Culture and Identity PDF

08/10/2024 Culture and Identity 1 Culture: A way of life of any society. Language, beliefs, values and norms, customs, dress, diet, roles, knowledge and skills, and all the other...

08/10/2024 Culture and Identity 1 Culture: A way of life of any society. Language, beliefs, values and norms, customs, dress, diet, roles, knowledge and skills, and all the other things that people learn. 2 Johanna Bartolo 1  08/10/2024 Culture: Is passed on from one generation to the next through the process of socialization: a process where the individual learns the norms and values of his/her society. This process is needed to fit in society. 3 Culture: Common and shared across society. Yet: there might be differences within the same society too. This means that cultures vary (differ). 4 Johanna Bartolo 2  08/10/2024 Dominant culture The main culture in a society which is shared and accepted without any opposition by the majority of a population. The dominant culture is a culture that is the most powerful, widespread, or influential within a social or political entity in which multiple cultures are present. (The norm for the society as a whole) 5 Dominant culture The type of culture that receives the most support from the major social institutions. Establishes its mainstream social customs, language, values and religion. Specific characteristics of the dominant culture become the standard for the entire society. It can relate to prestige, wealth, status and influence. 6 Johanna Bartolo 3  08/10/2024 7 When societies are small, people generally share a common culture. Yet, as societies become larger and different, a number of smaller groups may emerge  subcultures Subcultures: have different beliefs, values, norms and way of life. 8 Johanna Bartolo 4  08/10/2024 The dominant culture Traveller Youth subculture subculture Other smaller Minority cultures exist. and ethnic Class group They are different subcultures subculture from the dominant culture School but may also have subculture things in common with it. Gay Different subcultures subculture Criminal subcultures 9 Subculture A smaller group that includes beliefs and patterns of behaviour that are somehow different from the mainstream culture. A sub-group emerging from the mainstream culture. It shares its own norms, customs and values – (differentiation). 10 Johanna Bartolo 5  08/10/2024 11 12 Johanna Bartolo 6  08/10/2024 13 14 Johanna Bartolo 7  08/10/2024 15 16 Johanna Bartolo 8  08/10/2024 17 Subcultures May be in active opposition to the dominant culture: in a state of rebellion (wanting change). Subculture of resistance: a culture that not only has some differences form the dominant culture, but also is in active opposition to it. 18 Johanna Bartolo 9  08/10/2024 An example of subculture: Paul Willis (1977): Learning to Labour Willis speaks of an anti-school culture. This culture promoted work and was against schooling (education). They valued hard tasks and bullied good students. It was a way of life of a group of working-class lads, and they were proud of it. “How working class kids get working class jobs” 19 Paul Willis: Learning to Labour Noticed a culture (learned through socialization) whereby the boys were brought up against schooling and in favour of manual work. Rejecting education – school was a struggle (Risk of ending in low pay) Work was a source of identity - pride Act of resistance learned and passed on from one generations to the next. 20 Johanna Bartolo 10  08/10/2024 Folk culture ‘Folk’ – of the people Localized form of culture A culture created by local communities and is rooted in the experiences, customs and beliefs of the everyday life of ordinary people. Eg: Traditional folk music, folk songs, storytelling and folk dances which are passed on from one generation to the next by socialization and often by direct experience. 21 22 Johanna Bartolo 11  08/10/2024 23 High Culture A superior form of culture. Related to aspects of culture that are of lasting artistic and literacy value, aimed at small, intellectual elites. the elites: predominantly upper and middle class groups who have an interest in new ideas, critical discussion and analysis. Seen as special; to be treated with respect and reverence. Involves things of lasting value and part of a heritage – worth preserving. 24 Johanna Bartolo 12  08/10/2024 High Culture (Google) - "High culture" is a term now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture. Refers to the idea that some artistic and literary products in our society are superior in scope and form to others. 25 High Culture Aspects of it are found in special places like art galleries, museums, concert halls, theatres May include news programmes, documentaries, classical music. 26 Johanna Bartolo 13  08/10/2024 27 Mass Culture The set of ideas and values that develop from a common exposure to the same media, news sources, music, and art. Mass culture is broadcast or otherwise distributed to individuals instead of arising from their day-to-day interactions with each other. 