Geographers use the word culture for the beliefs, practices, languages, foods, clothing, music and ways of building that a group of people shares and passes on. Like the regions you studied, cultures have places where they are found and borders that blur.
Key idea
A culture trait is one part of a culture, such as a food, a holiday, a style of house or a language. Folk culture is traditional, practiced by a small, often rural group, and passed on by family and neighbors; it changes slowly and varies from place to place. Popular culture spreads widely and quickly through mass media and trade, changes fast, and looks similar in many places.
| Folk culture | Popular culture | |
|---|---|---|
| Group | Small, close-knit, often rural | Large, mixed, often urban |
| How it spreads | Slowly, person to person, often by relocation | Quickly, through mass media, trade and the internet |
| Change | Slow; tradition matters | Fast; fashions come and go |
| Landscape | Differs from place to place | Similar from place to place |
Why it works
The difference is about how a trait spreads, not how old it is. Folk traditions are learned from family and neighbors, so they stay tied to the places where those people live. Popular culture is carried by television, recorded music, chain stores and the internet, so it can appear in many places at once. That is why a town's main street of chain stores can look much like another town's across the country.
Worked examples
Worked example: Folk or popular?
Classify: (a) a quilt pattern a family has passed down for generations in one county; (b) a dance that spreads around the world in a month through online videos.
- (a) Learned in a family, tied to one place, changing slowly: folk culture.
- (b) Spread by media across huge distances at once: popular culture.
Answer: (a) folk, (b) popular.
Worked example: A culture kept on purpose
Old Order Amish communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio travel by horse and buggy and keep many traditional crafts. Folk or popular?
- The practices are learned within a small, close-knit community.
- They change slowly, by community choice.
- They mark the landscape: buggies, farms without power lines.
Answer: Folk culture.
Common mistake
Students think folk culture is old and popular culture is new. Age is not the test. A song can be centuries old and still be popular culture if it is spread by mass media, and a new practice can be folk culture if it spreads only by local tradition. Ask: how does it spread, and over how large an area?