2. Cultural Diffusion
• Cultural diffusion or spatial
diffusion is the spread of
an idea or innovation from
its source to other
cultures.
• Diffusion occurs through
the movement of people,
goods or ideas.
• Carl Sauer focused on
cultural diffusion in his
book Agricultural Origins
and Dispersals (1952)
3. Types of Diffusion
• There are two main types of Diffusion:
• Expansion Diffusion
– The spread of an item or idea from one place to others. In the
process it remains and often strengthens in the origin area.
• Contagious diffusion-rapid widespread diffusion by direct contact.
Affects all areas uniformly as it spreads outward. E.g. the spread of
Islam.
• Hierarchical diffusion-or cascade diffusion-the process of spreading
ideas first between large cities and only later to smaller cities.
• Stimulus diffusion-the spread of an underlying principle even though
the main idea is not spread. E.g. industrialization
• Relocation Diffusion
– The innovation or idea is physically carried to new areas by
migrating individuals or populations. E.g. Christianity brought
to the New World by missionaries and colonists.
8. • In 1798 he published An
Essay on the Principle of
Population
• Malthus was the first to
sound the alarm that the
world’s population was
expanding more rapidly
than food production.
• He was the first to
recognize exponential or
geometric population
growth.
• Today those who share his
concerns are Neo-
Malthusians
Rev. Thomas Malthus
1766-1834
9. • Demographic Transition
• Demographic cycles of population growth
– Stage 1 High Stationary Growth with high birth rates 40/1000 or
higher and high death rates.
– Stage 2 Early Expanding with high birth rates and declining death
rates (birth 40s/death 20/1000) = rapid growth in pop.
– Stage 3 Late Expanding with declining birth rates (30s) and low
death rates (10) = still significant growth
– Stage 4 Low Stationary has low birth rates and low death rates
(birth 15 and death 10 or lower) SPL Stationary Population Level
11. Second Agricultural Revolution
and Industrial Revolution
• 18th century gains in agricultural production:
– Crop yields improved with better farming methods
– New crops such as potatoes, turnips and alfalfa
– Storage and distribution improved which alleviated
famines and shortages.
• Industrial Revolution was also a factor:
– Improved sanitation
– Improved medical care
– Disease prevention such as smallpox vaccine
12. • Crude death rate-the number of deaths per 1,000 each
year.
• Crude birth rate-the number of births per 1,000 each
year.
• Natural increase (NIR)rate-the % by which a population
grows in a year. Computed by subtracting the % of CBR-
CDR.
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) the number of children born
to women of childbearing age-usually reported as a
percentage.
• Dependency ratio-the number of people who are too
young or too old to work compared to the number of
people old enough to work.
13. Population Pyramids –
Charts that show the percentages of each age group in the
total population, divided by gender.
For poorer countries, the chart is shaped like a pyramid.
Infant mortality rates are high, life expectancy is shorter.
14. • Population Pyramids-
display a country’s
population in a bar graph
form.
• Each 5 year group with the
youngest 0-4 years old at
the base of the pyramid
are called cohorts.
• Males are shown on the
left side and females are
shown on the right.
• A wide-based pyramid
indicates a country in Stage
2 of the Demographic
transition.
15. Population Pyramids
Charts that show the percentages of each age group in the
total population, divided by gender.
For wealthier countries, the chart is shaped like a
lopsided vase. Population is aging, TFRs are declining.
16. • Four Patterns of Population Structure
• Each nation faces different problems due to a large
base with many young or negative growth.
18. Ernst Ravenstein’s “Laws of migration
1885 he studied the migration of England
• Most migrants go only a short distance.
• Big cities attract long distance migrants.
• Most migration is step-by-step.
• Most migration is rural to urban
• Each migration flow produces a counterflow.
• Most migrants are adults-families are less
likely to make international moves.
• Most international migrants are young males.
19. • Gravity model is an inverse relationship between
volume of migration and distance to the destination.
• Gravity model was anticipated by Ravenstein.
• The physical laws of gravity first studied by Newton can
be applied to the actions of humans in terms of
migration and economics
• Spatial interaction such as migration is directly related
to the populations and inversely related to the distance
between them.
• International refugees cross one or more borders and
are encamped in a country not their own.
• International refugees abandon their homes, but not
their countries-this is the largest number world wide.
21. Lee’s Model
• Push factors – reasons to migrate from
• Pull factors -- reasons to migrate to
• Both places have + and - reasons to leave and
stay – reasons to migrate and not to migrate
• Intervening obstacles – barriers exist to
migrating (money, border patrol, etc.)
26. Immanuel Wallerstein’s World-Systems Theory:
1. The world economy has one market and a global
division of labor.
2. Although the world has multiple states, almost
everything takes place within the context of the
world economy.
3. The world economy has a three-tier structure.
European nations and those settled by European
migrants established colonies throughout the world
to extract wealth.
