What is: CULTURE?

–Culture is the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people. –Origin of word, culture, is the Latin cultus, which means “to care for.” Two meanings 1.To care about 2.To care of

Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique? Regions of Culture Geographers study both definitions of culture. –Culture: What People Care About »Geographers study why the customary ideas, beliefs, and values of a people produce a distinctive culture in a particular place. »Especially important cultural values derive from a group’s language, religion, and ethnicity. –Culture: What People Take Care Of »The second element of culture of interest is production of material wealth, such as food, clothing, and shelter that humans need in order to survive and thrive.

Culture refers to a people’s way of life – including how they meet their needs, and their language, religion, beliefs, customs, institutions, and technology. Customs – things people usually do, such as how they dress, foods they eat, and how they celebrate holidays and turning points in life (birth, coming-of-age, marriage, parenthood, death).

Culture also includes institutions – organizations developed by each society to make social roles clear and to take care of social needs. Such institutions include: Ethnic Groups – made up of people with a common language, history, and place of origin. Families Families arrange for reproduction, the care of family members, and the upbringing of the young. Schools Schools teach the young the values of society and prepare them for the responsibilities of adulthood. Governments Governments protect us from outsiders, promote social cooperation, and regulate individual behavior.

Two Types of Culture Material Culture: food, clothing, architecture Non-Material: Religion, language, government systems, education

Culture is "Any learned behavior of a society or nation" knowledge: all attitudes, skills, and ideas language: use of voice sounds, written symbols, and gestures to communicate thoughts/ feelings

Language Dialects: “coke”, “pop”, accents Language Families

religion: a system of spiritual values and beliefs, shapes other cultural elements Each religion has its own beliefs, moral code, and traditions

Major World Religions Animism – the belief that many things in nature have their own spirit. Hinduism – teaches that the principles of life can be discovered through meditation. Buddhism – teaches that suffering is caused by human desire. Judaism – first religion to assert the existence of one God..

Christianity – Belief in an afterlife in which all believers would be rewarded. Islam – followers called Muslims, believe Mohammed was God’s last and greatest prophet. Sikhism – believe God can be known through meditation, a form of deep contemplation. Ethnic and religious minorities enjoy different opportunities in various cultures

Social Groups: cultures are made up of smaller groups –Develop to help the members of the culture meet their basic needs –Examples: families, ethnic groups, classes based on wealth, ancestry or education Different cultures have different social structures and distributions of wealth.

technology: tools and skills use in a society government: system to make and enforce laws, maintain order economic systems: how countries produce, acquire, and use goods and services

Roles are based on rules for the proper behavior of individuals in particular positions and situations (example: a mother may be expected to behave in a certain way toward her children). traditions: customs: music, arts, crafts, manners, cuisines, and architecture of a society national beliefs: factors and pride of a country Family structures and gender roles differ between cultures. Cultural universals are traits that exist in all cultures, such as sports, cooking, and education.

Culture Regions Lifestyles differ between urban and rural areas.

How can we acquire culture? Family (age 0-6) School (age 5-18) Friends (age 7-22) TV/Media/Movies/computers (7-D) Community (15-D) Church/ Place of Worship (25-D) Experiences (all)

Culture enables people to change their environment. In USA, we modify environment on a large scale using technology: Dams & Bridges Earth-moving equipment Construction projects Crops & cultivation Air conditioning!! We need to learn to manage our habitat AND our actions WISELY

Language: French Canada- Quebec Latin America-Spanish Brazil- Portuguese Islamic World- Arabic Cultural differences can link or divide regions of the world Technology: Agricultural advances (Corn Belt; Breadbasket of US) Electronics (Silicon Valley) Ethnicity: Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, AlbaniansFORMER YUGOSLAVIA Hutus, Tutsis, other tribes BURUNDI/ RWANDA Multiethnic societies can have unity= USA/ Swiz Single Ethnic societies also unified= Japan/ Korea

Islam: Sunni v Shi'ite- Arab World But what is the one factor of culture that can make or break a nation!?!?!? Religion Hindus v. Muslims- India/ Pak Jews v. Muslims-Israel/ Palestine Catholics v. Protestants- Irish/ UK

Cultural Change Cultural Convergence – when parts of one culture come in contact with those of another –Diffusion- a cultural element is transmitted from one culture to another

Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange took many items from the New World and brought them back to Europe. The horse and cattle were brought to the New World from Europe. This wasn’t so much an “exchange” as it was Europeans taking from the New World. Slaves were taken. Europeans also brought disease from the old world.

Cultural Divergence – restriction of a culture from outside cultural influences