Chapter 13 culture

Chapter 13: Culture What is Culture? Sir Edward Tylor?s definition of culture ?culture? is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits required by man as a member of society? Enculturation: the process by which a child learns his or her culture Culture is Learned our own cultural learning depends on the uniquely developed human capacity to use symbols; signs that have no necessary or natural connection to the things they signify of for which they stand sometimes culture is taught directly, or transmitted through observation Culture is Shared culture is an attribute not of individuals per se but of individuals as members of groups we share our beliefs and opinions with many other people Culture is Symbolic symbolic though is unique and crucial to humans and to cultural learning symbols are usually linguistic, but there are also nonverbal symbols, such as flags Culture and Nature culture takes the natural biological urges we share with other animals and teaches us how to express them in particular ways cultural habits, perceptions, and inventions mold ?human nature? in many directions Culture is All ? Encompassing to understand contemporary north American culture, we must consider television, fast ? food, restaurants, sports, and games Culture is Integrated cultures are integrated, patterned systems if one part of the system changes, other parts change as well Ethnocentrism: is the tendency to view one?s own culture as superior and to apply one?s own cultural values in judging the behavior and beliefs of people from other cultures. core values: key, basic, or central values Culture Can Be Adaptive and Maladaptive humans continue to adapt biologically, reliance on social and cultural means of adaptation has increased during human evolution Maladaptive: threatening the group?s continued existence (survival and reproduction) News Brief: Culture Clash: Makah Seek Return to Whaling Past people do not now, nor have they ever, lived in isolation from other human beings links between groups have been provided by cultural practices such as marriage, kinship, religion, trade, travel, exploration, and conquest Culture and the Individual: Agency and Practice culture is contested: different groups in society struggle with one another over whose ideas, values, goals, and beliefs will prevail the ideal culture consists of what people say they should do and what they say they do Real culture refers to their actual behavior as observed by the anthropologist Practice theory: recognizes that individuals within a society or culture have diverse motives and intentions and different degrees of power and influence. Levels of Culture National Culture: refers to those beliefs, learned behavior patterns, values, and institutions that are shared by citizens of the same nation. International Culture: the term for cultural traditions that extend beyond and across national boundaries Subcultures: are different symbol based patterns and traditions associated with particular groups in the same complex society. Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism, and Human Rights Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one?s own culture as superior and to apply one?s own cultural values in judging the behavior and beliefs of people raised in other cultures Cultural relativism: the argument that behavior in one culture should not be judged by the standards of another culture. human rights: invokes a realm of justice and morality beyond and superior to particular countries, cultures and religions Cultural Rights: are vested not in individual but in groups, such as religious and ethnic minorities and indigenous societies IPR: indigenous intellectual property rights University, Generality, and Particularity universal: found in every culture generalities: common to several but not all human groups particularities: unique to certain cultural traditions Universality universal traits are the ones that more or less distinguish Homo sapiens from other species Biologically based universals include a long period of infant dependency year round (rather than seasonal) sexuality complex brain that enables the usage of symbols Psychological Universals include involve common ways in which humans think, feel, and process information Generality cultural generalities: regularities that occur in different times and places but not in all cultures one reason for these generalities is diffusion cultural generalities also can arise through independent invention of the same cultural trait or pattern in two or more different cultures nuclear family: a kinship group consisting of parents and children Particularity: Patterns of Culture Traits that are useful, that have capacity to please large audiences, and that don?t clash with the cultural values of potential adopters are more likely to diffuse than others are. Different cultures emphasize different things cultures are integrated and patterned differently and display tremendous variation and diversity Mechanisms of Cultural Change Diffusion: borrowing of traits between cultures. Such exchange of information And products has gone on throughout human history because cultures have never been truly isolated diffusion is forced when one culture subjugates another and imposes its customs on the dominated group diffusion is indirect when items from group A to group C via group B Acculturation: a second mechanism of cultural change, is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups have continuous first hand contact Independent invention: the process by which humans innovate, creatively finding solutions to problems Globalization globalization: encompasses a series of processes, including diffusion and acculturation, working to promote change in a world in which nations and people are increasingly interlinked and mutually dependent the forces of globalization include international commerce travel tourism transnational migration media various high tech information flows