1. What is Culture?

2. Terms to Know:
Culture-the way of life of a group of people, specifically the shared and human created strategies for adapting and responding to the social and physical environment
Cultural particulars- the specific practices that distinguish one culture from another
Cultural universals- those things all culture have in common

3. What is culture?
Culture the shared products of human groups come in two forms- material and non material
Material Culture= physical objects such as books, clothing, houses
Non material culture= abstract human creations such as beliefs, language, and ideas.
Side note… do not confuse culture with society. Society refers to a group of people who share culture and a feeling of unity

4. What is Cultural Diversity?
Cultural Diversity refers to the wide range of cultural differences found among and within nations
Can be a result of natural (climate/geography) or social (technology or demographics) circumstances

5. Components of Culture 5 basic components Technology Symbols Language
Values
Norms

6. Technology- combination of objects and rules for using them
Symbols- anything that represents something else
Stop sign, alphabet, turn signal
Form of communication

7. Cultural Variation

8. Terms to Know
Counter Culture-sub cultures that deny, contradict, challenge or reject values of the mainstream
Sub Culture- groups that share certain parts of the main stream culture but have distinctive values, norms, beliefs that set them apart
Ethnocentrism- using your home culture as the standard for the world
Reverse Ethnocentrism- viewpoint that sees home culture as inferior

9. Examining culture
Culture is dynamic rather than static- it changes over time
Sociologists study culture in three ways
Cultural traits
Cultural complexes