Introduction to Culture Notes
What is Culture? Culture is the shared knowledge, behavioral norms, values and beliefs that help people to live in families, groups and communities Cultures can also define groups within countries (subcultures)by: Religion (being Jewish) Occupation (the military) Regions (Southern culture) Other special statuses (gay and lesbian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o32l-_U6nGY culture 3 min
Religion Monotheism: belief in one god (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) Polytheism: belief in more than one god (Buddhism, Hinduism) Current Conflicts Israel: Palestinians (Muslims) vs. Israelis (Jews) Iraq: Sunnis vs Shias https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvFl6UBZLv4 spreading of religions 2 min.
Israel Iraq
World Religions
Language US has no official language (30 states have English as official lang.) US: over 300 spoken languages 51 nations have English as official language Canada has two official languages: French and English 6000-7000 languages spoken worldwide
World Languages
Family Life Nuclear: mother, father, children Extended: aunts, uncles, grandparents US- most emphasis place on nuclear families Most in US are single-parent/fused families Rest of the world- more emphasis on extended
Social Classes Ranks of people based on status US- most people can move throughout the classes Rest of world- more difficult
Government Democracy: the people have the power Republic: the people elect representatives to make decisions Dictatorship: ruler or group holds power by force US: we are a democratic republic
Governments
Economy Traditional: people produce what they need Command: the government controls production Market: the people make the economic decisions US: we are a mixed economy (combination of market/command) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFjLTL2fxW4 4 min