When we consider who we are at our core, so much of our identity and how we understand ourselves is connected to our culture. Culture encompasses the intricate network of customs, traditions, beliefs, values, and artistic expressions that shape our individual and collective experiences. It is the lens through which we perceive the world and the foundation upon which we build our communities. Our interconnectedness as human beings is intricately tied to this diverse tapestry of cultures that exist across the globe. Within this interconnectedness, globalization has played a significant role in shaping not only our way of life and professional pursuits but also our cultural values. It has disseminated ideas and traditions far beyond their original boundaries while simultaneously eroding unique aspects of local cultures.

Imagine, for instance, that someone asked you to name a song that’s popular right now or maybe a character from a popular movie series or a logo from a common restaurant chain. Could you do it? What if you asked someone from a different area of the country or world to identify a popular regional dish, maybe scrapple if you live in Pennsylvania or gumbo if you’re in Louisiana or perhaps bisi bele bhath if you’re in the state of Karnataka, India? Could someone not from your region identify the dish? With globalization, we are often inundated with references to popular culture. But even as global popular culture has spread, regional cultural variations and folk culture remains. This chapter explores culture, including how is spreads and changes, with a particular focus on how Western culture has become the dominant global popular culture.

3.1 The Cultural Landscape

So what is culture, anyway? When we talk about culture, we mean the social behaviors and beliefs as well as material forms found in human societies. Very often, when people are asked to give examples of culture, they respond with things like clothing, food, and so on. Culture is so much more than just the material, although that’s often what we focus on. It’s easy to examine material culture—we can touch it, study it, see patterns at a glance. We might notice that the people around us are all dressed in a similar style, or that the buildings in our neighborhood are constructed of similar materials and have similar designs. But culture goes far beyond the visual.  What elements of non-visual culture can you think of? What about music? Or religious beliefs? Or laws? Or our food preferences? What about social norms that govern particular situations? These are all certainly elements of culture but they often go overlooked.

Culture also shapes the way we use our land. If we live in a society that values privacy and individualism, for instance, we might see an array of single family homes separated by large yards enclosed with tall fences. In contrast, if we live in a place where communal living and close-knit communities represent our cultural values, we may find tightly clustered housing units, shared spaces, and vibrant public gathering areas. If our culture values speed and convenience, we are more likely to find industrialized agricultural systems that supply our food, whereas if we live in a place with a long culinary history, we might instead prioritize small, local farms and seasonal eating.

At first glance, it may seem that the elements of our culture are detached from the natural environment that surrounds us, seemingly disconnected from geography. The familiar shops and restaurants we see in our city might also be found in numerous other places. The architectural styles and building materials employed by local construction companies may closely resemble those used elsewhere in the world. However, upon closer examination, we can see evidence that our expressions of both folk and popular culture are highly geographical.

When geographers examine and describe the cultural features of a specific area, we refer to it as the “cultural landscape.” The cultural landscape consists of the entire built human environment and other elements of material cultural as well as the underlying beliefs and values these cultural features represent. Geographers “read” the landscape in the same way someone might conduct a literary critique of a novel, attempting to uncover the stories embedded in the built environment, the patterns of land use, and the cultural symbols present. Importantly, the interpretation of the landscape extends beyond what meets the eye. Geographers engage with the other senses, taking into account the auditory and tactile aspects of the landscape, as well as the elements that are absent or not immediately visible. Who is missing from the landscape? Who is excluded? In this way, reading the cultural landscape is a complex exploration of how humans have shaped and reshaped a particular area. In addition, the way geographers interpret the landscape is influenced by their own personal experiences, and while a group of geographers analyzing the same landscape might find common themes, each person will take away a slightly different interpretation.

As we began to explore in the introduction, culture includes both popular culture and folk culture. Popular culture refers to broad cultural features found dominant, heterogeneous societies while folk culture is practiced by smaller, homogeneous groups that are generally more rural and isolated. The scale of the territory covered by folk culture is generally much smaller, and because of that, it’s often more sensitive to the local environment.  With popular culture, however, the environment might be modified in accordance with global rather than local values. Furthermore, popular culture is generally a product of more developed countries and often popular cultural is synonymous with Western popular culture as we’ll explore later in the chapter.

