AP Hug Unit 3.1 Study GuideAP Hug Unit 3.1 Study Guide

AP Human Geography | Unit 3.1 | Page 1

AP Human Geography

Unit 3.1: Introduction to Culture | Study Guide

Big Idea: Culture is the shared set of beliefs, behaviors, and material things that a group passes down. Geographers study where cultural traits appear, why they appear there, and how they change over time. Unit 3 theme: Cultural Patterns and Processes.

Key Vocabulary

Core Concepts

• Culture: Shared beliefs, practices, values, and material objects of a group, learned and passed down. • Cultural trait: A single element of culture (e.g., eating with chopsticks, wearing a turban). • Cultural complex: A group of related traits (e.g., all the traits tied to soccer: leagues, fan rituals, jerseys). • Cultural landscape: The visible imprint of culture on the land: buildings, farms, signs, religious sites. • Cultural hearth: The place where a cultural trait or innovation began and then spread outward. • Sequent occupance: Successive societies leave their marks on a place, layer by layer. Types of Cultural Elements

• Folk culture: Traditional, small, close-knit, often rural groups. Traits pass down by word of mouth or practice and change slowly.

• Popular culture: Large, diverse, often urban groups. Traits spread fast and change quickly (fashion, social media trends, fast food).

• Material culture: Physical objects (clothing, tools, buildings, food).

• Nonmaterial culture: Beliefs, values, language, customs, and religion.

Cultural Change and Interaction

• Cultural convergence: Cultures becoming more alike through interaction and shared technology. • Cultural divergence: Cultures becoming more different, often because of isolation or resistance to outside influence.

• Globalization: Increasing interconnection of cultures, economies, and technology worldwide. • Acculturation: Adopting traits of another culture while keeping your own.

• Assimilation: Fully losing your original cultural identity and adopting the dominant culture. • Syncretism: Blending of different cultural traits into something new (e.g., religious blending). • Multiculturalism: Different cultural groups coexisting and keeping their identities in one society. • Cultural appropriation: Adopting elements of a minority culture, often without understanding or respect for their origin.

Why Culture Varies Across Space

• Physical geography: Climate and terrain shape food, clothing, housing, and economy (herding in dry regions, rice farming in monsoon regions).

• Environmental determinism (older idea): The environment determines culture. Now widely rejected as too simple.

• Possibilism: The environment sets limits, but people choose how to respond. This is the view geographers accept today.

• Isolation vs. interaction: Isolated groups diverge. Connected groups converge.

AP Human Geography | Unit 3.1 | Page 2

• Technology: Transportation and communication speed up cultural change and spread. Folk vs. Popular Culture

Folk Culture Popular Culture

Size Small Large

Setting Mostly rural Mostly urban

Change Slow Rapid

Spread Relocation, word of mouth Mass media, internet

Unity Strong group identity Diverse, often individualistic

Example Amish dress, local festivals Streaming shows, global fashion brands

Cultural Landscape: What to Look For

Clues you can read from a landscape include building styles, religious structures, signage and languages, street names, land use, and food and farming patterns. On the FRQ, tie each clue to a specific cultural belief or process.

Common Mix-Ups

• Acculturation is not assimilation. Acculturation keeps some original identity. Assimilation loses it. • Cultural trait is not cultural complex. One element vs. a set of related elements. • Convergence/divergence describe outcomes. Diffusion (Unit 3.4+) describes the process of spreading. • Environmental determinism is not possibilism. Determinism says environment controls; possibilism says it limits, but people choose.

Practice Questions

1. Explain how a cultural hearth can influence the cultural landscape of a distant region. 2. Distinguish between acculturation and assimilation, and give one example of each. 3. How does globalization promote both cultural convergence and cultural divergence? 4. Compare folk and popular culture using one example of each.

5. Describe how a landscape might show sequent occupance.

FRQ Tip: Use Define, Apply, Explain. Define the term, apply it to a specific example from the prompt, then explain why it matters or what it causes. Naming a real place or group earns more credit than a general statement.