1. UNIT 2-CULTURE Part 1
SSWG2 – Evaluate how the physical and human characteristics of places and regions are connected to human identities and cultures.

2. What is Culture?
Specialized behavioral patterns, understandings, adaptations, and social systems that summarize a group of people’s learned way of life
Learned, not biological
Transmitted within a society to next generations by imitation, tradition, instruction
What we care about
What we care for
"What is Culture" Video

3. What does culture include?
Language
Religion
Architecture
Clothing
Food
Gender relations
Music
Agriculture
Art
Tolerance
Education
Technology

4. Cultural Regions

5. Eight Aspects of Culture
Social Organization
Customs and Traditions
Language
Arts and Literature
Religion
Forms of Government
Economic Systems

6. Social Organization
Creates social structure by organizing its members into small units to meet basic needs
Family Patterns: family is the most important unit of social organization. Through the family children learn how they are expected to act and what to believe
Nuclear family: wife, husband, children
- Typical family in an industrial society (US)
- Does not have to be large to accomplish tasks of living
Extended family: Several generations living in one household, working and living together: grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins
- Respect for elders is strong
Social classes: rank people in order of status, depending on what is important to the culture (money, job, education, ancestry, etc.)

7. Customs & Traditions Rules of Behavior
Enforced ideas of right and wrong
Often these ideas are part of
the culture’s written laws

8. Arts & Literature Products of the human imagination
Help us pass on the culture’s basic
beliefs
Examples: art, music literature, folk tales

9. Language Cornerstone of culture
All cultures have a spoken language (even if there are no developed forms of writing)
People who speak the same language often share the same culture
Many societies include a large number of people who speak different languages
Each language can have several different dialects

10. Religion Answers basic questions about the meaning of life
Supports values that groups of people feel are important
Religion is often a source of conflict between cultures
2 main categories:
Monotheism: Worship one God
Polytheism: Worship more than one God

11. Forms of Government
People form governments to provide for their common needs, keep order within society, and protect their society from outside threats
Definition of government:
1. Person/people who hold power
in a society;
2. Society’s laws and political
institutions

12. Types of Government
Autocracy – govt. in which one person has all the power. Two main types of autocracy are:
Monarchy – country ruled by a king or queen.
modern times they share power with other parts of the govt.
Dictatorship – individual holds complete power.
Usually relying on military support for power
Democracy – govt. in which citizens hold political power.
Representative Democracy – citizens elect leaders to represent their rights and interests.
Federal Republic - powers divided between national, state governments
Oligarchy – a small group of people hold all of the power.
Theocracy – a govt. that recognizes God or a divine being as the ultimate authority. Can also be any other type of govt. along with it.

13. Economic Systems
How people use limited resources to satisfy their wants and needs
Traditional Economy: barter; no exchange of money
Market Economy: buying and selling goods and services
Command Economy: Government controls what/how goods are produced and what they cost. Individuals have little economic power
Mixed Economy: Individuals make some economic decisions and the government makes others

14. © Copyright 2010 Alan S. Berger
Culture & Society
Society: the structure of relationships within which culture is created and shared through regularized patterns of social interaction
Society provides the context within which our relationships with the external world develop
How we structure society constrains the kind of culture we construct
Cultural preferences vary across societies
© Copyright 2010 Alan S. Berger

15. Culture & Society
The concept of culture (a shared way of life) must be
distinguished from those of nation (a political entity)
or society (the organized interaction of people in a
nation or within some other boundary).
Many modern societies are multicultural---their people follow various ways of life that blend and sometimes clash.

16. Popular Culture
Popular culture: A large, heterogeneous population, typically urban, with rapidly changing culture.
Practiced by large, heterogeneous group (different from each other)
follows the process of hierarchical diffusion from hearths or nodes of innovation.
Diffuses rapidly through transportation, marketing, and communication networks
has a widespread, global, distribution
is most prominent in urban centers.
led to a uniform landscape (aka “placelessness”) so that the food, clothing, and building preferences are very much the same in all places.

17. Folk Culture
Folk Culture: A culture traditionally practiced by a small, rural homogeneous populations.
varies greatly from place to place but changes slowly.
Not on a global scale
hearth and innovator of folk culture traits are usually unknown
arises out of the everyday activities of rural life.
transmitted more slowly and on a smaller scale than popular culture.
food, clothing, and built environments--are likely to reflect the local environment and use local materials because they are derived from the local landscape
Folk customs are so deeply embedded in a local culture that the time, hearth and innovator of folk culture traits are usually unknown.

