1. World Geography Culture
llhammon Fall 2007

2. World Geography 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
llhammon Fall 2007

3. World Geography Culture
How do we look at different cultures in a way that will help us describe a culture?
llhammon Fall 2007

4. World Geography Culture
ABC’s 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
 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
llhammon Fall 2007

5. World Geography 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?)
llhammon Fall 2007

6. World Geography 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
●shelter
●clothing
●farming (development of agriculture)
●living in cities (urbanization)
●using machinery to make goods (technology)
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?
llhammon Fall 2007

7. World Geography 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?
llhammon Fall 2007

8. World Geography Culture
●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
What are different types of agriculture?
What is urbanization?
What is industrialization? What were production methods before and after the development of factories?
llhammon Fall 2007

9. World Geography 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.
llhammon Fall 2007

10. World Geography 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?
llhammon Fall 2007

11. World Geography 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?
llhammon Fall 2007

12. World Geography 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
llhammon Fall 2007

13. World Geography Culture
Map of world
Anglo America
E. Europe/
Russia
Western Europe
East Asia
NA/ME
Pacific Islands
S. Asia
Latin America
Africa South of the Sahara
SE Asia
Australia/New Zealand
Pacific Islands
llhammon Fall 2007