Culture

Culture is the knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society. Culture Defined

The Importance of Culture in a Changing World  It goes beyond instincts and “biological drives”  Culture is a learned phenomenon  Another definition: “The common denominator that makes the actions of individuals intelligible to the group” (p. 69)  We are a combination of nature and nurture (culture)

Material and Non-Material Culture  Material culture: Is all the physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use, and share (p. 70)  Technology: knowledge, techniques, and tools that make it possible for people to transform resources into usable forms, and the knowledge and skills required to use them after they have been developed (p. 70)

Material and Nonmaterial Culture  Nonmaterial culture: Are the abstract or intangible human creations of society that influence people’s behaviour. (p.71)  Examples: language, beliefs, values, rules of behaviour, family patterns, and political systems

Cultural Universals  Defined: customs and practices that occur across all societies (p.71)  Examples: appearance (hairstyles, sports, dancing, games) social institutions (family, law, and religion) and customary practices (cooking, folklore, gift giving, and hospitality)

Cultural Universals  Why do they exist? 1. To help society to function smoothly 2. To allow dominate cultures to impose themselves on less dominant societies

Technology, Cultural Change, and Diversity  How do societies evolve? How do they adapt and adjust to things like technology etc. Cultural Change Cultural Diversity Culture Shock Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

Cultural Change  Since classical times, the world has changed significantly but in rural / isolated societies this change is much less pronounced Cultural lag: a gap between the technological development of a society and its moral and legal institutions

Cultural Change  Factors of change: Discovery: something previously unknown or unrecognized: e.g., vaccines for diseases Invention: reshaping existing cultural items into a new form (the steam engine, the car, the computer) Diffusion: transmission of cultural items or social practices from one culture to another

Cultural Diversity  Defined: the wide range of cultural differences found between and within nations  Homogeneous: one language, ethnicity, religion, and the like—most Muslim societies today  Heterogeneous: many languages, ethnic groups, religions—Canada and the United States (in the past 150 years, 13 million people have immigrated to Canada)

Cultural Diversity  Elements: Subcultures: a group of people who share a distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviours that differ in some significant ways from that of the larger society (p. 83) Example: the Hutterites—able to keep their culture while adapting to the technology of modern agriculture

Cultural Diversity  Elements: Counterculture: a group that strongly rejects dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternative lifestyles (p. 86) Examples: beatniks of the 1950s, the hippies of the 1960s, neo-Nazi skinheads in Germany and Canada

Culture Shock  Defined: the disorientation that people feel when they encounter cultures radically different from their own (p. 87)  Example: the visit of Napoleon Chagnon to the Yanomamo people of the rain forest of South America

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism  Ethnocentrism: the tendency to regard one’s own culture and group as the standard, and thus superior (p. 87)  Both positive and negative  Cultural Relativity: behaviours and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture’s own standards  May violate human rights, like female circumcision

Global Popular Culture  High Culture and Popular Culture: High: classical music, opera, ballet, live theatre Popular: activities, products, and services that are assumed to appeal primarily to members of the middle and working class (p.88)  Elements: widespread, called “mass culture”