28 Johanna Bartolo 14  08/10/2024 Mass, Popular and Low culture Interchangeable terms contrasts with high culture. Mass is sometimes referred to as pop or low culture. The culture liked and enjoyed by ordinary people. The term ‘mass’ or ‘popular’ are more polite: rejecting the inferiority found in the term ‘low’. ‘Low’ is a derogatory (insulting). 29 Mass, Popular and Low culture. Mass or pop culture is a product of industrial societies. Industrial society : a society driven by the use of technology to enable mass production. (predominant because of division of labour). Aimed at the mass of ordinary people. Commercially produced culture. Driven by businesses and their aim for profit. 30 Johanna Bartolo 15  08/10/2024 A culture produced for passive consumption rather than inducing creative thinking/innovation and active involvement. Emphasizing a busy life, where the individual is a mass (like many others). 31 32 Johanna Bartolo 16  08/10/2024 Strinati (1995) Mass culture relates to popular culture It involves cultural products produced for profit by mass-production industrial techniques, for sale to and consumption by the mass of ordinary people. 33 Strinati (1995) Mass produced and standardized products are generally short-lived. Regards as inferior, dumbed down to appeal to as many people as possible. Mass culture demands little critical thought, little analysis or discussion. It has no artistic value. Simple, undemanding, easy-to-understand entertainment. Produced on a global scale – appealing to a mass a people. 34 Johanna Bartolo 17  08/10/2024 Popular Culture: Includes mass-circulation magazines with extensive coverage of celebrities and lifestyles ‘red top’ tabloid newspapers Eg: the Sun or the Mirror, television soaps, reality TV shows, dramas, thrillers, popular music, video games, blockbuster feature films, romances, and websites like Facebook. 35 Passive and unchallenging. Fairly mindless entertainment aimed at the largest number of people possible. 36 Johanna Bartolo 18  08/10/2024 Evaluation of pop/mass culture It is attacked for diverting people away from more useful activities. It dives down cultural standards. It can be harmful on mass audiences. 37 Evaluation of pop/mass culture Frank and Queenie Leavis (1930s, 1960s): They disapprove of mass culture as it is processed, packaged and trivial. It creates mindless escapist fantasy. It is inferior to the lasting artistic and literacy value found in high culture. 38 Johanna Bartolo 19  08/10/2024 Evaluation of pop/mass culture Frank and Queenie Leavis (cont…) Mass culture is negative. It ruins the proper use of language, damages people’s emotional needs and fears, it promotes greed and mindless social conformity. 39 Evaluation of pop/mass culture Bourdieu (1971): (A Marxist) High culture is superior compared to mass or popular culture. The dominant class has the power to impose on the rest of society its own cultural ideas about what counts as good and bad taste, worthwhile knowledge, good books, music, art, and films: The dominant class ideology. 40 Johanna Bartolo 20  08/10/2024 Evaluation of pop/mass culture Bourdieu: The rest of society are socialized into accepting the continuing superiority of high culture, although they are more likely to participate in mass or pop culture. (pop culture is regarded as inferior/worthless, by the dominant class). 44 Evaluation of pop/mass culture Some Marxists and critical theorists of the Frankfurt School also seem to accept the lower status of mass culture. Mass culture is mass-produced manufactured products imposed on people by global businesses. Their sole aim is financial profit. There is little artistic value – there is a manipulation on people by the media to make them want, and to consume the product. 45 Johanna Bartolo 21  08/10/2024 Evaluation of pop/mass culture MacDonald (1965): mass culture is trivial and inauthentic. It is not like folk culture, which is authentic and generated by ordinary people. It is also different from high culture which expresses serious and long-established authentic cultural values. 46 Generally... Opponents of mass culture: See it as a form of social control (it keeps people in control) See mass/pop culture as dumbing-down people See it as standardized, trivial and uncritical infotainment (information combined with entertainment) An escapist fantasy: it maintains the ideological hegemony (it perpetuates the set of ideas of those in a dominant position) 47 Johanna Bartolo 22  08/10/2024 48 49 Johanna Bartolo 23  08/10/2024 Hegemony Term was introduced by Antonio Gramsci a particular form of social class domination but it is often now used to mean simply ‘considerable influence over’. 50 In this regard.. Consumers are lulled into uncritical passivity (mindlessly conforming). They become less likely to challenge the dominant ideas or groups of society. 