slide 1 2011 the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. all rights reserved. culture

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Culture


What is culture?


Insert Short Video on Culture


Try to Ponder this!

Try to recount what you have done today?

Let’s focus on brushing your teeth?

How do you do it?

How did you learn?


What Is Culture?█ Culture (Schaefer, 2009): Totality of

learned, socially transmitted customs (kaugalian, nakagawian), knowledge, material objects, and behavior (ugali)– Culture includes

ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people

Module 9


What Is Culture?

█ Culture (Henslin, 2002):– It refers to language, beliefs,

values (asal), norms, behaviors, and even material objects that are passed from one generation to another.

Module 9


What Is Culture?

█ Culture (E.B. Taylor, 1958):– “Culture…is that complex

whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

Module 9


What Is Culture?

█ Culture (E.B. Taylor, 1958):– Culture…is that complex

whole which includes all the habits acquired my man as a member of society.

Module 9


Characteristics of Culture

There is nothing natural about material culture.

Culture becomes a lens through which we see the world and obtain our perception of reality.


Characteristics of Culture

Culture dictates our behavior.

Cultural provides moral standards.


Components of Culture

Symbol-something which people attach meaning and which they then use to communicate.



Gestures- using one’s body to communicate with others.

Useful shorthand ways to convey message without words.

E.g., your observation fieldwork? Any gestures observed?



LanguageLanguage allows human experience to be cumulative (through language, culture can be transferred from one generation to another through oral and written history)

Language provides a social or shared past.

Language Reflects History and Culture


Components of Culture (Lenkeit, 2009)

1. Cognitive Process- It involves learning, knowing and perceiving ideas, knowledge, symbols, standards, and values.

2. Behaviors-How we act or conduct ourselves, e.g., gestures, eating, marriage ceremonies, dancing, social interactions.


Components of Culture (Lenkeit, 2009)

3. Artifacts (human material creations)- tools, pottery, clothing, architectural features, machines.


Cognitive Process

What people think, how they think, what they believe, and what they value are part of culture.

Cognitive processes are not manifest or obvious (cannot be seen) but they provide a concept of people’s choices.


Behavior

Human behavior can be observed and described and includes all things we do.

E.g., playing instrument, dancing.

Manifestation of your cognitive process


Material Culture

What people create, from artifacts to features, are products of human cultural activities.

The objects we make reflect and how we think.


Culture and Society█ Society: Large number of people

who live in same territory, who are relatively independent of people outside that area, and who participate in a common culture– Common culture simplifies

day-to-day interactions

Module 9


Cultural Universals

█ Cultural Universal: all societies have developed common practices and beliefs.

█ Examples: cooking, funeral ceremonies,medicine, marriage, and sexual restrictions.

Module 9


Nuclear

Extended


*Common: two parents and their children

*Nuanced: two or more individuals affiliated by blood (parent and child), marriage (husband and wife), or adoption (adopted child)


*Based on consanguineous (genetic; kinship) and affinal relations (through marriage)


*Nuclear family + anyone who does not belong to the nuclear (at least three generations).*Affinal, consanguineous, fictive


1.Who to marry

Endogamy vs Exogamy

Homogamy

(opposites attract doesn’t work)

Hypergamy vs. Hypogamy


Ethnocentrism andCultural Relativism█ Ethnocentrism: Tendency to

assume that one’s own culture and way of life represents the norm or is superior to others

– Conflict theorists: ethnocentric value judgments serve to devalue groups and to deny equal opportunities

– Functionalists: ethnocentrism maintains sense of solidarity

Module 9


Cultural Relativism

█ Cultural relativism: █ Idea that any aspect of

culture must be viewed and evaluated within the context of that culture.

Module 9


Development of Culture around the World█ Innovation: process of introducing

a new idea or object to a culture– Discovery: Making known or sharing

existence of an aspect of reality– Invention: Existing cultural items

combined into form that did not exist before

Module 10


Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology█ Diffusion: Process by which cultural

item spreads from group to group

– McDonaldization: Process through which principles of fast-food industry dominate certain sectors of society

Module 10


█ Material culture: Physical or technological aspects of daily lives– Food items– Houses– Factories– Raw materials

– Customs– Beliefs– Philosophies– Governments– Patterns

of communication

█ Nonmaterial culture: Ways of using material objects as well as:

Module 10


Cultural Variation

█ Subculture: Segment of society that shares distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from larger society

Module 11


Cultural Variation

█ Counterculture: Subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture

█ Culture shock: Feeling disoriented, uncertain, out of place, or fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture

Module 11


Language: Written and Spoken

█ Language: Abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture– Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• Language precedes thought• Language is not a given• Language is culturally determined• Language may color

how we see the world

Module 12


Nonverbal Communication

█ Nonverbal communication: Use of gestures, facial expressions, and other visual images to communicate

– Learned– Differs by cultures– Symbols: gestures,

objects, and words that form basis of human communication

Module 12


– Formal norms: Generally written; specify strict punishments

– Law: government social control– Informal norms: Generally

understood but not precisely recorded

Norms and Values

█ Norms: Established standards of behavior maintained by a society

Module 12


█ Folkways: Norms governing everyday behavior

Types of Norms

█ Mores: Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society

Module 12


– Behavior that appears to violate society’s norms may represent adherence to a particular group’s norms

– Norms may be violated because they conflict with other norms

– Acceptance of norms is subject to change

Acceptance of Norms

█ People do not follow norms in all situations

Module 12


Sanctions

█ Sanctions: Penalties and rewards for conduct concerning social norm

– Positive sanctions: Pay raises, medals, and words of gratitude

– Negative sanctions: Fines, threats, imprisonment, and stares of contempt

Module 12


Table 12-1: Norms and Sanctions

Module 12


Values█ Cultural values: Collective conceptions

of what is good, desirable, and proper – or bad, undesirable, and improper

Influence people’s behavior

Criteria for evaluating actions of others

Values may change

Module 12

slide 1 2011 the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. all rights reserved. culture

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