The Concept of CULTURE

Defining Culture  Does the anthropological conception of culture refer to the “finer things in life”?  All people have culture  Projectile points, creation myths and mud huts are as legitimate items of culture as a symphony

Defining Culture  Edward Tylor- ”that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”

Defining Culture  “a mental map wich guides us in our relations to our surroundings and to other people”(Downs 1971:35)  “the way of life of a people” (Hatch 1985:178)

Defining Culture  Extrasomatic and somatic means of adaptation passed on primarily, though not exclusively through symbolic learning

Three Major Components of Culture  Material Objects  Ideas, Values Attitudes  Behavior Patterns *example of writing

symbols  One of the most fundamental aspect of culture and what makes humans unique in the animal world is the capacity to symbolize  A symbol is something that stands for (represents) something else

symbols  The capacity to create and give meaning to symbols that helps people identify, sort and classify things, ideas and behaviors  When people symbolize using language, they are able to express experiences that took place at an earlier time or suggest events that may happen in the future

Are Culture and Civilization the same thing?

Civilizations  Cultures developed in Cities  Characterized by: *monumental architecture *centralized (hierarchical) governments *fully efficient food production systems *writing

Culture is Shared  Culture is a shared phenomenon  For an idea, thing or behavior pattern to qualify as being cultural, it must have a meaning shared by most people in a society *example: handshake

Culture is Shared  Culture Shock  Subculture  Pluralistic societies

Culture is Learned  Culture is acquired through the process of learning or interacting with one’s cultural environment  Enculturation: the process by which human infants learn their culture

Learning vs. Instincts  Genetic explanations of human behavior (early 20 th century)  Critique of biological determinism

Statement adopted in 1998 by the executive board of the American Anthropological Association  “at the end of the twentieth century, we now understand that human cultural behavior is learned, conditioned into infants beginning at birth, and always subject to modification. No human is born with a built-in culture or language. Our temperaments, dispositions and personalities, regardless of genetic propensities, are developed within a set of meanings and values that we call “culture”. Studies of infant and early childhood learning and behavior attest to the reality of our cultures in forming who we are”.

Culture is Taken for Granted  Our own culture is so ingrained into us that we are often unaware that it even exists

Culture Influences Biological Processes  Our bodies/biological processes are influenced by culture  The things, ideas and behavior patterns of some cultures change more rapidly than others, but all cultures experience change, both internally and externally

Cultural Universals  Despite variations in specific detail, all cultures have certain common features such as systems of governing, patterns of producing and distributing food, forms of enculturation and family patterns

Culture is adaptive  Culture enables people to adapt to their environments and thus increase their chances of survival

Cultures are integrated  The various parts of a culture are interconnected to some degree.  A change in one part of the culture is likely to bring about changes in other parts of the culture