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Elements of Culture
Miss Thomas
CMHS 2A Summer Reading
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What is Culture?
 Anything and everything that makes up a person’s entire way of
life!
 7 Elements that are common to every culture
 Social Organization
 Traditions and Norms
 Language
 Arts and Literature
 Religion
 Form of Government
 Economic System
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Social Organization
 When a culture organizes its members into smaller groups
 Smaller groups in cultures include:
 Families
 Friends
 Religious groups
 Occupations/Trades
 Interest groups
 Social Classes—generally based on one or all of the following:
 Money
 Occupation
 Education
 Race
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Traditions and Norms
 Traditions:
 Rituals, Rites, Celebrations, Ceremonies
 Norms:
 The rules of culture that tell the members of a culture how they are
expected to behave in a given situation
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Language
 “Cornerstone of any culture.” Without language, a culture cannot
be maintained.
 Important for communication and for passing on traditions and
beliefs
 Communicates:
 rules
 stories
 histories
 myths
 legends
 jokes
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Arts and Literature
 Teach about a culture’s values
 Communicates norms
 Celebrates cultural heroes
 Helps develop cultural identity
 Promote cultural pride and unity
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Religion/Belief System
 Beliefs: what members of a culture hold to be true.
 The "facts" accepted by all or most members.
 Not limited to religious statements, but include all the things a people
know and accept as true, including common sense everyday knowledge.
 Collective social agreements produced during interaction. What is "true"
or "factual" for a given people is what they collectively agree to be true at
that point in time.
 Beliefs can and do change, especially in modern industrial societies
 Religion:
 Monotheistic: Belief in one deity
 Polytheistic: Belief in more than one deity
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Form of Government
 People form governments to provide for their common needs
 Laws and rules are based off of cultural norms
 Types:
 Democracy: people have supreme power
 Republic: people choose leaders to represent them
 Dictatorship: a ruler or group holds power by force
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Economic System
 How goods are acquired
 Form of currency
 Where wealth/money comes from
 Two Types:
 Traditional: people produce most of what they need to survive.
 Market: needs are met through buying/selling goods and
services
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