With so many different cultural features, and such an array of folk and popular cultural traits, how do we view our globalized cultural landscape? Often, our perspective different cultures is highly dependent on our own underlying belief systems. For some, a person’s values and beliefs are viewed as a product of a unique cultural tradition and should not be judged based on others’ views or practices. This idea is known as cultural relativism. Ethnocentrism, on the other hand, holds that one’s own culture can be used as a standard or a reference to understand or evaluate other cultural traditions. Just as we all likely have a mix of both folk and popular culture in our own lives, we likely at times can be both cultural relativists and ethnocentrists. Sometimes we understand that cultural values are relative while at the same time, believe that certain values should be shared by all (though it might be helpful to remember that even these core values are a product of our own culture and upbringing). What might be more helpful, perhaps, than labeling ourselves as one or the other would be to simply dig deeper—what values do you hold dear and why do you ascribe to these cultural ideals? How is your own cultural landscape unique and distinct, and what other cultural landscapes have you encountered? How might your life, and your beliefs about the world, be different if you’d been raised within a different cultural framework?

3.2 Food Culture

There are a number of features of material culture that are immediately visible when we examine our cultural landscape. Consider your basic needs: food, shelter, and clothing. Each has been shaped by the underlying physical and human geographic features of a specific area. Let’s begin by examining the culinary landcape.

The availability of fuel wood for cooking, for example, was highly influential in the development of regional cuisines. In areas where firewood was abundant and easily accessible, we find cooking techniques that utilized open fires, grilling, or smoking. If you’ve ever passed by a barbecue restaurant, for example, you’ve likely noticed a large stack of firewood and thus this style of cooking was commonly found in regions were fuel wood was abundant.

Stewing foods also took a considerable amount of fuel, so we find stews common in Northern Europe, for example, where wood was plentiful. In West Africa, we similarly find a variety of stewed dishes. Jollof rice, a classic dish from West Africa, was typically made with long-grain rice, tomatoes, peppers, onions, meat, and a variety of vegetables in a single pot and was likely the precursor to jambalaya, found in New Orleans cuisine.

In regions where firewood was scarce, on the other hand, alternative methods of cooking developed. If cooking oils or fats were available, frying became a popular method as it allowed for quick cooking with minimal fuel usage compared to other methods like baking or roasting. This was the case across parts of Southern Europe where we see dishes like calamari fritti (fried squid) or keftedes (a Greek fried meatball dish). Across Southeast Asia, we find a variety of fried spring rolls, such as chả giò in Vietnam (see Figure 3.1). In the Middle East, the falafel, a fritter typically made from chickpeas, is commonly eaten.

In still other areas, we find fermentation used as a way to “cook” and preserve foods. Kimchi, for example, is a way of salting and fermenting vegetables, typically cabbage or radish, and is a staple of Korean cuisine. Soy sauce, made from fermented soybean paste, is another example.

Cultural preferences, too, shaped regional cuisine alongside environmental conditions. We can see this in the example of barbecue, a style of cooking cuts of meat slowly over a fire and smoke that is commonly used across the Southeastern United States. As a cooking style, barbecue is found across the indigenous cultures of the Americas and the Caribbean where it was particularly well-suited for tenderizing tough cuts of meat and, as mentioned, where ample fuel wood was available. The particular meats cooked reflect local geographies, such as pork in the Carolinas (where pig farming was common for early settlers) and beef in Texas (where the large, relatively flat swaths of land were conducive to cattle ranching.) The sauces too reflect the cultural histories of the migrants to these regions, such as the mustard-based sauce of South Carolina, which was preferred by the German and French migrants who settled here, to the vinegar-based sauce of North Carolina, which was the preference of British colonists. In Kansas City, we again see a fusion of physical and human geography. Many poor whites and newly emancipated slaves moved to Kansas City after the Civil War, and as a result, we see a variety of meats utilized. In addition, the city’s location as a port along the Mississippi meant that residents had easy access to ingredients like molasses, and thus the Kansas City barbecue sauce is characterized by a thick, sweet sauce made from brown sugar, molasses, and tomatoes.

