Culture

A Show of Hands In your opinion, which of the following values most closely identifies with American culture? 1. Belief in God 2. Achievement and success 3.Democracy 4. Equality

Culture Definitions Culture – shared patterns of learned behavior, attitudes, and knowledge Culture Trait – a single component of a culture Culture Region – an area that shares a large # of culture traits Culture Realm – Groupings of culture regions based on broad culture similarities 6-3

Where Are Folk and Popular Leisure Activities Distributed? Geographers are interested in two aspects of culture: – Where cultures are located in space – How cultures interact with the environment Geographers study how culture influences behavior. – Difference between habit and custom Habit is a repetitive act performed by an individual. – One college student wears jeans with colorful patches. Custom is a repetitive act performed by a group. – All college students from the American South wear jeans with colorful patches.

Culture can be distinguished from habit and custom. – A habit is a repetitive act that a particular individual performs. – A custom is what 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). A collection of social customs produces a group’s material culture.

– Origin of word, culture, is the Latin cultus, which means “to care for.” Two meanings 1.To care about 2.To care of 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 involves 3 things: – Values – Artifacts – Institutions institutions – organizations developed by each society to make social roles clear and to take care of social needs. Such institutions include: 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.

Culture Influences Behavior Norms are rules defining appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Norms are so engrained in humans that they guide behavior without awareness. – Folkways—rules that cover customary ways of thinking, feeling and behaving but lack moral overtones. – Mores—norms of great moral significance. – Taboo—a norm so strong that its violation demands punishment by the group. Laws are norms that are formally defined and enforced by officials.

Enforcing the Rules Sanctions are rewards and punishments used to encourage conformity to norms, either formally or informally. Formal sanctions are sanctions that may be applied, for positive or negative reasons, only by officially designated persons, such as judges and teachers. Informal sanctions can be applied by most members of a group, also for positive or negative reasons.

Values—The Basis for Norms Values are broad ideas about what most people in a society consider to be desirable. Different groups in the same society can have different norms based on the same value. Values have a tremendous influence on human social behavior because they form the basis for norms.

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 Family structures and gender roles differ between cultures. Cultural universals are traits that exist in all cultures, such as sports, cooking, and education. Cultural particulars are the ways that each culture expresses the universals.

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)

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

Folk vs. Popular Culture – Folk culture is traditional, no longer widely practiced by a large amount of people, and generally isolated in small, often rural, areas – Popular culture is widespread, fast- changing, and transmitted by the mass media

Folk vs. Popular Culture Continued Landscapes dominated by a collection of folk customs change relatively little over time. In contrast, popular culture is based on rapid simultaneous global connections. Thus, folk culture is more likely to vary from place to place at a given time, whereas popular culture is more likely to vary from time to time at a given place.

Characteristics of Folk and Popular Culture – Origin Folk Culture – Unknown source, date, or originators – Possible to have multiple hearths each originating independently Popular Culture – Product of developed countries » Typically North American or European – Origin often traceable to specific person or corporation in a particular place Where Are Folk and Popular Leisure Activities Distributed?

The Components of Culture Technological Subsystem – the material objects that a culture produces, as well as the procedures for using those objects – artifacts Sociological Subsystem – how people in a culture are expected to interact with each other and how their social institutions are structured – sociofacts Ideological Subsystem – the ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge of a culture – mentifacts 6-20

Cultural Diffusion Diffusion: the movement of people, ideas, or things from a point of origin to another location over time Types of Diffusion: – Relocation: the diffusion of a particular phenomenon that results from the migration of people who practice that phenomenon – Contagious: the spread of phenomenon to nearby places – Hierarchical: movement of phenomenon from one place to other places that have some similarities Often from large cities to small cities 6-21

Cultural Diffusion Gladwell’s Model 1 st - idea/item alike are diffused through the efforts of a select group of people: “the law of the fews” 2 nd - refers to people’s need to see a good reason for the idea/item and how it fits into their lives: “stickiness factor” 3 rd - diffusion relies on prevailing conditions: the place and time have to be right to accept the new thing/item 6-22

Cultural Diffusion Hagerstrand’s Model thing/idea – transfer – using any or simultaneous means: – communication – observation – marketing – physical 6-23