CULTURAL PATTERNS AND PROCESS

A. CONCEPTS OF CULTURE CULTURE –  Whole complex which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs & any other capabilities & habits acquired by man as a member of Society  Transmitted & created content & patterns of values, ideas, and other symbolic-meaningful systems that are factors in the shaping of human behavior & the artifacts produced through behavior 1. TRAIT – A single attribute of culture, such as wearing a turban in a Muslim society COMPLEX – Combination of traits; related set of traits, such as prevailing dress codes, cooking, eating utensils SYSTEM – Combined cultural complexes; Northern China eats wheat; Southern China eats rice; both speak a similar language; shared history, philosophy, cultural traditions & attitudes

A. CONCEPTS OF CULTURE LANDSCAPE – The imprint of cultures on the land creates distinct and characteristic examples HEARTH – Source of cultural growth and achievement 2. DIFFUSION – From the hearths, cultural innovations and ideas spread to other areas PERCEPTION – Varying ideas and attitudes about space, place, and territory 3. ACCULTURATION – Process in which a culture is substantially changed through interaction with another culture but it does not completely disappear

A. CONCEPTS OF CULTURE 4. REGIONS – areas in which there is a degree of homogeneity in the cultural characteristics; areas with similar landscapes 1 – the Americas6 – Southeast Asia 2 – Western Europe7 - Oceania 3 – Eastern Europe8 – Middle East/Arab World 4 – Far East9 – West Africa 5 – South Asia10 – Sub-Saharan Africa

B. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 1. LANGUAGES: Family – shared but distant origins (Indo-European) Branch – collection of languages related through a common ancestor (Romance, Germanic) Group – collection of languages within a branch that share common origin and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary (West Germanic: English, German, Dutch Lingua Franca – common language understood by many people although they each speak another language

B. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 1. LANGUAGES: LANGUAGE FAMILYMAJOR LANGUAGE#/MILLIONS Indo-European English 405 Spanish, Hindi 300 Russian 205 Bengali 195 Portuguese 165 German 100 Punjabi, French 90 Italian 60 Sino-Tibetan Chinese 1160 Thai 50 Burmese 35 Japanese-Korean Japanese 125 Korean 75 Afro-Asiatic Arabic 170 Malay-Polynesian Indonesian 150

B. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 2. RELIGION: difficult to define, but contains some common characteristics: 1 – belief in a god or gods3 – literature/book 2 – rituals4 – ethics/rules monotheism – belief in one god polytheism – belief in more than one god animism – a soul or spirit is attributed to various phenomena universalizing – actively seeking converts - *CONFLICT* ethnic – closely identified with a specific cultural group (usually born into the religion)

B. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 2. RELIGION: 2012 statistics RELIGION TOTAL # % Christianity1,943, Islam1,164, Hinduism761, No Religion759, Buddhism353, Atheism149, Judaism14, Other Religions 12.48

B. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 2. RELIGION: Cultural Landscape food eaten/meals festivals/clothing temples/mosques/churches statues/figurines (idol worship)

B. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 3. ETHNICITY – Combination of a people’s culture (traditions, customs, language, & religion) and racial ancestry Ethnic cleansing is the slaughter or forced removal of one ethnic group from its home by another group Ethnic conflicts – Former Yugoslavia, Quebec, Rwanda/Burundi, Afghanistan, Iraq…

B. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 4. GENDER – Roles performed culturally as designated by gender Women still perform the majority of the domestic work In the workplace, women do not get paid the same as men or have the same number of opportunities Urban landscapes – statues and monuments typically male (war heroes, etc.)

B. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 5. POPULAR CULTURE – Massive, homogeneous, diffuse rapidly, technological FOLK CULTURE – Traditional, small, individualistic, family, little if any technology

C. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CULTURAL ADAPTATION – Changes in technology, organization, & ideology that permit social relationships to develop between humans and their physical environment Core (hearth) Domain (area where culture dominates) Sphere (outer fringe)

D. CULTURAL LANDSCAPES & IDENTITY 1. VALUES AND PREFERENCES – language, religion, entertainment, government buildings “atmosphere” – easy to perceive, difficult to define “China Town”“Little Italy”“Wall Street”“Main Street” 2. SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPES – size of Hindu/Buddhist temples are smaller than Islamic mosque or Christian church toponyms (New York, Washington, D.C., Palestine/Rome/Paris Texas)