Religious factors can also play a critical role in shaping the foods we eat. A taboo refers to something that is forbidden or considered improper by a particular group of people. There are a wide variety of taboos, such as a prohibition against using profanities or restrictions regarding certain sexual relationships or the barring of certain styles of clothing. Dietary laws represent a broad category of taboos.

Kashrut refers to the set of dietary rules and restrictions followed by some, but not all, Jewish people. Food that is fit to be consumed is deemed kosher. The laws of kashrut are complex, but some of the more widely known restrictions are against eating pork or shellfish and a prohibition against mixing milk products and meat. Some Jews abstain from certain foods, like pork, but may consume a cheeseburger. Others, around one-sixth of American Jews, choose to keep fully kosher, typically maintaining an entirely separate kitchen area and utensils to avoid mixing meat and milk products.

For Muslims, halal refers to foods that are permissible (as opposed to those which are haram, or forbidden) according to the Qur’an, Islam’s central religious text. The most common example of a food that is haram is pork.

For many Hindus, vegetarianism represents an extension of their religious beliefs regarding compassion and nonviolence toward all living beings and thus many Hindus abstain from eating meat, particularly beef. As with Judaism, individual practices vary among these religions, however. Some Hindus eat chicken but still abstain from beef and others may eat milk but not eggs. Symbols denoting foods as kosher or halal can be commonly found on supermarket products and you’ve likely come across them without even realizing (see Figure 3.2).

3.3 Housing

When we consider one of our other basic needs, shelter, we again see the significant impact of geography, particularly when we examine older homes. If you’ve ever traveled through the northeastern United States, for example, you’ll notice that most of the homes have steeply pitched roofs. Why might this be? Consider the saltbox-style house, for example, which was common in New England during the colonial era (see Figure 3.3) and featured a steeply pitched roof with two stories in the front and one story in the rear.

Compare this to a typical 1940s and 50s home in Florida, with its relatively flat roof (also in Figure 3.3). The difference in roof styles can be attributed to the varying climates in these regions. The steeply pitched roofs of New England were designed to shed heavy snowfall during harsh winters, a design feature that was not needed in Florida homes. Flat roofs, compared to pitched roofs, are typically cheaper to build, so they were commonly used as a way to minimize costs in the post-World War II housing boom in warmer climates.

One of the most common folk housing styles we find across the southern United States is known as the shotgun house (bottom left of Figure 3.3). This housing style was relatively narrow, typically no more than 12 feet wide, with rooms arranged in a row. The narrow layout of these homes, with doors in the front and rear, allowed for cross ventilation. Both doors could be open to create a breeze that would flow through the entire length of the house. Some historians believe this housing style may have originated with the traditional long-houses used by the Yoruba people of West Africa. Others believe this housing style was simply the most economical way to build a home on the narrow lots that were common in the south.

Other folk housing styles in the United States include the I-House, found in the Middle Atlantic states, and the Tidewater homes of the Atlantic coastal plain. In all of these examples, there is a mixture of local geography, like climate and building resources, along with cultural histories and construction knowledge.

Today, housing styles are more reflective of the time period when they were built than local geography. For example, across the United States, ranch-style homes were popular from World War II until the mid-1970s and feature single stories and a long, low roof line (see bottom right of Figure 3.3). Ranch homes can be found in a variety of locales, particularly in the southern United States. After the 1950s, many new homes in the United States can be described as having a neo-eclectic architectural style, borrowing elements of various historical styles such as Cape Cod, French Provincial, Tudor, or Colonia—and sometimes mixing several styles at the same time.

