Intro to Modern Humanities

what is culture?

system of meanings; how a group of people understand and give meaning to the world and see their place in it

what is forced on things/events by people?

meaning and significance

what is the primary way to express meaning?

language

what are some forms of expression?

images, rituals, social organization, and language

what can culture form through?

kinship, government, and social groups

what is social reproduction?

how a society’s customs and social relationships continue over time

how can culture be understood?

social/material products of a society, techniques involved in production, and shared meaning

what is a cultural group?

people who connect with the same meanings to the world and events

why is culture always changing?

influence within and outside the group

where is meaning taught?

within culture

what can be culture be described as?

negotiated meanings associated with events, symbols/language, behaviors, and rituals

what does everyday life express?

expression and practices culture informed by cultural values and communication

what groups of people privilege certain cultures over the others?

dominant social groups and classes

in what times were cultural forms we consider high were seen as base?

earlier times

what is social reality described as?

things we take for granted or accept as natural despite cultural/temporal relativity

what do accepted truths form?

basis of social organization

what do we accept parameters of individual/group identity as?

real, unlimited variations of these categories

what does subjectivity describe?

the experience of understanding someone’s identity within and across cultural groups

what do we retain frames on?

functional levels, some only exist on legal levels

how do development of frames produce cultural responses?

through technological and economical changes

what does traditional culture want to do?

reproduce its material culture, social relations in the present, and maintain them in the future

traditional methods =

mythology

why is moving away from past ways of doing frowned upon?

if it ain’t broke don’t fix it and change is seen as an insult to cultural identity and customs

what comes before self-interest and individualism in traditional society?

group well-being and identity

what does modern culture thrive on?

innovation

what does modern society need?

technical, social, and economic change

what do modern societies justify and narrate?

their methods rationally , evaluate changes and challenges to status quo rationally

what replaces kinship as a social organization?

bureaucracy

in modern culture what is associated with religious or spiritual explanations?

phenomenas that can’t be explained

social identity (prehistory/neolithic)

tribal (extended family); individual identity is subordinate to membership in tribe

political hierarchy (prehistory/neolithic)

gerontocracy (elders), shamans, priests

communication (prehistory/neolithic)

face-to-face; fixed and moveable visual art, and oral tradition

metaphysics (prehistory/neolithic)

animist, ritual magic, polytheism (neolithic)

social identity (antiquity)

subject or citizen of tribe or city-state

political hierarchy (antiquity)

republic, some limited democracy

communication (antiquity)

messenger (written/oral), written, visual arts, oral, history, epic poetry

metaphysics (antiquity)

polytheistic, some monotheism

social identity (feudalism)

subject of God and King

political hierarchy (feudalism)

patrilineal nobility, religious institutional hierarchy

communication (feudalism)

oral/written

metaphysics (feudalism)

monotheism

social identity (modernity)

individualism, citizen of a nation-state, constituted as citizen/consumer

political hierarchy (modernity)

democratic participation, representative governance, class identity and capitalist economy

communication (modernity)

print capital, emergence of shrinking world and electronic communication

metaphysics (modernity)

scientific rationalism, linear models

social identity (post-modernity)

fragmented individualism

political hierarchy (post-modernity)

democracy, totalitarianism

metaphysics (post-modernity)

new physics, quantum theory, post-modernism, and centerless/multidimensional models