unit 1what is culture

7/31/2019 Unit 1WHat is Culture

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Unit 1: Orientation to Media

Theory

What is culture? Defining the values

of culture? Ideology and Culture


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What is culture?

the quality in a person or society that arises from a concernfor what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners,scholarly pursuits, etc.

that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certainnation or period: Greek culture.

development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social,ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.


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Definition of culture

the quality in a person or society that arises from a concernfor what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners,scholarly pursuits, etc.

that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certainnation or period: Greek culture.

development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social,ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.


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Culture and Media

Culture industry: It includes a set of

organizations or individuals with an interest

(economic or otherwise) in having their

products reach the widest possible target

audience

Cultural products: Creates Information and

knowledge, ideologies, thoughts


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Evolution of the word culture

Marcus Tullius Cicero:cultivation of the soul or "cultura

animi

Immanuel Kant : Enlightenment is man's emergence from his

self-incurred immaturity

Matthew Arnold -"culture refers to an ideal of individual

human refinement, of "the best that has been thought and

said in the world

German Concept of : bildung: "...culture being a pursuit of our

total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the

matters which most concern us, the best which has been

thought and said in the world.


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Herbert Spencer's theory of Social Darwinism, Lewis Henry

Morgan

Rousseau High and low culture (Classical culture corrupting,

Folk Culture a part of the noble savages)

Sir Edward Tylors definition in 1871 (first use of this term):

that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,

morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits

acquired by man as a member of society (Tylor is

representative of cultural evolutionism. In his works PrimitiveCulture andAnthropology)


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Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) (Cultural Antropologists)

Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for

behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting

the distinctive achievement of human groups, including theirembodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists

of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and

especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the

one hand, be considered as products of action, on the otheras conditioning elements of further action.


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Definition by John Bodley

Topical: Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such associal organization, religion, or economy

Historical: Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to futuregenerations

Behavioral: Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life

Normative: Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living

Functional: Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to theenvironment or living together

Mental: Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses anddistinguish people from animals

Structural: Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, orbehaviors

Symbolic: Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by asociety

http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Cultural_Anthropology.html?id=IBD3vXrMFL0C&redir_esc=y
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Culture is divided and united through

sounds, tastes, and sight

These build a set of codes interpreted a wide

number of ways

These codes are across classes unifying and

dividing classes

These are consciously and unconsciously used

in media


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Compare with the concept of Sanskruti

Discuss


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Ideology - Early Marxist Origins

Ideology was seen as a powerful mechanism

of social control whereby members of ruling

class imposed their worldview, which

represented their interests, on members of

subordinate classes

Early Marxists stood for a social revolution

that would stand in opposition to the rulingideology


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Ideology

Images and words in media texts , ways of

thinking and defining social and cultural issues

all part of ideological analysis

Media sell products and ideas, personalities

and worldviews!


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Media is at the centre of culture wars

Advertising, news, public opinion means of

public discourse that wage cultural warfare

Morality of issues debated in polarized terms

in media

Cultural conservatives and cultural

progressives use media technologies alike to

promote their positions


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Media helps define and reflect society

Media texts serve as sites of articulation of socialnorms

Media represent images of social interaction and

social institutions that by mere repetition on adaily basis shape broad social definitions

Accumulation of media images suggests what isnormal and what is deviant

Popular media have a tendency to display aremarkably narrow range of behaviours andlifestyles marginalizing others!


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Media is at the centre of culture wars

Discuss


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The media standpoint

Media negotiates and also opposes the

ideologies of the powerful!


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Hegemony

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony

Indirect form of imperial dominance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony


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Cultural Hegemony

Some ideas and concepts become a form a socialconstruct

Connects questions of culture, power andideology

Is a Marxist concept ruling groups can maintaintheir power by way of force and exploitinstitutions to affect the same

These institutions could be military, police oreven media

Consent is the key to understand the concept ofhegemony


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Cultural Hegemony

For instance it is natural that some people are

rich and some poor

If this condition is natural then there is little

reason to be concerned about economic

inequality!

What we think of as natural and normal is the

central part of the terrain of hegemony the

hegemonic ideology


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Media hegemony

Media are involved in the politics ofsignification media produces images of theworld that give events particular meanings

Media images do not simply reflect the world,they re-presentit!

Process of giving meanings to events suggestspresence of multiple definitions of reality a

question about ideology Media are cultural sites where the ideas of

powerful are circulated (and contested)


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http://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-

of-resistance-iran
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unit 1what is culture

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