3.4 Popular Culture: Clothing, Sports, and Music

Popular culture and folk culture are often conceptualized as distinct categories, but in many ways, they are interrelated, with each informing and shaping the other. We see this most evidently, perhaps, in the areas of clothing, sports, and music—three of the most visible elements of what we typically term “popular culture.” If we examine the clothing worn by various groups, we see that, as with food and shelter, there is a mix of both environmental factors and cultural preferences. In colder regions, for example, we often find thick furs used to protect against harsh weather conditions, whereas in warm, humid environments, we are more likely to see light colors and flowing, natural fabrics to enable air flow. But, just as in the case of housing and food, we also see the impact of human geography. In more developed areas, we see that popular culture has had a significant impact on the way people dress. In areas where religious adherence is high, we might find more modest dress, such as the use of headscarves, for example. Less developed communities might also feature clothing that utilizes designs or symbols that reflect underlying cultural values and beliefs. Economics, too, influences clothing styles and preferences, just as it does for the other elements of culture, with the wealthier members of a community often determining what is considered to be “fashionable.”

As the textile industry became industrialized, it was possible to mass produce, and mass transport, clothing, and thus the typical style of “Western” casual dress, consisting of jeans and a T-shirt, can now be found in a wide variety of countries from the United States to Western Europe to Russia. The denim market has even expanded in the Middle East and Africa in recent years. In some areas, the influence of popular culture on clothing has been met with tension, as Western styles have sometimes been at-odds with folk cultural preferences for more traditional or modest dress. Interestingly, jeans could have been considered folk culture historically, as they were originally created as a type of durable work wear for miners, farmers, factory workers and cowboys. (You’ll notice most jeans have rivets at the places pants rip the most—hardly a necessity for most jeans-wearers today!)

Many of the popular sports of today have similarly humble origins. Association football, more commonly known as “football” throughout the world or “soccer” in the United States, traces its roots back to the various ancient ball games played by a number of different cultures around the world. Episkyros, for example, was an ancient Greek ball game and cuju was a kickball game played in ancient China. In more modern times, football in England can be traced to the variety of ball games played in England’s schools during the mid-19th century. A governing body, the Football Association, was formed in 1863 to develop a common set of rules and regulate gameplay. Internationally, association football is now governed by the Fédération internationale de football association (French for “International Association Football Federation”), which is abbreviated as FIFA and association football is the most popular sport in the world in terms of both numbers of fans and media viewership.

While football can be played in a wide variety of environments and with relatively minimal equipment, other sports are far more closely tied to specific geographic environments. Have you ever considered why golf courses have sand traps, for instance? There are a number of ancient sports that consisted of players hitting a small ball, often made from stuffed leather or wood, with a curved stick, but the modern sport of golf originated in Scotland in the soil-covered areas near beaches (See Figure 3.4). (The phrase “Hitting the links” hints at this origin as well, as the term “links” comes from the Old English word hlinc meaning a rising ground or ridge.)

Modern golf courses, regardless of their location, attempt to mimic the geography of Scotland, complete with rolling hills, sandy bunkers, and meticulously maintained short grass. Historically, this short grass was a result of sheep grazing in the areas of Scotland where golf originated. However, in locations where the natural landscape differs from the Scottish coast, considerable resources are invested to cultivate and maintain the grass, as well as to reshape the physical environment, in order to match the desired experience of players (see Figure 3.5). Audubon International estimates that a typical golf course in the United States uses on average 312,000 gallons of water every day. In more arid environments, this amount is substantially more. The U.S. Geologic Survey, for example, calculated that the state of Utah uses around 38 million gallons of water on its golf courses each day. These figures don’t include the amounts of fertilizers and herbicides used on golf courses, or the impact of resulting runoff onto surrounding watersheds.

Ice hockey likewise developed in a very distinct physical environment. Historically, a variety of stick and ball games were played on skates on the iced-over lakes of Britain and Ireland. Settlers brought these games with them as they migrated to Canada and the Northern United States. In the early 20th century, similar to the establishment of national associations for football, efforts were made to refine the rules of various stick and ball games played on ice. This led to the formation of a national association, which later developed into the National Hockey League. Today, though, while outdoor hockey is still common in many cold climates, professional hockey is more typically played in climate-controlled arenas, often in locations that would be otherwise unsuitable for winter sports (see Figure 3.6).

