ideas and innovations.
  • Think: The 'idea factory' where new cultural traits start.
  • Examples: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus River Valley.
• Culture Complex: A combination of cultural traits.
  • Think: A 'recipe' made of different cultural ingredients.

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Imagine culture as a big tree 🌳. The roots are the hearths (where it all began), the trunk is the complex (the combination of traits), and the branches are all the different ways culture shows up in the world.

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Habits vs. Customs

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• Habit: Something you do regularly.
  • Example: Brushing your teeth every morning. 🦷
• Custom: Something a group does regularly.
  • Example: Celebrating a specific holiday. 🎉

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• Found in isolated, homogenous groups.
• Slow to change, resistant to outside influence.
• Spreads through relocation diffusion.
  • Example: Amish communities.

#Material vs. Non-Material Culture

Culture isn't just about the physical stuff; it's also about the ideas and beliefs.

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• Material Culture: Physical objects a culture creates or uses.
  • Examples: Clothing, tools, art. 🏺
• Non-Material Culture: Intangible ideas, beliefs, and values.
  • Examples: Language, religion, traditions. 🙏

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Folk music often tells stories about daily life and is passed down through generations. It's a great example of non-material culture. 🎶

#Folk Customs: The Local Flavor

Folk customs are like unique recipes, developed over time in specific places. They're like the local secrets that make each place special. 🌎

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• Anonymous sources, unknown dates, multiple hearths.
• Develops uniquely through isolation.
• Landscape plays a big role in shaping folk culture.

#Food

• Food preferences are very distinct in folk cultures due to religion and socioeconomic factors.
• Taboos: Restrictions imposed by social customs.
  • Example: Pork is prohibited in Islam and Judaism. 🚫🐷

#Housing

• Housing preferences are influenced by folk customs and environmental factors.
  • Example: Building materials depend on what's available locally. 🏠

#Governments

• Governments may worry about social change threatening folk cultural ideals.
• May censor media and limit freedom of speech.
  • Examples: Soviet Union, North Korea. 📰

#Social Customs: The Global Stage

Social customs are like the trends that spread and change over time. They're the things that connect people across the world.

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• Practiced by large, diverse groups.
• Originates in developed regions.
• Spreads through hierarchical and contagious diffusion.
• Changes rapidly over time.

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Pop culture spreads through globalization, communication, transportation, and marketing. Think of it as a fast-moving wave. 🌊

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Think of pop culture as the latest viral trend. It spreads quickly, changes often, and reaches lots of people through media and technology. 📱

#Pop Culture Examples

• Blue jeans are a great example of a popular culture trend that has spread globally. 👖
• Pop music is written to be sold to a large number of people globally. 🎵

#Resistance to Pop Culture

• Cultural preservation, nationalist ideologies, and autonomy movements can resist pop culture.

#Sustainability Issues

• Waste products, uniform landscapes, animal endangerment. ♻️

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• Ethnocentrism: Judging other cultures based on your own.
  • Think: "My culture is the best!" 👎
• Cultural Relativism: Understanding cultures objectively, without bias.
  • Think: "Let's try to understand their point of view." 👍

#Final Exam Focus 🎯

Okay, let's nail down what to focus on for the exam:

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Top Priority Topics

• Folk vs. Pop Culture: Know the differences in origin, diffusion, and characteristics.
• Cultural Hearth: Understand its role in cultural diffusion.
• Material vs. Non-Material Culture: Be able to classify examples.
• Globalization: How it impacts the spread of pop culture.
• Ethnocentrism vs. Cultural Relativism: Know the difference and implications.

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• Multiple Choice: Focus on key terms and examples.
• FRQs: Be ready to compare and contrast folk and pop culture, and analyze how cultural traits diffuse.

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• Mixing up folk and pop culture characteristics.
• Not understanding the role of diffusion in cultural change.
• Failing to connect cultural concepts to real-world examples.

#Last-Minute Tips

• Time Management: Don't spend too long on one question.
• Read Carefully: Pay attention to the wording of the questions.
• Stay Calm: You've got this! 💪

Practice Question

#Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following is the best example of a folk custom? (A) Wearing blue jeans (B) Celebrating a regional harvest festival (C) Listening to pop music (D) Using social media (E) Eating at a fast-food restaurant

2. The spread of popular culture is primarily facilitated by: (A) Relocation diffusion (B) Hierarchical diffusion (C) Contagious diffusion (D) Reverse hierarchical diffusion (E) Expansion diffusion

3. A cultural hearth is best described as: (A) A place where folk culture is dominant (B) A place where popular culture originates (C) A place where innovations and new ideas originate (D) A place where cultural relativism is practiced (E) A place where ethnocentrism is dominant

#Free Response Question (FRQ)

Question:

Discuss the differences between folk and popular culture, providing specific examples for each. Analyze how globalization has influenced the diffusion of popular culture and the challenges this poses to folk cultures. (7 points)

Scoring Breakdown:

• (1 point): Define folk culture and provide an example.
• (1 point): Define popular culture and provide an example.
• (2 points): Explain two key differences between folk and popular culture (e.g., origin, diffusion, change).
• (2 points): Analyze how globalization has influenced the diffusion of popular culture (e.g., increased communication, technology, transportation).
• (1 point): Discuss a challenge that the spread of popular culture poses to folk cultures (e.g., loss of traditional values, cultural homogenization).