Culture + N America Notebook Flashcards
6 Elements of Culture
Language
Religion
Daily life (Arts, Literature, Customs, Traditions)
Social Systems
Government
Economic Activities
people communicate information and experiences and pass on cultural values and traditions.
Language
a local form of a
language.
Dialect
distinctive
pronunciation of a language.
Accent
Belief in one god
Monotheism
Belief in more than one god
Polytheism
provides an important sense of identity. It also influences many aspects of daily life (moral values, celebration of holidays)
Religion
help the members of a culture work together to meet basic needs.
Social Systems
the world share certain features, such as maintaining order with the country, providing protection from outside dangers, and supplying other services to the people.
Government
a system of production and consumption of goods and services within a country or region.
Economy
the spread of culture traits from one culture to another. (When people move from one place to another, they don’t leave their language, religion, food preferences, beliefs, traditions (aka, culture) behind.)
Cultural Diffusion
early centers of civilization whose ideas and practices spread to surrounding areas.
Cultural Hearth
judging other cultures by the standards of your own. Assuming your own culture to be the best.
Ethnocentrism
belief that one racial group is naturally superior to another
Racism
gives all key powers to the national or central government. The central government establishes local governments and gives limited sovereignty.
Unitary System
divides the powers of government between national and state governments. Each level has sovereignty in some areas.
Federal System:
a loose union of independent territories. The US was one in its early days
Confederation
the power and authority to rule belongs to a single individual.
Autocracy
a king or queen exercises the supreme powers of government.
Monarchy
any system in which a small group holds power.
Oligarchy
a government of people believed to be divinely inspired.
Theocracy
follows physical geographic features like mountains and rivers.
Natural boundary
divide two identifiable cultures.
Cultural boundaries
often follow straight lines, longitude, or latitude.
Geometric boundaries
the idea that people or groups have the right to own businesses and make a profit with limited government interference
free enterprise
where the government supports and regulates free enterprise. The government’s main economic task is to preserve the free market by keeping competition free and fair.
Mixed Economy
The idea that a person’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that person’s own culture.
Cultural Relativism
The production of naturally existing or cultivated resources (e.g. agriculture, ranching, forestry, mining, fishing.)
Primary Sector
The conversion of raw materials from the primary economic sector into a finished industrial product. (e.g. manufactured goods, oil refining, construction, ship building, food processing)
Secondary Sector
Materials or substances that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain.
Natural Resource
The provision of services to the general population; service industries (e.g., banking, retailing (selling goods), education, law enforcement.)
Tertiary Sector
The economic, political, and social well-being of a nation’s people.
Economic Development
Countries low in economic development. Poor countries. (“Third world” countries).
Less Developed Countries (LDCs
Countries high in economic development. Wealthier countries. (“First world” countries).
More Developed Countries (MDCs):
Habit and custom determine the rules for economic activity. Behavior is defined by customs of elders and ancestors rather than what individuals want.
Traditional Economy
Individuals and private groups make decisions about what things to produce. People choose what products they will or will not buy. Businesses produce more of what consumers want.
Market Economy
The government owns or directs the means of production – land, labor, factories, etc – and controls the distribution of goods. try to distribute goods and services equally among all citizens.
Command Economy
the source of a stream or river
Headwaters
a smaller river or stream that feeds into a larger river.
Tributary
a high point or ridge that determines the direction rivers flow.
Divide
one of the longest rivers in North America. Its headwaters are in Minnesota, it flows 2350 miles, reaches a width of 1.5 miles at its mouth and empties into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Mississippi River
is a high ridge in the Rocky Mountains. Waterways to the west of the divide flow into the Pacific Ocean (or great basin). Waterways east of the divide flow toward the Arctic or Atlantic Oceans.
The Continental Divide
a boundary in the eastern United States where higher land drops to the lower Atlantic Coastal Plain.
Fall line
a series of canals, rivers, and waterways linking the ____ with the Atlantic Ocean.
The Great Lakes/St Lawrence Seaway System
a resource formed in the Earth by plant and animal remains. They include coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
Fossil Fuel
A city with a population of at least 50,000 people including outlying communities called suburbs.
Metropolitan Area
a large population concentration made up of several large and many smaller cities.
Megalopolis
precipitation carrying high amounts of
acidic material.
Acid rain
haze caused by the interaction of UV radiation
with chemical fumes from exhaust and
other pollution sources.
Smog
