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
The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere,
with its root meaning "to cultivate“.

To a biologist culture is likely to mean a
colony of microorganisms or bacteria
growing in a laboratory Petri dish

For an anthropologist and/or behavioral
scientist, culture is the full range of learned
human behavior patterns.

“Culture is a powerful human tool for
survival, but it is a fragile
phenomenon. It is constantly changing
and easily lost because it exists only in
our minds. Our written languages,
governments, buildings, and other manmade things are merely the products of
culture. They are not culture in
themselves.” (O’Neil)

For us: culture is called "the way of life for
an entire society." As such, it includes
codes of manners, dress, language,
religion, rituals, institutions, norms of
behaviors and systems of belief
A common way of understanding culture
is to see it as consisting of four elements
or products that are "passed on from
generation to generation by learning
alone":
 values
 behavioral norms
 institutions
 artifacts


Values comprise ideas about what in life
seems important.
(Fast write – 2 minutes) What are some
examples of CULTURAL VALUES in the
United States and why?

Norms consist of expectations of how
people will behave in various situations.
(Fast write – 2 minutes) What are the norms
in the United states? Think about specific
situations.

Institutions are the structures of a society
within which values and norms are
transmitted.
(Fast write – 2 minutes) What are some
examples of American “institutions?”
How might they show value and norms?

Artifacts—things, or aspects of material
culture derive from a culture's values
and norms.
(Partner Discussion) What artifact in your
life describes you?
1)What is culture? – Let’s recap!
2)You probably already know a little bit about
Spanish and/or Latin American culture.
What Spanish/Latin American values,
behavioral norms, institutions and artifacts
are you familiar with ?
 If you’re not familiar, take an educated
guess at a few you think might exist…