1. 7 Elements of Culture

2. What is Culture? Culture is made up of norms and values
Norms: Normal living habits
Values: Important beliefs
It is greater than just a region: it includes the way people think, believe, and feel
Culture is a way of life shared by a group of people.

3. The Elements of Culture
Geography: The Key Element
Social Organization
Customs and Traditions
Arts and Literature
Government and Economics
Language
Religion

4. Element 1: Geography Geography is synonymous with location
Where the culture is located
Most obvious element of culture: The KEY element
Examples: American culture; Middle East culture; Asian Culture

5. Element 1: Geography
Geography, as the key element, affects many aspects of a culture.
Customs and Traditions
What people value or worship
A person’s appearance
Economy, based on available resources
Agriculture and the food that is consumed
Transportation and recreation
Example: American celebrate Thanksgiving and Independence Day, people closer to the equator are darker-complected with darker hair and eyes

6. Element 2: Social Organization
How people are divided in terms of power in a society
Based on a hierarchy
Hierarchy: Order of importance
Pyramidal in shape, with few people wealthy enough to be at the top, and most people poor enough to fill the bottom

7. Element 2: Social Organization
Social organization affects different people in a society differently
This determines who has the most power
Power influences annual salary, education attained, and the amount of possessions a person owns
Affects lineage
Patrilineal means transferred through the father
Matrilineal means transferred through the mother

8. Element 3: Customs and Traditions
Customs are behaviors based upon a specific culture
People who practice different customs do so almost without thinking
These include the “unwritten rules” for behavior; includes “taboos.”

9. Element 3: Customs and Traditions
Customs or Traditions include celebrations and holidays—even the food we eat
They affect schedules, believes, interactions with other cultures
“Rights of Passage,” such as wedding traditions, Bar Mitzvahs, communions, or funerals.
Examples: Decorating Christmas trees, not picking your nose in public, saying “Excuse me,” after belching

10. Element 4: Arts and Literature
“The record keeper of society”
This element preserves what a culture finds most important.

11. Element 4: Arts and Literature
Includes written works, such as myths, legends, sagas, books, plays, poems
Includes oral works, such as plays or music
Includes physical artifacts
Artifacts: Tools left behind which were at one time used by humans
Examples: hammers, bowls, pottery
Jewelry
Monuments, statues
Recorded works, like photographs or films

12. Element 5: Government and Economics
The structure of a culture
A culture would be unstable without a strong government

13. Element 5: Government and Economics
Closely tied with customs and traditions
Largely affects other aspects of a culture
Complexity of a culture leads to complexity of its government and economy
Some economies depend on bartering and other practices for their money system
Barter: Trade without the use of money
Monetary Economy: Use of the money system

14. Element 6: Language The way people communicate with one another
Language helps hand down information from generation to generation
The ideas of culture are transferred via language

15. Element 6: Language
Language affects dialects, slang, written language, and sign language
Dialects: “Ya’ll come back now, ya’hear?”
Slang: “Yo, whaddup, homie!”
Written Language: Arabic numbers v. Roman numerals; symbols or letters
Sign language: Depends on the root language

16. Element 7: Religion
The heart and the soul of a culture

17. Element 7: Religion Guides the rules of behavior
Tends to stay the same over the course of time
Guides people; gives hope
The faith in something bigger than you
Examples: Judaism, Christianity, Atheism, Agnosticism, Hebraism, Muslim

18. Bringing It All Together…
Based on the aforementioned elements, answer the following questions:
What cultures do you belong to?
How do the 7 elements relate to those cultures?
Describe the culture of the United States.
Describe the culture of your hometown.
Is there a disconnect between American culture and the culture of your hometown?