Honors Culture Project

1. Honors Culture Project • http://roshanvarghese.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/World+History • 6 parts of the project • By Tuesday, October 1st: Culture Project Request Form • Turn in a typed requestfor the culture you would like to research. You must have 3 options. • Note: this is not a country necessarily, so please research what you want to analyze. • This is for Part 6 of the project. • What do we mean by CULTURE????? • You must choose a living culture (people living right now, not an ancient culture). • For example: the Mayans are both ancient & modern…so that can be an option of choice.

2. A few cultures….. • http://www.everyculture.com/index.html • http://www.freewebs.com/worldcultures/ • Links to articles, etc.

3. Saudi Arabia’s Bedouin Culture

4. Scottish Highlands

5. Scottish Culture

6. Australian Aborigines

7. Australian Aborigines

8. Culture is what makes you a stranger when you are away from home

9. An iceberg as an analogy of culture

10. From Gary Weaver in Culture, Communication and Conflict: Readings in Intercultural Relations

11. Cultural UniversalsGeorge Murdock’s 70 Cultural Universals

13. Introduction to the Seven Elements of Culture

14. Basic Elements of culture • Social Organization • Customs and Traditions • Language • Arts and Literature • Religion • Forms of Government • Economic Systems

15. Social Organization Creates social structure by organizing its members into small units to meet basic needs • Family Patterns: family is the most important unit of social organization. Through the family, children learn how they are expected to act &what to believe. • Nuclear family:husband, wife, children • Typical family in an industrial society (U.S.A.) • Does not have to be large to accomplish tasks of living • Extended family: Several generations living in one household, working &living together: grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins • Respect for elders is strong • Social classes: rank people in order of status, depending on what is important to the culture (money, job, education, ancestry, etc.)

16. Customs &Traditions • Rules of Behavior • enforced ideas of right &wrong • often these ideas are part of the culture’s written laws

17. Arts &Literature • Products of the human imagination • help us pass on the culture’s basic beliefs • examples: art, music literature, folk tales

18. Religion • Answers basic questions about the meaning of life • supports values that groups of people feel are important • religion is often a source of conflict between cultures • Monotheism:worship one god • Polytheism:worship more than one god

19. Forms of Government • To provide for their common needs, keep order within society& protect their society from outside threats • Definition of government: • 1. Person/people who hold power in a society • 2. Society’s laws &political institutions • Democracy: people have supreme power, government acts by &with consent • Republic:people choose leaders who represent them • Dictatorship: ruler/group holds power by force • usually relying on military support for power

20. Economic Systems How people use limited resources to satisfy their wants & needs • Traditional Economy:people produce most of what they need to survive (hunting, gathering, farming, herding cattle, make own clothes/tools etc.) • Market Economy: buying/selling goods & services. • Command Economy:government controls what/how goods are produced &what they cost. Individuals have little economic power. • Mixed Economy:individuals make some economic decisions &the government makes others.