Culture

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Culture
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How do we look at different cultures in a way
that will help us describe a culture?
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ABCs of Culture

• A - Appearance

? B - Beliefs
? C communication, language, gestures
? D dates history
? E entertainment their arts, crafts, etc.
? F - food
? G government including social rules,
kinship, etc.
? H - housing
? Iinformation education, how knowledge is
passed on
? J jobs economic activities what people
do for a living
? K kind of environment
? X extra information
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Culture/
What is Culture? 4 Stages in the development
of early cultures What is a civilization?
?a society that has shaped its own way of life to
satisfy its needs. ?people have shaped their own
cultural landscape. ?discovery of
fire ?invention of tools ?growth of agriculture
(where?) ?use of writing ?a group of
people that has developed its culture and
technology to include a writing system
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Culture/
How do cultures change? What is the most
important component for culture change?
?Innovation is a newly developed way of doing
things. ?diffusion occurs when an innovation or
other culture trait spreads through a society and
perhaps into another culture region.
(ex.)? ?acculturation (cultural convergence)
process by which one culture changes through its
meeting with another culture. (ex)? ?cultural
divergence restriction of a culture from
outside influences (ex)? ?Language. ?Language
differences slow the process for change (How?)
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Culture/
?when people feel most comfortable with their own
group and they believe that the ways and beliefs
of their own culture are the best ones or the
only right ones. ?Cultures have become more
interdependent. They trade and interact with one
another more than in the past. ?food ?water ?shel
ter ?clothing ?farming (development of
agriculture) ?living in cities (urbanization) ?usi
ng machinery to make goods (technology)
What is ethnocentric? How have cultures
changed? What are peoples basic needs?
(4) What are the three innovations having the
greatest impact on Earths cultural geography?
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Culture/
?hunting and gathering ?practice continues
today ?areas where hunting and gathering
continues today are sparsely settled simple
technology but the culture may be highly
complex. ?The domestication of plants/animals
had an enormous impact on the physical landscapes
as well as on population growth. ?It enabled
people to establish permanent settlements -
specialization and division of labor
developed -small villages developed eventually
into large civilizations -complex social
institutions also developed.
What represents the earliest form of acquiring
food? What is the importance of Agriculture?
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Culture/
?subsistence production of crops for the
growers own use. Usually, surplus crops are few
and used for barter. ?commercial developed as
farm technology and has improved output. ?The
development of agriculture enabled settlements to
grow. ?Urbanization is the growth in the
proportion of people living in towns and
cities. ?The impact that the development of
factories had on workers and machinery would
eventually change cultures. -specialization -hig
her production levels -lower prices
What are different types of agriculture? What
is urbanization? What is industrialization?
What were production methods before and after the
development of factories?
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Culture/
Culture and World events What are major sources
of conflict?
?When people feel that their way is better than
others this is called ethnocentrism and can lead
to cultural conflict. ?Religion ?religion
affects peoples daily behavior and
customs. ?Modern examples ?
Nationalism (feelings of loyalty and pride in
ones country) ?Positive and negative results of
nationalism positive creates a source
of purpose, pride, and unity. negative
intolerance to other nationalities and
justification of wars.
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Culture/
?Traditional and modern values - the
acceptance of culture change in some groups and
resistance in others. (ex) ?Politics -
the difference in the ways people organize their
governments may also be a source of
cultural conflict.
?Totalitarian a society governed by one person
and few advisors. ?Democratic a society in
which everyone has a voice in the
government. ?abundance of resources increases
the standard of living (SOL) for some, but
limited resources may produce poor areas
What are two major types of governments? How
does economics cause conflict?

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Culture/
?unequal distribution of wealth may be a source
for cultural conflict. ?More developed
(industrialized) countries have gained wealth by
taking valuable resources from nearly poor
countries. ?Countries with few resources have
used military power to take resources from
resource-rich countries nearby. (ex) ?The spread
of culture traits today is greater that at any
other time. ?The rapid diffusion of culture
traits may also ignite resistance in some
groups. ?anthropologists
What is the future for Cultural
geography? What is the name of the social
scientists who study humans and human culture?
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Culture/
World Cultures What are material and
non-material cultures? How have
anthropologists divided the world into 11 major
culture areas?
?A cultures objects, such as clothing and
paintings are part of its material culture.
?A cultures ideas, such as language and
religion are part of its non-material
culture. ?These culture areas are BASED on
common cultural traits. ?Anglo America ?Africa
S. of the Sahara ?Latin America
(Sub-Saharan) ?Western Europe ?South
Asia ?Central Europe and ?East Asia
Russia ?Southeast Asia ?N. Africa and SW Asia
?Australia and NZ ?Pacific Islands
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Map of world culture areas
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1.Tigris/Euphrates
Cultural Hearths
2. Indus River
Mesoamerica- not river civilizations
3. Ganges River
4. Huang He
5. Nile River