PPC 2

Language

It is primarily means used to transmit information and ideas (cultural transmission)

Knowledge of local langauge can help because:

• It permits an understanding of the situation

• It provides direct access to local people

• It gives an understanding of implied meanings

Norms

These are standards and expectations for behaving

Mores

It is considered to be deeply held values that we do not want to break (behaviors that are (morally) acceptable to a society or social group).

Examples of violations of mores

• Cohabitation with a romantic partner before marriage

• Lying, cheating on a test

• Wearing an inappropriate dress to a religious service

• Watching pornography

• Racial discrimination

• Using drugs (heroin, cocaine, etc.)

• Driving at 90mph in a residential area

2 types of Mores

• Positive mores or Duty

• Negative mores or Restriction

Polygamy

It means a system of marriage whereby one person has more than one spouse

Polygyny

A man marries more than one woman
- this is permitted in Islam

Polyandry

A woman marries more than one man
- this is prohibited in Islam

Laws

• These are written and enforced rules that guide behaviors

• These are system of rules that are enforced by some institution (police or government)

• Is is different from mores in that they are guided by an authority as opposed to a society’s moral beliefs

Taboos

• tabu, tapu, tongan

• These are banned on grounds of morality or taste

• These violations are considered to be extremely offensive, even unmentionable

Example of Taboo

Parents of Egyptian Pharoah Tutankhamun; were brother and sister

You cannot call a genital by its actual name

• ASOKO is the default way to say this w/o getting in trouble

• This is a taboo in Japan because they have a conservative culture and life; it’s all about respect

• It is considered a very serious abomination, especially the female one

• America finds this hard to follow

Never do the Nazi greeting

• This is a grave offense in Germany

• You could get arrested for it for 5 years

• You must avoid talking about this topic or anything related to it

The burning flag is an issue

• Americans value their national flag; they’re practically in love with it

• You could face a serious penalty if you burn it

Religious Taboo: Hinduism

• marrying outside religion

• women during their 4 days of menstrual cycle are considered impure and not even allowed to enter temples and kitchen

Religious Taboo: Islam

• Consumption of alcohol (major sin or haram)

• homosexuality (big sin and a crime because it is a vile form of fornication punishable by death)

Religious Taboo: Judaism

• a Jew must only marry a Jew

• All food must be Kosher (In accordance to Jewish law)

Kosher Rules

• Certain animals may not be eaten at all

• of the animals that may be eaten, they must be killed in accordance with Jewish law

• All blood must be drained or broiled out of it before it’s eaten

• Fruits and vegetables are permitted but must be inspected for bugs and disease

• Meat can’t be eaten with dairy

• Fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and grains can be eaten with either meat or dairy

• Utensils that have come into contact w/ meat may not be used with dairy, and vice versa

• Utensils that have come contact with non-kosher food may not be used w/ kosher food

13th floor

A cultural taboo in the United States where it is considered bad luck for a building to have this

4th floor

A cultural taboo in China where it is considered bad luck for a building to have this

You should not take a photo of three people

It is a cultural taboo that is believed by Cambodians

Don’t bring fine wine as a gift

A cultural taboo in France

Never wear red to a funeral

A cultural taboo in China

Never write a person’s name in red

A cultural taboo in Korea

Singapore Taboos

• Slapping your fist into the open palm of the other hand can be an obscene gesture

• Avoid sticking your chopsticks upright in a bowl

• Do NOT litter and chew gum and smoke in public because these are illegal practices

Philippines Taboos

• Avoid refusing a meal at someone’s house

• It is considered rude to talk to your superiors as equals

• Avoid addressing elders by their first names

Food and Drink Taboos

Eating a cow is prohibited, as it is thought of as God’s useful gift to mankind as it provide dairy products

Folkways

These are learned behavior, shared by a social group that provides a a traditional mode of conduct

William Graham Sumner

According to him, an American Sociologist, who coined the term, folkways are social conventions that are not considered to be of moral significance by members of the group govern casual or informal social intereaction

Socialization

Folkways is learned thru this into a particular culture

As we grow up in a particular place, we come to understand how we’re expected to behave in public settings.

