1. Arts, Media, and Sports
Chapter 22

2. What is Art?
Arts include the visual, written word, oral word, music and performance
Expressive culture
Manifestations of the arts
Dance, music, sculpture, painting, clothing, story, comedy ,etc.
Art - any object, event, or expressive form that evokes an aesthetic reaction
Aesthetics – the appreciation of the perceived qualities of art
Art is not always viewed as special and/or separate
Not all cultures demonstrate “art lovers” or “patrons of the arts”
Western society tends to separate the artistic, even if it comes from other cultures that do not
Folk Art – Art, music, and lore “of the people”
Contrasted by “high” or “classical” art

3. Religion Art tends to evoke a feeling
Combined with the sacred to create a shared religious feeling
“Greatest” periods of Western art and music often have religious affiliations
Inspiration, or in service to
Many correlates between Western art and religion
Created or performed outdoors or indoors
Separate from the ordinary world
Permanent structures in state society
Museums/Churches
Non-Western art is also sometimes art for art’s sake

4. Individuality
Museums focus on groups, not individuals, in non-Western art
Some cultures do produce art more collectively
Power of artist or critic
Nigeria’s Tiv
Best artists are private
Mediocre are public and shaped by critique
Western societies put less pressure on artists to be social
Western artists are often more withdrawn and isolated
Creators of art
Sometimes little is known about the creator
Recording artists and song writers
Structures
Who is the artist? Architect, Commissioner, Designer, Builder?

5. Ethnomusicology
Comparative study of music as an aspect of culture and society
Unites music and anthropology
Music - study and analysis of music and instruments
Anthropology – music to explore culture and to determine the role of music in society
Generally studies non-Western music
Music is a cultural universal
Musical ability tends to run in families, suggesting genetic predisposition
All cultures have lullabies
Parents tend to sing in the same manner to children
Increases survivability
Music is a special noise in that it always involves a human
Birds may “sing” but they don’t produce music
Cared bone flute in Slovenia
First instrument
43,000 years old
Gullah Homecomings

6. Communication and Transmission
Art can act as communication between artist and audience (community)
Often through an intermediary
Actors, musicians, collectors, etc.
Audience often communicates back (applause)
Uniform reactions are rare in contemporary state societies
Art can act as catharsis (emotional release) for both the artist and the audience
Appreciation can depend on cultural background
It is learned
Enculturation and formal education
Aesthetic pleasantness will depend somewhat on culture

7. The Artistic Career Non-industrial part-time artists
Western and non-Western contemporary societies spike in full-time art careers
“Calling” to the arts
Discovery of talent
Specialized training or apprenticeship
Support
Families
Patrons
Buyers

8. Artistic Change Art changes and survives
Much early art has survived history
Cave art to monumental structures
Countries and cultures are often known for “their” art
Navajo sand paintings
French cuisine
Greek theater
Italian fashion

9. Media and Culture Mass media and popular culture are interchangeable
Appears and spreads rapidly
Media consumers actively select, evaluate, and analyze in ways that make sense to them
Uses
Validate beliefs
Indulge fantasies
Find messages
Locate information
Make social comparisons
Formulate plans
Moral guardians (social elites) tend to be more suspicious or dismissive of media than the less powerful
Parents will often choose media for their children that falls in line with their beliefs
Media sources
Internet, television, movies, radio, telephones, print, etc.
Often a gateway to the otherwise inaccessible

10. Assessing Television TV and family planning
Female education is the only variable that has a larger impact on family size than television
Viewing level
Years of a TV presence
Length of television exposure reduces family size
Reasons
“Social Marketing”
Copying shows
Often limited by cost of actors and time

11. Sports and Culture Sports and culture influence one another
American football
Half the adult American population watches the Super Bowl
Mass media/pop cultural event
Football popularity
Not due to violence of society, but of structure
Teamwork
Specialization
Division of labor
International Sport Success
More than financial investment or “national will to win”, media portrayal of sport establishes Olympic level success
Valuing winning at the Olympics
Americans who expect success
Brazilians who crave it more because it is rare
Being vs Doing
Ascribed status and Achieved
Cultural focus on one or the other will impact sport
Identity focused on who you are as opposed to what you do
Working to get somewhere versus being born to do something