The Concept of Culture
Think of 10 ways in which we use the word culture or cultural.
Eg. Culture shock, Canadian culture, multicultural
C. Construction C. Awareness Deviant C.C. Shock Underground C. Rural C.Agriculture Pop C. Youth C.Global C. C. Identity gay/lesbian CC. Exchange C. Perspective C. AssimilationCross-C Elite C. Dead CC. Diversity C. Sustainability Café C.Multicultural Canadian C. C. eventTo be C. C. Imperialism C. survivalHigh C. C. Hegemony drug C.Enculturation C. Evolution SubcultureC. Phenomenon uncultured World C.Intercultural Consumer C Bacterial C.Counter C. Safety C Public C..C. Genocide Corporate C. C. Relativism
The Concept of Culture
A Way of LifeRural C. Corporate C. Canadian C. Youth C. Café C. Island C.
Non-anthropological/sociologicalAgriculture Bacterial C. Horticulture, Aquaculture
A continuumGlobal C. World C. C. Evolution Public C.
A set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practicesCounter C. Safety C. drug C. Subculture Consumer C C. Perspective gay/lesbian C
Refinement of mind, tastes, and manners High C. Elite C To be C. uncultured
An object (of manipulation)C. Sustainability C. Genocide Dead C C. survivalC. Hegemony C. Imperialism C. event C. Heritage
A disparagement of differenceC. Shock Deviant C. Pop C. Underground C. Subculture C. Assimilation
A sense of agencyC. Construction Enculturation
A celebration of differenceC. Diversity C. Awareness Multicultural C. RelativismIntercultural Cross-C C. Exchange
A sense of identity and othernessC. Identity Canadian C
Edward Burnett Tylor
1832-1917
Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired my man as a member of society. E. B. Tylor 1871
`The sum total of knowledge, attitudes and habitual behaviour patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society' Ralph Linton (1940).
The pattern of life within a community, the regularly recurring activities and material and social arrangements characteristic of a particular group'. Ward Goodenough (1957):
“Culture is the framework of beliefs, expressive symbols, and values in terms of which individuals define their feelings and make their judgements” (Geertz 1957 American Anthropologist 59:32-54).
Geertz 1973: `an historically transmitted pattern of meaning embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means which men communicate' (1973: 89).
The socially transmitted knowledge and behaviour shared by a group of people – Peoples and Bailey 2006
Culture is Relative
Culture is a way of life
Material
Objects
Ideas
Attitudes
Values
Behavior
Patterns
“Everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society” (Ferraro, 2006)
What is Canadian Culture?
I A M C A N A D I A N !!! I am not a lumberjack or a fur trader,And I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber or own a dogsled,And I don't know Jimmy, Sally, or Susie from Canada,Although I am certain they are really, really nice.I have a Prime Minister, not a President.I speak English and French, not American.And I pronounce it "about" ... not "a-boot".I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack.I believe in peacekeeping not policing;Diversity not assimilation;And that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal!A tuque is hat; a chesterfield is a couch.And it is pronounced ZED not ZEE, ZED!Canada is the second largest landmass,The first nation of hockey,And the best part of North America!
Culture reified
Values
Norms
Ideas/Beliefs
Attitudes
Symbols
Traditions
Artifacts
Dimensions of Culture
Characteristics of Culture
Culture is learned
Culture is unconscious
Culture is shared
Culture is integrated
Culture is Symbolic
Culture is a way of life
Culture is Dynamic
Culture is Relative
Culture is learnedHow do we learn our culture?
Enculteration
Culture is unconscious
Culture is shared
USA 89%
French Canada 81%
English Canada 77%
United Kingdom 71%
Italy 69%
France 59%
Australia 25%
Such findings signal that Canadian values, ideas, and attitudes should not be relied upon when planning marketing forays into foreign consumer markets
Everyone should use a deodorant
Culture is Relative
Culture is Integrated
Kinship
Medicine
law
Economics
Religion
Culture is Symbolic
A wink or a twitch
1896 1918 1924 1935 1955
1960 1970 1986 1995 2006
Culture is Dynamic
To communicate - makes the actions of individuals intelligible to others A tool
gives meaning to differences
Identity
Adaptive
Why do humans have Culture?What is its function?
Can culture be maladaptive?
Is Culture Public or Private?
Ishi ?-1916
What is society?
`A distinct and relatively autonomous community whose members' mutual social relations are embedded in and expressed through the medium of culture'.
`Any portion of a community regarded as a unit distinguishable by particular aims or standards of living or conduct'. i.e. culture
`A group of people who occupy a specific locality and who share the same cultural traditions or culture.'
Society