1. ELEMENTS OF

2. What is Culture?
CULTURE IS...
The shared attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors of a group.
determines how we view the world around us.
includes the traditions we inherit and pass on to the next generation.
Bonus: Does your family have any traditions that have been passed down in your family?

3. YOUR CULTURE INCLUDES... Languages Medical Care Religion Food Folk Art
Celebrations
Jokes
Manners
Clothing & Dressing
Work Schedules

4. WHERE DOES CULTURE START?
CULTURAL HEARTH: is where culture (ideas, traditions, etc.) begins.
Examples:
Beginning of Islam: Started in Mecca
Invention of the wheel: Mesopotamia
Think of this as the start line of the idea!
Bonus: Can you think of where an invention or idea started?

5. HOW DOES CULTURE MOVE?
CULTURAL DIFFUSION: is the exchange of ideas or goods between cultures.
This represents the spread of culture!
Bonus: How is the English language in the USA an example of diffusion?

6. Globalization
It is the process of making something cover the whole world.
Different Cultures are coming in contact with each other and spreading their own culture and learning from others.
As a result the world has improved trade relations, better communication, and easier travel from country to country.
Bonus! How does technology relate to this?

7. SEVEN ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
Social Organization
Customs and Traditions
Language
Religion
Art and Literature
Forms of government
economy

8. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Creates social structure by organizing its members into small units to meet basic needs.
Family: is the most important
Through the family people learn how they are expected to act and what to believe.
Social classes: rank people in order of status, depending on what is important to the culture
money, job, education, ancestry, etc.
Ex: lower class vs. upper class

9. CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS
Behaviors and beliefs that are passed down through family.
Traditions: a celebration passed down within a group with meaning or from the past.
Values or rules: Ideas of right and wrong that are taught through family or society.

10. LANGUAGE All cultures have a spoken language
even if there are no developed forms of writing.
People who speak the same language often share the same culture.

11. RELIGION
Religion answers basic questions about the meaning of life and supports values that groups of people feel are important.
Religion is often a source of conflict between cultures.

12. ART and LITERATURE are the products of the human imagination.
ART & LITERATURE
ART and LITERATURE are the products of the human imagination.
They help us pass on OUR culture’s basic beliefs.
Examples:
art
music
literature
folk tales

13. GOVERNMENT
The government provides for people’s common needs, keeps order within society, and protects their society from outside threats.
Definition of government:
People who hold power in a society.
Society’s laws and political institutions.

14. ECONOMY
How people use resources to satisfy their wants and needs by exchange of money.
Answers the basic questions:
what to produce
how to produce it
for whom

15. Whole Class: Cultural Differences
As you are watching the video….
Leader: Tally each time one of the Lost Boys from Sudan, does not know about or struggles with American ‘norms’.
Trouble Shooter: List what the American ‘norms’ are that the Lost Boys struggle with.
Go-Getter: Write down how Americans react to the Lost Boys in the video.
Timekeeper: Write down how the Lost Boys feel during their adjustment to America.

16. Independent Review: Elements of Culture Video & Follow Along
As you are watching the video….
Answer Follow Along Questions
Pause Video and Rewind as needed.
Make connections to your culture.
Elements of Culture Video: Click Here