A11C ultures Are Not Equal David BrooksJ Let's say you are an 18-year-old kid with a really big brain. You're trying to figure out which field of study you should devote your life to, so you can under-stand the forces that will be shaping history for decades to come. Go into the field that barely exists: cultural geography. Study why and how people cIuster, why certain national traits endure over centuries, why certain cultures embrace technol-ogy and economic growth and others resist them. This is the line of inquiry that is now impolite to pursue. The gospel of multiculturalism preaches that all groups and cultures are equally wonderful. There are a certain number of close-minded thugs, especially on university campuses, who accuse anybody who asks inte1ligent questions about groups and enduring traits of being racist or sexist. The economists and scientists tend to assume that material factors drive history -resources and brain chemist可-because that' s what they can measure and count. Butnoneof由ishelps explain a crucial feature of our time: while global econo-mies are converging, cu1tures are diverging, and the widening cu1tural differ-ences are leading us into a period of conflict, inequality and segmentation. Not long ago, people said that globalization and the revolution in communications tech-nology would bring us all together. But the opposite is true. People are taking advantage of freedom and technology to create new groups and cultural zones. Old national identities and behavior patterns are proving surprisingly durable. People are moving into self-segregating communities with people like themselves, and gospel / 'gnspll n. something, such as an idea or a principle, accepted as unquestionably缸uee.ιg. ~扩(Ma盯ωtυ汀r川vωlel灿ls、.υus川rυ川1/m川川e伪thil咆，川y(1川UαC'正川ωμω(/川υt川PI1ωakγc('川I1(f IrilJ/llioll alld <1:、归'11/111 ali川1o!, kl1ml'l俨dge.diverge IdaI'V3:d3f V, to follow a different direction, or to be or become different e.g. The飞\\\\'alkl'dfiO也x、pel{/Iollg IlIe rnad to俏'IherThe teacher said it, alld Ihal made it gospel thug /ØAgI n. a man who acts violently, especially to cormrut a cnme e.g. The I1Ul!l 011 Ihe jìre escape I/odded, alld tlzree Ihugs slepped OU! G扩'({door ill IJll' allev. reached 111(' \\'illage, hlll rhel/ rheir (J{/thdil'erged AIIJWllgh Ihl' 1\\\\υgelherfor 1Il1ll川1Fer可edοrgal/i7atiollS hal'l' Il'firkl'd f() 飞'(Jlυ.s，, 1/lllillh/'飞Iheir obieclil'es 11m'!' di converge Ik扭'v3:d:yla single pr叫ucte.g. COlll'erge. V. to come toge由erso as to form recelltl\\', segmentation l,segm;)n'teIJ::m1 n. the act of dividing or partitioning; separation by the creation of a bound-ary由atdivides or keeps apart (11Ourpl凹'Îousl.vopposed \\'iews are I元'gill11illg10 ψpurllllllli们ie.g. Markel segllll'lIwtiυ11 i.l' Ihe {I/川γ、、lllg口(dividillg(se、[(1111'111.1'1nluri.:.c! a I/larkel il/Iμdi叫川cl、u/l、川、Technolugies cOl1l'erge 10 providerhal helll/l'(' in 111(' \\(/111(' 11'(/飞()ri，川building invisible and sometimes visible barriers to keep strangers out. If you look just around the U nited States you find amazing cultural segmentation. We in America have been \"globalized\" (meaning economically integrated) for centuries, and yet far from converging into some homogeneous culture, we are actually diverging into lifestyle segments. The music, news, magazine and televi-sion markets have all segmented, so there are fewer cultural unifiers like Life magazine or Walter Cronkite2• Forty-million Americans move every year, and they generally move in with people Iike themselves, so as the late James Chapin3 used to say, every place be-comes more like itself. Crunchy places like Boulder4 attract crunchy types and become crunchier. Conservative places like suburban Georgia attract conserva-tives and become more so. Not long ago, many people worked on farms or in factories, so they had sirnilar lifestyles. But now the economy rewards specialization, so workplaces and lifestyles diverge. The milit征yand civilian cultures diverge. In the political world, Democrats and Republicans seem to live on different planets. Meanwhile, if you look around the world you see how often events are driven by groups that reject the globalized culture. Islamic extremists reject the modern cultures of Europe, and have created a hyperaggressive fantasy version of tradi-tional Islamic purity. In a much different and less violent way, some American Jews have moved to Hebron and become hyper-Zionists5• From Africa to Seattle, religiously orthodox students reject what they see as the amoral mainstream culture, and carve out defiant revival movements. From Rome to Oregon, antiglobalization homogeneous !'h;mm;J(u)'d3i:nj;JsI a. consisting of dateωld maintain pml'f!