Topic 3.1

Essential Knowledge

What is Culture? 

• Definition: 
  Culture is the sum of all shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors that are transmitted within a society. 
• Key Idea: Culture is learned, not inherited biologically. 
• Transmission: Passed from one generation to the next through socialization (family, peers, education, media, religion). 
• Examples of cultural components:
  • Beliefs and values 
  • Customs and traditions 
  • Languages and symbols 
  • Food, clothing, music, art 

Cultural Traits 

• Definition: Single elements of culture—building blocks of cultural systems. 
• Examples:
  • Food preferences: Use of spices in South Asian cuisine, Mediterranean diet. 
  • Architecture: Thatched-roof huts in tropical regions vs. pitched-roof houses in snowy regions. 
  • Land Use: Terrace farming in the Andes; suburban sprawl in the U.S. 
• Vocabulary:
  • Cultural trait – a single characteristic. 
  • Cultural complex – a set of interrelated cultural traits (e.g., American football involves rules, stadiums, mascots, rituals like tailgating). 
  • Cultural system – larger patterns that unify groups across regions (e.g., Western culture). 

 

Culture as Shared Practices 

• Technologies: Tools, innovations, and methods (e.g., smartphones, irrigation systems). 
• Attitudes & Values: Shared outlooks on life, morality, family roles. 
• Behaviors: Daily routines, rituals, and interactions. 
   

Perspectives on Culture 

• Cultural Relativism:
  • The idea that cultural practices should be understood within their own context. 
  • Example: Not judging eating insects in Southeast Asia through a Western lens. 
  • Promotes tolerance and cross-cultural understanding. 
• Ethnocentrism:
  • Evaluating other cultures based on the standards of one’s own culture. 
  • Example: Claiming Western dress is “better” than traditional attire. 
  • Can lead to prejudice, stereotyping, and conflict. 

Contextualization

Video #1: Culture, Ethnocentrism, & Cultural Relativism 

This video provides us with an overview into unit 3 and provides a thorough introduction to issues in culture. 

Video #2: When Cultures Collide 

This video connects units 2 and 3 for us, going over how migration supports the collision of culture, and therefore cultural diffusion.  

Video #3: How Culture and Technology Create One Another 

In this TED talk, Ramesh Srinivasan discusses the way in which culture influences technology use, and how technology use influences culture. 

In Practice

Essential Question:  

Define the characteristics, attitudes, and traits that influence geographers when they study culture. 

Conceptual Analysis: (Use the text pages 150-156) 

1. Define artifacts, sociofacts and mentifacts and compare the differences among them.  
2. Identify and describe an example of a cultural trait from your own culture that has changed over time. 
3. Explain how cultural relativism might impede attempts to have international agreements on practices such as genocide or child labor. 

Vocab Review:  

Provide a shorthand working definition for each of the following terms. This means it needs to be in YOUR OWN WORDS. 

• Culture – the shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors of a group. 
• Cultural trait – a single attribute of culture (food, dress, language, etc.). 
• Cultural complex – interrelated traits that define a cultural practice. 
• Cultural relativism – evaluating a culture by its own standards. 
• Ethnocentrism – evaluating a culture by the standards of one’s own. 

MCQ:

(you only need to write the letter of the answer you select)

1. Which of the following best defines culture in the context of human geography? A. The genetic traits shared by a group of people that determine behavior 
   B. The physical environment and its influence on human practices 
   C. The shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors passed down within a society 
   D. The economic systems that determine production and consumption 
   E. The government structures that regulate a society’s laws 

2. Which of the following is an example of a cultural trait? A. The concept of democracy in Western Europe 
   B. Terrace farming in the Andes Mountains 
   C. The Industrial Revolution 
   D. Urbanization in Asia 
   E. Globalization and spread of English 

3. A traveler to another country sees people eating fried insects and describes the practice as “disgusting and uncivilized.” This traveler is demonstrating which of the following concepts? A. Cultural relativism 
   B. Assimilation 
   C. Cultural diffusion 
   D. Ethnocentrism 
   E. Acculturation