HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
HOW PEOPLE LIVE?
 RURAL OR URBAN?
 Rural – the countryside.
These people generally work
as farmers, livestock herders,
or village craftsmen.
 Usually maintain traditional
ways.
 Urban – referring to cities.
 Usually have advance
technology, have roads,
bridges, and large
buildings.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
 People who share similar wealth, power, and prestige belong
to the same social class.
 Social Mobility - Refers to the ease of moving from one social
class to another.
 You will fill out your social structure diagram based on the
following slides.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Upper Class – earns or inherits wealth. Owns a large share
of property in society. Lives a luxurious life.
Middle Class– intermediate group of educated and mostly
successful people. Managers, professionals, shopkeepers,
and business owners.
Working Class – Composed manual workers who work
in factories, mining, or transportation, or work as
independent crafstmen.
Peasants – Farm workers or owners of small farms
mainly engaged in subsistence farming (growing
enough food for their family). Have little education
and limited experience of the world outside their
own villages.
Lower Class – often uneducated and
unskilled. Take least desirable and worst
paying job.
UPPER CLASS
Upper Class – earns or inherits
wealth. Owns a large share of
property in society. Lives a
luxurious life.
MIDDLE CLASS
Middle Class– intermediate
group of educated and mostly
successful people. Managers,
professionals, shopkeepers,
and business owners.
WORKING CLASS
Working Class – Composed
manual workers who work in
factories, mining, or
transportation, or work as
independent crafstmen.
PEASANTS
Peasants – Farm workers or
owners of small farms mainly
engaged in subsistence farming
(growing enough food for their
family). Have little education and
limited experience of the world
outside their own villages.
LOWER CLASS
Lower Class – often
uneducated and
unskilled. Take least
desirable and worst
paying job.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Upper Class – earns or inherits wealth. Owns a large share
of property in society. Lives a luxurious life.
Middle Class– intermediate group of educated and mostly
successful people. Managers, professionals, shopkeepers,
and business owners.
Working Class – Composed manual workers who work
in factories, mining, or transportation, or work as
independent crafstmen.
Peasants – Farm workers or owners of small farms
mainly engaged in subsistence farming (growing
enough food for their family). Have little education
and limited experience of the world outside their
own villages.
Lower Class – often uneducated and
unskilled. Take least desirable and worst
paying job.
FAMILY STRUCTURE
The way a family is structured varies
throughout the world.
In some families the parents live with just
their children and until they finish high school
and then the children live on their own.
In other cultures children, parents, and
grandparents remain in extended families
under one roof.
GENDER ROLES
 Roles specifically assigned to men and women. In most
societies past gender roles were very restrictive. These
societies gave greater opportunities to men than women.
 Men typically worked and appeared in public while women were
expected to care for the family and perform household chores.
 In the early 20 th century this situation began to change.
 Women in America and several European nations gained the right to
vote.
 In most modern day societies men and women enjoy equal
rights.
 They earn the same pay for the same work.
 However, women still remain under-represented in top jobs in
government and business.
TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES
 In other cultures many women still lack the same
opportunities as men.
 Women may be required to stay at home or wear special
clothing.
 For example, in some Islamic countries women must cover their face
and body whenever they are out in public. They are not allowed to
mix freely in public places (they have to be accompanied by a male
when out in public), they are not allowed to drive a car, and they may
even have to have permission from their husband before they leave
their home.
 TALK WITH YOUR GROUP AND WRITE DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS
ABOUT THIS!
 Women in these societies are striving for a greater role in
government, business, and the professions.
 Women throughout the world are making steady progress in
achieving full equality with men.
MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES
 Ethnic Group – a group of people with a common ancestry and
a common culture, most often based on religion and
language.
 Two basic types of societies
 Homogeneous society – almost everyone belongs to the same ethnic
group and shares the same language and traditions. Saudi Arabia
and Japan are examples of homogeneous societies.
 Multicultural or heterogeneous – contains a mix of people and
cultures. The United States and Brazil are examples are multicultural
and heterogeneous societies.
 Minorities – any ethnic or religious group other than the dominant group.
MINORITIES
Special Problems faced by some minorities
Ethnic Prejudice
Dominant group may
treat minority group
members as inferior.
Minority group
members may be
denied political power.
Often the dominant
group uses force to
keep minority groups
under control.
Discrimination and
Exclusion
In many societies,
ethnic and religious
minorities are denied
civil and political rights.
Expulsion and
Genocide
Sometimes actions
against minority groups
may be extreme. An
example of this extreme
behavior would be the
Nazi group trying to
eliminate the Jews of
Europe. They
murdered more than 6
million people.
CULTURAL BORROWING
 The adoption of one group’s culture traits by another group.
 For example, baseball is a popular sport in Japan. The
Japanese borrowed this game from the United States.
CULTURAL DIFFUSION
 Definition-How a culture spreads its knowledge and skills
from one area to another.
 Merchants and traders used to be the major cause of cultural
dif fusion by spreading their culture when they bought and sold
goods.
 Today, cultural dif fusion occurs through radios, T V, phones,
computers, and the Internet .