5.2.1 Global spectrum of cultural traits
Content
- Geographic inquiry and concept(s)
- How global interactions bring cultural influences and changes to places
- Geographic knowledge and understanding
- The global spectrum of cultural traits, ethnicities and identities, and ways in which the spectrum of diversity is widening or narrowing at different scales
- Case study or detailed examples
- Neither required by the syllabus
- Aims of this lesson
- To have knowledge and understanding of different cultural traits and how these traits combine to form identities and ethnicities.
- To have knowledge and understanding of how the spectrum of diversity is widening or narrowing at different scales.
- To have knowledge and understanding of the diffusion of cultural traits.
- To have knowledge and understanding of cultural imperialism.
Base knowledge and understanding
News article
From Igbo to Angika: how to save the world’s 3,000 endangered languages
With half of all languages predicted to die out in decades, activists are turning to online tools to preserve them
The Guardian · 7 January 2025
Key terms
- Cultural diversity
- The quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a homogenisation of cultures, akin to cultural evolution.
- Cultural imperialism
- The practice of promoting the culture, values or language of one nation in another, less powerful one.
- Cultural trait
- A single identifiable material or non-material element within a culture.
- Westernisation
- A process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economics, lifestyle, law, norms, mores, customs, traditions, values, mentality, perceptions, diet, clothing, language, writing system, religion, and philosophy.
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Review
- Analyse the ways in which the global spectrum of cultural diversity is simultaneously widening and narrowing at different scales. [12]
- The cultural diversity of the world is narrowing rather than widening as a result of global interactions. To what extent do you agree with this statement? [16]
- Global interactions are causing all places to lose their cultural distinctiveness. To what extent do you agree with this statement? [16]