Macrocultural Regions

Habit  Custom  Culture Repeat an action many times (habit) When many people continue this habit it becomes characteristic of them (custom) When we combine all the customs we get a comprehensive view of that group of people (culture)

What is Culture? Material Culture/Artifacts Mentifacts Buildings Is it biological? Or is it learned? LEARNED! Our age, sex, status, occupation, etc. preclude us from knowing our entire culture Customary beliefs (Mentifacts) Social Forms (Sociofacts) Material Traits (Material culture/Artifacts) Material Culture/Artifacts Buildings Tools Clothing Art/Music Food Mentifacts Language Religion Ethnicity Values Beliefs

Sub-culture “Sub-culture”- “groups that can be distinguished from the dominant group by their cultural patterns Individuals expected to learn not just their dominant culture but also follow the “rules” and conventions of their specific subculture i.e.: Dominant culture :American Highschooler Subculture: Athletics – Fine Arts groups – Subculture: Football, cheer, soccer, wrestling, band, choir, theatre, Minecraft club, Interact club

Culture traits, complexes and systems Culture traits -smallest distinct items of culture “units of learned behavior ranging from the language spoken to the tools used or the games played” Ex. Object: fishhook Technique: weaving Some traits – Chritian religion, or Spanish language- may be a part of more than one culture!

Culture traits, complexes and systems Culture complex– individual traits that are related directly Masia tribesmen: Trait- keeping cattle to herd Wealth based on # of cattle owned Diet of cow milk and blood Disdain for non-herding labor USA- Automobile ownership Status by brand Movies and games w/ car as central theme/role Urban landscapes designed around cars Rites of passage

Culture traits, complexes and systems Culture system- “the collection of interacting traits and complexes shared by a large group” Culture traits and complexes and systems have a physical extent– geographic boundaries When plotted on maps, regions can be seen/identified “Culture region” – “portion of the earth’s surface occupied by populations sharing recognizable and distinctive characteristics” such as: Common gov. systems (democracy vs dictatorship/fascism) Economic systems (free world vs communism) Type of clothing (folk vs popular clothing)

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1. Anglo America Language: English Religion: Protestant (Christian) Immigration leads to many languages and many religions Quebec French & Catholic

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2. Latin America Language: Spanish Religion: Catholicism Brazil Portuguese

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3. Western Europe Language: Indo-European Religion: Germanic: Romance: German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian Romance: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian Religion: Germanic: Protestant Romance: Catholic

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4. Eastern Europe Language: Slavic Religion: Orthodox Christianity Baltic Peninsula/Russian/Polish Except Greek Religion: Orthodox Christianity

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5. East Asia Language family: Sino-Tibetan Sino is Latin for China Dominate language is Mandarin Japan speaks a different language, but written language is derived from Chinese Religion: Ethnic Religions (Confucianism/Taoism); Buddhism

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6. SE Asia Language: SE Asian Family Religion: Buddhism/Islam Sino-Tibetan, Austronesian, Austro-Asiatic Religion: Buddhism/Islam Philippines: Catholic Very fragmented Lots of peninsulas & islands

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7. South Asia Language: Indic Religion: Hindu/Islam Hindi, Panjabi, Bengali Related (Sanskrit), but different Religion: Hindu/Islam Hindu majority, huge number of Muslims Buddhist patches in Sri Lanka, Nepal & Bhutan

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8. Middle East Language: Arabic Religion: Islam Big exceptions, especially in Africa Religion: Islam As Muslims, they must have knowledge of Arabic

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9. Sub-Saharan Africa Language: Niger-Congo South Africa: English, Dutch; culture is different Religion: Animism/Christianity Animism: ethnic religions, local beliefs

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10. South Pacific/Oceania Language: English Religion: Protestant

Criticisms! Scale of regions/realms is so broad and variation within each is so great that realms may mislead more than they inform Globalization is producing more uniform culture