18. Difference between ethnicity & race
Ethnicity = share the cultural traditions
of a particular homeland or hearth.
Race = share a biological ancestor.

19. Cultural Change
Cultural Hearth - place where important ideas begin and then spread to other cultures.
Three ways of change:
Innovation: introduction of new ideas, practices, or objects; usually, an alteration of custom or culture that originates within the social group itself
Diffusion: Process by which an idea/innovation is transmitted from one individual/group to another across space
Acculturation: Adoption of cultural traits through:
“Borrowing”- Religion, technology
Through force- War, subjugation
Absorption - Most extreme; Extinction of culture
can occur

20. Language
Language – is a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning.
Can build a group’s identity and a feeling of pride in one’s nation or group
Can divide people when speakers of different languages in a region may come into conflict if one group feels the other is favored.
Dialect - versions of a language that reflect changes in speech patterns related to class, region, or other cultural changes.
Vernacular – the local form of a language, words and phrases unique to a certain location.
Language spreads along trade routes, through contact between groups that blend their languages, and by migration (language diffusion).

21. Where are languages distributed?
World’s languages organized into:
Language Families: collection of languages related through a common ancestral language
Language Branches: collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language. Differences are not as significant or as old as between families.
Language Groups: collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display similar grammar and vocabulary.

22. Language Families

23. Major Language Families Percentage of World Population

24. Where are languages distributed?
Distribution of Language Families
The two largest language families are…
Indo-European
Predominate language family in Europe, South Asia, North America and Latin America.
Sino-Tibetan
Encompasses languages spoken in the People’s Republic of China and several smaller countries in Southeast Asia.
No single Chinese language
Mandarin is the most-used language in the world and the official language of both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.

25. Why is English Related to Other Languages?
Distribution of Indo-European Branches
Romance Language Branch
Spoken primarily in southwestern Europe and Latin America
Most widely used are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian.
Regions where spoken languages tend to correspond to the political boundaries of Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy
DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGE FAMILIES Most languages can be classified into one of a handful of language families.

26. Language v. Dialect
It is difficult to classify languages and dialects.
Some scholars treat Quebecan French as a separate language while others consider it a dialect.
Many areas have a very complex linguistic geography-
Africa-has perhaps 1,000 languages
India has about 600

27. Examples
Northern dialect and its subdivisions are found in New England and Canada, extending southward to a secondary dialect are centered on New York.
Midland speech is found along the Atlantic coast from New Jersey southward to central Delaware, but spreads more extensively across the interior of the US and Canada.
The Southern dialect dominates the East coast from the Chesapeake Bay south.
Examples-North Midlands & South
pail bucket
pop soda or coke
“Bless your heart” “Bless your heart”
NY Times Dialect Quiz
“Bless your heart” in the North is a form of sincerity, but in the South it means someone is an idiot.

28. Dialect-variants of a standard language along regional or ethnic lines- vocabulary-syntax- pronunciation- cadence-pace of speech Isogloss -A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs

29. How do Languages Diffuse?
Human Interaction-2,000 years ago-Han China, Roman Empire-spread languages over vast empires
Print Distribution-Gutenberg’s movable type printing press (1452-first Gutenberg Bible) helped to diffuse, standardize & stabilize European languages
Migration-ancient & more recent migration from 16th century to now diffused languages e.g. Spanish, Portuguese, English & French
Trade-encouraged the spread of goods & languages
Rise of Nation-States-stabilized & standardized languages
Colonialism-mercantilism & colonies spread European languages in the Americas, Africa & Asia

30. Effects of Spatial Interaction
Lingua franca: A language used among speakers of different languages for trade and commerce
Pidgin language: A language created when people combine parts of two or more languages into a simplified structure and vocabulary
Creole language: A pidgin language that has developed a more complex structure and vocabulary and has become the native language of a group of people

31. What Is Religion, and What Role Does It Play in Culture?
Religion: “A system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities
-- Stoddard and Prorak
“Perceived ultimate priorities” often
Things a follower “should” do
Ways a follower “should” behave

