Values and expectations are ideas "of what is desirable in human experience". They provide security and contribute to a sense of personal and social identity. For this reason, individuals in every society hold tightly to the values they have acquired and feel threatened when confronted with others who live according to different ideas of what is desirable. Culture is like a "security blanket" which has great meaning to its owner.

Culture influences every aspect of life. However, it is not static. It is a process in a constant state of flux and adaptation to new contexts, demands, and needs. Culture is a subtle pattern of thinking which describes the "organization of values, norms, and symbols which guide the choices we make and limits the types of interaction which occurs between individuals.

1. Characteristics of Culture
    
   1. Cultural Stories:
       
      • Here is a story from the New York Times which gives some interesting insight into how different cultures view nature and the environment.
         
      • Sacred Cows Are Wily: This article provides an amusing glimpse into the problems associated with an over supply of sacred cows in New Delhi.
         
      • A Russian Lama's Body, and His Faith, Defy Time: This article tells an eery story about the preservation of a Russian Buddhist lama.
       

      (culture, 2 min)

   2. Culture - specialized behavior patterns, understandings, beliefs and social systems that summarize a people's learned way of life. Evidence- buildings, farming patterns, religion, language, political and economic systems.
       

      (production, 2 min)

   3. The Structure of Culture:
       
      • mentifacts

        The Ideological Subsystem consists of ideas, beliefs, and knowledge of a culture and of the ways in which these things are expressed in speech or other forms of communication. Mythologies and theologies, legend, literature, philosophy, and folk wisdom make up this category. Passed on from generation to generation, these abstract belief systems, or mentifacts, tell us what we ought to believe, what we should value, and how we ought to act.

        Beliefs form the basis of the socialization process . Often we know-or think we know-what the beliefs of a group are from their oral or written statements. Sometimes, however, we must depend on the actions or objectives of a group to tell us what its true ideas and values are. "Actions speak louder than words" and "Do as I say not as I do" are commonplace recognitions of the fact that actions, values, and words do not always coincide.

      • artifacts

        The Technological Subsystem is composed of the material objects, together with the techniques of their use, by means of which people are able to live. Such objects are the tools and other instruments that enable us to feed, clothe, house, defend, transport, and amuse ourselves. We must have food, we must be protected from the elements, and we must be able to defend ourselves. The material objects we use to fill these basic needs are artifacts.

      • sociofacts

        The Sociological Subsystem of a culture is the sum of the accepted patterns of interpersonal relations that find their outlet in economic, political, military, religious, and family associations. These sociofacts define the social organization of a culture. They regulate how the individual functions relative to the group, whether it be family, church, or state. There are no "givens" as far as the patterns of interaction in any of these associations are concerned, except that most cultures possess a variety of formal and informal ways of structuring behavior. Differing patterns of behavior are learned and transmitted from one generation to the next.

      • Collectivist vs. individualist cultures
         
        • An individualist culture is one in which people tend to view themselves as individuals and to emphasize the needs of individuals.
           
          • Most Western cultures tend to be individualist.
           
        • A collectivist culture is one in which people tend to view themselves as members of groups (families, work units, tribes, nations), and usually consider the needs of the group to be more important than the needs of individuals.
           
          • Most Asian cultures tend to be collectivist.
       
   4. Cultural region: the areas within which a particular cultural system prevails.
       
   5. Culture system: a collection of interacting elements that taken together shape a group's collective identity.
       

      (interdependence, 8 min)

   6. Cultural Change:
       
      • Independent innovation v. diffusion
         
        • Innovation - Cultural change initiated within the social group itself.
           
          • Cultural Lag - Resistance to useful innovation.
           
        • Diffusion - process by which an idea or innovation is transmitted from one culture across space.
           
        • Types of diffusion:
           
          • Expansion diffusion: the spread of an idea from place to place.
             
            • Contagious diffusion: an idea spread by person-to-person contact.
               
            • Hierarchical diffusion: an idea spreads by moving from larger to smaller places, often influenced by social elites.
             
          • Relocation diffusion: people move and take their culture with them.
             
          • Stimulus diffusion: an imitative response to a new idea by a receptive population not able to fully adopt the specific trait itself.
         
      • Mechanisms for inter-cultural diffusion
         
        • Direct diffusion is when two cultures are very close to each other, resulting in intermarriage, trade, and even warfare. An example of direct diffusion is between the United States and Canada, where the people living on the border of these two countries engage in hockey, which started in Canada, and baseball, which is big in American culture.
           
        • Forced diffusion occurs when one culture subjugates (conquers or enslaves) another culture and forces its own customs on the conquered people. An example would be the conquistadors that took over the indigenous population and made them practice Christianity.
           
