1. Elements of Culture

2. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE Culture
All things that make up a person’s way of life.
7 Elements
Social Organization
Customs & Traditions
Language
Arts & Literature
Religion
Forms of Government
Economic System

3. 1. Social Organization
Definition: smaller units of a culture to create social structure and help people work together to meet basic needs

4. 1. Social Organization Family-basic way to pass on culture –
social controls: regulates individual or group behaviors
Nuclear: immediate family
typical for industrialized societies
Vary in size based on culture and traditions
Extended: several generations living in one household
Common agricultural/traditional societies
Economic unit

5. 1. Social Organization Social Class – Social Groups
Rank people by status
Ways: money, education, job, heritage
relative to culture and economy
Social Mobility: ability to move social class
Social Groups
Members have similar interests

6. 2. Customs and Traditions
Def: rules for behavior/how a society expects people to behave = social controls
Ways to express ideas, emotions, and pass on information
Examples: ways you eat, sleep, greet, wear, obtain food, prepare food
Vary in importance
from daily behavior to right and wrong (written law)

7. 3. Language
Def: ways to communicate/express thoughts, feelings, emotions, and knowledge
Basic way to pass on culture
Helps unify and strengthen culture
Issues of dialects
All culture have language but not all develop forms of writing
Verbal/Non-Verbal
Digital Language

8. 4. Arts and Literature
Def: ways to express ideas information and emotions, teaches cultural values; performing arts
Strengthens a cultures identity
Express cultural pride
Examples: music, visual arts (pictures), dance, stories

9. 5. Religion
Def: a person’s belief system that helps guide behavior and teaches basic values = social controls
Where do we come from? How to act? Where are we going?

10. Cosmology: The study and explanation of the universe

11. 1 3
Cyclical 2 2 1 3
Linear

12. Theology: A system of religious beliefs

13. 5. Religion Monotheism Polytheism
Worship one God
Christianity, Islam, Judaism
Polytheism
Worship of many Gods
Hinduism, Buddhism
Sect: religious group, division, “branch” or faction

14. 6. Forms of Government
Def: a system for making decision for a society: order, protection, education
people who hold power and make the laws

16. 6. Forms of Government Types of Government: Democracy Republic
People have supreme power
Republic
Representative democracy
Dictatorship
Ruler or group holds power by force
A government that officially calls itself a "democratic republic" is usually a dictatorship
Fascism

17. 6. Forms of Government Types of Government: Autocratic/Authoritarian
ruling with absolute authority
Monarchy
power or sovereignty held by a single person for life – inherited position - Ruling family
Constitutional Monarchy
has a written Constitution and has a monarch as Head of State

18. 7. Economic Systems
Def: how a society obtains food, clothing, and shelter - Distribute goods and services
How people use limited resources to satisfy their wants and needs
Answers:
What goods and services should we produce?
How should we produce them?
For whom should we produce them?

19. Economic system Traditional Economy Market Economy Command Economy
Produce what they need to survive
Hunting and Gathering, Farming, and Herding
Surplus is traded
Market Economy
Buying and Selling
Command Economy
Government controlled
Individuals have little economic power
Mixed Economy
Individuals and Government make decisions
Cars are a great example: People pick & Government sets standards

20. 7. Economic Systems Examples of Economic Systems: Traditional economy
People produce what they need to survive
Hunting and gathering, farming, herding
Market economy
Free Market economy: people decided the basic economic questions based on supply and demand

21. 7. Economic Systems Examples of Economic Systems: Command economy
Government controls the economy and answers basic economic questions
Individual has little input
Mixed economy
Bits of all economies
Individual makes some economic decisions and the government makes others
Most countries mixed economies

22. What determines cultural similarities and differences?
Technology
Availability of money
History
Relationship with nature
Geography and climate