32. Manifestations of Religion
Worship
Belief that certain people possess special divinely granted abilities
Belief in one or more deities
Practices
Ritual and prayer
Marking life events
Rituals at regular intervals
Secularism: Decline in organized religious observances

33. 3 Categories of Religion
Monotheistic: Belief in one god
Polytheistic: Belief in many gods
Animistic: Belief that inanimate objects possess spirits and should be revered

34. Religions of the World

35. From the Hearth of South Asia
Hinduism
Originated in Indus River Valley over 4000
years ago
Practices and beliefs: Ritual bathing, karma, reincarnation
Sacred text: Vedas
Sacred site: Ganges River
Social manifestation: Caste system
Diffusion
South Asia
Southeast Asia

36. From the Hearth of South Asia
Buddhism –
Splintered from Hinduism 2500 years ago
Originated in a region from Nepal south to the Ganges River area
Beliefs: Anyone can achieve salvation, reach enlightenment
Founder: Siddartha (the Buddha)
Sacred sites: Stupas
Diffusion
Tibet in the north
East Asia

37. Buddhist stupas in Indonesia
In Japan, Buddhism has mixed
with Shinto, which originated in
Japan. A Shinto shrine in
Kyoto
Buddhist stupas in Indonesia

38. From the Hearth of the Eastern Mediterranean
Judaism
Originated in Southwest Asia about years ago
Beliefs
First major monotheistic religion,
Covenant between God (one God) and Abraham (the chosen people)
Sacred text: Torah
First patriarch, or leader: Abraham

39. Judaism (continued) Sacred sites Social manifestation: Zionism
Jerusalem (Western Wall)
Land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River
Social manifestation: Zionism
Diffusion
European cities during the Diaspora
Ashkenazim: Central Europe
Sephardim: North Africa and Iberian Peninsula
North America
Return to Israel over last 100 years

40. From the Hearth of the Eastern Mediterranean
Christianity
Originated in Southwest Asia about years ago
Beliefs
Monotheistic religion
Follow teachings of Jesus to achieve eternal life
Sacred text: Bible
Founder: Jesus Christ

41. Christianity (continued)
Sacred sites
Bethlehem
Jerusalem
Divisions
1054: Split into
Eastern Orthodox
Roman Catholic
1400s–1500s: Protestants
Diffusion:
Western Europe
World wide during colonialism and after

42. From the Hearth of the Eastern Mediterranean
Islam
Originated on Arabian Peninsula about years ago
Beliefs
Monotheistic religion
Revelations Muhammad received from Allah (God)
Five Pillars
Sacred text: Qu’ran
Founder: Muhammad

43. Islam (continued) Sacred sites Mecca Medina Jerusalem
Divisions: Shortly after Muhammad’s death
Sunni Muslims (great majority)
Shi’ite Muslims (concentrated in Iran)
Diffusion
Arabian peninsula
Across North Africa, into Spain
East to South and Southeast Asia

44. How Is Religion Seen in the Cultural Landscape?
Sacred sites: Places or spaces people infuse with religious meaning
Pilgrimage: Purposeful travel to a religious site to pay respects or participate in a ritual

45. Sacred Sites of Jerusalem
Sacred to three major religions
Judaism (Western Wall)
Christianity (Church of the Holy Sepulchre)
Islam (Dome of the Rock)

46. Sacred Landscapes of Hinduism
Pilgrimages along prescribed routes, and rituals by millions
Varanasi, India on the
Ganges River where Hindus perform morning rituals

47. Sacred Landscapes of Buddhism
Swedogon Pagodo in Yangon, Myanmar
Eight hairs of the Buddha are preserved under the dome (chedi)

48. Sacred Landscapes of Buddhism
Swedogon Pagodo in Yangon, Myanmar
Eight hairs of the Buddha are preserved under the dome (chedi)

49. Sacred Landscapes of Christianity
Catholic churches are often located in the center of European cities, with spires reaching far above other buildings.

50. Sacred Landscapes of Christianity
Protestant Churches
This church in Singapore is a Church of England church in a city surrounded by Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims

51. Sacred Landscapes of Islam
Muslim Mosques
Dome of this mosque in Isfahan, Iran, demonstrates the importance of geometric art evident in Muslim architecture.