CultureCulture

How do we look at different How do we look at different cultures in a way that will help cultures in a way that will help

us describe a culture?us describe a culture?

ABC’s of CultureABC’s of CultureA - 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

I–information: education, how knowledge is passed on

J – jobs: economic activities – what people do for a living K – kind of environment

X – extra information

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

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?)

Culture/

What is ethnocentric?

How have cultures changed?

What are people’s basic needs? (4)

What are the three innovations having the greatest impact on Earth’s cultural geography?

●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

●shelter

●clothing

●farming (development of agriculture)

●living in cities (urbanization)

●using machinery to make goods (technology)

Culture/

What represents the earliest form of acquiring food?

What is the importance of Agriculture?

●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.

Culture/

What are different types of agriculture?

What is urbanization?

What is industrialization? What were production methods before and after the development of factories?

●subsistence – production of crops for the grower’s 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

-higher production levels

-lower prices

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 people’s daily behavior and customs.

●Modern examples:

●Nationalism (feelings of loyalty and pride in one’s 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.

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.

What are two major types of governments?

How does economics cause 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

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?

Culture/

World Cultures

What are “material” and “non-material” cultures?

How have anthropologists divided the world into 11 major culture areas?

●A culture’s objects, such as clothing and paintings are part of its “material” culture.

●A culture’s 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

Map of world culture areasMap of world culture areas

5

12

3

4

1.Tigris/Euphrates

2. Indus River

3. Ganges River4. Huang He

5. Nile River

Cultural HearthsMesoamerica-Mesoamerica-

not “river not “river civilizations”civilizations”