Cultural Differences In an ideal world... the policemen would
be English the car mechanics would be German the cooks would be
French the lovers would be Italian, The government would be run by
the Swiss In a living hell... the policemen would be German the car
mechanics would be French the cooks would be English the lovers
would be Swiss the government would be run by the Italians
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I. Culture: The Ways of Society Society the relationships among
human beings. What is culture? Total way of life, not just
clothing, food, sports, etc. Traditions Customs society passes down
Institutions Formal organizations by which traditions are
transmitted
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Traditional Dress
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Language The foundation of culture Primary instrument for
transmitting culture Spoken Languages Approx. 6600 languages Cant
be exact because of Dialect Speech patterns within a spoken
language 10 Major Language Families Share common characteristics
99% of people speak these 10 Look at Map on pg. 80
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Written Languages Advanced societies have written ability
Literacy Around 75% of the world is literate In advanced societies
over 95% of the population is literate
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Regions- The Locations of Culture Culture Region: human society
that shares the same basic culture Countries can change names, grow
and shrink; but the cultural aspects remain mostly intact If you
learn the characteristics of the regions, you will be able to
better understand the events in your lifetime World is divided into
8 different culture regions Africa Asia Central Eurasia Europe
Latin America The Middle East North America Oceania
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Institutions-The Transmission of Culture Western tendency:
Eastern tendency: Individual Group
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The Family Foundation of Society- Gods Plan Every society
honors the family Western culture focuses on the nuclear family
Eastern cultures focus on extended family Both systems can fall
apart Ancestor worship Broken families, one parent households,
abortion
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Religion Definition: Peoples beliefs regarding the supernatural
person or powers that created and sustain the universe. Also
includes a system of practices used to show respect and reverence
to that person or power Give people a sense of purpose, formal code
of conduct, holidays, dress, even food preparation (even the
rejection of religion does this) Many world cultures have fallen
into Idolatry Worship of something other than God North Korea-
Communist cult of personality, worship Kim Il Sung the founder of
communism there Look at Religions Chart on pg. 84
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The Nation Definition: A large group of people with a common
history and language with a strong sense of identity Does a Nation
have to have a specific place they live? Nation- people Country-
land State- institutions that govern Tribe- common group of
ancestors Nation-State- people who have established their own
government Empire- when one nation conquers another beyond its
borders
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Political Maps Political Boundaries are a fundamental feature
of culture maps because they mark the limit of a states authority
over the lives of people Can follow natural boundaries or geometric
boundaries Natural: Rio Grande Geometric: boundary between Canada
and U.S.
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Disputes Disagreements over a states authority leads to
violence usually war When people within a state fight their own
government, its called : ________ War When independent states fight
each other: International War
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II. Demography: The Statistics of Society Demography: the study
of human populations and their characteristics 3 Basic Methods of
Getting Demographic Info Vital Statistics Official records of
birth, marriage, divorce, death Censuses Official gov. counts of
the entire populations within the nations boundaries Surveys Counts
of small samples of the total population
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Vital Statistics Vital = Related to Life Life signs of a
society 3 Basic Vital Statistics Natural Increase Comparing number
of births a year to the number of deaths a year US- births 14.1
deaths 8.2 = 6, natural increase of.6% Life Expectancy Number of
years a person can expect to live Advances in tech and medicine
help a lot US- 77.6 years Women live about 5.4 years longer
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Infant Mortality Health improvements are most apparent here
Measured by comparing number of live births to the number of babies
that die within one year Before Industrial Revolution (1800s)
nearly died before 1 st birthday Now, US has a rate of 6.5 (6.5 die
for every 1000)
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Community Statistics 2 categories for populated areas Urban
areas Rural areas 200 years ago, 95% of people lived on farms, now
5% do Urbanization Growth of urban areas at the expense of rural
More than 80% of Americans and about 42% of the world live in urban
areas Suburbs area between the two
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Population Density Population Density is the average # of
people who live each square mile of land Arable Land- (land that
can be used for crops) The amount a country has is important
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III. Politics: The Governance of Society Human government: rule
of man over man Primary purpose: restrain violence Duties of
Government Preserve order Protect citizens (Justice and Defense)
Whenever there is no government = Anarchy
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Types of Government Classified by where the ruler gets power
Authoritarian Government Claim authority higher than citizens
Absolute Monarchsclaim birth as authority Still exist- Saudi
Arabia, Jordan Dictatorship Some public support, small group, allow
no opposition Totalitarian Government Make decisions about every
area of life (China, North Korea)
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Types of Government Elected Government Rely on consent of the
people governed Direct Democracy- originally whole population ruled
(Greece) Indirect Democracy- Representative Democracy
Constitutional Monarchy oMonarch is figurehead, real power is with
elected legislators (England) Republic oElect national leaders
(President)
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Relations Among Governments Foreign Policy: set of regulation
regarding international relationships Nation can influence others
through foreign trade and foreign aid (gifts, money, technology)
Active troop strength measures military strength Militarized
States-lots of active soldiers, spend lots of $$ on weapons Rogue
Nations-reject capitalism and democracy, ignore the basic
principles of foreign relations, just want to increase their own
power
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Negotiating Peace Diplomacy- art of negotiating agreements
between nations Treaties- formal agreements Alliances Two Important
International Alliances NATO UN
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NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization Most powerful and
successful alliance in history Formed in 1947, to protect from
Soviet Union Canada, US, most of Western Europe So intimidating to
USSR, they never had to fire a shot
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UN United Nations Formed after WWII Neutral place to talk about
peace Much less successful than NATO All member nations vote, but
the real power lies with the Big 5: US, China, United Kingdom,
France, Russia Permanent members of the Security Council Can all
veto any decision