Custom/s

• It is a usage or practice common to many or to a particular place or group of people.

• It can be a new practice

• It is a behavior that is HABITUAL but not necessarily passed down.

• If passed down for generations, it can become a tradition.

Symbols

• basis of human culture

• types of non-verbal communication, others are material objects

• to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture

• They carry meanings that depend upon one’s cultural bg

• The meaning of this is not inherent itself but it is culturally learned

Stars

It portrays a sense of importance and noticeability

Arrows

It conveys direction and give an order

Rainbow

• Often seen after a rain

• It signifies new beginnings, hope, the fulfillment of a dream and the promise of prosperity

The “V” Sign

• USA - a harmless backwards sign for peace

• Australia, UK, Ireland, NZ - seen as rude and frequently used to signify contempt or defiance towards authority

Occult Symbols

• Referring to the knowledge of the unknown and the hidden

• It is associated with the paranormal, which goes beyon logic and reason

Symbols that reflect a culture of inclusion tell people is safe and they are valued

Examples:

• Safe zone: sexual orientation, gender appropriation, gender identity

• Lactation Room

• All gender restroom

Values

• It is society’s ideas about what is good or bad, right or wrong - such as the widespread belief that stealing is immoral and unfair

• It determines how individuals will probably respond in any given circumstances

Attitude

• It is a persistent tendency to feel and behave in a particular way

• It is the external displays of underlying beliefs that people uses to signal to other people

Rituals

• patterned, repetitive, and symbolic enactment of a cultural belief or value

• process or sets of actions that are repeated in specific circumstances and with a specific meaning

• may be used in rites of passage, such as when someone is promoted or retires

• most commonly thought of as religious, but they can enact secular beliefs and values as effectively as religious ones

• by aligning behavior and creating shared experiences, this forges a sense of belonging and common identity which transforms individuals into cohesive communities

Material Culture

• It is the aspect of social reality grounded in the objects and architecture that surround people

• It includes usage, consumption, creation, and trade of objects as wells as the behaviors, norms, and rituals that the objects create or take part in

• Ex: tools, weapons, utensils, machines, ornaments, art, buildings, monuments, written records, religious images, clothing

Education / Educational Culture

These are beliefs and attitudes about the learning/ teaching process, in particular the values, preconceptions and ideas about what must or must not be done, what is correct or desirable, what is expected or not from the learning experience

Physical Artifacts

• British: artefact

• American: artifact

• physical objects created and used by humans

• may include such items as eating utensils, tools, clothing, and coins

• it tells us about past events and provides information on how people before us lived their lives: how they built their houses and how they organized their communities

• ancient artifacts are simply objects that give evidence about people’s lives in the distant past

Ceremonies and Celebrations

• Oxford Dictionary: A formal religious or public occasion, especially one celebrating a particular event, achievement, or anniversary

• Without these events, culture will die. In its absence, important values have no impact (Deal and Kennedy, 1982)

Ceremony

• A ritual with religious significance

• An official gathering to celebrate, commemorate, or otherwise mark some event

• A formal socially established behavior, often in relation to people of different ranks

• (obsolete) An omen or portent

Celebration

• The formal performance of a solemn rite, such as Christian sacrament

• The observance of a holiday or feast day, as by solemnities

• The act, process of showing appreciation, gratitude and/or remembrance, notably as a social event

• A social gathering for entertainment and fun; a partu

Non-material culture

• the abstract or intangible human creation of society that influences people’s behaviors

• dress codes, political systems, family patterns, work practices, traffic laws, thoughts, rules of behavior, language, beliefs, values, knowledge

• its aspect is the meaning and substance inherent in culture

Kinds of Family Patterns (according to Line of Descent)