The oldest organized sport in North America is lacrosse, which has its origins in a variety of games played by indigenous Americans as early as 1100 CE. Games were social events and served to build group cohesion, facilitate trade, and settle disputes between tribes. Lacrosse matches could last for several days and were played with anywhere from 100 to 1,000 men on a huge field (see Figure 3.7, as depicted by George Catlin, who witnessed a Choctaw lacrosse match near present-day Oklahoma in 1834). Thus, lacrosse, like many other modern sports, was once a folk culture but has now become popularized.

If we shift from sports to music, we find that similar dynamics of cultural evolution and popularization have unfolded. Folk music is a broad genre of music that generally refers to traditional music that is specific to a particular cultural group. Often, the intention of folk music is to tell a story, convey information about daily activities, or pass the time while working. Take one of the folk songs of Tripura, a state in northeast India, for example:

During heavy rain in June-July when
soil becomes blackish, all farmers are
starting to plough the land in paddy field.

This song is specific to a particular time, place, and agricultural practice. Even more modern folk music, such as the folk music of the Appalachian Mountain region of the United States, frequently features agricultural themes. Consider the lyrics of popular music, by contrast. Popular music, as clearly evidenced by the often vague and sometimes repetitive lyrics, is written by specific individuals, for the purpose of being sold to a large number of people and is often the product of more developed countries. This is the case for many elements of popular culture. In some cases, a folk musician or band might become more widely popular, shifting from folk to popular culture. The idea of “selling out” is often used to describe musicians or artists who are perceived to have compromised their folk origins in order to appeal to a broader commercial audience.

3.5 Origins and Diffusion of Culture

So where do all these cultural features come from? A social custom originates at a hearth, a center of innovation.  With many folk cultures, the hearth is anonymous—originating from unknown sources at unknown dates, or even through multiple hearths. For example, take the jarabe tapatío, often referred to as the “Mexican hat dance,” which is the national dance of Mexico. It originated as a courtship dance sometime in the 18th and 19th centuries, likely evolving from the Spanish zambra dance that was common during wedding ceremonies. Folk culture, because it arises in a particular, often isolated location, typically connects with a very specific cultural and geographic experience. In contrast with folk culture, popular culture generally arises in more developed areas. Compare traditional folk dances to the dance moves used by Finnish rapper Käärijä and his backup dancers in the 2023 Eurovision song contest. Their swinging arm, sailor-style dance move for the song “Cha Cha Cha” went viral on TikTok. In one case, we have a variety of influences and a culturally-specific dance evolving over a relatively long period of history. In the other, we have particular choreographers and musicians developing a dance with the intention of gaining broad public appeal. Popular culture is easily reproducible as a result of industrial technology, and since it is generally a product of more developed, highly globalized countries, popular culture often spreads rapidly to other parts of the world in contrast with folk culture which tends to remain isolated or diffuses much more slowly. Put another way, isolation leads to uniqueness and thus unique folk cultures arise and remain in places that are relatively isolated geographically.

When we consider the diffusion of popular culture, we can see that it often shapes cultural preferences with no regard to underlying geographies. For example, do you generally cook meals based on what produce is locally and seasonally available? Or is your menu based on a variety of globalized meals that are popular—perhaps pizza one night, tacos the next, and then a stir fry? When you get dressed in the morning, do you put on clothes made from locally available textile materials, or were your clothes produced in a distant country and reflect popular style trends more than distinct cultural values? Sometimes there is a fusion of folk and popular culture as cultural features diffuse and evolve. Perhaps you wear a hijab, a veil worn by some Muslim women, and also jeans. Maybe you enjoy some Salvadoran pupusas and curtido one day with relatives, and then the next day, have a fast food hamburger. But how do cultural features and values actually diffuse?

