Lecture 2-What is Culture1

7/29/2019 Lecture 2-What is Culture1

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ANTH45

Summer 2008

Section 101

What is Culture?

vs.

In Pursuit of Culture (Goodenough)

y How people become anthropologists

y Early interest in culture

y No previous knowledge about the field

y Influence of and relationship with other fields:

linguistics, psychology, biology, sociology

y Introduction to several themes of the course: language

and communication, property systems, marriage rules,

etc.


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The Concept of Culture

y Concept used by all social sciences

y Central to ethnology, archaeology, and biological

anthropology

y Anthropology has done more than any other discipline to

refine our understanding of the concept of culture

Defining Culture

y Over 160 definitions have been identified

y Tylors definition (1871)

y That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,

law, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habitsacquired by man as a member of society.

y Goodenoughs definition

y The product of learning in society

y As opposed to simply patterns of recurring events

y Focus on the content of culture (observed from behavior)

y Criteria for: categorizing phenomena; deciding what can

be; preferences and values; what to do about things; how to

do those things; skills needed to perform


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A better definition

y

Focuses on what cultureis

, but also on what itdoes

y Culture is the only thing that separates us from all other

animals (not social behavior)

When Do We First See Culture?

y Anatomically Modern Peoples and the UpperPaleolithic (100,000 years ago)

y Culture

y Emerges as a more

potent force than

biology

y Symbolic behavior

Art

Decoration

Sculpture

Pendants

Cave painting

When Do We First See Culture?

y More Symbolic Behavior

y Ritual

y Burial


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Culture isy A major adaptive tool for humans

y can be direct and can rapidly change

y Learned through enculturation

y Transmitted

y Universal and specific

y Shared and integrated

y Constantly changing

y Based on human ability to create symbols

y Exchanged between societies through a process calledacculturation

Culture is Adaptive

y Humans have adapted by

manipulating environments

through cultural means.

y Humans have come to

depend more and more on

cultural adaptation.

y Because it works and fast!!

y Polar bear vs. Inuit

y What is adaptive in one

context may be seriouslymaladaptive in another

Culture is Adaptive

y Not every aspect of culture is adaptive

y Some are neutral

y Some are maladaptive

y Sex in Papua New Guinean tribe

y American energy policy


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Culture is Generally Integrated

y Integration

y The tendency for all aspects of a

culture to function as an interrelated

whole.

y System: a set of connected elements

such that if you change one of them,

you change the others

y Concept of holism in anthropology

Individual Cultures

y Core values

y Unique to each culture

y Constantly changing

y Language evolves, customs change, beliefs and behaviorschange

y Ideal culture vs. real culture

y What people say should do and what they say they do vs.what the anthropologist observes

y Anthropological use of emic vs. etic perspective

Emic vs. Etic: why cows are sacred in India

y Emic idea: cows are sacredbecause our religion tells us so

y Emic behavior: we dont eat cows

y Etic idea: cows are crucial forfarm labor. It is maladaptive to eata cow because it produces more ona farm

y Etic behavior: people sometimeseat old cows


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Culture is Symbolic

y The most fundamental aspect

of culture is the capacity to

symbolize

y Culture is dependent

upon symbols

y Symbol: something that

represents something

else with which it is not

intrinsically related

y Symbols are powerful

Culture is Shared

y For a thing, idea, or behavior pattern to qualify as being

cultural, it must have a meaning shared by most people in

a society

y Society: a group of people who have a common homeland,

are interdependent, and share a common culture

y More to come: how people in States have shared culture

and the institutions that help give common sense of identity

Culture is Differentially Shared

y Degree with which traits are

shared varies between

cultures

y Sources of variation

y Sex and Gender

y Age

y Class

y Religion

y Etc.


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y Differences exist in different

sections of society

y Subcultures

y Subsets of a wider culturey Share traits with mainstream

y But still unique

y Subcultures can be threatening to

the mainstream

Culture is Learned

y Enculturation

y The process of acquiring culture

y Learning or interacting with ones

cultural environment

y Observation, direct learning,

experience

y Not all learned behavior is cultural

y Conditioning by repeated training

is not enculturationy Brain-washing

y Ward Goodenough:

y Because culture is learned, its in your head

y No two people have the exact same criteria

y As long as differences dont affect the ability to interact

with each other, you have a sense of shared culture

but sometimes they do!

thats why we squash

them

whos we? Mainstream,

powerful groups, lobbies,

governments


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Cultures Influence on Biology

y Functions

y Eating

y Sleeping

y Work/exercise

y Body types and images

y Attitudes

y Modification

Culture and Change

y All cultures change over time for one reason or another

y Meeting environmental crises

y Responding to intrusions by outsiders

y Evolving internal behavior and values

y Results may be beneficial or disastrous

Mechanisms of Cultural Change

y Internal Changes

y Innovations

y Ultimate source of all culture change

y External changes

y Diffusion

y Spreading of a cultural element from one culture to another

y Responsible for the greatest amount of change in any given society

y Because people have never been isolated


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y Acculturation: process of adopting foreign cultural

elements (beliefs, customs, behaviors)

Cultural Universals

y Despite variation in many aspects there are basic

similarities

y System(s) of production

y Marriage and family

y Education

y Social control

y Supernatural beliefs

y Communication

As Individuals

y Culture influences our behavior,

but

yIt does not determine ourbehavior

y Deviance from cultural norms

exists in all societies


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Short Exercise

y Describe American culture to a foreigner: food, religion,education, political system, values

y Which aspects of American culture are a result of innovation?

y Which resulted from diffusion from another culture?

y List 2 American symbols besides the flag: what do theyrepresent?

y List and describe 2 American subcultures. How does themainstream view these subcultures? Are they respected,feared, ignored?

Lecture 2-What is Culture1

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