Seven Elements of Culture

Seven Element

s of Culture

7 Elements of Culture

1. Social Organization

2. Customs and Traditions

3. Language

4. Arts & Literature

5. Religion

6. Forms of Government

7. Economic Systems

•Define it

•Explain it in your own words

•Why is it important?

•Examples – 3 Minimum

A.SocialOrganization

Framework of society

Social Organization

1. Families: The building blocks of society

Two types of family:

-nuclear-extended

Social Organization• 1. Families

–a. Nuclear Family: “the immediate family”

Contains only parents and children

Social Organization• 1. Families

–a. Nuclear Family–b. Extended Family: The nuclear family and other relatives living under the same roof or in close proximity.

c. Patriarchal: Family dominated by the eldest male.Matriarchal: Family dominated by female

d. Monogamy: Only one spouse.

Polygamy: More than one spouse.

Many cultures have arranged

marriages.

A. Social Organization• 1. Families

• 2. Social Classes: Some people have greater status than others. Why?

B. Customs: How are people

expected to behave in social

situations?

C. Language: How do people

communicate with each

other?

1. Dialect: a variety of a language

D. Arts: How do people order

things? (Space, ideas, sounds, materials, etc.)

Dance

Theater

Literature

Music

Ceramics

Sculpture

Architecture

Painting & Drawing

Aesthetics: the study of

beauty

E. Religion

Three questions of religion:

1. Where did we come from?

2. How should we live our lives?

3. Where do we go when we die?

Cosmology: The study and explanation of the universe

Theology: A system of religious beliefs

Doctrine: Ideas taught

as truth

Monotheism: Belief in one god

Polytheism: Belief in many gods

Animism: The belief that spirits

inhabit nature

Proselytize: to try to convert somebody to a religious faith

Missionary: Someone who proselytizes

Proselyte: Someone who converted

Missionary religions contain a doctrine

that all people should believe

according to their doctrine.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I

have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the

world. Amen. -JesusMatthew 28: 19-20

Sect: A religious group, division,

“branch” or faction

F. Government: How do people make decisions

for the group/society?

G. Economic Systems: the use of limited resources.

Economic Systems: How do people get their food/water,

clothing, and shelter?

Economic Systems

•Traditional•Market•Command•Mixed

How Do Cultures Change

• Page 19

• List of 10 things that have changed in the last 10 years

• List of 10 things that will change in the next 10 years

How Cultures Change

• Causes of Cultural Change– Technology – the skills and tools people use

• Stone, bone, bronze, iron• Smoke signal, telegraph, telephone, face time• Other examples

– Changing Environment – the way we use resources around us

• Native Americans use of buffalo & European/American expansion westward

• Other examples

How Cultures Change

• Causes of Cultural Change cont.– New Ideas

• Environmental awareness & recycling• Other examples

• Diffusion – the movement of customs or ideas from one place to another– Ideas– People– Music, Art, & Athletics

Rate of Change

• Slow change for thousands of years

• Why?

• Increased rates of change in last 200 years

• Why?

• “The good old days”

Understanding Change

• Ethnocentrism – to judge other cultures by the standards of your own culture– Examples

• Racism – the belief that one racial group is naturally superior to another– Examples

Elements of Culture Quiz

1. Social Organization2. Customs and

Traditions3. Language4. Arts & Literature5. Religion6. Forms of

Government7. Economic Systems

a. Teach values through products of human imagination

b. The cornerstone of culturec. Using limited resources to

satisfy wants and needsd. Helps people answer

questions about lifee. Teaches rules of behavior,

like holidays & birthdaysf. Provides for the needs of the

peopleg. Basic unit is the family