Understanding Culture: Norms, Symbols, and Practices

• Culture is a learned system that involves shared beliefs, behaviors, symbols, and practices, shaping human interactions.
• Culture is acquired through enculturation, the process of socialization into a specific culture.
• Symbols in culture are arbitrary representations, like language or rituals, that convey meaning.
• Culture provides societies a common understanding through shared norms.
• Various aspects of culture, such as economy, politics, and religion, are integrated and interdependent.
• Culture is adaptive, changing over time in response to internal and external factors.
• Ideology consists of deeply held beliefs upheld by institutions, such as patriarchy or religion.
• Practice refers to how people enact cultural ideologies in their daily lives, such as gender roles and marriage customs.

Common Ways of Learning Culture

• Culture is learned through direct instruction from parents, teachers, and elders who explicitly teach norms and behaviors.
• Observation contributes to learning by watching and imitating others.
• Unconscious absorption involves internalizing cultural norms without explicit teaching.

Levels of Culture

• Subcultures are smaller groups within a larger society that have distinct norms.
• National cultures encompass shared values within a country.
• International cultures refer to cultural practices that extend beyond national borders.

Symbols and Their Role in Culture

• Symbols are representations of other things, such as flags, religious icons, or clothing.
• The meaning of symbols is arbitrary and culturally assigned, like the association of blue with boys and pink with girls.

Culture and Nature

• Culture shapes human interaction with nature, influencing food habits, dress, gender norms, and sexuality.
• Emily Martin’s "The Egg and the Sperm" critiques the gendered stereotypes present in descriptions of biological processes.

Sex and Gender

• Sex is a biological classification based on reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones.
• Gender encompasses cultural and social roles, behaviors, and identities linked to masculinity, femininity, or other gender identities.
• Judith Butler argues that both sex and gender are socially constructed and shaped by cultural interpretation.
• According to Sam Dylan Finch, gender is an internal sense of being and how it is expressed.
• Gender, as described by Julia Wood, is a cultural system influencing personal identity, social roles, and power structures.
• The sex/gender system, as defined by Nanda, describes how societies organize people into gendered categories and roles.
• The sex/gender system differs across cultures, such as the Hijras in India and Two-Spirit identities in Indigenous North America.

Dichotomy & Binary

• Dichotomy refers to a division into two opposing categories, like male/female or nature/nurture.
• Binary is a system that recognizes only two categories, exemplified by the traditional gender binary of man/woman.
• Many cultures recognize non-binary and third gender identities, critiquing strict binary systems.

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

• Biological determinism suggests biology alone determines gender roles.
• Cultural determinism posits that gender is entirely shaped by socialization.
• Anthropology suggests that both biology and culture interact to shape gender.

Gender Identities

• Intersex individuals have biological traits that do not fit typical male or female categories.
• Transgender people have a gender identity that differs from the sex assigned at birth.
• Cisgender individuals have a gender identity that aligns with their assigned sex at birth.
• Agender individuals identify as having no gender.
• Non-binary individuals have a gender identity outside the male/female binary.

Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Relationship

• Gender identity refers to an internal sense of gender.
• Gender expression is how gender is outwardly expressed.
• Sex relationship is one’s relationship with their own body and its sexual characteristics.

Third Genders in Anthropology

• Two-Spirit identities in Indigenous North America represent gender roles beyond male/female.
• We’wha was a Zuni man-woman who lived as a respected spiritual and cultural figure.
• Alyha in Mojave culture were born male but lived as women.
• Hwame in Mojave culture were born female but lived as men.
• Hijras in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal are considered neither man nor woman.
• Some Hijras undergo emasculation rituals.
• Hijras are legally recognized as a third gender in several countries.

Gender & Society

• Gender roles are social expectations about behaviors and duties of different genders.
• Gender stratification involves the unequal distribution of power and resources based on gender.
• Patriarchy is a social system where men hold more power than women.
• Patriarchy controls access to resources, political power, and social status.
• Ethnocentrism involves judging another culture by one’s own cultural standards.
• Cultural relativism is understanding cultural practices within their own context.

