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Chapter Eight: Aspects of culture. Chapter Objective, TEKS, & Essential Questions. Objective: Understand how the components of culture and religion affect the way people live and shape the characteristics of their regions. TEKS:
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Chapter Objective, TEKS, & Essential Questions • Objective: • Understand how the components of culture and religion affect the way people live and shape the characteristics of their regions. • TEKS: • Culture: 16, 16 (B), 16 (C), 16 (D), 17 (A), 17 (B), 17 (C), 17 (D), 18 (C) • Essential Questions: • How is each of us a product of our culture? • What beliefs and traditions are held by the world’s great religions?
Chapter Vocabulary • Culture • Customs • Animism • Hinduism • Buddhism • Judaism • Christianity • Islam • Sikhism • Gender Roles • Urban • Roles • Multicultural • Social Class • Social Mobility
Important Ideas • Culturerefers to a people’s way of life from how they meet their needs, their language, religion, beliefs, customs, institutions, and technology. • Different major religions exist around the world, including animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. Each religion has its own beliefs, moral code, and traditions. • Lifestyles differ between urban and rural areas. • Different cultures have different social structures and distributions of wealth. • Family structures and gender roles differ between cultures. • Ethnic and religious minorities enjoy different opportunities in various cultures.
Culture • Culture refers to a people’s way of life. It includes language, literature, music, art, their beliefs about the world and religion. Culture even includes a people’s technology and their material objects.
Customs • Culture includes customs – things people usually do, such as how they dress, the foods they eat, and how they celebrate holidays and the great turning points in life – birth, coming of age, marriage, parenthood, and death.
Roles • Roles are based on rules for the proper behavior of individuals in particular positions and situations. A mother, for instance, may be expected to behave in a certain way toward her children. • Once a role in society is learned, people know how they are supposed to act. These roles also form part of a society’s culture.
Gender Roles • Gender roles are roles specifically assigned to men and women. In most societies, past gender roles were very restrictive. These societies gave greater opportunities to men than to women. Men worked and appeared in public, while women were expected to take care of the family and to perform household chores.
Changing Gender Roles • That situation began to change in the early 20th century, when women in America and several European nations gained the right to vote. In most modern societies today, men and women enjoy equal rights. They earn the same pay for the same work, while women can become doctors, lawyers, and teachers just like men. However, even in these advanced societies, women often still remain under-represented among top jobs in government and business.
Traditional Gender Roles • Moreover, in other cultures, even today, many women still lack the same opportunities as men. Women may be required to stay at home or wear special clothing. In some Islamic countries, for example, women must cover their face and body whenever they are out in public. They cannot mix freely in public places; they must be accompanied by a male when out in public; and they cannot drive a car. Wives may even be required to get the permission of their husbands before leaving home.
Traditional Gender Roles Con’t • Even in these societies, women are now striving for a greater role in government, business, and the professions. For example, several countries in which Muslims comprise a majority have recently been led by women. Almost one-third of Egypt’s parliament are now made up of women. Indeed, throughout the world, women are making steady progress in achieving full equality with men.
Institutions • Culture also includes institutions – organizations developed by each society to make social roles clear and to take care of social needs. Such institutions include: • Families: Families arrange for reproduction, the care of family members, and the upbringing of the young • Schools: Schools teach the young the values of society and prepare them for the responsibilities of adulthood. • Governments: Governments protect us from outsiders, promote social cooperation, and regulate individual behavior. • Other institutions include the army, hospitals, and churches.
Cultural Perceptions • Culture not only affects lifestyles in a society, but also how people perceive those from other cultures. For example, a person from a very traditional culture might have difficulty understanding a person from a more modern culture. Sometimes differing cultural perceptions can even lead to misunderstandings and conflicts, like the Cold War (1945-1990).
Rural Setting • Another aspect of culture is how people live together. In some cultures, people live mainly in the countryside. Their homes are small huts of mud and thatch, or simple cottages. In these rural areas, people often work as farmers, livestock herders, or village craftsmen. They spend their entire lives communicating only with those in the immediate area, and maintain traditional ways. Many cannot read or write.
