1. Macrocultural Regions

2. 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)

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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!

6. 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

7. 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)

14. 1

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

16. 2

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

18. 3

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

20. 4

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

22. 5

23. 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

24. 6

25. 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

26. 7

27. 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

28. 8

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

30. 9

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

32. 10

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

34. 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