World Systems Theory
Created by Immanuel Wallerstein, divides countries of the world into three groups based on political power, social standing, and economic and technological development.
MDC/Core Country
A country that is pretty far in the continuum of development; A developed country.
LCD/periphery country
Countries that usually have low levels of economic productivity, low per capita incomes, and generally low standards of living; An undeveloped country
Developing Country/Semi-Periphery country
Those newly industrialized countries with median standards of living; developing country
BRICS Countries
Five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Primary Sector
Production of raw materials or natural resource extraction (e.g., agriculture, mining, energy, timber, fishing)
Secondary Sector
The portion of the economy concerned with manufacturing useful products through processing, transforming and assembling raw materials.
Tertiary Sector
The sale and exchange of manufactured products and raw materials
Site/Absolute Location
Position on Earth's surface using the coordinate system of longitude and latitude
Situation/Relative Location
The position of a place or entity based on its location with respect to other locations
Space
The physical gap or interval between two objects
Location
The position of something on the earth's surface.
Scale
The relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole
Density
The number of people who live in a defined land area
Concentration
The spread of a feature over space
Pattern
The geometric or regular arrangement of something in an area
Distribution
The arrangement of features in a space
Region
Any area differentiated from surrounding areas by at least one characteristic
Formal Region
An area within which everyone shares distinctive characteristics.
Functional Region/Nodal Region
An area organized around a node or focal point that decreases in importance outward
Perceptual Region/ Vernacular Region
A place that people believe exists as a part of their cultural identity
Homogeneous Characteristic
A characteristic that members of a certain group, area, or region all share in common
Regionalization
The organization of earth's surface into distinct areas that are viewed as different from other areas
Uniform Landscapes
The spatial expression of a popular custom in one location that will be similar to another.
Globalization
The impact on local culture and economics caused by increased interaction between geographically distinct regions.
Localization
The transformation of global culture by local cultures into something new
Local Diversity
A combination of unique cultural traditions and economic practices.
Distance Decay
The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.
Cultural Landscape
Fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group
Environmental Determinism
A philosophy of geography that stated that human behaviors are a direct result of the surrounding environment
Possibilism
The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.
Placelessness
The loss of uniqueness of place in the cultural landscape so that one place looks like the next-Edward Relph
Sense of Place
The emotions someone attaches to an area based on their experiences.
Friction of Distance
The notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort, money, and/or energy to overcome
Space-Time
The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation system.
Sustainability
The use of Earth's resources in ways that ensure their availability in the future
Diffusion
The spread of people, things, ideas, cultural practices, disease, technology, weather, and. more from place to place
Expansion Diffusion
The spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process.
Hierarchical Diffusion
The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places
Relocation Diffusion
The spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another.
Contagious Diffusion
The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population.
Stimulus Diffusion
When a culture changes as it spreads from its original point.
Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion
The processes in which a trait diffuses from a lower. class to a higher class.
Hearth
The region from which innovative ideas originate