Urban Setting • In other cultures, most people live in large cities with advanced levels of technology. They have roads, bridges, and buildings constructed of steel, concrete, and glass. They enjoy running hot and cold water, sewage systems, electricity, and telecommunications. People read newspapers, watch television, attend schools, and travel widely. They generally have more opportunities that those in rural villages do.
Social Structure • Another aspect of culture is its social structure. In every known society, some members enjoy greater wealth and wider opportunities than others. People who share similar wealth, power, and prestige are said to belong to the same social class. • The following social classes exist in most societies: • Upper Class • Middle Class • Working Class • Peasants • Lower Class
Social Structure Con’t • Upper Class. This group earns or inherits wealth and owns a large share of the property in that society. They live a luxurious lifestyle and often serve in various leadership roles in the society. • Middle Class. This is an intermediate group of educated and mostly successful people – managers, professionals, shopkeepers, and small business owners. • Working Class. This group is composed of manual workers who work in factories, mining, or transportation, or who work as independent craftsmen. • Peasants. These are farm workers or owners of small farms mainly engaged in subsistence agriculture – farming to meet their immediate needs. They have little education and limited experience of the world outside their own villages. • Lower Class. These people are often uneducated and unskilled. They take the least desirable and worst-paying jobs. Often, members of lower classes face prejudice and other social handicaps from members of the higher social classes.
Social Mobility • In some societies, there is an immense separation between the different social classes. Traditional Hindu society, for example, was divided into castes. There was no movement from one caste to another. One’s caste, inherited from one’s parents, determined what work one could do and who one’s friends were. “Untouchables” were treated as social outcasts. In other societies, it is easier to move from one class to another. Social mobility refers to how easy it is to change one’s social class. A worker might save and eventually start a business, or send his children to college.
Family Structure • In some societies, parents live with just their young children. After the children finish high school, they live on their own. In other cultures, children, parents, and even grandparents remain in extended families under the same roof for their entire lives. Related families stay close together.
Multicultural Societies • An ethnic group refers to a group of people with a common ancestry and culture, most often based on religion and language. Around the world, there are two basic types of societies: • In homogeneous societies, like Saudi Arabia, almost everyone belongs to the same ethnic group and shares the same language and traditions, Japan is another example. • Other societies are multicultural, or heterogeneous, containing a mix of peoples and cultures. Ethnic groups are often mixed throughout the country, as in the United States and Brazil.
Multicultural Societies Con’t • Even in multicultural societies, there is usually one dominant ethnic group and several minorities. A minority is any ethnic or religious group other than the dominant group. Some societies, like the U.S., have strong safeguards in place to protect the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. In other societies, minorities are not protected, and may even be persecuted.
Major World Religions • One of the most important aspects of culture is religion. There are several characteristics that define a religion.
What is a religion? • A set of beliefs about the meaning of life, the nature of the universe, and the existence of the supernatural (including God or a Supreme Being). • A set of customs and practices that relate to the worship of God (or several gods) and a set of rules for the conduct of a good life. • An organization, such as a church or other place of worship, which oversees the conduct of religious practices. • Most religions designate some special places as sacred or holy. • Today, seven major religions have the greatest number of followers around the world: Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism.
Animism • Animism is the belief that many things in nature have their own spirit. Animism is one of the earliest forms of religion. Many different people have held animistic beliefs. In sub-Saharan Africa, tribes believed that animals, plants, and even places had their own spirits. Medicine men attempted to make contact with the spirit world, and young men had experiences with the spirits during ceremonies marking their passage from childhood to adulthood.
Animism Con’t • In Native American societies, people similarly believed that animals and objects in nature had their own spirits. Each group of families, known as a clan, identified with a particular animal and never harmed or ate that animal. In ancient Japan, people also believed that many spirits, known as kami, existed in nature. These animistic beliefs gave rise to the Japanese religion of Shintoism.
