AP Human Geography Flashcards: Contemporary Causes of Diffusion
Written by AP Content Team, Verified for 2026 AP Exams, Last updated: May 2026
Review key ideas with interactive flashcards. This set includes 10 cards to help you master important concepts.
What two opposing outcomes can result from the accelerated interactions caused by communication technologies?
Accelerated interactions can create both cultural convergence, where cultures become more alike, and cultural divergence, where they become more distinct.
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What two opposing outcomes can result from the accelerated interactions caused by communication technologies?
Accelerated interactions can create both cultural convergence, where cultures become more alike, and cultural divergence, where they become more distinct.
What are two contrasting linguistic effects of modern communication technologies?
These technologies have led to both the increasing use of English for global communication and the simultaneous loss of indigenous languages.
How are communication technologies like the internet fundamentally changing human interaction?
They are reshaping and accelerating interactions among people, which in turn alters cultural practices.
Identify two large-scale processes that drive cultural change.
Urbanization and globalization are two major large-scale processes that cause cultural ideas and practices to change.
Define time-space convergence.
The process by which communication technologies accelerate interactions among people, effectively reducing the perceived distance between places.
The rapid spread of a viral video from South Korea to the United States via the internet is an example of what concept?
This demonstrates time-space convergence, where technology reshapes and accelerates interactions and the diffusion of cultural practices.
Through what five mechanisms do processes like globalization influence culture?
Globalization influences culture through media, technological change, politics, economics, and social relationships.
What is the fundamental nature of cultural ideas and practices?
Cultural ideas and practices are socially constructed, meaning they are created and change over time through societal processes.
What does it mean for culture to be 'socially constructed'?
It means that cultural ideas and practices are not natural or inherent but are developed and given meaning by people within a society.
What is the relationship between historical processes and contemporary culture?
Historical processes directly impact and shape the cultural patterns that are present in the world today.