The Elements of Culture

Culture

• The way of life of a group of people who share similar beliefs and customs

Cultural anthropology

• Studies: cultural variations among humans

• The impact of global economic and political process on local cultures

cultural diffusion

• The process of spreading new knowledge from one culture to another

Language

• Through language people communicate information and experiences and pass on cultural values and traditions

dialect

• A local form of a language that differs from the main language

Geographic Skills

• Provide the tools and methods for understanding the relationships between people, places, and environments

absolute location

• The exact spot at which a place is found on earth

• To pinpoint the spot geographers use latitude and logitude

relative location

• Locating a place in relation to other places

Religion• Beliefs vary

significantly around the world

• Differences can be a source of conflict

• Religion can provide a sense of identity

monotheism

• Belief in one god

• Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

polytheism

• Belief in more than one god

animism

• Belief that spirits inhabit natural objects and forces of nature

Social Groups

• A social system develops to help the members of a culture work together to meet basic needs

family

• In all cultures the family is the most important group

extended family

• Includes great grandparents, grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles, and cousins

• Parents and children share their home with members if the extended family

• Sometimes extended families live in family compounds in a village or city

nuclear family

• Parents and children living together as a family

patriarchal family

• Families that are headed by a male family member

• Usually these are also extended families

social class

• Groups of people ranked according to ancestry, wealth, education, or other criteria

ethnic group

• People who share a common language, history, place of origin, or a combination of these elements

• Irish, German, Mexican, Hmong, Serbian

ethnic cleansing

• Expelling or killing a rival ethnic group

• Former Yugoslavia• Rwanda• Darfur• Sometimes occurs

with genocide

ethnocentrism

• Judging another culture according to the standards of your own culture

• Everyone is ethnocentric

• Sometimes it is unintentional and takes the form of simply misunderstanding another culture

Government

• Maintains order• Provides protection

from outside dangers

• Supplies services to its people

unitary system

• Gives all key powers to the national or central government

• France, United Kingdom

federal system

• Divides the power of the government between national and state or provincial levels

• United States

autocracy

• The power and authority to rule belong to a single individual

• Oldest form of government

• Totalitarianism is a type of this

• Hitler’s government in Germany

monarchy

• A king or queen exercises the supreme control of the government

• It is a type of autocracy

• Saudi Arabia

oligarchy

• A system of government is which a small group hold power

• China

democracy

• Leaders rule with the consent of the people

• United States, France

representative democracy

• People elect representatives with the responsibility and power to make laws and conduct government

• Also called a republic

imperialism

• Political and economic domination

Economy

• How a culture utilizes natural resources to meet its needs

• How people produce, obtain, use, and sell goods and services

market economy

• Individuals and private groups make decisions about what to produce

• People decide what products to buy

• Free enterprise: the idea that individuals have the right own own and operate their own business for profit

command economy

• The government owns or directs the means of production(land, labor, capital)

• The government also controls the distribution of goods

• Taxes are used for social services

• Communism or socialism

socialism

Public ownership of essential services and factories

Higher taxes pay for more public services, such as free health care, free day care, and free college education

Western European countries

development

• The process of improving material conditions of people through the diffusion of knowledge and technology

• The development process is continuous, involving never ending actions to constantly improve the health and prosperity of the people.

More Developed Country

• MDC

• A country that has progressed further along the development continuum

• U.S., Japan, Brazil

Less Developed Country

• LDC

• Also called developing country

• Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan

subsistance economy

• Also subsistance farming

• People grow food to meet their own needs

• People make their own products, or buy/trade from other villagers