Welcome to the World of WORLD CULTURES
There are five fields
of learning in social
studies. We learn
about the world and
its people by
studying:
- geography
- history
- economics
- government
- culture
A Mongolian yurt, complete with
a satellite television dish.
The Peoples of the World
Getting Along with Each Other (OR NOT?)
• Knowledge of other societies is the key to understanding
them
• Knowledge of other cultures increases with:
- advances in communication (the Internet)
- advances in transportation (high-speed aircraft)
- international trade
- immigration
History and Geography
History
• History is a record of the past; the past
shapes the present
The Five Themes of Geography
• Geography is the study of people, places, and
the environment
• The study of geography focuses on five
themes:
- location
- region
- place
- movement
- human-environment interaction
Government
How Countries Govern
• Every country has laws—rules that govern
behavior
• Every country has ways to govern itself
• Government makes and enforces laws
Limited and Unlimited Governments
• Limited—everyone obeys laws, including rulers
• Unlimited—rulers have absolute authority over
everyone, everything
Continued . . .
Government
continued
Citizenship
• Citizen—a legal member of a country with rights
and duties
• Two ways to achieve citizenship:
- born in country
- naturalization
Economics
The Study of Resources
• Economics—the study of how people manage
resources
• Scarcity—conflict between unlimited desires and
limited resources
Resources
• Economists identify three types of resources:
- natural: gifts of nature
- human: production skills
- capital: goods and services produced
Kinds of Economies
Command and Market Economies
• Command—government decides prices and
what and how much to produce
• Market—companies use consumers to
determine prices and production
Levels of Development
• Countries with high levels of economic
development have:
- education, health, employment, services,
technology
• Countries with low levels of economic
development have:
- poor services, low employment, low literacy,
low life expectancy
Culture
Ways of Living
• Culture—shared beliefs, customs, laws, art, ways of
living
• Culture traits—those specific things people share
Many Regions, Many Cultures
The world can be divided into regions according to culture.
Many Regions, Many Cultures
Different Places, Different Cultures
Regions of Culture
• Culture region—geographic area in which people share common:
- beliefs
- history
- language
- religion
- technology
- work
- food
- clothing
- shelter
Continued . . .
Different Places, Different Cultures
The World’s Culture Regions
• The world has seven culture regions:
- U.S. and Canada
- Latin America
- Europe and former U.S.S.R
- North Africa and Southwest Asia
- Africa south of the Sahara
- South Asia
- East Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands
Continued . . .
Different Places, Different Cultures
Culture Regions Change
• Culture regions change as they borrow traits
from one another
• Interdependence—culture regions depend on
one another economically
• Events in one culture region affect other culture
regions
• Advances in technology, communication have
increased interdependence