UNIT 3 LESSON BASICS OF
CULTURE
STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO…
 Create a definition of culture and understand that there
are different ways of viewing culture depending on the
scale.
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED SO FAR…
Population size and behaviors are influenced by culture.
Culture: “a group of belief systems, norms, and values
practiced by a people” (Fouberg et al. 112)
Transmitted by “imitation, instruction, and example” (Getis
210).
 NOT BIOLOGICAL!!!
People can call themselves a culture or people can label them.
BUILDING BLOCKS OF CULTURE
(THINK SCALE FROM SMALL TO LARGE)
 Culture Traits: “units of learned behavior ranging from the language spoke to the
tools used or the games played” (Getis 211). Action
 Example: Dance steps, fiddling, and banjo (by themselves and apart from one
another)
 Culture Complex: “individual culture traits that are functionally interrelated”
(Getis 211).
 Example: It’s a bundle of cultural traits that have something related; dancing,
fiddling, and banjo all go into Appalachian folk culture. Think about how they knew
everyone’s names…it creates importance.
 Culture System: “larger spatial reality and generalization...” groups may “share
enough joint characteristics to be recognizably distinctive culture entities to
themselves” (Getis 211)
 Example: The dancers are actually dancing different dances and are from different
regions of Appalachia, but are ultimately part of Appalachian folk culture.
UH, JUST FOR REFERENCE
Cultural
Region
Physical
Region 
STILL…BIGGER…
(THINK SCALE FROM SMALL TO LARGE)
Culture region: “a portion of the earth’s surface by people
sharing recognizable and distinctive cultural characteristics.”
 Example: Appalachia is one region, but so is the U.S.
 Culture realm: “set of culture regions showing related culture
complexes and landscapes”
 Example: North America, Latin America, Europe, etc.
WHAT IS CONSTRUCTED AND NOT
 Material Culture: “includes the things they [humans/people]
construct” (Fouberg 112)
 Example: Everything that is physical.
 Nonmaterial culture: “Includes beliefs, practices, aesthetics, and
values of a group of people.”
 Example: Everything that’s an idea.
 What people construct (material culture) reflects the nonmaterial
culture.
 Example: I’m thinking about the victory of Russia, so I make a giant
statue of a woman with a sword statue that is a physical representation
of my idea.
THINK ABOUT MIGRATION…
 When people migrate, they take their culture with them (internal)
 Accents
 Birth rates
 When people migrate, they often attempt to build material culture
(external)
 Mosques, Temples, and Synagogues in Texas
 Housing styles
 Why settlement patterns matter  gives insight into the culture of
that region
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CULTURE
 Folk Culture: “typically rural, and is cohesive in cultural traits”
(Fouberg 112). “Nonfaddish”, “Resistant to outside Influences”, and
“largely self-sufficient group” (Getis 227). Slow to change.
 Creates a small group identity
 Includes food, clothing, housing, shared themes
 anonymous origins, diffuses slowly through migration. Develops
over time.
 Clustered distributions: isolation/lack of interaction breed
uniqueness and ties to physical environment.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CULTURE…CONT.
Popular (Pop) Culture: “Large, incorporates heterogeneous
population, is typically urban, and experiences quickly
changing cultural traits” (Fouberg 112). “General Mass”,
“Adopting”, “Conforming”, “Fads”, and “Ever-Changing” (Getis
227).
Creates uniformity, identity is eroded.
Carried by media, large audience, includes food, clothes
Example: The last time I showed this Power Point…it was Miley
Cyrus as the example…which is so yesterday. Now Adele is
back on top.
(Really, Justin Bieber is number two right now?)
POP (CHANGES FROM TIME TO TIME)VS. FOLK (CHANGES FROM
PLACE TO PLACE)
 Large groups of people
 Small, isolated groups
 Heterogeneous groups
 Homogeneous groups
 Changes quickly
 Slow to change
 Dispersed – Global scale
 Clustered – local scale
 Ex. Wearing jeans, eating fast
food, attending sporting events
like football
 Little interaction w/ others
(American football, it’s the only real football anyway).
 Ex. Driving a horse and
buggy, learning how to
flatfoot.