/\". parts or people which are similar to each other or are defiant Idr'far;Jntl a. boldly resisting authority or an of the same type opposing force e.g. (j hOl1logeneous group!\\\"Ocieηe.g. The repυrting system was rigid alld dejïanl 10 The pυ'pu/atiOll of' the village has remαined re-changes (/nd did 110t give USf!I丁a(正essto real-lIlarkah/\\' hOllwge/leous. time reports. unifier I 'ju:nrfar;J(r)1 n. someone who or something Julian explained that he was suicidalωzd defìant which unifies in the juvenile detentio/l facilin' becal/se he did crunchy f'krAlltSr! a. (slang.) liberal notfee/叫介thf!lγamoral ler'mDr;Jl!α. not involving questions of right or revival lrr'vaJvl! n. an instance of something becoming wrong; without moral quality; neither moral nor im-popular, active, or important again moral e.g. Signs o( reνiva[ howCl'er cOll/d be see/l in \\'ilri-e.g. He I1lUilltaill.\\' that husines 川\\' amoral, i.e. husi-川υusjρ4川卅J门r川.m/η刀1刑.\\'仇i')e(吁厅ttwνve>怔e凹e川?1吁I川刑tl/比e(川t川1川t\\γ'(υ)1\\ 川1lιeh川hμ s nothi川f川nz自gI υ dυ WIυth e二t吁thiκCS，The PersÎa/l cultural rel'il'a/ mO\\'ement ιrpe 门-According to the (,olll'el/tiollal reading 01' thωe enced as 1Il(υ1.1' slIccesses as did the Persial/ mili-texts町lawis ul/lora! a/ld (/// instru月lelltill rhe tllr\\' /γslstances， types create their own subcultures. The members of these and many other groups didn't inherit their identities. They took advantage of modernity, affluence and freedom to become practitioners of a do-it-yourself tribalism. They are part of a great reshuffiing of identities, and the creation of new, often more rigid groupings. They have the zeal of converts. Meanwhile, transnational dreams like European unification and Arab unity falter, and behavior patterns across nations diverge. For example, fertility rates between countries like the U.S. and Canada are diverging. Work habits between the U.S. and Europe are diverging. Global inequality widens as some nations with cer-tain cultural traits prosper and others with other traits don't. People like Max Weber, Edward Banfield, Samuel Huntington, Lawrence Harrison and Thomas Sowell have given us an inkling of how to think about this stuff, but for the most part, this is open ground. If you are 18 and you' ve got that big brain, the whole field of cultural geography is waiting for you. Notes 1. David Brooks: a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly, and the \"Machine Age\" columnist for the New York Times Magazine. He is also a regular commentator on National Public Radio, CNN's Late Edition and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. He is the author of Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There published by Simon & Schuster. 2. Walter Cronkite: born in St. Joseph, Missouri, in November 1916, long-time CBS-TV News anchorman. Cronkite joined CBS News in 1950, worked on a variety of programs, and covered reshuft1ing l.ri:'JAflII)I n. the act to arrange or organize ag缸nfalter I曰:lt~(r)1v. to lose strength or purpose and stop, or almost stop e.g. The dil1l1er party c川l\\'eI刊fω1Ifaltered for a He凹rf介i'ri怡el1dsn创elIν'凹er旷r卢fEα山tlμt凹eredt仇he凹irbelief川V、忖1川i1he凹r-e.g. The implemell1atiol1 ofthe planned persot/l1el re-仇巾υu伊if0伊.f1灿川ù，川Iμgiand local r凸IsωtωLα川I肌nlCC正、e, 1/1 addilion. Ihe lI1aSSil'e (//1(/ cOllfinuous il1flux of iml1ligrants led to a constwll re.l'lu!fJling of the cifv~' .l'ocia! feλfure. inkling /'IIJklllJl n. a slight understanding or vague id阅or notion e.g. / !tal'e /10 inkling abottt the t'xami/l(/liol1 门'，I'I-Ilis，we .\\'1/(/11 all hm'e to waÎl and see 川W讥'!tωel1仇lhe.\\、hωare ρrice begall fo fall, zeal /zi:U n, great enthusiasm or eagemess 矿o门r，川1川1川t川川川F川t‘g月!加.'m川i川￥iωsiω011αωγn1'/介/e.g. 1吃 f趴I川I.\\钊F川ω'叹a{川\\'飞lIlgt仇h川ω川I川\\'1υIω1111'ω101斤11们飞γ，川In川川ind仇1hiωl1IμrJ川川ο1飞'(e川(ιμω川川t，I川rfllHP -pol fJl1rJο疗{'11r!o('.\\', hut了ealseldυ1月('allse.\\'