A key principle for geographic study is the notion of spatial interaction, the flow of ideas, people, goods, or services from one place to another. This flow is dynamic, subject to change and evolve over time and is impacted by a variety of geographic factors to include physical and social features. So how does culture change and spread as a result of spatial interaction? Diffusion broadly refers to the spread of something to a wider area. There are two main types of diffusion: relocation and expansion. Relocation diffusion involves the physical movement of a person from one place to another, bringing their cultural ideas and traits with them. An immigrant from India moving to the United States and opening a restaurant serving dishes from her hometown would be an example of relocation diffusion. Relocation diffusion has occurred throughout human history as people move from one place to another. Folk culture primarily spreads through relocation diffusion.

Increasingly in today’s world, culture spreads through processes of expansion diffusion, no longer requiring people to physically relocate to spread cultural ideas. With expansion diffusion, cultural features spread from one place to another in a way that increases its global presence while still remaining grounded in its original location. There are a variety of ways this expansive process might work, to include contagious diffusion, hierarchical diffusion, and stimulus diffusion—the three types of expansion diffusion. With contagious diffusion, the diffusion of an idea or product is widespread throughout a population and the spread can be likened to a contagious virus (hence the name). “Viral” videos are great examples of contagious diffusion: one person posts it, then their friends like it and repost, and then others like and repost, and it quickly gathers millions of views. The original creator of the video never had to physically travel around and tell everyone about the video they’d made; it just spread from one person to another as people shared it.

With hierarchical diffusion, a cultural feature spreads from a person of authority or influence. A celebrity wearing a particular clothing brand might spur others to buy the same shirt. A highly followed social media celebrity might promote a certain product, inspiring others to go out and buy it. A ruler could decree that a particular religion is now the official faith in a country and numbers of adherents subsequently rise. All of these are examples of hierarchical diffusion.

Finally, stimulus diffusion is a bit different. With stimulus diffusion, it is the idea or principle that diffuses and stimulates new ideas rather than the original product. The original idea is changed or adapted by different cultural groups. There are many examples of stimulus diffusion throughout history. Pasta most likely originated in Asia, and yet when we think of Italian cuisine, we often think of quintessentially Italian pasta dishes rather than Italian versions of Chinese noodle dishes. Thus, the idea of noodles spread and was adapted by other cultures. Various products can be subject to stimulus diffusion, from personal computing technology to cream filled sandwich cookies. The original product might have inspired a later product which grew to be even more popular than the original.

As cultural features diffuse, the effects of and reactions to this diffusion vary depending on the local population. In some cultures, there is a blending of cultural features to form new traits known as syncretism. In other cases, a majority culture is fully dominant and members of minority cultures are expected to fully adopt the cultural features of the majority. This is known as assimilation. In still other cases, there is acculturation, where a majority cultural group exists and is dominant but minority groups still retain some level of their own cultural identity. Finally, there are societies that embrace multiculturalism, where individual cultural features are maintained and encouraged.

What barriers exist to cultural diffusion? Historically, physical barriers presented formidable obstacles. A wide river, expansive ocean, or tall mountain range would have prevented the spread of cultural features from one area to another. Today, most barriers are social. Perhaps a religious law prevents the spread of a popular movie to a certain area. Political barriers, language barriers, economic barriers, and so on all might hamper the spread of cultural features from one area to another. Conversely, these social features might spread a dominant cultural trait so well that local folk cultures are erased in the process, a phenomenon that has often occurred with the diffusion of language.

