Culture 2024 PDF

Updated: 2024  Objectives: 1. Define culture, material and non-material culture. 2. Explain why people experience culture shock 3. Differentiate between the terms culture, nation and society 4. Explain development of culture as a human strategy for survival. 5. Describe the com...

Updated: 2024  Objectives: 1. Define culture, material and non-material culture. 2. Explain why people experience culture shock 3. Differentiate between the terms culture, nation and society 4. Explain development of culture as a human strategy for survival. 5. Describe the common elements of culture: symbols, language values and beliefs, norms, ideal and real culture, material culture and technology, Information technology and culture. 6. Recognize cultural diversity: Discuss the dimensions of cultural differences and cultural change. 7. Distinguish between Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism  What is culture? Culture is the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together form a people’s way of life. Culture consists of thoughts and things: I. Nonmaterial culture is the ideas created by members of a society. II. Material culture is the physical things created by members of a society. Culture shapes not only what we do but also what we think and how we feel. The root of the word “culture” is the same as that of the word “cultivate,” suggesting that people living together in a society actually ”grow” their way of life over time.  Two types of culture Nonmaterial culture Material culture – tangible (symbolic culture) – ideas things created by members created by members of a society. of a society. Is this material and non-material culture? What about this? Is this material OR non-material culture? Is this material OR non-material culture? What about these? Are they part of material OR non-material culture? Lastly, is this material OR non- material culture?  Cultural shock People view their own way of life as natural. Culture shock Culture shock: personal disorientation when experiencing refers to personal an unfamiliar way of life. disorientation Travelers feel uneasy when they enter an unfamiliar culture. when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life.  Cultural shock is a two-way process: 1.travelers experience it when encountering people whose way of life is different, e.g., dogs as beloved household pets, while eaten in China. 2.The traveler may inflict cultural shock on local people by acting in ways that offend the, e.g., ordering steak in Hindu/Indian restaurant. Culture shock To summarize…  Culture evolved as a primary strategy for survival. E.g., Housing, clothing, weapons, tools and utensils to survive against the environmental threats. “The Birth of civilization” (12,000 years ago) is marked by permeant settlement and creation of specialized occupation in the Middle East (today’s Iraq & Egypt). The survival scheme: fashioning the natural environment for themselves. (techniques that people may use in order to sustain life in any type of natural environment.) Only humans rely on culture, rather than instinct, to create a way of life and ensure our survival. Differentiate between the concepts Culture, Nation and Society Pp 644 Culture is a shared way of life A nation is a political entity with boarder (nations build on a shared culture, language government and flag and identity, but not blood relations) Society is the organized interaction of people who live in a nation or any specific territory. U.S.A. is both a nation and a society, it is a multicultural nation.  How many cultures? The best way to identify the number of cultures is to count the number of languages. (Global estimates document 7,000 languages).Pp.644 However, the number of languages are decreasing and many are disappearing (like Aramaic & the Oro in the Amazon of Brazil)due to: 1. Globalization 2. high-technology communication 3. increasing international migration 4. expanding world-wide economy 2019 2021  World globalization business through cyber system  Elements of culture Human use their senses to experience the surrounding world, but unlike other creatures, we also try to give the world meaning. Human transform elements of the world into symbols. Symbols , language, values, and norms are common elements of all cultures. Symbols: is anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture. A word, a whistle, a wall covered with graffiti, a flashing red light, a raised fist – all serve as symbols with meanings. A single symbol can have different meanings. E.g., Winking an eye can mean interest, understanding or insult. Human have the capacity to create and manipulate symbols reflected in the very different meanings associated with the simple the simple act e.g., holding fist.  Cyber Symbols Societies create new symbols all the time. E.g., Cyber symbols in the computer  The Elements of Culture Pp644 Although cultures vary, they all have five common components: (1) Symbols (2) Language (3) Values and Beliefs (4) Norms (5) Ideal and Real Culture  Symbolic meanings can vary within a single society also. E.g., To some people in the U.S. a fur coat represents a prized symbol of success. But to others it represents the inhumane treatment of animals.  