        • Indirect diffusion happens when traits are passed from one culture through a middleman to another culture, without the first and final cultures ever being in direct contact. An example could be the presence of Mexican food in Canada, since they have a huge country in between them.
         
      • Processes of cultural change
         
        • Diffusion can be accelerated and facilitated by improvements in transportation and communication and by the intermixing of peoples and cultures.
           
        • It can be limited and inhibited by diffusion barriers that may be physical or cultural in nature.
           
        • Diffusion barriers include:
           
          • Distance/Time
          • Mountains
          • Oceans
          • Cultural obstacles
           
        • Acculturation is exhibited when a culture group adopts characteristics of another, dominant group.
           
        • Syncretism is the fusion of old and new.
    

2. Globalzation - mobility of people, goods, money and ideas (distinction of cultural realms is blurred as regions are becoming more connected.)
    
3. Cultural Ecology- study of relationship between a culture group and its natural environment
    
   1. Environmental Determinism - belief that the physical environment shapes humans, their actions and thoughts (relative to technology, cost, national goals and links to the world).
       
   2. Possibilism - people, not the environment, are the dynamic forces of cultural development.
       
   3. Environmental impact - inversely related to economic development.
       
      • Fire - the first great tool of humans.
      • Natural land converted to agriculture.
      • Trees cleared for grazing land.
      • Overkill of animal species.
       
   4. Perception of environmental opportunity - increases directly with economic/cultural development.
    
4. Forces of Conflict and Cooperation
    
   1. Language - an organized system of spoken words by which people communicate - is the most important cultural medium.
       
      • The Push Factor - Languages disperse in space, carried by migrants, colonizers, and conquerors.
         
      • The Pull Factor - Languages are abandoned (or accepted) in order to be accepted into a new culture or when people adopt a language from colonizers/conquerors.
         
      • About 6000 languages spoken in the world today.
         
        • ¹/₂ of the world population uses only 8 languages.
           
        • It is estimated that only 600 languages will be spoken by 2100.
         
      • Languages differentiate over time. The greater the time lapse, the more individual languages become.
         
        • Regions with languages that are somewhat different but closely related: recent migration.
           
        • Regions with languages of common roots yet strongly different: modification over long time.
         
      • Language as a clue to gender differences and social status.
         
        • "Gender" refers to socially created - not biologically based - distinctions between feminity and masculinity."
           
          • Hunter and gatherer cultures observed a general egalitarianism; each sex had a respected, productive, co-equal role in the kinship group."
             
          • In hoe agriculture, women became responsible for most of the actual fieldwork, while still retaining their traditional duties in child rearing, food preparation, and the like. Their economic role and status remained equivalent to males."

            Hoe agriculture is still practiced in much of Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

          • Plow agriculture tended to subordinate the role of women and diminish their level of equality. Women might have hoes, but men plowed, and female participation in farm work was drastically reduced.

            This is the case today in Latin America and, increasingly, in sub-Saharan Africa. As women's agricultural productive role declines, they were afforded less domestic authority, less control over their own lives, and few if any property rights independent of their male family members.

          • Western "developed" society emerged directly from the agricultural tradition of the subordinate female, who was not considered an important element in the economically active population, no matter how arduous or essential the domestic tasks assigned.
             
          • The Victorian ideal of womanhood, fostered in 19th century America and much of Western Europe, fostered both social and economic discrimination against working women.
             
          • Only during the later 20th century did this subordinate role of women begin to change in developed countries.
         
      • Standard Language - accepted norms of syntax, vocabulary and pronunciation - is often established by a literary tradition.
         
        • Dialect - variation within a language.
           
          • Social Dialects - social class, gender and educational level.
             
          • Vernacular Language - nonstandard language (educational or professional dialects).
             
          • Linguistic Geography- study of spatial patterns of language.
         
      • I Love Languages
         
      • International Newspapers
    

5. World Religions
    

   (religion, 2 min)

   1. A religion is a system of beliefs regarding conduct as declared by ancient writings or authoritative teachers. Includes a personal commitment to a god or an ethical system.
       
   2. Religion determines a groups' world view and how it interacts geographically
       
   3. Types of religions
       
      • Universal: Easy to gain admission to and which actively works to convert members to through missionary efforts. Consequently these religions are widely diffused throughout the world.
         
        • Examples include Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.
         
      • Ethnic or Cutural: Typically found in one specific region of the world. Admission is by birth, that is, these religions do not actively invite new members. They are highly related to a unique culture.
         
        • Examples include Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, and Judaism.
         
