Understanding Culture: Anthropology

The Concept of Culture

• Culture is central to Anthropology
• The capacity for making culture differentiates mankind from nonhumans
• Culture refers to society's features of life, such as production, dress, living habits, food preferences, architecture, and systems of education, government, and law

Society vs. Culture

• Society generally refers to the social world, with all its structures, institutions, and organizations
• Society specifically applies to a group of people who live within a bounded territory and share a common way of life
• Culture is the common way of life shared by a group of people

Edward B. Tylor's Definition of Culture

• 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."
• Enculturation is the process by which an individual learns the rules and values of their culture

Common Misconceptions about Culture

• The term "Culture" is misused in the western world to imply that some people are more cultured than others
• Colloquially, culture is associated with things which are colorful, such as customs, clothes, foods, dancing, and music

Material Culture

• Material culture constitutes the physical substance which has been changed and used
• Material culture pertains to external, mechanical, and utilitarian objects
• Material culture includes technical and material equipment, such as tools, furniture, buildings, dams, roads, and bridges

Non-Material Culture

• Non-material culture constitutes something internal and essentially valuable, reflecting the inward nature
• Non-material culture consists of our manners of acting, feeling, and thinking

Values (Aspects of Non-Material Culture)

• Values are a central aspect of the non-material culture of a society
• Values influence the behavior of the members of a society
• Values are the standards by which members of a society define what is good or bad, beautiful or ugly
• Values are generalized notions of what is good and bad
• Education is considered a common value

Beliefs (Aspects of Non-Material Culture)

• Beliefs are cultural conventions that concern true or false assumptions
• Beliefs include specific descriptions of the nature of the universe and humanity's place
• Beliefs are more specific and have more content compared to values
• "Grading is the best way to evaluate students" is an example of beliefs

Norms (Aspects of Non-Material Culture)

• Norms are shared rules or guidelines that define how people ought to behave under certain circumstances
• Norms are connected to the values, beliefs, and ideologies of society
• Norms vary in terms of their importance to culture

Folkways (Aspects of Non-Material Culture)

• Folkways are norms that are not strictly enforced
• Not leaving your seat for elderly people inside a bus/taxi is an example of folkway
• Violations of folkways may result in a negative reaction

Mores (Aspects of Non-Material Culture)

• Mores are much stronger norms believed to be essential to core values
• A violation of mores would be seen as a violation of society's most important mores
• Punishment depends on society and is usually severe

Main Features of Culture

• Culture encompasses all aspects, which affect people every day of their lives.
• Culture comprises countless material and non-material aspects of human lives.
• Culture is a complex pattern of living that directs human social life, the things each new generation must learn and to which they eventually add.

Culture is General and Specific

• All human societies of the world have a culture that distinguishes them from nonhuman beings
• There are specific cultures relative to diverse populations

Culture is Socially Learned

• Culture is not transmitted genetically, it is acquired through learning or interacting with one's environment
• Culture is learned through social interaction
• Through observation, instruction, reward, punishment, and experience, learned behavior is communicated in the group

Three Different Ways of Learning

• Individual situational learning: individual animal or person learns something by himself as specific situations lead him.
• Social situational learning: involves learning from other members of a group through imitation/ copying
• Cultural learning: uniquely human, uses intelligence to communicate by attaching meanings to words, objects, or things. This is called symbolic communication

Culture is Symbolic

• Symbolic thought is unique to humans
• Symbols refer to anything to which people can attach meaning and is then used to communicate
• Symbols can be verbal or nonverbal

Culture Seizes Nature

• Culture imposes on nature its own structure
• It overpowers the natural, biological instincts and expresses them in particular ways
• While humans will crave food, the type of food, how many times a day to eat, and with whom is determined by cultural values

Culture is Shared

• Behavior and ways of thinking or interacting must be shared within a group
• Shared culture gives people common experiences in behaving, feeling, and responding
• In order for society to operate effectively, the guidelines must be shared by its members

Culture is Patterned

• Cultures are not a disorganized collection of customs and beliefs, but are integrated, patterned systems
• the parts are interrelated
• An integrated whole is when parts of culture are interrelated to one another
• No single cultural trait has its meaning outside of its integrated context

People Use Culture Creatively

• Cultural rules tell people what to do and how, but aren't always followed.
• A difference exists between ideal and real cultures
• Culture is used creatively

Culture is Adaptive and Maladaptive

• People adapt to the environment using culture
• Humans are unique in their ability to adapt biological and cultural ways to ecological conditions
• Overconsumption and pollution appear to be maladaptive in the long run
• Cultural creations and achievements of people can threaten their survival