Hinduism • Like Animism, Hinduism is also an ancient religion. It teaches its disciples that the principles of life can be discovered through mediation. Hinduism has no single holy book, but Hindu writings like the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita provide guidance and inspiration.
Hinduism Con’t • Many Hindus believe that God is revealed through the ancient laws and principles contained in Hindu scriptures, which speak of a struggle between order and chaos. Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world, and the most popular religion in modern India and Nepal. There are one billion Hindus in the world today.
Buddhism • Buddhism began in Nepal around 500 B.C. Prince Siddhartha Gautama lived a life of great luxury. One day, he looked out beyond his palace walls and was shocked by the human suffering he saw all around him. This prompted him to leave his family and to set out in search of truth. After six years of searching, he came to believe suffering was caused by human desire. Gautama became known as “Buddha.”
Buddhism Con’t • He taught that to end suffering, a person must come to accept the world as it is and to block out selfish desires. Buddhist missionaries carried his ideas throughout India and to China, Korea, and Japan. Today, Buddhism remains popular in East and Southeast Asia.
Judaism • In the Middle East, three religions arose, linked by their belief in a single God, known as monotheism. The oldest of these, Judaism, was the first religion known to assert the existence of one God. The Jewish religion emerged 4,000 years ago in the area along the Mediterranean occupied by the present-day Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Judaism Con’t • According to Jewish tradition, the ancient Hebrews migrated from Israel to Egypt to escape food shortages from drought. They remained in Egypt for hundreds of years, where they became enslaved by Egyptians. Moses later led the Jews out of Egypt and back to Israel. According to the Bible, as the Jewish people left Egypt, Moses presented to them the Ten Commandments, which he said came directly from God. Today, of the world’s 17 million Jews, 40% live in Israel and another 40% in the U.S.
Christianity • Christianity began about 2,000 years ago. It is based on the teachings of Jesus, a Jew born in Bethlehem. Jesus preached forgiveness, mercy, and sympathy for the poor and helpless. The Romans crucified Jesus for claiming he was the Messiah or Savior. After his death, a band of his followers, known as the Apostles, believed Jesus had risen from the dead to redeem mankind. This prompted his followers to spread the new Christian religion. Followers were attracted to the belief in an afterlife in which all believers, including the poor and humble, would be rewarded.
Christianity Con’t • Eventually, Christianity became the major religion of the Roman Empire. Later, Christians divided into Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and Protestants. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church; Catholics believe he is God’s deputy on Earth. Orthodox Christians are mainly found in Greece and Russia. • Protestants reject the Pope’s authority and believe that people should interpret the Bible for themselves. Today, Christianity is the principal religion in Europe and the Americas. Many Christians also live in Africa and Asia. With two billion followers, Christianity is the world’s most popular religion.
Islam • “Islam” means “submission” (to Allah) in Arabic. A follower of Islam is called a Muslim, or “one who submits (to God).” Islam was founded by Mohammed, around 610 A.D. Mohammed had a vision that commanded him to convert Arab tribes to the belief in a single God, known as “Allah” – the same God worshipped by Jews and Christians. Merchants grew jealous of Mohammed’s growing influence in Mecca, where he lived. Mohammed fled to Medina in 622, where he emerged as a major religious leader. His followers believed, Mohammed was God’s last and greatest prophet. His teachings are contained in the Qu’ran(Koran), Islam’s holiest book.
Islam Con’t • The Five Pillars of Faith are the basic religious duties that all followers of Islam must fulfill. Over one billion people follow the Islamic faith today. About one-fifth of them live in Arabic-speaking countries.
Sikhism • Sikhs live mainly in Northern India. Sikhism combines both Hindu and Muslim beliefs. Like Hindus, Sikhs believe in reincarnation and like Muslims, Sikhs believe in one God. Sikhs believe, God can be known through meditation (a form of deep contemplation). The goal of every Sikh is to build a close and loving relationship with God. Sikhs believe that everyone has equal status in the eyes of God. Therefore, unlike Hindus, Sikhs do not have castes – hereditary social classes. Sikh men do not cut their hair, which is often worn under a turban.