3.6 Ethnic Identity, Race, and Gender

Thus far, we’ve considered the cultural elements that help define who we are, from our food preferences to our clothing style to the music we listen to. Our ethnic identity and gender, together with culture, shape how we experience the world around us as well as how we see ourselves. Ethnicity refers to the shared identity of a group of people who have a common history or cultural tradition. This ethnic identity can be a source of pride for many, a link to the experience of ancestors and to cultural traditions, such as food and music preferences. Ethnicity can be closely tied to folk culture, language, and religion. It is a natural human tendency to seek a shared sense of belonging, but there is also the unfortunate tendency to “other,” to label a particular group of people as something wholly “different” from ourselves.  It is this “othering” that leads to prejudices. For some, ethnic identity can be primarily a function of our distant ancestry. In the United States, for example, someone might identify as being “Italian,” though this identification might only relate to the food they cook (or enjoy eating) and to where their relatives emigrated from. For others, ethnic identity can represent the core of who you are.

Ethnicity is distinct from race, which refers to the identity with a group of people who have a shared biological heritage. Is race socially constructed, or is there a biological basis for it—or is it a combination of both? Modern scholars view the distinct, racial categories often used today as socially constructed, meaning they have been created by society. This is apparent from the labels we often use to define various races, such as “white” and “black” and how we make these distinctions. No one’s skin tone is really white or black. Yours might be a rich chocolate color or a warm olive tone or ivory with a hint of pink. That said, there are inherited features such as skin color and hair texture that can dramatically impact how a person is perceived by the wider society. Racism refers to the belief that race corresponds with differences in both physical appearance and behavioral traits and the belief that one race is superior over another. This is not to say that the mere idea of race produces racism, but it is often the labeling of others and the practice of “othering” that is the first step in developing prejudices and racist views.

There can be some overlap between race and ethnicity with regard to culture. Someone might identify as “Black” with regards to race and also the African American ethnicity, connecting to their African heritage. Someone else, however, might identify as “Black” but their ancestors more recently came from the Caribbean and so they may not identify with an African ancestry. Furthermore, some people may identify as multiple races or ethnicities.

Ethnicity is also different from nationality, which refers to your attachment to a particular country, and is explored further in the Political Geography chapter. However, ethnicity and nationality can sometimes go hand in hand. When new countries are created, they are often separated on the basis of ethnicity—but you can rarely separate two ethnicities completely. When creating national boundaries, how do you decide which ethnicities (and their territories) to include in a new country, and how do you decide which to separate? If multiple ethnicities exist within a country, how do you decide which ethnic group should rule? What happens if you’re a majority ethnic group that wants to rule, and the minority is resistant? In some cases, the majority ethnic group or the ruling ethnic group turns to ethnic cleansing, which is a process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes or kills a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region. Genocide, specifically referring to the intent to destroy a particular ethnic group, is a crime under international law. There have been numerous instances of ethnic cleansing throughout history including ethnic cleansing campaigns by the Nazi government, the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s, and the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. More recently, the Myanmar government has been accused of ethnic cleansing related to their Rohingya population, an ethnic minority within Myanmar who are viewed by the government as illegal migrants and denied citizenship. Around half of the 1 million Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since the 1990s.

Our gender identity also holds significant influence over how we are perceived by others, our roles within society, and the ways in which we engage with our culture. Society often constructs expectations, norms, and roles based on gender. In some societies, for example, women are expected to assume domestic responsibilities and prioritize caregiving roles, and dress in traditional and modest styles, while men may be encouraged to pursue higher education and careers outside of the home. The way we experience space can be profoundly impacted by our gender identity. Numerous studies in a variety of countries have shown that women are far more likely to feel unsafe walking alone at night compared to men, for example. This sense of vulnerability is further heightened for individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (commonly abbreviated as LGBTQ+) as their gender identity and/or sexual orientation may challenge societal norms. In some cities, LGBTQ+ people might feel uncomfortable or afraid of harassment; in other cases, they would risk imprisonment or even death if their identity is exposed in public.

While our cultural practices and beliefs are highly personal, they connect us to broader ethnic, religious, and linguistic communities. Furthermore, our cultural beliefs can significantly shape how we view and interact with others outside of our community. For some, this might mean embracing multiculturalism and enjoying sharing and learning from the cultures of others. For others, particularly those who are involved in territorial disputes or who have a historical grievance against another ethnic group, race, or class, these cultural differences can have severe consequences. Ultimately, our culture helps shape who we are and transmits our values and ideals to the next generation.

