What is culture?

1
What is culture?

• What elements make up a culture?
• Why do cultures change?

2
Culture is

1. All the features of a societys way of life.

3
Culture is

1. Learned and passed down from generation to
   generation.Think Santa Claus

4
Culture

1. Includes all of a societys shared values,
   beliefs, institutions, and technologies.Think
   US Flag, Freedom of Speech

5
Culture . . .

1. Gives roles to individuals and establishes
   relationships within groups in a society.Think
   School relationships

6
Cultural Traits

• Activities and behaviors that people repeatedly
  practice.
• They can vary Think eating US fork,
  knife, spoon China chopsticks
  Malaysia fingers/hands

7
Culture Traits, cont.

• Change through timeThink clothing styles in
  the USA from colonial period to today

8
How do cultures change?

• Assimilation
• Innovation
• Diffusion
• Acculturation

9
Assimilation

• When one culture group adapts to the attitudes,
  belief systems and ways of life of another
  culture. Think Native Americans

10
Innovation

• New ideas that are accepted into a
  culture.Think Horse v. cars, etc.

11
Diffusion

• The spread of an innovation or other culture
  trait into another culture region, which then
  adopts that element into its own culture.Think
  Hip Hop or Rap Music

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Diffusion, cont.

• The spread can be gradual.Think Country music
  from Nashville, TN

13
Diffusion, cont.

• Or the spread can happen when people move from a
  region and carry the innovation with
  them.Think Christianity from Europe

14
Acculturation

• When one culture changes a great deal through its
  meeting with another culture.

15
Acculturation, cont.

• Usually a two-way process in which each culture
  changes the other.Think USA fast food and the
  growth of ethnic foods.