Theories of Gender

• A theory is a system of ideas that explains relationships between concepts.

Theoretical Frameworks

• Biological theories state that gender differences stem from biological factors like hormones and brain structures.
• Interpersonal theories say gender identity is shaped through social interaction, such as Social Learning Theory and Cognitive Development Theory.
• Cultural theories posit that gender is a product of cultural norms, values, and roles.
• Critical theories link gender to power structures and marginalized perspectives.

Standpoint Theory

• Standpoint Theory asserts that marginalized groups have unique insights into societal structures due to their lived experiences.

Queer Performance Theory

• Queer Performance Theory argues that gender is performative, enacted through behavior.

Intersectionality

• Intersectionality is the study of how multiple social identities interact to create unique experiences of oppression or privilege.
• Black women face different forms of discrimination than white women or Black men as an example of intersectionality.
• Culture shapes expectations, roles, and identities through norms and institutions, reinforcing ideas about gender.
• Sex is a biological classification based on reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones.
• Gender is a cultural construct that defines roles, behaviors, and identities.
• The study of gender reveals how societies organize social life, power, and identity.
• Rigid understandings of gender have been challenged, recognizing that it is shaped by historical, cultural, and political factors.
• Third genders challenge the binary view of sex and gender.
• Gender roles are linked to social stratification, often assigning different levels of power based on gender.
• Nanda’s sex/gender system framework is crucial in cross-cultural research as it highlights how societies construct gender norms.
• Intersectionality examines how identities intersect with gender to shape experiences of privilege and oppression.

Theories of Gender

• Biological theories explain gender differences as arising from genetics and hormones.
• Interpersonal theories suggest socialization shapes gender identity.
• Cultural theories suggest gender is embedded in cultural beliefs.
• Critical theories link gender to power structures, emphasizing marginalized perspectives.
• Cultural and critical approaches highlight the role of social structures in shaping gender identity.

Key Readings

• "The Egg and the Sperm" by Emily Martin analyzes the gendered language in the biological sciences.
• Martin critiques sperm being depicted as "active" and eggs as "passive," reinforcing traditional gender roles.
• Martin highlights how scientific narratives reflect and perpetuate cultural stereotypes about gender.
• "Gender, Sex, & Sexuality" by Conrad Kottak differentiates between biological sex and culturally constructed gender.
• Kottak explores how gender roles vary across societies.
• Kottak examines the influence of cultural norms on sexuality and gender expression.
• Gendered Lives, Ch. 2, "Theoretical Approaches to Gender Development" by Julia Wood discusses different theories on gender development.
• Wood emphasizes the role of socialization in shaping gender identity.
• Wood highlights how institutions reinforce gender norms.

Intersectionality Theory

• "Intersectional Feminism…" (Telegraph article) explains intersectionality as the overlap of multiple social identities.
• Intersectional Feminism discusses how feminist movements must consider diverse perspectives to be truly inclusive.
• Intersectional Feminism highlights systemic barriers that shape gender inequalities.

Theories of Gender: Performativity

• "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution" by Judith Butler argues that gender is "performed" through repeated actions.
• Butler challenges the idea of gender as fixed or binary.
• Butler suggests that gender is socially constructed through behavior.

Third Genders in Anthropology

• "The Hijras in Cross Cultural Perspective" by Serena Nanda discusses Hijras in South Asia as a recognized third gender category.
• Nanda explores the cultural and religious significance of Hijras in society.
• Nanda highlights how gender categories vary across different cultures.

Beyond the Binary: Multiple Gender Identities

• "Transgender 101" by Sam Dylan Finch explains key concepts related to transgender identities.
• Finch defines gender identity, gender expression, and sex relationship.
• Finch addresses misconceptions and emphasizes self-identification over societal expectations.

Explore the fundamental aspects of culture, including learned systems, shared beliefs, behaviors, and symbols. Understand how culture shapes human interactions through enculturation and shared norms. Additionally, examine the roles of ideology and practice in cultural contexts.