Chapter 4: Folk and Popular

Culture
APHG – Fall 2013
Mr. Guge, Instructor
 Key Sections
• Where do folk and popular cultures originate
and diffuse?
• Why is folk culture clustered?
• Why is popular culture widely distributed?
• Why does globalization of popular culture
cause problems?
 Where do folk and popular cultures
originate and diffuse?

Key Concepts
-Folk Culture
*traditionally practiced primarily by small homogeneous groups living in isolated
rural areas-- such as wearing a sarong in Malaysia or a sari in India.
-Popular Culture
*is found in large heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite
differences in other personal characteristics-- such as wearing jeans.
*The scale of territory covered by a folk culture is typically much smaller than
that of popular culture. Both folk and popular culture has a distinctive spatial
distribution.
 -Globalization
*Popular culture is becoming more dominant threatening the survival of
unique folk cultures. Folk customs of language, religion, and ethnicity are
diminishing.
-Local Diversity
*the disappearance of local folk customs reduces the local diversity in the
world and the intellectual stimulation that arises from differences in
background.
-(Review of different types of diffusion patterns from earlier in the year)
Hierarchical Diffusion: Sports originated as isolated folk customs and
diffused through migration. However contemporary diffusion of
organized sports displays the characteristics of popular culture.
Relocation Diffusion: Amish have distinctive cultures that affect the
land on which they live.
 Where do folk and popular cultures originate and
diffuse?

• Folk and Popular Culture have different origins

– What are the origins of folk and popular culture?
• Folk songs tell a story or convey information about daily activities such as
farming, life cycle events, or natural disasters. Popular music is written by
specific individuals for the purpose of being sold to a large number of
people.
– How are they different?
• They are different because folk customs have anonymous dates, through
unidentified originators, while popular culture is most often a product of
economically more developed countries.
– What are examples?
• Popular music and fast food arise from a combo of advances in industrial
technology and increased leisure time. Industrial technology permits the
reproduction of objects in large quantities.
 Where do folk and popular cultures originate and
diffuse?
• Folk and Popular Culture have different
distribution patterns
– How does Folk and Popular culture diffuse?
• Pop culture diffuses rapidly and extensively through the use of modern
communications and transportations. Folk culture is diffuses from one
location to another more slowly and on a smaller scale. Folk culture
generally diffuses through relocation diffusion.
– How are they different?
• They are different because pop culture spreads rapidly and on a larger
scale, but folk culture spreads slower and on a smaller scale. Folk culture
also changes very little over time, whilst pop culture is susceptible to
change.
– What are examples?
• Pop culture spread through the radio, the film industry, and advertising
agencies. Folk culture spread through relocation diffusion, like the Amish
relocation.
 Key Examples
• Key Examples
– Folk and Popular music
• Folk music- tell a story or convey information about daily activities (such
as farming, life-cycle events, or mysterious events)
• Popular music- written by specific individuals for the purpose of being
sold.
– Amish culture
• Amish do not believe in using mechanical or electrical power
• distinctive clothing, religious practices, farming and other customs
• thier customs illustrate how relocation diffusion distributes folk culture
– Culture of sports
• many sports originated as isolated folk customs
• was diffused through migration of individuals
• the contemporary diffusion of organized sports display characteristics of
popular culture
 Why is folk culture clustered?
•Key Concepts
–Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as
opposed to monoculture, as in the global monoculture, or a
homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural decay.

–Influence of physical environment on folk culture

People respond to their environment, but the environment in only one
of several controls over social customs. Customs such as provision of
food, clothing, and shelter are clearly influenced by the prevailing climate,
soil, and vegetation. Environmental conditions can limit the variety of
human interactions anywhere, but folk societies are particularly responsive
to the environment because of their low level of technology and the
prevailing agricultural economy.
 –Taboo
social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or
forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.

•Key examples
–Food diversity and taboos
Restriction on eating foods thought to bring negative forces is called a taboo. An example of this
is a taboo on eating an endangered species in order to protect it. Another taboo example is the
Muslim taboo of pork, because pigs are unsuited for the land of the Arab peninsula

–Folk housing (in particular US Folk Housing)

Folk houses are influenced by the materials nearby that can be used to construct the homes. Wood is
generally preferred and today can be bought in different shapes needed to construct the home. In drier
climates, such as the Southwest brick is preferred over wood because it can be made using the
surrounding environment. To save money and trees, most modern homes use drywall rather than
wood for the interior of their homes. Different types of housing in the US create regional diversity, but
this is quickly disappearing due to the mass construction of new homes throughout the United States.
 Why is folk culture clustered?
• Isolation promotes cultural diversity
• Influence of physical environment

❖ Unique regions of folk culture arise?

➢ China(Tibet), Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan.
➔ Why are these areas unique?
★ They reveal how their folk culture mirrors their religions and individual views of their environment
■ Examples
● In the tibetan region, the buddhist’s paintings and idols reflect
that of saints or monks. They are depicted as bizarre or
terrifying, possibly referring to their inhospitable environment.
● In the southern region, the Hindus create paintings sometimes
portraying a deity in a domestic scene and frequently represent
the region’s violent and extreme climatic conditions.
 Folk Cluster Cont.
• What influences folk culture?
• Physical Environment, Food Preferences, and Folk
housing.
• What are examples?
• Wearing wooden shoes in the Netherlands because of
the wet physical environment; While in places like Africa,
shoes are not worn as much.
• In Europe,trees were plentiful, this led to stews cooked
for a long time which also heated their homes in a colder
climate;
• In Asia there were surplus of soybeans which they did not
have the means to cook, which lead to soy sauce, soy
milk, and steamed soybeans.
 Why is popular culture widely
distributed?
• Popular culture diffuses rapidly across the
earth
– How does is spread? Why is it a rapid diffusion?
• Differences in popular culture are more likely to be observed
in one place at different points in time than among different
places at one point in time.
– What are examples that prove this thought?
A fashion company has just released a new line of clothes and has become very
popular and in months to come this trend will start spreading around the
country.( Hierarchical diffusion)
 Why is popular culture widely
distributed?
How does is spread? Originates in one place
and diffuses rapidly across Earth to locations
with variety of physical conditions.

Why is it a rapid diffusion? It is rapid diffusion

because it diffuses through the use of
modern communication and transportation.
 Why is popular culture widely
distributed?
• Key Examples
– Diffusion of housing (US Housing)
– Diffusion of clothing (Jeans)
– Diffusion of food (Food Customs)
– Diffusion of television (The role of TV in diffusing
culture)
– Diffusion of internet (The role of the internet in
diffusing culture)
 Why does globalization of popular
culture cause problems?
• Geographers observe 2 kinds of problems
from diffusion of popular culture?
– What are these problems?
• Threat to folk culture
• Environmental impact of popular culture
– Why are these problems?
• Because people may turn away from society’s traditional values to the
values of popular culture.
• Pop culture can overshadow folk culture and take from its significance
– What are examples of these problems?
• Clothing such as in African and Asian countries experience the social trend
related to clothing. Such as men wearing business suits
• Loss of traditional values (behavior, music.)
• Uniform Landscapes (such as fast-food restaurants)
 Why does globalization of popular
culture cause problems?
• Key Concepts
– Pop Culture Expansion
• Key Examples
– Examples of Threats to Folk Culture
• Loss of traditional values
• Changes in role of women
• Loss of control of customs and beliefs (through media)
– Examples of how popular culture impacts the environment
• Modifying nature
• Increase in demand for natural resources
• Pollution from Industry