Culture

How do we look at different cultures in a way that will help us describe a culture?

ABC’s of Culture UA - Appearance  B - Beliefs  C – communication, language, gestures  D – dates: history  E – entertainment: their arts, crafts, etc.  F - food  G – government including social rules, kinship, etc.  H - housing  I–information: education, how knowledge is passed on  J – jobs: economic activities – what people do for a living  K – kind of environment  X – extra information

Culture/ What is Culture? 4 Stages in the development of early cultures What is a civilization? ●a society that has shaped its own way of life to satisfy its needs. ●people have shaped their own cultural landscape. ●discovery of fire ●invention of tools ●growth of agriculture (where?) ●use of writing ●a group of people that has developed its culture and technology to include a writing system

Culture/ How do cultures change? What is the most important component for culture change? ●Innovation is a newly developed way of doing things. ●diffusion – occurs when an innovation or other culture trait spreads through a society and perhaps into another culture region. (ex.)? ●acculturation (cultural convergence) – process by which one culture changes through its meeting with another culture. (ex)? ●cultural divergence – restriction of a culture from outside influences (ex)? ●Language. ●Language differences slow the process for change (How?)

Culture/ What is ethnocentric? How have cultures changed? What are people’s basic needs? (4) What are the three innovations having the greatest impact on Earth’s cultural geography? ●when people feel most comfortable with their own group and they believe that the ways and beliefs of their own culture are the best ones or the only right ones. ●Cultures have become more interdependent. They trade and interact with one another more than in the past. ●food ●water ●shelter ●clothing ●farming (development of agriculture) ●living in cities (urbanization) ●using machinery to make goods (technology)

Culture/ What represents the earliest form of acquiring food? What is the importance of Agriculture? ●hunting and gathering ●practice continues today ●areas where hunting and gathering continues today are sparsely settled – simple technology – but the culture may be highly complex. ●The domestication of plants/animals had an enormous impact on the physical landscapes as well as on population growth. ●It enabled people to establish permanent settlements - specialization and division of labor developed -small villages developed eventually into large civilizations -complex social institutions also developed.

Culture/ What are different types of agriculture? What is urbanization? What is industrialization? What were production methods before and after the development of factories? ●subsistence – production of crops for the grower’s own use. Usually, surplus crops are few and used for barter. ●commercial – developed as farm technology and has improved output. ●The development of agriculture enabled settlements to grow. ●Urbanization is the growth in the proportion of people living in towns and cities. ●The impact that the development of factories had on workers and machinery would eventually change cultures. -specialization -higher production levels -lower prices

Culture/ Culture and World events What are major sources of conflict? ●When people feel that their way is better than others this is called ethnocentrism and can lead to cultural conflict. ●Religion ●religion affects people’s daily behavior and customs. ●Modern examples: ●Nationalism (feelings of loyalty and pride in one’s country) ●Positive and negative results of nationalism – positive – creates a source of purpose, pride, and unity. negative – intolerance to other nationalities and justification of wars.

Culture/ ●Traditional and modern values - the acceptance of culture change in some groups and resistance in others. (ex) ●Politics - the difference in the ways people organize their governments may also be a source of cultural conflict. What are two major types of governments? How does economics cause conflict? ●Totalitarian – a society governed by one person and few advisors. ●Democratic – a society in which everyone has a voice in the government. ●abundance of resources increases the standard of living (SOL) for some, but limited resources may produce poor areas

Culture/ ●unequal distribution of wealth may be a source for cultural conflict. ●More developed (industrialized) countries have gained wealth by taking valuable resources from nearly poor countries. ●Countries with few resources have used military power to take resources from resource-rich countries nearby. (ex) ●The spread of culture traits today is greater that at any other time. ●The rapid diffusion of culture traits may also ignite resistance in some groups. ●anthropologists What is the future for Cultural geography? What is the name of the social scientists who study humans and human culture?

Culture/ World Cultures What are “material” and “non-material” cultures? How have anthropologists divided the world into 11 major culture areas? ●A culture’s objects, such as clothing and paintings are part of its “material” culture. ●A culture’s ideas, such as language and religion are part of its “non-material” culture. ●These culture areas are BASED on common cultural traits. ●Anglo America ●Africa S. of the Sahara ●Latin America (Sub-Saharan) ●Western Europe ●South Asia ●Central Europe and ●East Asia Russia ●Southeast Asia ●N. Africa and SW Asia ●Australia and NZ ●Pacific Islands

Map of world culture areas Tigris/Euphrates 2. Indus River 3. Ganges River 4. Huang He 5. Nile River Cultural Hearths Mesoamerica- not “river civilizations”