10 Cultural Universals

Vocab• ANTHROPOLOGIST

• CULTURE

• A person who studies past and present culture

• A way of life passed on from generation to generation

Thoughts, feelings, actions, customs, habits, goals & values

LEARNED

Handout #1

•List 5 things you have been taught by your

▫Parents

▫School

▫Friends

1) Basic Needs

• All people need food, clothing and shelter

• How people satisfy these needs is mostly based on where they live

• HAND OUT #2

NEEDS vs. WANTS

2) Geographical Setting• Physical aspects of the

earth as well as weather

• Geography & climate affects▫ Food▫ Clothing▫ Shelter▫ Tools▫ Economy▫ Recreation

• HANDOUT #3

• How does geography & Climate affect Chicago? (Give an example for each of the categories listed)

3) Family Life• Family leadership, make-

up & size change between cultures

• Father leader, mother leader, shared leadership, live with extended family…

• HANDOUT #4

• If or when you marry what kind of family organization & leadership would you want?

4) Political Organization

• Government

• Rules, laws, leaders and ways of enforcing these laws

• HANDOUT #5

• If there was a society with no Laws, and you could only make ONE law, what would it be? Why?

5) Technology

• Technology is anything humans make or the way they make things

• Tools are anything humans use to make a job easier

• HANDOUT # 6

• List five things you have at home that your great grandparents did not have that makes life easier

6) Economics

• How people satisfy their needs by produces goods and services to trade

7) The Unknown• People try to explain or

understand the unknown through

▫ Myths

▫ Which-craft

▫ Religion

• Create Mores: unwritten laws

• HANDOUT #7

• Write a short paragraph explaining thunder (pretend you don’t know the scientific reason)

8) The Arts• How cultures express

themselves

• Art, crafts, music, dance & theater

• HANDOUT #8

• How does music today express the feelings of young people, name a song as an example

9) Recreation• What a person does with

their spare time…. Leisure time

• HANDOUT #9

• Write 5 activities specific to Chicago

10) Communication• Expressing ones,

thoughts, ideas, feelings through▫ Language▫ Hand movements▫ Facial expressions

• HANDOUT #10

• How would you communicate with a person who did not speak or understand your language if you are lost?

HANDOUT #11

•List the 10 Cultural Universals