The Concept of Culture
Today’s Objectives Create your own definition of culture and be able to explain it. What are the key elements of culture? How do cultures differ (generally)? How are they the same (universally)?
Definition of Culture Brainstorm – What do you consider “culture”? Physical aspects Objects Actions Mental aspects Thoughts Beliefs Values Inventions Rules
Scupin’s Definitions Culture includes tools, weapons, fire, agriculture, animal domestication, metallurgy, writing, the steam engine, glasses, airplanes, computers, penicillin, nuclear power, rock0and0roll, video games, designer jeans, religion, political systems, subsistence patterns, science, sports, and social organizations. Culture includes all aspects of human activity, from the fine arts to popular entertainment, from everyday behavior to the development of sophisticated technology. It contains the plans, rules, techniques, design, and policies for living. Culture is a shared way of life that includes values, beliefs, and norms transmitted within a particular society from generation to generation through symbolic learning and language. Culture is the historical accumulation of symbolic knowledge that is shared by a society. Culture is based on shared meanings that are beyond the mind of any individual; culture is also within the mind of individuals.
Characteristics of Culture Society/culture distinction Patterns in relationships versus products of relationships Alternative idea: sociocultural system
How is Culture Passed On? Culture is learned Enculturation Situational learning (trial-and-error) Social learning (observation) Symbolic learning Signs and symbols symbolization Symbols and culture national symbols
How is Culture Passed On? Culture is shared Public and individual meanings Schema (plural: schemata) …but differently shared
Components of Culture Material culture Non-material culture Homo habilis and beyond Non-material culture Values (standards of judgment) Beliefs (more specific than values) Worldview Ideology – key to anthropological knowledge Hegemony
Components of Culture Non-material culture (continued) Norms (rules of right and wrong) Ethos Folkways Mores Ideal versus Real Culture Do what I say, not what I do.
Cultural Diversity Ethnocentrism Cultural Relativism Ethics and the ethnologist Objectivity or moral obligation
Cultural Diversity Food Dress Prohibitions Food versus pets Adaptive significance (Marvin Harris) Symbolic significance (Mary Douglas) Dress Clothing, hair styles Example: Rastafarians
Cultural Diversity Ethnicity Based on perceived differences in ancestral origins or descent and shared historical and cultural heritage. Different from race, which used to be thought to be based on physical differences among people. Race was originally conceived of as the correlation between culture/behavior and superficial physical traits.
Cultural Universals Essential behavioral characteristics of societies, found throughout the world. Murdock’s list Includes: athletics, calendar, cooking, dancing, education, ethics, family, funeral rites, housing, hygiene, marriage, music, numerals, personal names, property rights, status differentiation, tool making, trade Brown’s “Universal People”
Human Diversity Kluckhohn: “Every human is like all other humans, some other humans, and no other human. The major objective of cultural anthropology is the investigate the validity of this statement.”
Homework: Look at the cultures of: Think about: !Kung of the Kalahari Desert, Africa Your own culture at home Think about: How these cultures are both similar and different. What happens when anthropologists and others intervene in a culture?