Language cultural Story of Helen Keller (1880-1968).Pp646 transmission the Language: is the key to the world of culture. It is a process by which system of symbols that allows people to one generation communicate with one another. passes culture to the next. Language not only allows communication but also allows cultural transmission. Every society has transmitted culture by using speech, sociologists call this process ‘oral cultural tradition’. Just as our bodies contain the genes of our ancestors, our culture contains countless symbols of those who came before us. Language is the key that unlocks centuries of accumulated wisdom. Thus:  Language helps in making accumulated wisdom to be shared  Language skills link us with the past.  Language connects us to the future creating limitless range of future It boosts cross-cultural possibilities helping humans to plan for understanding future.  Language sets human apart as the only creatures who are self-conscious, aware of our limitations and ultimate mortality, yet able to dream and to hope for a future better than past. It can connect people to their heritage  Values Norms Folkways Mores Taboos Sanctions Positive Negative  Values and Beliefs To learn a culture is to learn people’s values... Values are a culture’s general orientations toward life – its notions of what is good and bad, what is desirable and undesirable. Values can be understood by looking at patterns of behaviour. Examples of values: People who share a culture use values to make choices about Respect Justice/Fairness Honesty how to live. Values are broad principles that Family support beliefs. Community responsibility  Values and Beliefs Pp648 Beliefs: specific thoughts or ideas that people hold to be true. i.e., values are abstract standards of goodness, and beliefs are particular matters that individuals consider true or false. Values guide our beliefs. Think of examples. ( Value: Honesty. Belief: Dishonest people should be punished).  Core society’s values Key ten values of U.S. culture. Robin Williams Jr. 1970 (U.S. is a pluralistic society, is made up of many different groups) 1. Equal opportunity 2. Achievement and success 3. Material comfort 4. Activity and work 5. Practicality and efficiency Group activity: 6. Progress Open your book and 7. Science discuss the meanings 8. Democracy and free enterprise of each value 9. Freedom 10. Racism and group superiority  Values: in Harmony & Conflict Values are often in harmony. Cultural values go together. Value clusters: activity and hard work are valued because we expect it to lead to achievement and success and greater material comfort. Sometimes values may be in conflict. E.g., Value 1 and value 10 in Robin William’s list.  Values Change Values change over time, just like other elements of culture. E.g., Hard work was always valued in the US society, but the value of leisure is now increasing its importance. Although material comfort is valued, many are seeking personal growth through meditation and other spiritual activity.  Values: a global perspective Values that are important in higher-income countries differ from those common in lower income countries. (List the values in lower income countries and higher income countries.) Lower-income countries: o Physical safety, economic security, o importance of family and religious beliefs. o Forbid practices such as divorce and abortion. (because of being vulnerable they value survival) Higher-income countries: o Individualism , self-expression, o personal happiness, o secular- rational o placing less emphasis on family ties and religious beliefs o (Being rich, they take survival for granted)  Norms Norms are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of the members. Mores: Norms that Folkways: Norms for are widely observed routine for casual and have great moral interaction significance  Mores Pp 649 Willian Graham Sumner (1959) coined the term mores. strongly held norms that usually have a moral connotation and are based on the central values of the culture. Violation of mores produce strong negative reactions, which are often supported by the law. Examples are murder, beating a child. Norms provide order and predictability in society.  Mores & Social control Social control: Ways of regulating people’s thoughts and behavior. Observing or making the rules of social life prompts response from others in the form of rewards or punishment. The reward and punishments are referred to as positive and negative sanctions. Sanctions act as a system of social control. As we learn cultural norms, we gain capacity to evaluate our own behavior so doing wrong cause sense of shame and guilt.  Mores & Taboos Pp 649 Certain mores include taboos. norms that are so strongly held that even the thought of violating it are unacceptable and meets with severe sanctions. For instance, in some Muslim cultures, eating pork is taboo because the pig is considered unclean. At the more extreme end, incest and cannibalism are taboos in most places.  Folkways Pp 649 People pay less attention to folkways, which is norms for routine or casual interaction, like “appropriate” greeting and proper dress. norms that permit a wide degree of individual interpretation as long as certain limits are not overstepped. People who violate folkways are seen as peculiar or possibly eccentric, but rarely do they elicit strong public response. Examples are the way a person dresses to work. If someone wore a wedding dress to work it'll look strange or come without shoes on. Read the above and in pairs and determine whether they are Mores or Folkways  Ideal and Real culture Ideal culture often differs from the real culture. Ideal suggests how we should behave while real is what actually occurs in everyday life. But cultural moral standard are important even if they are sometimes broken. E.g., faithfulness in marriage is important even if some are unfaithful.  