51 Johanna Bartolo 24  08/10/2024 Media-generated mass culture emphasizes on relaxation, fun, entertainment and consumption. This undermines people’s ability to think critically about the world. This is a form of social repression – people are manipulated. promotes conformity and passive acceptance of how things are: reducing the chances for a revolution. 52 Strinati (1995) Postmodernist Rejects the idea that mass culture has a harmful effect on consumers. Contrastingly, mass and pop culture have value and are worth studying. There is no single mass culture which people passively and uncritically consume. Rather, he explains how there is a wide diversity and choice within pop culture. People can select from and critically respond to. 53 Johanna Bartolo 25  08/10/2024 Livingstone (1988) TV soap operas and other forms of programmes watched by millions have a positive benefit for society. Mass programmes are educational and informative to the public. Mass media generates conversations and presents a range of political opinions. Rather than killing off public debate, contemporary soaps have generated widespread critical discussion about present issues. 54 The changing distinction between high culture and popular culture. 55 Johanna Bartolo 26  08/10/2024 Changing distinction between high and popular culture Strinati (1995) and other postmodernists argue that the distinction (difference) between high and popular culture is weakening. Mass communication technology makes a huge rage of media and cultural products available to everyone. 56 Changing distinction between high and popular culture Such changes in industrial societies make cultural products of all kinds almost infinitely reproducible. Original music and art and other cultural products can be consumed by the mass of people in their own homes. (no need to visit specialized institutions to learn about these). 57 Johanna Bartolo 27  08/10/2024 Changing distinction between high and popular culture High culture is no longer simply the preserve of cultural elites. People now have a wider diversity of cultural choices and products available to them – they can pick and mix from either popular or high culture. 58 Changing distinction between high and popular culture Art has been widespread across different social strata. (Live opera is now available to the masses through popular figures like the OperaBabes or park-concerts). Rockestra. Marxists suggest that high culture has become popularized and commercialized as it is forced to earn its keep by mass consumption. It has been forced into becoming fun and inclusive – driven to attract ordinary people too. 59 Johanna Bartolo 28  08/10/2024 High culture is now made a commodity (e.g.: even very valuable works of art are being sold … sold to wealthy corporations or rich private individuals to hand on their walls). Advertising, TV and other mass media are helping out in this change since they make the distinction between high and popular culture meaningless. 60 Strinati There is longer any real distinction on what distinguishes high culture from popular culture. 61 Johanna Bartolo 29  08/10/2024 Changing distinction between high and popular culture Storey (2003): Another change is that members of the dominant class are no longer only consuming high culture. They are now consuming what has been previously dismissed as mass culture. 62 Example: - artist Andy Warhol Painted 30 pictures of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in different colours, arguing that “30 was better than one” turning high culture art into popular culture. Although Warhol’s art has been marked to millions on postcards, at the same time it is widely admired by the supporters of high culture. 63 Johanna Bartolo 30  08/10/2024 Giddings (2010) Postmodernist Claims that high culture art forms are now often being turned into products for sale in the mass popular culture market for consumption by the mass of ordinary people. There is no longer anything special about art, as it is incorporated into daily life. 64 Changing distinction between high and popular culture Technology has made it possible for mass audiences to see and study high culture products, such as paintings by artists like Van Gogh, on the internet or TV. High culture images, like the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh’s Sunflowers are now reproduced on everything from socks and T-shirts, to chocolates and mugs, mats, etc. 65 Johanna Bartolo 31  08/10/2024 Giddings The lines between high culture and mass culture are like the borders between countries: there are only there because we are told they are there. This effect is amplified as mass culture becomes more globalized and cultures intertwined. 66 In brief: Culture is a way of life (it is very complex and involves many aspects). Is learned during socialisation. There is a dominant type of culture receiving most support from many institutions. Other subcultures exist. One aspect of culture is high culture. There is also mass/popular/low culture. They differ – there are different interpretations of these. 67 Johanna Bartolo 32