IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE EXEMPLIFIED IN SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN

Abstract

THE discipline of geography has a distinctive contribution to make to the study of culture and culture processes. There is an important advantage in the fact that elements of a culture which reflect even intangible qualities can be mapped and analyzed. Examination of the spatial context and the relatedness of culture forms, features, and other expressions of people reflecting distinctive wvays of life, yield evidence of the value of a geographical appraisal of culture. The purpose of this paper is to offer a statement about a geographic view of culture and cultire process, and to demonstrate that ideology contains the fundamental bases from wvhich decisions are made and distinctive ways of organizing area are derived. These ideas are illustrated by their application to a specific culture group, the Dutch-Reformed community of southwestern Michigan.' The study of this group provides some insights into the culture process by which area and its occupants are transformed.

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