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 Why do cultures differ and change around the world and over time? Why is it important to understand these differences?
Cultural change is an ongoing process. All cultures change over time, and everyone has a hand in creating the changes. The choices we make—individually and collectively—alter our cultural traditions. In other words, our decisions affect everything from the shape of our houses to the shape of our governments. Understanding why we have different responses is an important part of understanding how we can all live together.
Human beings' diverse responses to the concerns of life arise as environment, history, and creativity shape the varieties of human culture.
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Creativity
Tens of thousands of years ago, humans evolved the ability to imagine and to communicate through symbols. This gave us the capacity for creativity—the ability to invent new solutions to problems. Human creativity helps us shape our surroundings, rather than only being shaped by them. Read more about creativity and culture.
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History
It is through the stories, memories, and records of events that we recall the ways in which people interact with their environment and with each other. We use this information to reinforce the ways of our own cultures and uncover new information about the past. This changes our understanding of history's influences. Our perceptions of past actions and interactions affect how we will respond to the world in the future. We know our culture from its history, and our culture changes the more we learn.
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Environmental and Social Changes
Our environment consists of the physical and social resources available to us. It presents us with challenges and constraints. Resources, in turn, depend on such factors as geography and climate, population density, proximity of different cultures, built structures and infrastructures, and access to outside technology, materials, and commodities. People experiment with resources, shaping different responses to the same kinds of environment. Every time we interact with our environment we change it, so that we are left with new options for making choices in the future.
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All of these factors—creativity, history, and the natural and social environment—cause cultures to shift and transform over time. Some cultural change can occur quickly, while other changes take place over thousands of years.
Continue to Why do some cultural elements disappear? >>
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