• Patrilineal

• Matrilineal

• Bilineal

Patrilineal

Descent is recognized thru the father’s line

Matrilineal

Descent is recognized thru the mother’s line

Bilineal

Descent is recognized thru both the father’s and mother’s line

Kinds of Family Patterns (according to Place of Residence)

• Patrilocal

• Matrilocal

• Neolocal

Patrilocal

married couple lives with the parents of the husband

Matrilocal

married couple lives with the parents of the wife

Neolocal

married couple maintains a separate household and live by themselves

Kinds of Family Patterns (according to Authority)

• Patriarchal

• Matriarchal

• Equalitarian

Patriarchal

Father is considered the head and play dominant role

Matriarchal

Mother is considered the head and makes the major decisions

Equalitarian

Both the mother and father share in making decisions and are equal in authority

Cultural Relativism

• the view that any aspect of a culture that is being observed should not be judged not by the standards of the observer’s culture but form the perspective itself

• the view that all beliefs, customs and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context

• right and wrong are culture specific, what is considered moral in one’s society maybe considered immoral in another and since no universal standard of morality exists, no one had the right to judge another society’s customs

Ethnocentrism

• The tendency of using your own culture as the standard for judging other cultures as right or wrong

• It tends to make us close-minded and culturally insensitive

Positive effects of Ethnocentrism

It creates in-group loyalty

Negative effects of Ethnocentrism

It can lead to harmful discrimination against people whose ways differ from us

Xenocentrism

• the opposite of Ethnocentrism

• It refers to the belief that another culture is superior to one’s own

• Greek: Xeno (means stranger or foreign guest)

Examples of Xenocentrism

• People in Saudi Arabia may prefer to buy Pepsi Cola and other food products that originate in the US

• Americans’ belief that European’s produce superior automotive vehicles

• European Renaissance artists desire to emulate ancient Greek artwork

• Americans belief that French or Spanish wine is superior to what is produced by American vineyards

• The belief that cheese in France are far superior to those in the US

Cultural Imperialism

• Also called cultural colonialism

• Comprises the cultural aspects of Imperialism (domination)

• the practice of promoting and imposing a culture (usually that of a politically powerful country) over a less powerful society.

• This may take the form of the cultural hegemony of industrialized, politically and economically influential countries influencing general cultural values and standardizing (globalizing) civilizations elsewhere

Ex. Economic, military, and cultural influence of the US on other countries

Cultural Lag

• the notion that culture takes time to catch up with technological innovations

• when the material conditions change, changes are occasioned in the adaptive culture, but these changes in the adaptive culture do not synchronize exactly with the changes in the material culture

• it connotes crippled movement

William Ogburn

According to him, cultural lag refers to human lagging behind technological innovations

• a group material culture usually changes first, with the non-material culture lagging behind

Cultural Lag according to Marshall (1999)

It is seen as a critical ethical issue because failure to develop broad social consensus on appropriate application of modern technology may lead to breakdowns in social solidarity and the rise of social conflict

Human Embryonic stem cells

An example of cultural lag whereas we have the necessary technology to turn stem cells into neurons but have not yet developed ethical guidelines and cultural consensus on this practice

Cultural Shock

• feelings of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people may experience when moving to a new country or experiencing a new culture or surroundings

• This cultural adjustment is normal and is the result of being in an unfamiliar environment

Kalervo Oberg

• He coined the term culture shock in the mid 1950’s

• Defines it as “the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse”

• “A person is not born with a culture but only with the capacity to understand it and use it”

Common symptoms of Culture Shock

• Anxiety, depression, loneliness

• Being homesick

• Disturbed sleep patterns

• Remoteness or isolation

• Decreased productivity

• Poor time management

• Drastic personality changes

Commonly experienced Culture shock

• Climate

• Food

• Language

• Clothing

• Values

• Etiquette and behavior

Culture Assimilation

• It occurs when a person from a certain culture becomes surrounded by a different culture for quite some time and he decides to forget the original culture and adopt the new culture completely

