CULTURE

1
CULTURE

• What is it and why is it so important?

2
What is culture?

• Culture is features of a peoples way of life, in
  other words, how people live on a day to day
  basis
• Features include language, food, behaviors,
  religions, housing, fashion, entertainment

3
Culture Traits

• Activities and behaviors people often participate
  in, in other words, what you do daily
• Many culture traits relate to other traits like
  Islamic religion and not eating pork

4
Culture Regions

• Area made up of similar culture groups
• Areas from GPS are culture regions
• Sometimes countries have different culture
  regions within it like Hutu and Tutsi tribes in
  Uganda

5
Culture Change

• Culture changes over time
• This change can be simple or complex
• Changes occur over time or in short periods
• Acculturation when a group or individual adopt
  the traits from another group usually with
  migration
• Assimilation occurs when one group adopts all
  culture traits from another group usually with
  war

6
Innovation

• Way in which culture changes
• Happens when a culture accepts a new idea that is
  useful!
• Can spread over entire world, or stay local

7
Diffusion

• - When idea spreads from one group to another
• Can be aided or slowed down by physical features
• Three different types
• Expansion diffusion information about
  innovation spreads throughout society
• Relocation diffusion when people move to new
  places and take ideas with them
• Hierarchical diffusion ideas spread from areas
  of greater size and influence to smaller areas

8
Globalization vs. Traditionalism

• Globalization
• Global set of culture traits
• Started because of increased communication
  ability
• Result of different cultures blending together
• Americanization

• Traditionalism
• Following longtime practices and opposing
  modernization
• Helps cultures become more separate and distinct
• Fundamentalism when any one person or group
  believe in strictly following established
  principles and/or teachings

9
Language

• Language is important to study of geography
• 1000s of languages on planet
• Most spoken is Mandarin Chinese, following
  distantly by English
• Lingua Franca is language used in trade and
  communication for a region/country or world

10
Regilion Basics

• Polytheism vs. monotheism
• Ethnic religions vs. animist religions vs.
  universalizing
• Five major world religions
• Hinduism, Buddhism
• Judaism, Christianity, Islam