1. The Meaning of Culture Objectives: Identify & define elements that make up culture EQ: What is culture?

2. Vocabulary Region - area with its own unifying characteristics
Identify by physical characteristics
Identify by cultural, political, or economic features
A country can belong to multiple regions
Interdependence - dependence of countries on goods, resources, and knowledge from other parts of the world
Geography - the study of where people, places, and things are located; and how they relate to each other

3. Culture Culture - All the things that make up a people’s way of life
Reflected in what we eat, what we value, clothes we wear, how we respond to situations

4. Elements of Culture Social Organization
Family is the most important unit of social organization
Nuclear family - wife, husband, and their children in one household
Extended family - several generations living in one household
Respect for elders is strong
Patriarch vs. Matriarch

5. Elements of Culture Social Classes - rank people in order of status
Based on money, occupation, education, ancestry, land, etc.
Social ladder

6. Elements of Culture Customs and Traditions - Rules of behavior
Enforced by social pressure, written laws
Language - cornerstone of culture, communication
People who speak the same language often share the same customs
Many societies have several different languages (India, Canada, Africa)

7. Elements of Culture Arts and Literature Products of human imagination
Teach us about cultural values (folktales)
Strengthen a culture’s identity
Gives a sense of belonging

8. Elements of Culture
Religion - arts are often closely linked to religious beliefs
Helps people answer the basic questions about the purpose and meaning of life
Supports values of that culture
Can be the cause of conflicts
Monotheism vs. Polytheism

9. How does culture spread?
Cultural Diffusion – Movement of customs or ideas from one place to another
How does cultural diffusion take place?
Migration
Trade
War
Example: 1950’s American musician’s developed rock-and- roll > Becomes popular globally > Roots in earlier traditions of blues & jazz > Roots in work songs and spirituals of African Americans who were forced into slavery > Slave songs drew on rich musical traditions of various African cultures