Cultural Change Section 3 Last section before a test!!!!!!!

How Culture Changes

Why Cultures Change: Cultures change all the time. Because culture is an entire way of life, a change in one part changes other parts. Changes in the natural environment, technology, and Ideas all affect Culture

New Technologies: During the 1800 and early 1900, the growth of industry and the spread of factories drew large numbers of Americans from the countryside to the nation’s cities. Factories offered jobs to thousands of men, women and children. Limited transportation meant that people had to live close to the factories. Cities grew larger as a result.

Continue: This all changed after the invention of the CAR in the late 1800s. Within a few years, advances in technology made cars more affordable. By 1920, many Americans had cars. People could live farther from their jobs and drive to work. Soon after, the idea of owning your own house with a yard became more popular. The result has been the growth of sprawling suburbs since the mid 1900s and a new culture based on car travel.

Cultural Change Over Time? Cultural change has been going on for a long time. Controlling fir helped early people survive in colder weather. When people started raising animals and growing crops, ways of life also changed. People began to work in the same fields year after year. Before that, they has roamed over a wider area looking for wild plant and animal foods.

How Ideas Spread: (question on test) hint hint! Advances in transportation technology, such as the airplane, make it easier for people to move, people bring new kinds of clothing and tools with them. They also bring about such things as ways to prepare food, teach children, practice their religion, or govern themselves.

Continue: WRITE this down! On test and exam!!! Ideas can travel to new places in other ways. People may also learn from other cultures through written material. The movement of customs and ideas is called Cultural Diffusion An example of culture diffusion is the game of baseball. Baseball began as an American sport but now it is played in many countries around the world such as Cuba!

The Japanese also love baseball. However, They have changed the game to fit their culture. These changes are an example of Acculturation, or the process of accepting new ideas and fitting them into culture. In Japan it is not about winning the game it is about who played the game better. The game can also win in a tie.

In your short lives cultural change happens fast because of technology and other aspect that we have just talked about. In groups I would like you to discuss and come up with a min presentation on what you have witnessed in cultural change. I will put you into groups and everyone has a job to do the cards will tell!

A) B) C) D)

What is the fastest way to get from your house to Japan? Would you use a phone, Jet plane, the internet, fax? All these answers are correct. The answer all depends on you and how you would like to portray yourself. Do you want to transport your body, your voice, a picture, or just words on a sheet of paper?

For thousand of years, cultures changed slowly. People and goods moved by foot or wagon or sailing ship, so ideas and technology also moved slowly. Recently, communication technology has increased the speed of change. Faxes and computers transport information almost instantly. Magazines and television shows can bring ideas and information from all over the world to any home. This rapid exchange of ideas speeds up cultural change.

Technology has brought many benefits. Computers let scientists share information about how to cure disease. Telephones let us instantly talk to relatives thousands of miles away. In the Australian Outback, students your age use closed circuit television and two way radios to take part in class from their own homes.

Change can help, but it can also hurt. If things change too fast, people may feel that their culture is threatened. Valuable traditions can disappear. Once Traditional knowledge has been lost, it can never be regained. In many parts of the world, people are working to preserve, or save, their own cultures before it is too late. They do not want to lose what is valuable in their culture. They want to save the artistic traditions, the religious beliefs, and the wisdom that enriched the lives of past generations for the sake of future generation.

Definitions: Cultural Diffusion, Acculturation What cultural changes in America followed the invention of cars? What are the 4 key words that that bring about culture change? Give and example for each word. (Remember the first film we watched) How did cars change where people lived and worked? Suppose that gasoline became more expensive and computers allowed more people to work at home. How might American culture change? (your opinion) Give an example of an idea that has passed from one culture to another? How has the spread of ideas changed with modern communication technologies?