Analysis of culture: Paradigms Benefits Limitations

High and Pop Culture High Culture –

appeals to the elite

Needs knowledge, education, $ to participate comfortably

Insider status

Pop Culture –widespread - the activities, products, services that appeal to middle and working class – Mencken’s “Boobisee”

Everyone = insider

Pop Culture

Fashion – longer lasting – music, sports (soccer in Am)

Fad = temporary – but wide spread Object – beanie babies, Pokemon Activity – silent raves, body piercings Idea – New Age, crystals, raw foods Personality – celebrity

Culture Change Invention –new stuff- technology Discovery – better/changed

understanding Diffusion – spread of ideas/culture

to culture – Culture Lag – some parts change

more quickly than others – thus catch up/disruption– Technology (material) often faster than non-material (norms) - Ogburn

Global Culture

Flow of goods, info, people BUT still we use cultural lens & not

equal distribution Cultural leveling v Cultural

Imperialism

Symbolic Interactionist Focus – acquiring the culture –

learning the symbols, language, values, norms of the group – sense of belonging

Creation of shared reality; negotiation of social realities

Re-interpretation of reality Creation of cultural changes

Money - -- arbitrary means of exchange – then becomes an end in itself and something we use to assign worth

All can be bought and possessed – increases cynicism and prices relationships

Simmel – material and non material culture takes on a meaning of its own

Structural Functionalist Idealism – creation of shared

values that bind people together Cultural Universals – Traits that

are part of EVERY culture Stabilizes and meets needs of the

society – brings continuity, harmony Biological – food/procreation Instrumental – law/education ‘ Integrative – religion/art

Examples

Pop culture as glue - holds diverse groups together – Superbowl; Olympics

Dysfunctions – pop culture might undermine core values Glorification of drugs/violence in

media

Critique

Focus on stability and societal needs

Overemphasis on shared values Underemphasis of embedded

structures like inequalities of class, race, gender

Social Conflict Materialism Cultural tensions and changes Values and “scarce goodies” created

by & controlled by the powerful for their benefit

Values and norms perpetuate social inequalities

Symbolic capital False consciousness

Examples Pop culture promotes consumption

of commodities – we need STUFF! Marketing of culturally acceptable

values and behaviors – control Think any Disney movie

Critique

Perpetuation of inequalities is revealed.

Highlight inevitability of change and tension

Underemphasis of factors that unify

Sociobiology – Wilson

Biology creates culture EX Sexual Double Standard

Male reproductive strategy Female reproductive strategy

Critique

Little scientific support –significance of learned behavior

Evolutionary emphasis Concerns about social Darwinism

being revived

Post Modernism - Baudrillard

Culture as simulation of reality Hyper- reality Symbolic capital substituted for

real power Simulated reality – absence of

what is significant or meaningful ---Virtual

Critique

Focuses on complexity & diversity of culture – the layers; variety of theories

Lacks clear clarity of how we then understand culture – while dismissing other ideas

More cynical or pessimistic

Impact of culture (subculture) Culture as

constraint

Culture as freedom