Elements of Culture
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 and what to believe. · Nuclear family: wife, husband, children. This is a typical family in an industrial society (US). · Extended family: Several generations living in one household, working and living together: grandparents, aunts and 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.)
CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS · Rules of Behavior are enforced ideas of right and wrong. They can be customs, traditions, rules, or written laws. 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 is a belief in one god. · Polytheism is a belief in many gods. · Atheism is a belief in no gods.
LANGUAGE
· Language is the cornerstone of culture. · All cultures have a spoken language (even if there are no developed forms of writing). · People who speak the same language often share the same culture. · Many societies include a large number of people who speak different languages. · Each language can have several different dialects.
ARTS AND LITERATURE
· They are the products of the human imagination. · They help us pass on the culture’s basic beliefs. · Examples: art, music, literature, and folk tales
FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
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· 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 and what to believe. · Nuclear family: wife, husband, children. This is a typical family in an industrial society (US). · Extended family: Several generations living in one household, working and living together: grandparents, aunts and 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.)
CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS · Rules of Behavior are enforced ideas of right and wrong. They can be customs, traditions, rules, or written laws. 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 is a belief in one god. · Polytheism is a belief in many gods. · Atheism is a belief in no gods.
LANGUAGE
· Language is the cornerstone of culture. · All cultures have a spoken language (even if there are no developed forms of writing). · People who speak the same language often share the same culture. · Many societies include a large number of people who speak different languages. · Each language can have several different dialects.
ARTS AND LITERATURE
· They are the products of the human imagination. · They help us pass on the culture’s basic beliefs. · Examples: art, music, literature, and folk tales
FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
·