Chapter 2

Culture

Chapter Outline

• The Origins and Components of Culture

• Culture as Freedom and Constraint• Culture as Freedom• Culture as Constraint

The Origins of Culture

• 100,000 years ago, humans lived in harsh natural environments and were slower runners and weaker fighters than many other animals.

• They survived, prospered and came to dominate nature by creating cultural survival kits.

Cultural survival kits

• Abstraction - ideas or ways of thinking that are not linked to particular instances.

• Cooperation - establishing generally accepted ways of doing things.

• Production -making and using tools and techniques that improve our ability to take what we want from nature.

Building Blocks of Culture

Ideas NormsMaterial Culture

Medicine Theories Experiments Treatments

Law Values Laws Courts, jails

Religion

Religious

folklore

Religious customs

Church art

The Sapir-Whorf Thesis

The Sapir-Whorf Thesis

• We experience certain things in our environment and form concepts about those things.

• We develop language to express our concepts.

• Language itself influences how we see the world.

Culture as Freedom and Constraint

Two Faces of Culture1. Culture provides an opportunity

to exercise our freedom.2. Existing culture puts limits on

what we can think and do. In that sense, culture constrains us.

Cultural Diversity

• American society is undergoing cultural diversification in all aspects of life:– growing popularity of Latino music– increasing influence of Asian design

in clothing and architecture– marriage between people of

different ethnic groups

Polling Question

• With which cultural background do you identify with the most? Choose only one.A. Anglo (white, non-Hispanic)B. HispanicC. African American, blackD. Native American (American Indian)E. AsianF. Other

Multiculturalism debate

• Advocates of multiculturalism want curricula to reflect ethnic and racial diversity.

• They believe multicultural education will promote self-esteem and economic success among racial minorities.

• Critics believe multicultural education causes political disunity and interracial conflict, promoting an extreme form of cultural relativism.

The Rights Revolution

• The process of socially excluded groups struggling to win equal rights under the law.– women’s rights, minority rights, gay

and lesbian rights, the rights of people with special needs

• Because of the rights revolution, democracy has widened and deepened.

Globalization of Culture

• The globalization of culture has resulted from the growth of:– International trade and investment– Ethnic and racial migration– Influential transnational organizations– Inexpensive travel and

communication

Internet Usage by Language Group, June

2001

Internet Usage by Language Group, September 2003

Postmodernism Culture

• Involves:– Eclectic mixing of elements from

different times and places:•The erosion of authority.•The decline of consensus around some core values.

Polling Question

• Some people in our culture are very concerned about the amount of pornography we have in this country; others are not much concerned at all. How about you? Are you

A. Very concernedB. Fairly concernedC. Only somewhat concernedD. Not really concerned at all

Unconventional Beliefs Among Christian Fundamentalists

Confidence in Washington,1958–1999

Core American values

Achievement and success

Material comfort

Individualism Humanitarianism

Activity, work Democracy

Efficiency, practicality

Freedom

Science, technology Equality

ProgressGroups to which

they belong

“In the long run, do you think scientific advances will help or harm

mankind?” (% “harm”)

Value Change in the United States and

Globally• Although people in much of the

world are freer than ever to choose their values, powerful social forces constrain their choices.

• These constraints result in the formation of distinct value clusters that change gradually over time.

Traditional Value Dimension

Respondents with traditional values: s– God is important in their life.– Abortion is never justifiable.– It is more important for a child to

learn religious faith than independence and determination.

Modern Value Dimension

• Respondents with modern values:– God is not important in their lives.– Abortion is justifiable.– It is more important for children

to learn independence and determination than religious faith.

Materialist Value Dimension

• Respondents with materialist values: – Give priority to security over self-

expression.– Describe themselves as not very

happy.– Say they never have signed a

petition.

Postmaterialist Value Dimension

• Respondents with postmaterialist values:– Give priority to self-expression

and quality of life.– Describe themselves as very

happy.– Tend to have signed, and would

again sign, a petition.

Consumerism

• The tendency to define oneself interms of the goods purchased.

• Excessive consumption:– puts limits on who we can become– constrains our capacity to dissent

from mainstream culture– degrades the natural environment

Value Change in Seven Countries, 1981–97

Rationalization: Weber

• Rationalization is one of the most constraining aspects of culture:– The application of the most

efficient means to achieve goals and the unintended, negative consequences of doing so.

The Rationalization of Chinese Script

• In classical script, listening is depicted as involving the eyes, the ears, and the heart.

• Implies that listening demands the utmost empathy and involves the whole person.

The Rationalization of Chinese Script

• Modern script depicts listening as something that involves one person speaking and the other “weighing” speech.

Advertising as % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Quick Quiz

1. Which of the tools in the cultural survival kit involves the capacity to create a complex social life by establishing norms?

a. Abstractionb. Cooperationc. Productiond. Rationalizatione. none of these choices

Answer: b

• Cooperation is the tool in the cultural survival kit that involves the capacity to create a complex social life by establishing norms.

2. The Sapir-Whorf thesis holds that:a. genes account for specific

behaviors and social practicesb. high culture is consumed

mainly by upper classes and popular culture by all classes

c. the language we speak influences how we see the world

d. none of these choices

Answer: c

• The Sapir-Whorf thesis holds that the language we speak influences how we see the world.

3. Advocates of multiculturalism argue that:a. school and college curricula should

present a picture of America that better reflects its ethnic and racial diversity

b. multicultural education hurts students by forcing them to spend too much time studying noncore subjects

c. multicultural education results in more interracial conflict

d. none of these choices

Answer: a

• Advocates of multiculturalism argue that school and college curricula should present a picture of America that better reflects its ethnic and racial diversity.

4. Consumerism is:a. a subcultureb. a rite of passagec. a product of multiculturalismd. the tendency to define

ourselves in terms of the goods we purchase

e. none of these choices

Answer: d

• Consumerism is the tendency to define ourselves in terms of the goods we purchase.

5. As suggested by the rise of consumerism, rationalization makes us freer.

a. Trueb. False

Answer: b

• Rationalization does not makes us freer.