Categories of Culture

            Culture as defined in the textbook Globalization and diversity is, “learned and shared behavior by a group of people that gives them a distinct way of life. Culture is made up of material, technology, tools, and abstract speech, religion and even values” (G-3). There are four categories of culture. One category is called cultural imperialism which is, “the active promotion of one cultural system over another, such as the implantation of new language, school system, or bureaucracy. Historically, cultural imperialism has been primarily associated with European colonialism”(Globalization and Diversity G-3). Cultural Imperialism is when one culture is pushed on the people over another culture. A second category is called cultural landscape, which is “ a physical or natural landscape that has been changed considerably by the influences of human settlement” Globalization and Diversity G-3). Cultural landscape is when people of a certain culture come in and change everything dramatically to fit their beliefs and culture. A third category is known as cultural nationalism which is “the process of protecting, either formally or informally, the primary of a certain cultural system against influences from another culture” (Globalization and Diversity G-3). The fourth category of culture is called cultural syncretism/hybridism, meaning, “the blending of two or more cultures, which produces a synergistic third culture that exhibits traits from all cultural parents” (Globalization and Diversity G-3); an example of cultural syncretism/hybridism is Christianity. Culture in Belize consists of “The different groups speak their own languages, but the language spoken across ethnic lines is a form of pidgin English called Creole. There is much bilingualism and multilingualism. English is taught in all primary schools; however, its use is limited to official discourse and it appears more often in the written form than in the spoken, “which is from the article “countries and their Cultures”. I believe that all four of the cultural categories are incorporated into all societies, countries, communities, states, and all over the world.

Work Cited:

Rowntree, Lester. Globalization and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.

"Countries and Their Cultures." Culture of Belize. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.