What is Culture
"Culture ...is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" (Tylor, Primitive Culture, 1871)
Culture is the webs of significance spun by man that he is suspended in (Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, 1973)
How is culture transmitted
Enculturation
the process by which a child learns his or her culture
transmitted both by direct instruction and by observation
used to define the world, express feelings and make judgements
Culture
Culture is shared by individuals as members of a group
Culture is based on the human ability to use symbols
linguistic and non-verbal
Humans interact with nature through their cultural construction of nature
Some culturally determined traits
The proper way to eat
using the right hand only, knife and fork, chopsticks
Personal space
the comfortable physical distance between people talking
Concepts in culture
Material culture
physical products of a culture
Non-material culture
values, beliefs, ideology
Ideal culture
how people should behave
Real culture
how people behave
Culture is a system
Culture is integrated
when one aspect changes, others will also change
Cultural practices are not always in the best long-term interest of the people in a culture
example: industrialization and car exhaust causing pollution
Levels of culture
National culture
shared by people within one nation
International culture
cultural traditions shared by people in more than one nation
Subculture
share cultural traditions of a larger group, but have certain cultural traits of their own
Cross-cultural comparisons
Cultural universals are traits that are found in all human societies
long period of infant dependency, incest taboo, life in groups, food sharing
Cultural generalities are traits found in many cultures
Cultural particulars are traits unique to one culture
Ethnocentrism
Using one’s own cultural values to judge people from another culture
Finding other cultures behavior strange or threatening
It is a cultural universal and help to give a sense of solidarity to people within one culture
Cultural relativism
Behavior and values in one culture should not be judged by the standards of another culture
Cultural rights
the right of a culture to preserve their knowledge, language and economic base
Human rights
universal, unalienable, individual human rights
Culture change
Diffusion
borrowing of cultural traits from another culture
can be direct or indirect, forced or voluntary
by trade, intermarriage or warfare
examples: religion, domesticated animals
Acculturation
extensive borrowing of cultural traits by one group (usually subordinate) from another (also called cultural assimilation)
exchange of cultural traits between cultures in long-term, close contact
Independent invention
creating solutions to a problem in the society
example: invention of agriculture in the Near East, Middle America and China
Convergent cultural evolution
development of similar cultural traits by groups in similar environments
Globalization
Nations and people today are interlinked and mutually dependent
Promoted by economic and political forces, modern systems of transportation and communication
Allows larger economic and political systems to dominate local cultures