4.1

2. Objectives:
 Human beings are members of social groups with
shared and unique sets of behaviors and attitudes.
 Language and religion are two very important aspects of
culture.

3. I. Defining Culture
A.Culture
1. Knowledge, attitudes, behaviors shared
over generations is culture.
2. Society is a group that shares geographic
region, identity, culture.
3. An ethnic group shares
language, customs, common heritage.

5. II.Culture Change and Exchange
A. Innovation
1.
Innovation is creating something new with existing
resources.
a.
Example: weaving baskets from reeds to solve storage problem.
B. Diffusion
1.
Spread of ideas, inventions, patterns of behavior called
diffusion.
2.
Cultural hearth—site of innovation; origin of cultural
diffusion.
a.
Example: Nile River civilizations in Africa.
C. Acculturation
1.
Acculturation—society changes because it accepts
innovation.

6. Movement: A satellite dish
brings the outside world to a
Mongolian family living in this
traditional house called a yurt.
How does this
picture show
acculturation?

7. III. Language
A.Importance of Language
1. Enables people within a culture to communicate.
2. Reflects all aspects of culture.
B.Language and Identity
1. Language helps establish cultural identity, unity.
2. Language can also divide people, cause conflict.

8. C.Language Families
1. Between 3,000 and 6,500 languages spoken
worldwide.
2. Similar languages belong to same language family.
3. Dialect—a version of a language, like Southern
drawl.
D.Language Diffusion
1. Language can spread via trade routes, migration.

9. Movement: Which language family has spread to every
continent?
Region: Which language families are spoken in the United
States?

10. IV.Religion
A.Belief Systems
1.
Religion—belief in supernatural power that
made, maintains universe.
2.
3.
4.
Monotheistic faiths believe in one god.
Belief in many gods called polytheistic.
Animistic, or traditional, faiths believe in divine
forces of nature.
B.Spread of Religion
1.
2.
Religion spreads through diffusion and conversion.
Conversion—some religions try to recruit others to
their faith.

11. V.Major Religions
A.Judaism
1.
Monotheistic; evolved 3,200 years ago; holy book called
the Torah.
B.Christianity
1.
Evolved from Judaism; based on teachings of Jesus
Christ.
2.
Largest religion—2 billion followers worldwide.
C.Islam
1.
Monotheistic; based on teachings of Prophet
Muhammad.
2.
3.
Followers, called Muslims, worship God, called Allah.
Holy book called the Qur’an.

12. D.Hinduism
1. Polytheistic; evolved in India around 5,000 years
ago.
2. Hindu caste system has fixed social classes, specific
rites/duties.
E.Buddhism
1. Offshoot of Hinduism; evolved around 563 B.C. in
India.
2. Founder Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha, or
Enlightened One.
3. Rejects Hindu castes; seeks enlightened spiritual
state, or nirvana.
F. Other Asian Practices
1. Include Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto.

13. Region: On which continents are there
large areas of Traditional Religion?
Region: What percentage of the world's
population practices Hinduism, and where
are its followers found?

14. V.Creative Cultural Expressions
A.Creative Cultural Expressions
1. All cultures express themselves creatively.
2. Performing arts include
music, dance, theater, film.
3. Architecture, painting, sculpture, textiles
are forms of visual arts.
4. Oral and written literature include
poems, folk tales, stories.

15. Human-Environment Interaction: This
Peruvian bone flute dates back to
sometime before 700 A.D. Bone flutes
are among the oldest of all musical
instruments.
In what way does this instrument
show human-environment
interaction?