Understanding Cultural Dynamics

What We Mean by Culture and Why It’s Contested

• Culture is a system of behaviours, beliefs, knowledge, practices, values, and concrete materials.
• Culture is expressed through language and artifacts.
• Culture is dynamic and changes over time.
• There is little agreement on what defines a culture, even by those who belong to a cultural group.
• Authenticity is a key point of contestation.

What Kinds of Cultures Are There?

• The two central oppositions in defining culture are dominant vs. subculture/counterculture and high culture vs. popular/mass culture.

Dominant Culture versus Subculture and Counterculture

• Dominant culture is the culture that imposes its values through political and economic power.
• Dominants are people closely linked with the cultural mainstream.
• Canada’s dominants are typically white, English-speaking, heterosexual, male university graduates of European background between 30-55 years old, in good health, with homes in middle-class neighborhoods in Ontario.

Minority Cultures, Subcultures, and Countercultures

• Minority cultures fall outside of the cultural mainstream.
• Countercultures oppose the dominant culture.
• Subcultures are minority cultures that differ from but don’t directly oppose the dominant culture.

High Culture versus Popular Culture

• High culture is the culture of the elite, associated with the arts.
• High culture requires cultural capital: skills and knowledge needed to acquire sophisticated tastes.
• Popular culture is the culture of the majority, especially the less powerful (working class, less educated, women, and racialized minorities).
• Cultural studies analyze the significance and meanings of popular culture.

Popular Culture and Mass Culture

• Mass culture refers to people with little agency in consuming culture (large companies dictate what people watch, buy, value, and believe).
• Mass culture is created by those in power for the masses.
• Popular culture and mass culture differ in agency: the ability of "the people" to creatively use materials of dominant culture.
• Simulacra is a feature of mass culture.
• Simulacra are stereotypical cultural images produced and reproduced by the media, often distorted representations of reality.

Cultural Norms

• Norms are expected rules or standards of behavior within a group, society, or culture.
• Norms can be contested based on ethnicity, race, gender, and age.
• Norms are expressed through ceremonies, symbolic dress, and other cultural artifacts.
• Norms change over time and differ across cultures.

Sanctions

• Sanctions are rewards and punishments for behavior.
• Positive sanctions are rewards for positive behavior (e.g., smiles, bonuses).
• Negative sanctions are reactions designed to signal violation of norms (e.g., glares, fines).

Folkways, Mores, and Taboos

• Folkways, or etiquette, are weak norms governing everyday matters (e.g., double-dipping chips).
• Mores are more serious norms with significant consequences for violation (e.g., stealing, rape).
• Taboos are deeply ingrained norms that cause disgust or revulsion even at the thought (e.g., incest, child pornography).

Culture Symbols

• Symbols are cultural items with significance for a culture/subculture.
• Symbols can be tangible objects (e.g., maple leaf) or intangible (e.g., songs, events).
• Cultural symbols change over time.

Values

• Values are standards used by a culture to describe abstract qualities (goodness, beauty, justice) and assess behavior.
• Ideal culture is what people believe in.
• Actual culture is what really exists.

Ethnocentrism

• Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures based on one's own cultural standards.
• Ethnocentrism is often driven by lack of knowledge or ignorance.
• Ethnocentrism has played a role in colonization and the imposition of dominant cultures.

Eurocentrism

• Eurocentrism involves viewing others from a European perspective and assuming the audience shares or desires that perspective.
• Eurocentric perspectives tend to champion European achievements while downplaying or ignoring non-European developments.

Cultural Globalization

• Cultural globalization is the intensification and expansion of cultural flows across the globe.
• The "Americanization" of the world can raise concerns about one-directional cultural flow.

Cultural Relativism

• Cultural relativism is the study and understanding of another culture within its own social, historical, and environmental context.
• We cannot use our own cultural standards to judge other cultures' practices.
• Cultural relativism can be problematic when studying historically widespread but now abhorrent practices such as genocide.

Cultural Relativism versus Presentism

• Cultural relativism judges figures of the past within their own time, not by today's standards.
• Presentism judges figures of the past based on today's standards, which can be inaccurate and biased.

Sociolinguistics

• Sociolinguistics is the study of language as part of culture.
• Language is key to cultural communication and transmission.
• Sociolinguistics investigates language in relation to race, ethnicity, age, gender, and region.

Dialect as a Sociological Term

• Dialect is a language variety differing in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
• Dialects are often evaluated as "proper" or "improper," reflecting linguistic and social factors.
• Different dialects can be used strategically for marketing and branding.

Linguistic Determinism and Relativity

• The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis describes the relationship between language and culture.
• Language, words, and their meanings are culture-specific.
• Linguistic determinism suggests language shapes our understanding of the world.

Summary

• Cultures differ, and people experience them differently based on their social location.
• Culture is essential to human life but can also be oppressive for those without power.
• Humans are social creatures who rely on culture for survival and interaction.
• Culture is a dynamic, complex, and contested concept that evolves over time.

This quiz explores the concept of culture, its contested nature, and varying classifications. It delves into dominant versus subcultures, as well as high versus popular cultures. Test your understanding of how culture shapes identities and societal perceptions.