Welcome to the World of WORLD CULTURES

There are five fields

of learning in social
studies. We learn
about the world and
its people by
studying:
- geography
- history A Mongolian yurt, complete with
- economics a satellite television dish.
- government
- culture
 The Peoples of the World

Getting Along with Each Other (OR NOT?)

• Knowledge of other societies is the key to understanding

them
• Knowledge of other cultures increases with:
- advances in communication (the Internet)
- advances in transportation (high-speed aircraft)
- international trade
- immigration
History and Geography
History
• History is a record of the past; the past
shapes the present

The Five Themes of Geography

• Geography is the study of people, places, and
the environment
• The study of geography focuses on five
themes:
- location
- region
- place
- movement
- human-environment interaction
Government
How Countries Govern
• Every country has laws—rules that govern
behavior
• Every country has ways to govern itself
• Government makes and enforces laws

Limited and Unlimited Governments

• Limited—everyone obeys laws, including rulers

• Unlimited—rulers have absolute authority over

everyone, everything

Continued . . .
Government continued

Citizenship

• Citizen—a legal member of a country with rights

and duties

• Two ways to achieve citizenship:

- born in country
- naturalization
Economics
The Study of Resources
• Economics—the study of how people manage
resources
• Scarcity—conflict between unlimited desires and
limited resources

Resources
• Economists identify three types of resources:
- natural: gifts of nature
- human: production skills
- capital: goods and services produced
Kinds of Economies

Command and Market Economies

• Command—government decides prices and
what and how much to produce
• Market—companies use consumers to
determine prices and production

Levels of Development
• Countries with high levels of economic
development have:
- education, health, employment, services,
technology
• Countries with low levels of economic
development have:
- poor services, low employment, low literacy,
low life expectancy
Culture

Ways of Living

• Culture—shared beliefs, customs, laws, art, ways of

living

• Culture traits—those specific things people share

Many Regions, Many Cultures
The world can be divided into regions according to culture.
 Many Regions, Many Cultures

Different Places, Different Cultures

Regions of Culture

• Culture region—geographic area in which people share common:

- beliefs
- history
- language
- religion
- technology
- work
- food
- clothing
- shelter

Continued . . .
Different Places, Different Cultures

The World’s Culture Regions

• The world has seven culture regions:

- U.S. and Canada

- Latin America
- Europe and former U.S.S.R
- North Africa and Southwest Asia
- Africa south of the Sahara
- South Asia
- East Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands

Continued . . .
Different Places, Different Cultures

Culture Regions Change

• Culture regions change as they borrow traits

from one another
• Interdependence—culture regions depend on
one another economically
• Events in one culture region affect other culture
regions
• Advances in technology, communication have
increased interdependence