CULTURE BASICS

B.L.A.B.

CULTURE

• A system of beliefs, values and assumptions about life that guide behavior and are shared by a group of people.

• It includes customs, language, and material artifacts. These are transmitted from generation to generation, rarely with explicit instructions

CULTURE

Acculturation – cultural modification of an individual, group or people by adapting to or borrowing from another culture AND the process by which a human being acquires the culture of a particular society from infancy.

• Custom – a usage or practice common to many; long established practice

• Ethnicity – group of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background

• Traditions – cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs , and institutions

LEARNED• Culture is learned behavior - you are not

born with it• Taught how to behave - do’s and don’ts• You learn through language - as cultures

change and become more complicated, vocabularies expand

• It is not absolute, not all taught is learned.

GEOGRAPHY•WHERE you live shapes

What you believe•What you do•What you make•What you speak

CULTURAL CONSTANTS• Belief Anything considered true, right and

important

• Language Agreed upon , not universal particular to group

• Artifacts anything made or used by humans• Behavior Dictated by beliefs. How a group is

organized and controlled

BELIEFSBeliefs are expressed in Religion: Organized belief systemsValues: What is of importance to the groupEthics: What is right and wrongArts and Esthetic Values :What is pleasing or

repulsive.

LANGUAGE• Language is an agreed upon system of a

praticular group, it is the negotiated expression of thoughts, feelings, etxc

• Spoken• Written• Number Systems• Symbols and gestures• Drama and Literature

LANGUAGE spoken

• DIALECT – regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation

• BROGUE – a dialect or regional pronunciation, especially an Irish accent

• SLANG – an informal nonstandard vocabulary

ARTIFACTSThings made or used by the group•Food •Clothing and adornment•Shelter and structures•Technology•Transportation

BEHAVIOR• Family• Government• Economics• Recreation

FAMILY

• PATRIARCHY – social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family

• MATRIARCHY – a family, group, or state governed by a woman (mother)

• EGALITARIANISM – belief in human equality• NUCLEAR FAMILY – a family group consisting of father,

mother and children• EXTENDED FAMILY – a family that includes near relatives

in addition to a nuclear family

GOVERNMENT• DEMOCRACY – a government in which the supreme

power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly (REPUBLIC) usually involving periodic free elections

• MONARCHY – undivided rule or absolute sovereignty by a single person

• OLIGARCHY – government in which a small group exercises control especially for selfish purposes

ECONOMICS• ECONOMY – production, distribution and consumption of goods and

services• Traditional Based on agriculture, limited trade, subsistence economy,

family is basic economic unit• Market Based on supply and demand, focuses on consumer goods, little

government control– CAPITALISM - an economic system characterized by private ownership, by

investments that are determined by private decision and by prices, production and distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

• Command : Natural resources, means of production, distribution and prices set by the government

– SOCIALISM – economic theory advocating governmental ownership and administration of production and distribution of goods

– COMMUNISM – a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed

. Mixed Combination of Market and Command ie some government controls but consumer driven