Chapter 4 Section 1The

Elements

Of

Culture

Objectives:

Human beings are members of social groups with shared and unique sets of behaviors and attitudes.

Language and religion are two very important aspects of culture.

I. Defining Culture

A.Culture

1. Knowledge, attitudes, behaviors shared over generations is culture.

2. Society is a group that shares geographic region, identity, culture.

3. An ethnic group shares language, customs, common heritage.

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II.Culture Change and Exchange

A. Innovation

1. Innovation is creating something new with existing resources.

a. Example: weaving baskets from reeds to solve storage problem.

B. Diffusion

1. Spread of ideas, inventions, patterns of behavior called diffusion.

2. Cultural hearth—site of innovation; origin of cultural diffusion.

a. Example: Nile River civilizations in Africa.

C. Acculturation

1. Acculturation—society changes because it accepts innovation.

Movement: A satellite dish brings the outside world to a Mongolian family living in this traditional house called

a yurt.

How does this picture show acculturation?

III. Language

A.Importance of Language

1. Enables people within a culture to communicate.

2. Reflects all aspects of culture.

B.Language and Identity

1. Language helps establish cultural identity, unity.

2. Language can also divide people, cause conflict.

C.Language Families

1. Between 3,000 and 6,500 languages spoken worldwide.

2. Similar languages belong to same language family.

3. Dialect—a version of a language, like Southern drawl.

D.Language Diffusion

1. Language can spread via trade routes, migration.

Movement: Which language family has spread to every continent?

Region: Which language families are spoken in the United States?

IV.Religion

A.Belief Systems

1. Religion—belief in supernatural power that made, maintains universe.

2. Monotheistic faiths believe in one god.

3. Belief in many gods called polytheistic.

4. Animistic, or traditional, faiths believe in divine forces of nature.

B.Spread of Religion

1. Religion spreads through diffusion and conversion.

2. Conversion—some religions try to recruit others to their faith.

V.Major Religions

A.Judaism

1. Monotheistic; evolved 3,200 years ago; holy book called the Torah.

B.Christianity

1. Evolved from Judaism; based on teachings of Jesus Christ.

2. Largest religion—2 billion followers worldwide.

C.Islam

1. Monotheistic; based on teachings of Prophet Muhammad.

2. Followers, called Muslims, worship God, called Allah.

3. Holy book called the Qur’an.

D.Hinduism

1. Polytheistic; evolved in India around 5,000 years ago.

2. Hindu caste system has fixed social classes, specific rites/duties.

E.Buddhism

1. Offshoot of Hinduism; evolved around 563 B.C. in India.

2. Founder Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha, or Enlightened One.

3. Rejects Hindu castes; seeks enlightened spiritual state, or nirvana.

F. Other Asian Practices

1. Include Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto.

Region: On which continents are there large areas of Traditional Religion?

Region: What percentage of the world's population practices Hinduism, and where are its followers found?

V.Creative Cultural Expressions

A.Creative Cultural Expressions

1. All cultures express themselves creatively.

2. Performing arts include music, dance, theater, film.

3. Architecture, painting, sculpture, textiles are forms of visual arts.

4. Oral and written literature include poems, folk tales, stories.

Human-Environment Interaction: This Peruvian bone flute dates back to sometime before 700 A.D. Bone flutes are among the oldest of all musical instruments.

In what way does this instrument show human-environment interaction?