The Meaning of Culture 7 Elements

Why Do We Study World Cultures? To avoid misunderstandings between people, gestures, interpersonal distances, smell To learn that many differences among people are products of physical and cultural adaptations to different environments

Racism The belief that one racial group is naturally superior to another. The group that wins the struggle uses racist ideas as an excuse for dominating others.

Ethnocentrism Judging other cultures by the standards of our own culture

Understanding Other Cultures Our customs feel so natural to us that we think they are the way things are supposed to be.

Culture: All the things that make up a people’s entire way of life.

We inherit our culture. We are taught the ways of thinking, believing, and behaving that are accepted in our culture.

Examples of inherited culture What we eat Clothes we wear Jokes we tell Buildings we live in How we spend our free time Our ideas of what is beautiful or ugly Our goals for the future What is right and wrong

1. Social Organization Family patterns: The family is the most important unit of social organization. Children learn how they are expected to behave and what they are expected to believe.

Nuclear Family: wife, husband and their children Typical in U.S. Extended Family: several generations living in one household, may include grandparents, parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins, common throughout the world

Extended Family Respect for elders is strong

Patriarchal: Men exercise more authority than women Matriarchal: Women exercise more authority than men

Social Classes Rank people in order of status based on money, occupation, education, ancestry, or any other factor highly valued by the society. Usually born into a class (in the past you stayed there) Social Mobility: moving up the social ladder—good education, earning more money, marrying, into a family.

2. Customs and Traditions Rules of behavior

Rules of Behavior What to wear How to be polite How to eat Where to sleep How to greet friends Flag salute Applause Please Thank you Handshake Misunderstandings Gestures

Enforced Customs and Traditions Minor rules : –Social pressure (peers) Major rules: –Ideas about right and wrong, written laws

3. Language The cornerstone of culture The ability to communicate and pass on information to other generations Reflects a cultures identity

4. Arts and Literature Teaches us about a culture’s values –Folk tales, sculptures, paintings –Arts promote cultural pride and unity

5. Religion The arts are often closely linked to people’s religious beliefs

Purpose of Religion Religion helps people answer basic questions about the meaning and purpose of life

Monotheism: –The worship of one God Polytheism- –The worship of more than one God

Worlds Major Religions Hinduism Buddhism Judaism Christianity Islam

Religious Difference Create troubles throughout the world –Protestant/Catholic – Northern Ireland –Muslims/Christians – Balkans –Muslims/Jews – Palestine

6. Forms of Government

Purpose of Government To provide for the common needs, to keep order within a society and to protect the society form outside threats

Forms of Government Democracy: –The People have supreme power Republic: –The people choose the leaders who represent them Dictatorship: –A ruler or group holds power by force, usually rely on military support

Economic Systems How people use limited resources to satisfy their wants and needs

3 Economic Questions What –Goods and services should we produce? How –Should we produce them? For Whom –Should we produce them?

Traditional Economy Produce most of what they need to survive, hunting and gathering, farming and herding cattle

Market Economy Individuals decide, buying and selling goods and services, business people decide what to produce based on what they believe consumers will buy. Capitalism

Command Economy The government controls what goods are produced, how they are produced and what they cost.

Mixed Economy Individuals make some economic decisions and the governments makes others. The U.S. has features of a market economy and a command economy

How Cultures Change

Technology The skills and tools a people use: –Stone and bone: more successful hunters and food gatherers –Automobile: roads, moved to suburbs, steel and rubber industries –Computers?

Changing Environment The natural environment shapes human culture –Native Americans and Buffalo

New Ideas/behaviors Recycling and Conservation

Diffusion Movements of customs or ideas from one place to another. Whenever people move, they exchange goods, skills, ideas, and technology with the people they meet. How? –Through peaceful means (trade) and war

Examples of Diffusion The Wheel Rock music –From blues and jazz, African American spirituals

Tradition and Change Usually change slowly –Technology has sped up the process –“global village” Contacts among different cultures have increased Rapid changes threaten the foundations of many cultures: A challenge for many cultures is how to take advantage of today’s opportunities while preserving he best of the past.