3.7 Westernization

As we’ve explored in this chapter, global popular culture has increasingly become “Western” culture, in a broader process known as Westernization. This process involves the spread and adoption of Western (broadly defined as Western Europe and the United States) cultural values, practices, and ideologies across different parts of the world, largely driven by modern communication and transportation technologies. The influence of Westernization can be felt in a variety of areas of daily life. A local Chinese restaurant might close down to make way for a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, for example. KFC is actually considered to be the most powerful foreign brand in China now with over 8,100 locations. Western chains may attempt to offer a localized menu, frequently featuring stereotypical elements of a broader array of cultural features. For instance, McDonald’s offers localized menu items like Teriyaki Burgers in Japan, a spicy paneer patty in India, mashed avocado in Chile, and bulgogi sauce in South Korea.

The influence of Western culture has also extended into the realm of global cinema. American movies in particular have a significant impact on the global film industry and often shape the preferences and cinematic standards of other countries. Avatar: The Way of Water, released in 2022, earned over $684 million in the United States, ranking it as the second-highest grossing film in the country that year after Top Gun: Maverick. Internationally, however, Avatar: The Way of Water earned an additional $1.6 billion, pushing it to the top spot in terms of global film gross. In fact, the list of highest-grossing films of all time are unmistakably Hollywood in origin, from the original Avatar to a variety of Marvel films to Star Wars to Furious 7 , every single one of the top 50 films was made by a Western film studio.

Just as Westernization has shaped global cinema, the reverse can be true as well at times, with other cultures shaping American films. For some time, China and the United States have traded places for the two biggest movie markets in terms of theatrical revenues. American film studios thus stand to make substantial profits if they can show their films in China, but China only allows a small number of foreign films into the country each year. Thus, filmmakers have attempted to make their films appeal to the Chinese government, often in subtle ways. Chinese astronauts might be depicted as cooperating with American astronauts. Chinese products like phones or brands of food might be used by the main characters. Famous Chinese actors might be given small cameos. It’s also unlikely that an American film will feature Chinese villains or will depict the Chinese government as an enemy to the state. Some filmmakers have removed certain scenes or plot lines, such as same-sex romance, from films in order to screen the movie in China. Film studios have recently begun reconsidering some of these shifts, however, as politicians, journalists, and American audiences have become more aware of the influence of the Chinese government. This, coupled with tight Covid-19 restrictions in China, has meant that the risk for an American filmmaker to adapt her film to suit a Chinese audience might not lead to the desired investment and might lead to criticism at home.

Broader Western cultural features and values have essentially been marketed to the rest of the world as symbols of modernity and success. Companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, KFC, and Nike have a significant presence in many countries (see Figure 3.8). Interior design trends in Western countries have often become standard in urban areas as have Western architectural styles. The Western concept of formal business attire, particularly the suit, has become a symbol of professionalism and is widely adopted in many countries around the world. In many cases, Westernization has lead to an erasure of local culture and a privileging of Western cultural features and values.

At the same time, global cultural exchange has sparked new features of culture and an exchange of ideas that was unprecedented historically. Americans can enjoy Japanese sushi, Ethiopian beef tibs, and El Salvadorian pupusas with curtido—all without leaving their city! The challenge with Westernization, then, is to maintain core facets of culture, attempting to appreciate and sustain local cultural uniqueness, while embracing the positive aspects of global connectivity. Korean popular culture is now on the rise in North America, from the series “Squid Game” to the South Korean boy band BTS. While social media platforms have often contributed to the diffusion of Western popular culture, they have also provided a platform for people like Charity Ekezie, a Nigerian woman who has a robust TikTok following for her videos that break down African stereotypes. Westernization has presented both challenges and opportunities, as it has led to the erasure of local culture while also fostering global cultural exchange and the emergence of new ideas. The key lies in preserving cultural uniqueness, embracing global connectivity, and recognizing the power of platforms like social media in reshaping cultural narratives.