In contemporary American culture, the patterns are more elusive.

NEWYORKER: Spoiled Rotten

Decorative art in almost every human culture includes precisely repeated patterns such as stripes, checks, stars, lattices and knots.

ECONOMIST: Come up and see my etchings

Look for patterns that suggest how culture and literary conventions migrate across time and space.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Patterns in language offer a window on a culture's dispositions and priorities.

WSJ: Does Language Influence Culture?

In the absence of a written language, these patterns record the history and legends of Li culture as well as aspects of worship, taboos, beliefs, traditions and folkways.

UNESCO: Culture

The survey and other sales data show how immigration patterns, a local farm economy, the local culture and the weather affect food purchases across the country.

ECONOMIST: The healthiest city

Ben Gidley, a sociologist at Oxford University who is studying ethnic patterns of movement in south London, believes Brixton will hold onto its Afro-Caribbean culture longer than its Afro-Caribbean residents.

ECONOMIST: Changing London