Material culture and technology Pp 650 Besides symbolic elements, culture include a wide range of physical human creations called artifacts. Artifacts partially reflect the underlying cultural values. Material culture also reflects society’s technology, the knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings. The more complex a society’s technology is, the more its members are able to shape the world for themselves. E.g., advance in technology facilitated crisscross country transportation, but also contributed to air pollution and global warming. Because of importance attached to science and praising sophisticated technologically in Western societies, their people tend to judge cultures with simpler technology as less advanced than their own.  Group Activity (identify the good and bad consequences of technology)Pp 651. See Research conclusion regarding the Amish.  New information technology & culture Industrial production is centered on factories and machinery that generate material goods. Post industrial production is based on computers and other electronic devices that create, process, store and apply information. In this new information economy workers need symbolic skills in place of mechanical skills of the industrial age. Symbolic skills include the ability to: Speak Write Compute Design Create images in fields like art, advertising, & entertainment. Such people generate new cultural ideas, images, and products all the time.  High Culture & Popular Culture It involves social class. High culture: cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite. (attend opera or theater & appreciate fine art and food) Popular culture: cultural patterns that are very widespread among a society’s population (hip-hop music). Country’s national culture is made up of the life patterns of all people, not just by famous people, but also by those who live in most disadvantaged neighborhood. Subculture: represents cultural diversity. Cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society’s population (rich, poor, men, women etc.), they are part of the mainstream culture and represent cultural diversity of modern societies. Almost everyone participate in many subcultures without necessarily having much commitment to any of them. Cultural differences can set people apart from one another with tragic results e.g., former nation of Yugoslavia, 1990’s war. Multiculturalism Pp. 653 Multiculturalism: is a perspective recognizing the cultural diversity of country and promoting equal standing for all cultural traditions. It represent a sharp change from when society downplayed cultural diversity in the past and defined itself primally in terms of well-off European and especially English immigrants. Many cultures did not melt together as much as harden into hierarchy (the WASP in USA). Melting was a process of Anglicization –adoption of English ways. Culture can operate in support of social inequality, e.g., Eurocentrism in USA.  Counterculture Pp 656 Counterculture: It represents outright rejection of the conventional ideas or behaviors Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society. Often perceived as threat by the dominant culture because they challenge the culture’s values. During 1960, youth-oriented rejected mainstream culture as overly competitive, self-centered and materialistic. Instead, hippies as counterculturalists favored cooperative lifestyle where “being” was more important than “doing”, and capacity for personal growth (expanded consciousness) over material possessions.  Cultural change Pp 656 Cultural change is a long-lasting process on individual and community behavior. It include change in the role of parenting, families, organizations such as schools and workplaces; communities and neighborhoods; and wider social influences such as the media Cultures change when something new (say, railroads or smartphones) opens up new ways of living and when new ideas enter a culture (say, as a result of travel or globalization).  Cultural change Pp 657 Cultural lag: some elements of the culture (materials) change faster than others. William Ogburn (1964) observed that (technology) change quickly, than (non-material) ideas. This quick change disturb the cultural system. Has tremendous impact on people’s way of life. Renting womb. Causes of cultural change: 1- inventions, the process of creating new cultural elements. E.g., Telephone, airplane, and computer 2- Discovery, recognizing and understanding more fully something already in existence. E.g. (radium by Marie Curie) 3- Diffusion: the spread of cultural traits from on society to another. Technology today made diffusion great and wide spreading.  Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture Some degree of ethnocentrism is necessary for people to be attached to their way of life High ethnocentrism leads to misunderstanding and conflict Ethnocentrism: Judging another Cultural Relativism: Practice of culture by people’s own cultural Judging a culture by its own standards standards  ‫إن اﻟﻧزﻋﺔ اﻟﻣطﻠﻘﺔ اﻟدﯾﻧﯾﺔ ﺗزﻋم‬ ‫أن ﺑﻌض اﻟﻣﺑﺎدئ اﻷﺧﻼﻗﯾﺔ‬ ‫ﺻﺣﯾﺣﺔ ﻋﺎﻟﻣﯾًﺎ وﻻ ﺗﺗﻐﯾر‪ ،‬وﻏﺎﻟﺑًﺎ‬ ‫ﻣﺎ ﺗﺳﺗﻧد إﻟﻰ اﻟﻌﻘﺎﺋد اﻟدﯾﻧﯾﺔ‪.‬وﻗد‬ ‫ﯾؤدي ھذا أﺣﯾﺎﻧًﺎ إﻟﻰ ﺻراﻋﺎت‬ ‫ﻋﻧدﻣﺎ ﺗﺗﻌﺎرض ھذه اﻟﻣﺑﺎدئ‬ ‫اﻟﻣطﻠﻘﺔ ﻣﻊ اﻟﻣﻣﺎرﺳﺎت‬ ‫واﻟﻣﻌﺗﻘدات اﻟﻣﺗﻧوﻋﺔ ﻟﻠﺛﻘﺎﻓﺎت‬ ‫اﻟﻣﺧﺗﻠﻔﺔ‬ There must be some universal standards of proper conduct! but how can we avoid imposing our own standards on others? No simple answer to this, but it is best to resist making judgments before understanding. Try to think how others might see your own way of life, The end result is better insight into ourselves. Watch this video and in groups list how to apply culture relativism