Culture is Dynamic

• Culture is stable and yet changing
• Culture is stable when considering what people hand over to the next generations to maintain norms and values
• Cultural Diffusion, the spread of cultural traits from one to another, may cause cultural change

Ethnocentrism

• Ethnocentrism is taking one's own culture as the best and the center of all
• It is the perception that other ethnic groups and cultures are inferior, bad, or full of errors
• It is the tendency to apply one's own cultural values in judging the behavior and beliefs of people raised in other cultures

Cultural Relativism

• Cultural relativism suspends judgment and views about the behavior of people from the perspective of their own culture
• A culture has to be studied in terms of its own meanings and values
• Cultural relativism describes a situation where there is an attitude of respect for cultural differences

Components of Culture - Cultural Traits

• Cultural traits are the smallest (simplest) units of a certain culture
• Cultural traits are the building blocks of culture
• Cultural traits might be material or nonmaterial

Components of Culture - Culture Complex

• Cultural traits give a meaningful unit called a culture complex when fitted or combined together
• Culture complex is an integrated and patterned system of cultural traits that function as a unit in society
• A culture trait complex

Components of Culture - Culture Pattern

• The organization of culture complexes is an example of a culture pattern
• Traditional medical beliefs, practices, and institutions of Philippines

Some Important Concepts Related to Culture - Culture Region

• Sociocultural anthropologists refer to culture region as a geographical territory in which a particular culture prevails
• Culture Region is marked by all the characteristics of a culture, including material manifestations

Some Important Concepts Related to Culture - Subcultures

• Subcultures represent a system of perceptions, values, and beliefs differed from those of the dominant culture
• Subculture is a distinctive culture that is shared by a group within a society
• Subcultures are a smaller part of the main, dominant culture

Some Important Concepts Related to Culture - National Culture

• National Culture refers to experience, ideologies, and beliefs learned and values shared by the citizens of the same nation
• Rather than national culture, it is more accurately the "mainstream” or "dominant” culture

Some Important Concepts Related to Culture - International Culture

• International Culture refers to cultural traditions that extend beyond national boundaries through borrowing or diffusion
• Global culture is associated with cultural imperialism, the unequal cultural exchange in the global system whereby western material and non-material cultures dominate

Some Important Concepts Related to Culture - Cultural Universals

• Anthropology assumes that all human beings are fundamentally alike
• All human beings are believed to share the same basic biological, psychological, social, and biological characteristics
• People are all members of the same root and destiny

Biological Universals

• A long period of infant dependency defines a biological universal
• Year-round sexuality is a biological universal
• Complex brains enable the use of languages and tools

Psychological Universals

• Psychological Universals arise from experiences common to human development
• Some psychological universals are: growth in the womb, birth, interaction with parents, etc

Social Universals

• Group and family life make up social universals
• Food sharing is example of social universal
• Exogamy and incest taboos

Generalized Cultures

• Generalized Cultures describe the regularities that occur in different times and places but not in all cultures
• Cultural generalities described by the diffusion of cultures from one place to another
• Contacts, trades, wars, or independent invention leads to the creation of similar beliefs independently
• Some generalized cultures are nuclear family, monogamy, and control of over women's virginity

Localized Cultures

• Unique to a few societies
• Rare
• Homosexualism or lesbianism as a way of life, polyandrous marriage practice, eating of raw meat

Culture Shock

• Culture Shock is the psychological and social maladjustment at the micro or macro level that occurs when encountering new things, ideas, and concepts
• No person is protected from culture shock
• Ethnocentric people are exposed widely to culture shock
• New situations and culture shock is easily adapted to by cultural relativists

Language and Culture

• Language unifies national identity and fosters community cohesion
• A system of verbal and in many cases conveys complex meanings through written symbols
• Culture encompasses language, and through language, culture is communicated and transmitted
• Without language, elaborate culture could not be transmitted to the future

Culture and its Influence on People's Behavior

• Culture operates both in public and in people's minds
• The individual and culture are linked through internalizing cultural messages
• The processes of enculturation and socialization have a powerful influence on people's behavioral patterns
• Cultures play influential roles in shaping and determining how people act, live, think, and view the world

Culture in Health

• Culture influences individual and social health behavior
• The cultural values, norms, beliefs, and practices of a group are related to the specific behavioral and character aspects of the individual
• A person's living style and attitudes are important aspects of health
• Some diseases are prevalent to certain people or sections of society