This period of colonialism established the current
imbalance in world economic and political power
28. “Heartland” theory by Halford
Mackinder 1904
• Heartland theory-- A 1904 proposal by
Mackinder that the key to world conquest lay
in control of the interior of Eurasia
30. Von Thünen Model
• Von Thünen Model
– What farmers produce
varies by distance from
the town, with livestock
raising farthest from
town.
– Cost of transportation
governs use of land.
– First effort to analyze
the spatial character of
economic activity.
31. Von Thünen
• Johann Heinrich von Thünen (1783-1850) wrote Der
Isolierte Staat (The Isolated State) which is the
foundation of location theory.
• Noted how crops near Rostock, Germany changed with
no change in soil-mapped the pattern
• With terrain, soils and rainfall the same he created the
ringed-pattern
• Noted that transportation costs governed land use
33. Application of Von Thünen Model
• Geographer Lee Liu studied the spatial pattern of
agriculture production in China.
Found:
- farmers living in a village farm both lands close to
the village and far away intensively
- methods varied spatially – resulting in land
improvement (by adding organic material) close to
village and land degradation (lots of pesticides and
fewer conservation tactics) farther from village.
34. Boserup’s Model
• Malthus believed that agriculture methods
determines population
• Boserup’s Model argues the population
determines agriculture (possibilism) – In other
words, innovation would out pace population
demands
37. Core-Periphery Model
• Immanuel Wallerstein proposed the World Systems
Theory with promoted the Core-Periphery concept.
• Unlike the term-developed and developing, the Core-
Periphery Model does not imply that change will occur.
• Core-Periphery regionalism got its start during the period
of colonialism was re-enforced by the Industrial Rev. and
continues in the age of globalization.
38. Core-Periphery Model
• New approach to developed
or underdeveloped idea
• Core-Periphery also used in a
political context
• Core-the nations with a high
level of prosperity with
dominant economies globally
• Periphery-poor nations that
are dependent on the core as
markets for raw materials and
sources of technology
• Semi-Periphery-better off
than periphery, but still
dominated by the core to
some degree
41. Development Models
Modernization Model
Walt Rostow’s model assumes all countries follow a
similar path to development or modernization,
advancing through five stages of development,
climbing a ladder of development.
- traditional
- preconditions of takeoff
- takeoff
- drive to maturity
- high mass consumption
42. Models of Development
Walt Rostow created this liberal model of development in
the 1960s
1. First Stage-Traditional
1. Subsistence farms-limited technology
2. Rigid social structure
3. Resistance to change-transition triggered by external influence
2. Second Stage-Preconditions for Take-Off
1. Progressive Leadership-commercial exploitation of agriculture
& extractive industries
2. Greater flexibility-installation of infrastructure-roads, railways,
etc.
3. Greater openness to new technology
4. Greater Diversity of products produced
43. Models of Development
3. Third Stage-Take Off
1. Experiences industrial growth
2. Urbanization
3. Industrialization, technology & mass production
4. Drive to Maturity
1. Diffusion of technology
2. Industrial specialization
3. International trade
4. Modernization at the core
5. Population growth is reduced
5. Fifth Stage-Final Stage
1. Mass consumption-widespread production of goods &
services
2. High incomes
3. Majority of workforce in service sector
45. Models of Development
• Structuralist Model this is
the alternate to the Liberal
Model that states
disparities are inevitable
due to structural features
of the global economy.
• These disparities can not
be easily changed-it is
misleading to assume that
all areas will go through
the same economic
process of development
46. Models of Development
• Dependency Theory is
another Structuralist
Model
• Political & economic
relationships between
nations & regions limit the
development of the less
well off areas
• Colonial dependencies are
still in place from long ago.
• Dependency theory sees
little hope for economic
prosperity in some
traditional parts of the
world
47. Dependency Theory
The political and economic relationships between
countries and regions of the world control and limit
the economic development possibilities of poorer
areas.
-- Economic structures make poorer countries
dependent on wealthier countries.
-- Little hope for economic prosperity in
poorer countries.
48. Dependency Ratio by Country, 2005
A measure of the number of people under the age of 15 and
over the age of 65 that depends on each working-age adult.
49. A Changing World
• Until 1980s there were 3
Blocs
– First World-The Capitalist
West-the most advanced
nations-democratic &
capitalist
– Second World-The
Communist East of the Soviet
Union & its Eastern European
Satellites, Red China, N.
Korea & Vietnam
– Third World-non aligned
nations with mixed
economies and state control-
now an obsolete term
50. Three Tier Structure
Core
Processes that incorporate
higher levels of education,
higher salaries, and more
technology
* Generate more wealth in the
world economy
Semi-periphery
Places where core and periphery
processes are both occurring. Places
that are exploited by the core but then
exploit the periphery.
* Serves as a buffer between core and
periphery
Periphery
Processes that incorporate
lower levels of education,
lower salaries, and less
technology
* Generate less wealth in the
world economy