      • Tribal: Specific to one particular group of people or tribe and is usually practiced in a highly localized region. Often such religions celebrate spirits found in living and none living things (animism), believe in and worship nature, and are very small in scale and isolated.
         
        • Examples include the religions of each individual Native American group, and the local religions of people in regions of Africa, South America, Asia, and Australia (aboriginal religions).
         
      • Secular: About one-sixth of the world's population is indifferent to or rejects religion. That is termed "secular."
       
   4. Politics and Social Impacts of Religion
       
      • Theocracy - government ruled by a church.
         
      • Christian issues - division of government and religion. The U.S. is the first country to explicitly divide church and state.
         
      • Islam - no separation between church and state.
         
      • Sharia Law - Islamic teachings and codes of law.
         
      • Madrassas - fundamentalist Muslim schools
         
      • The U.S. is one of the most religious nations one earth (87% identify themselves as Christians).
         
      • Protestant Work Ethic - Linking of Protestantism and capitalism by Max Weber. Individual ability leads to success and is a recognized virtue in the marketplace.
       
   5. Implications of Spatial Patterns
       
      • Religion plays a tremendous role in shaping the daily lives of millions of people:
         
        • Religions influence and are part of the cultural mosaic. For instance, compare the attitudes toward the environment between a Judeo-Christian perspective and that of a Native American or Buddhist.
           
        • Many of the world's great political conflicts, in the past and present, are rooted in religious differences:
           
          • Inter and intrafaith boundary conflicts
             
          • Rise of fundamentalism in all religions
             
          • Some countries have official state religions (Thailand & Buddhism, Iran and Islam, UK and Church of England; Shinto & Japan) while other countries have no official religion (the U.S.).
         
      • Religion plays a role in cultural food preferences.
         
        • Jews and Muslims do not eat pork or shellfish.
           
        • Hindus generally do not eat meat, but particularly would never eat beef.
           
        • Mormons do not consume anything with caffeine.
           
        • Seventh Day Adventists do not eat meat.
           
        • Christians "give up" favorite foods during Lent.
         
      • Religion affects the schedule of daily events as well as the yearly calendar.
         
        • Muslims worship on Friday, Jews on Saturday, Christians on Sunday.
           
        • Many religions have no one day of special rest and worship.
           
        • Muslims pray five times a day and have an entire month (Ramadan) in which they do not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset.
           
        • The Christian holiday of Easter is tied to the Jewish holiday of Passover.
           
        • Christmas is the Christian celebration of a traditional pagan and Roman holiday linked to the winter solstice.
         
      • What people raise to eat and their business practices, that is economic patterns, are related to religious beliefs.
         
      • The ways in which people settle are related to religion. Places where daily or weekly worship in a church or synagogue is valued have different settlement and population density patterns than places with no such religious restrictions.
         
      • Religions organize portions of Earth's surface into administrative units to spread religious messages.

        Autonomous Religions	Hierarchical Religions
        "Self-sufficient" religions with only loose cooperation and few shared ideas between communities. Islam. People pray privately and at a mosque. Unity within Islam maintained through good communications and migration (haj) and uniformity of Islamic doctrine. Hinduism. Personal prayers and pilgrimages.	Religions with well-defined geographic structures and tight control between and among groups. Roman Catholics. All space on Earth divided into hierarchy: from Provinces to Archdiocese to Diocese to Parish. Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormons). From the Board/President to Stakes to Wards
        Protestants are a mix between the two groups. Baptists, Quakers, and Unitarians are autonomous. Episcopalians, Methodists and Lutherans are hierarchical. Presbyterians are in between.

       
   6. Burial practices vary because of environmental characteristics and religious beliefs. Climate and topography influence the choice of burial but always within the context of religious doctrine.
       
      • Christians and Moslems: burial in cemeteries and other designated sites. Cemeteries usually in sandy soil; used as parks in places where open land is scarce.
         
      • Hinduism and Buddhism: Cremation
       
   7. Between 1990 and 2000:
       
      • The fastest growing religion in the U.S. is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). The Mormon church grew by about 19 percent to 4.2 million members. What processes may be contributing to some of this growth?
         
      • The most widespread religious group is the United Methodists who are present in 96 percent of the counties in the U.S.
         
      • Roman Catholics are the largest denomination in the country growing 16 percent to 62 million. What processes may be contributing to some of this growth? More Catholics now live in the West than in the traditionally Catholic Midwest. The Catholic population in the South grew faster than in the North.
         
      • The evangelical Southern Baptist Convention grew by only 4.9 percent, but remained the nation's largest Protestant group with nearly 20 million members.