Chapter 3 -Culture - A07 PDF

Preview

Summary

A07...

Description

Culture Fundamental Concepts Culture Defined Culture: consists of the shared symbols and their definitions that people create to solve real-life problems. Symbols: are concrete objects or abstract terms that represent something else. It is a learned way of life that gets passed on to further generations. High culture: is enjoyed mainly by upper classes. Popular culture: (or mass culture) is enjoyed by all classes. Cultural Survival Kit The first tool in cultural survival kit is Abstraction: is the ability to create general concepts that meaningfully organize sensory experience. Beliefs: are cultural statements that define what community members consider real. Second tool in human cultural survival kit is Cooperation: is the capacity to create a complex social life by establishing generally accepted ways of doing things and ideas about what is right and wrong. Norms: are generally accepted ways of doing things. Values: are ideas that identify desirable states (conditions that are true, good, or beautiful). Third tool in the human survival kit is Production: is the human capacity to make and use the tools and technology that improves our ability to take what we want from nature. Material Culture: comprises the tools and techniques that enable people to accomplish tasks. Non-Material Culture: is composed of symbols, norms, and other intangible elements.

Social Organization: is the orderly arrangement of social interaction. Four Types of Norms 1. Folkways: are norms that specify social preferences. Because they are the least important norms, violating them evokes the least severe punishment. 2. Mores: (pronounced MOR-ays) are core norms that most people believe are essential for the survival of their group or their society. 3. Taboos: are the strongest norms. When someone violates a taboo, it causes revulsion in the community and punishment is severe. 4. Laws: are norms that are codified and enforced by the state.

Language and the Sapir-Whorf Thesis The Sapir-Whorf Thesis holds that we experience certain things in our environment and forms concepts about those things. We then develop language to express our concepts. Finally, language itself influences how we see the world. Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism: is the tendency for people to judge other cultures exclusively by the standards of their own culture. Cultural Relativism: is the belief that all cultures have equal value.

From Diversity to Globalization Rites of passage are cultural ceremonies that mark the transition from one stage of life to another. Globalization is the process by which formerly separate economies, states, and cultures are tied together and people become aware of their growing interdependence.

Postmodernism Postmodernism is characterized by an eclectic mix of cultural elements, the erosion of authority, and the decline of consensus around core values.

Consumerism Consumerism: is the tendency to define ourselves in terms of the goods we purchase. Subculture: is a set of distinctive values, norms, and practices within a larger culture. From Counterculture to Subculture Counterculture: are subversive subcultures.

Capital Culture Cultural Capital: refers to the beliefs, tastes, norms, and values that people draw on in their everyday life. Cultural Jamming: refers to the creative methods used by individuals and groups to challenge dominant cultural beliefs, tastes, norms, and values.

Summary 1. What role does culture play in generating meaning and solving problems? By itself, concrete experience is meaningless. Experience must be interpreted to be meaningful. Interpretations require bringing cultural concepts and ideas to concrete experiences. The meaning of all individual and collective experience is rooted in culture. Whatever challenges environments pose to individuals and communities, the solutions to such problems are found in the possibilities and constraints afforded by culture. 2. How do biological explanations differ from cultural explanations? Biologists argue that surviving in harsh environments requires adaptations that, over time, are selected into the gene pool. They argue that conduct is hardwired into our DNA. If this were really the case, either there would be substantial variation in the genetic profile of humans (which there is not), or human actions would display limited variation (which they do not). Cultural differences provide a more appropriate accounting for the remarkable differences in human activity over time and place. 3. What do functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory teach us about the operation of culture?

Functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory teach us that the character and operation of culture in everyday life are multi-faceted. Functionalism emphasizes how elements of culture contribute to social order by guiding people to support collective goals. Conflict theory emphasizes how culture is a site of ongoing struggle between more and less advantaged groups, with advantaged groups holding the upper hand. Symbolic interactionism emphasizes how people are the agents of culture, creatively shaping and interpreting it and, to some degree, choosing how culture influences them. 4. How does culture operate as a liberating force? In some respects, culture provides us with increasing opportunities to exercise our freedom. The rights revolution, multiculturalism, globalization, and postmodernism reflect this tendency. 5. How does culture operate as a constraining force? In other respects, culture constrains us, putting limits on our actions and on what we can become. The growth of rationalization, the spread of consumerism, the rise of virtual culture, and the impact of cultural capital are prime examples of the constraining aspect of culture....