• It occurs when an ethnic minority sacrifices its own culture to integrate into society

Subculture

• an identifiable subgroup within a society or group of people, especially one characterized by beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger group

• they develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, political, and sexual matters

Cultural Acculturation

• the process of cultural contact and exchange thru which a person or group comes to adopt certain values and practices of a culture that is not originally their own, to a greater or lesser extent

• the original culture of the person or group remains, but it is changed by this process (manage to keep the original culture to some degree)

Counterculture

• a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically oppose to mainstream cultural mores

• subcultures that has oppositional components of culture

Cultural diffusion

The spreading out and merging of pieces from different cultures

Cultural leveling

• it refers to the gradual process by which all cultures become more and more alike

• the result of a more rapid pace of cultural diffusion made possible by the internet and other forms of mass communication

Cultural Divergence

It is the tendency for culture to become increasingly dissimilar with passage of time

Ex. Amish people resist outside influences of modern technology, clothes, and pop culture

Cultural Convergence

This is the theory that 2 cultures will be more and more like each other as their interaction increase. Basically, the more that cultures interact, the more that their values, ideologies, behaviors, arts, and customs will start to reflect each other.

Cultural Appropriation

It is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of an element/s of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures.

Ex. Kim Kardashian receives backlash for wearing “Om” earrings

High Culture

• It encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society consider representative of their culture

• understood as the culture of an educated elite

Example:

• Ballet: Fine arts, opera, classical music, poetry

• Elite activities like visual art, auditory art, and applied art like photography, design and architecture

• includes expensive restaurants that serve caviar and play classical music

Low culture

• derogatory term for forms of POPULAR CULTURE that have mass appeal

• encompass such things as gossip magazines, reality television, popular music, yellow journalism, escapist fiction, and sports like basketball and boxing

Popular Culture

• traditionally used synonymously to mean low culture

• was associated with poor education and the lower classes, as pposed to the “official culture” and higher education of the upper classes (educated life)

• It is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images, and other phenomena that are w/in the mainstream of given culture

Characteristics of Popular Culture

1. Associated w/ commercial products and paraphernalias, demand develops and expands due to media, marketing and dissemination process

2. Develops from a local to a global level

3. Achieves widespread consumer access

4. Constantly changing and evolving

Diffusion of Popular Culture

• print, radio, films, television, internet, social media platforms, news organizations

• elements of popular culture often begin in urban areas, and diffuse quickly thru the media, particularly the internet

• they can quickly by adopted globally

Print

with the invention of ________press in the 16th century, mass-produced , cheap books became widely available to the public

Radio

the creation of _____telegraph in the 1980’s, led to the modern _____ which influenced a more “listened-to” culture, w/ individuals being able to feel like they have a more direct impact.

• This culture is vital because it was imperative to advertising, and it introduced the commercial

Films

• highly influential to popular culture

• an art form are what people seem to respond to the most

Cinema

In film, this has been used as a medium of cultural expression to reflect the values, beliefs, and experiences of various societies

It has also been used to challenge cultural norms, such as the portrayal of women in society.

Filmmakers

They have used cinema to explore cultural themes such as family, love, and religion.

Netflix

It is a massive trend setter

Maharaja

It is the most viewed Indian film with 18.6M views and counting in Netflix

• A barber seeks vengeance after his home is burglarized, cryptically telling police his “LAKSHMI” has been taken, leaving them certain if it’s a person or an object. His quest to recover the elusive “lakshmi” unfolds.

Television / Television Advertisements

• advertising and culture are closely related and cannot be easily separated: culture provides sources of content for advertisements

• advertising shapes our cultural values on universal platform and the other side is also true; the cultural values shape up our advertising. In fact, both interact w/ each other

Animation

• figures are manipulated to appear as moving images

• In its traditional form, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film

• today most of these are made with COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGERY (CGI)

The Wild Robot

This film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $329M worldwide on a production budget of $78M and becoming the 6th highest grossing animated film of 2024