VOCABULARY
Culture The way of life of a people, including their beliefs
and practices
Cultural The parts of a people’s environment that they
have shaped and the technology they have used
Landscape to shape it
Civilization An advanced culture with cities and a system of
writing
Institution A custom or organization with social,
educational, or religious purposes
Example of Cultural Landscape
Japanese
(Bonsai tree
shape)
What is Culture?
Definition?
Parents pass culture on to their children
Keep in mind, culture traits (?) can change over the years
Elements of
Culture
Visible Culture
Material possessions: clothes, homes, technology, food
Sports
Literature and art
Non-Visible Culture
Language
Ideas
Spiritual Beliefs
Government and politics
Visible Culture
Non-Visible Culture
Culture and
Environment
Geographers want to know:
How environment affects culture
Ex: Japan has mountains and isolated islands
Farming is not good so they turned to fishing
ANY OTHER EXAMPLES YOU CAN THINK OF?
But, environment doesn’t dictate culture…(meaning ?)
Ex: Greece has an environment like Japan but
Greeks have pasture land for goats to graze
People and
Environment
People create technology, technology impacts culture and
environment
Ex: Cultural landscape
Indonesia—farmers cared places into hillside
to farm
Development of Culture
4 Major
Advances in
Technology
Ways of Life
Changes as Time
Goes On
1.) Inventions of tools millions of years ago
2.) Control of fire
3.) Beginning of agriculture
4.) Development of civilization (?)
In the past:
People were primarily hunter & gatherers
Travel from place to place, fish & hunt
As time went on:
Discovery of how to grow crops
Taming of wild animals to work or raise to eat
Farming became a bigger deal
Technology
&
Civilizations
Agriculture provides steady food supply
Farmers can grow more food than they need
Allowed products to be traded for food
Agriculture paved way for:
Laws to be created to help with trade and politics
To store information used:
Writing was created
First civilizations produced 5000 years ago
Farming helped civilization spread throughout the world
200 years ago:
Machines were created as new technology
Industrial Revolution—growth of cities, science and
technology
R
E
A
P
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SICKLE
HARVESTER
Development of
Institutions
Simple institutions (?) came before the big Agricultural
Revolution
Extended families
Political institutions—group of elders, small councils
Cities formed, more complex institutions were needed
Organized religions, armies, governments, schools
were needed as cities developed
Modern Day
Institutions
Museums
Sports Clubs
Corporations
Political Parties
Universities
VOCABULARY
Society
Social
Structure
Social Class
Nuclear
Family
Extended
Family
A group of people sharing a culture
A pattern of organized relationships among
groups of people within a society
A grouping of people based on rank or status
A mother, father, and their children
A family that includes several generations
Can range from:
Small like a single community to as large as a nation
Could be a group of similar nations
How Society is
Organized
Groups within a society:
Work together on certain tasks
Ex: To get food, to protect, to education, etc
Social structure helps people work together to meet basic needs
Family is most important unit of society
Teaches customs and traditions
Children learn to dress, act, eat, play, etc
Person’s status or position can come from:
Wealth
Land
Ancestors
Education
Social
Classes
In the Past:
It was hard to move up in social class
Today:
People are equipped with
tools needed to move up
Ex: Can obtain a good
education
Make more money
Marry someone of a
higher class
NOT ALL CULTURES DEFINE FAMILY IN THE SAME WAY
Ex: Nuclear family, extended family
See these primarily in developed (?) nations
Kinds of
Families
Nuclear Family
Name comes from word “nucleus” meaning center
Elders in family are often respected for their knowledge and
experience
Older family members pass on traditions
Extended families are becoming less common
Because: people are moving from rural to urban
LANGUAGE
ALL CULTURES HAVE LANGUAGE
Language is the basis for culture
Majority of communication w/ others depends on language
Verbal or nonverbal
What does
language
reflect?
If you speak a
different
language?
The things that are important to that certain culture
Ex: Christian and Jewish concepts have words to depict
things like baptism or sabbath
Ex: Some languages have concepts that have no English
translation
People can speak more then 1 language (?)
Celebrate different holidays
Have different customs
Language preserves shared ideas and traditions
RELIGION
AN IMPORTANT PART OF EVERY CULTURE
Beliefs and practices will differ among religions
The same country can have different religions
What does
Religion do?
Help make sense of the world
Provide comfort and hope
Answer questions about meaning & purpose of life
Guide people in ethics
Islam, Judaism &
Christianity
Hinduism & Other
Traditional
Religions
ALL RELIGIONS
Believes in 1 God
Believe in more than 1 God
Have prayers and rituals
Celebrates important places and times
Expect to treat one another well & behave properly
VOCABULARY
Cultural
Diffusion
The movement of customs and ideas
Acculturation
The process of accepting new ideas &
fitting them into a culture
How Do Cultures Change?
ALL CULTURES CHANGE OVER TIME
DON’T
WRITE JUST
LISTEN
Example of Blue Jeans:
Many cultures contributed to them although they were invented
in the US in 1800s.
Marketed by Levi Strauss
He was German but moved to California
Made them w/ denim shortened from serge de Nimes which is a
cloth from France
Blue jeans became popular in other countries
1980’s Japanese and French developed “stonewashing”
process that makes brand new jeans look worn
Jeans comes from French name for Genoa, where a similar cloth to
denim was first made
Why Cultures Change
New Technologies
Cultures change all of the time
Why?---Culture is an entire of way of life
A change in 1 part is going to change many parts
Ex: Changes in natural environment, technology &
ideas
1800s & early 1900s
Growth of industry drew Americas from
countryside to city
Factories offered jobs to 1000s of men, women &
children
Limited transportation so ppl had to live close
Invention of the Car
Cars were more affordable
1920—many Americans owned them
People could drive to work
Result—suburbs in mid 1900s
How Does 1
Change Lead to
Another
Write down 1 way technology has changed culture of the United
States:
1.)
Instant info is a part of our culture
Radios, TV’s and Computers
Technology has added new words to our language
Ex.: Broadcast, Channel Surfing, Hacker
Can you think of any other words?
Cultural Change
Over Time
Been going on for a long
Ex: Ways of life, getting food, transportation, types of jobs
How Ideas Spread
By people moving
Give me an example
Trading goods and products (?)
Sports
Literature and other written material
How Cultures
Adopt New Ideas
Example of Cultural Diffusion
Baseball: An American sport that is played all around
the world but different countries change the game to
make sense with their culture
Americans have to have a winner due to competition
Japan will end the game in a tie w/ no extra innings
Communication
Technology &
the Speed of
Change
What’s the fastest way to get from your house to Japan?
Plane? Phone Call? The internet?
Depends on what your looking for in Japan 
1000’s of years cultures changed slowly (Examples)
Communication Technology has changed that—faxes & computers
transport info almost instantly, magazines & computers
Now done much faster
Benefits
Scientists can share info about curing diseases through
computers
Telephones let us talk to people hundreds of miles away
Cameras and documentaries let us see all parts of the world
Defending
Traditions
Change can help but can also hurt
People may feel that their traditions are threatened with change
Once traditional knowledge is lost it can’t be given back
Work to preserve traditions
Why?