Transcript Culture

Culture
The way of life of a group of people
who share beliefs and similar
customs
2 Kinds of culture:
 Material culture – things people make;
food, clothing, art, architecture,
technology
 Nonmaterial culture – things that are
necessary for society, but not objects
– religion, language, government
systems, patterns of behavior,
education systems & attitudes about
the roles of men & women
Cultural Diffusion
 Spreading of knowledge, skills, and ideas
from one group or individual to another.
Examples: trade, migration, war
Cultural Convergence
 Occurs when skills, arts, ideas, habits,
and institutions of one culture come in
contact with those of another culture.
 Things blend
Cultural Divergence
 When there are restrictions on a culture
from outside influences.
 Repressive governments often restrict
 Movement into and out of the country
 Transportation & communication (radio
transmissions, newspapers, internet, etc.) into a
country
Culture Hearths
 Where civilizations began and spread.
 Mesopotamia – between the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers, Iraq
 Nile River Valley – along Nile River, Egypt
 Indus River Valley – along Indus River,
Pakistan
 Shang – along the Yellow River, China
Also – Ganges (India) and Mesoamerica
(Mexico) a little later.
Social Groups
 A group that works together to meet the
basic needs (food, water, and shelter) of
a society.
 The most important social group is the
family.
Major elements of culture
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Language is #1 unifying force
Government
Economics
Social groups
Language Families
 Diverse languages with similar roots.
 We share the same language family –
Indo European as Germany, Mexico, and
most of India.
 See map page 81
Acculturation
 Adapting some traits from other cultures
into your own culture
Ethnic Groups
 People who share a common language,
history, and place of origin (or a
combination of these traits)
5 major religions –
sometimes called 5 “Great”
religions.
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Buddhism
Christianity
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism
World Religions
 See map on page 82
Ethnocentrism
 Belief in the
superiority of one’s
own ethnic group.
 When taken to
extreme – can be
racism.
Migration
 Movement of people from place to place
Push Factors
 Factors that would promote migration AWAY
from an area (famine, war, poverty)
Pull Factors
 Factors that would promote migration TO
an area (jobs, better schools, family)
Population Distribution
 Pattern of human settlement – where do
people actually live
 Main factor in distribution is geography
 Population DENSITY does not take into
consideration uneven settlement
patterns.
Culture Region
 An area that includes many different cultures that
have certain traits in common (economic systems,
religion, government systems, and social groups)
 See map on page 83 for our text. We will use:
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US & Canada
Europe & Russia
Latin America
Southwest Asia & North Africa
Africa South of the Sahara
South Asia
East and Southeast Asia
Oceania
Civilization
 Highly organized, city-based society with
and advanced knowledge of farming,
trade, government, art, and science.
Agricultural / Neolithic
Revolution
 10,000 years ago, humans began
growing crops on permanent settlements.
Industrial Revolution
 Late 1700s AD – industrialization and
mass production. Factories and
machines replaced agriculture.
 Started in Britain because of availability
of iron ore, coal, and workers
Information Revolution
 End of the 1900s (20th Century)
 Computers began to make it possible to
store huge amounts of information and
send it instantly around the world
 Computers aided humans in jobs
Demographics
 Study of human population statistics
ZPG – Zero Population
Growth
 When birth rates and death rates are
equal.
 This is the goal of developed nations.
Doubling Time
 The amount of time it will take for a
population to double in size
 At current rate – the world will have 12
billion by 2050