1. What is culture? What elements make up a culture? Why do cultures change?

2. Culture is 1.All the features of a society’s way of life.

3. Culture is 2.Learned and passed down from generation to generation. Think: Santa Claus

4. Culture 3.Includes all of a society’s shared values, beliefs, institutions, and technologies. Think: US Flag, Freedom of Speech

5. Culture... 4.Gives roles to individuals and establishes relationships within groups in a society. Think: School relationships

6. Cultural Traits Activities and behaviors that people repeatedly practice. They can vary Think: eating US: fork, knife, spoon China: chopsticks Malaysia: fingers/hands

7. Culture Traits, cont. Change through time Think: clothing styles in the USA from colonial period to today

8. How do cultures change? Assimilation Innovation Diffusion Acculturation

9. Assimilation When one culture group adapts to the attitudes, belief systems and ways of life of another culture. Think: Native Americans

10. Innovation New ideas that are accepted into a culture. Think: Horse v. cars, etc.

11. Diffusion The spread of an innovation or other culture trait into another culture region, which then adopts that element into its own culture. Think: Hip Hop or Rap Music

12. Diffusion, cont. The spread can be gradual. Think: Country music from Nashville, TN

13. Diffusion, cont. Or the spread can happen when people move from a region and carry the innovation with them. Think: Christianity from Europe

14. Acculturation When one culture changes a great deal through its meeting with another culture.

15. Acculturation, cont. Usually a two-way process in which each culture changes the other. Think: USA fast food and the growth of ethnic foods.