2. culture

characteristics of a group - society

• clothing

• religion

• language

• food

• music

• hobbies

• customs

• traditions

• values

• beliefs

  • encompasses the behaviors, the beliefs, values, and symbols that people learn and share as members of society. it i snot innate but learned and passed down generationally.

• culture is

  • shared

    • created within a group or society

  • learned

    • acquired, enculturation (how we learn culture, through socialization), begins in childhood.

  • symbolic

    • relies on symbols.

      • language, gestures

        • convey meaning

  • dynamic

    • not static, but changes over time due to innovations and external influences

  • integrated

    • aspects of culture

      • i.e. economy, religion, politics…

• worldview

  • me - us → individualistic

  • us - me → collectivist

• time, space, reality sets cultures apart.

  • indigenous people look at time in a circular way, we look at time linear

  • we have very wide personal space, other cultures have narrower

    • the combination of these things creates a reality

• enculturation

  • agents of enculturation

    • family

    • peers

    • educational institutions

    • media

• cultural norms, values, and worldviews

  • norm - what is expected

  • value - what is important

  • worldview - time, space, reality

• symbols / language

  • symbol - anything that represents something else

    • recognized by a culture

• ethnocentrism, cultural relativism

  • ethnocentrism - my culture is better than your culture

  • cultural relativism - understand a culture on its own terms without bias

    • helps cultural anthropologists not push their own values onto others

• the components of culture

  • material

    • physical objects - resources, spaces where culture is defined

  • non-material

    • intangible aspects - how do we use material culture, beliefs, practices, norms

  • culture lag - non material culture is unable to keep up with material culture

    • example: oil. we use oil for fuel (physical object) and we now have to deal with the environmental repercussions.

• cultural change

  • innovation - new ideas, technologies

  • diffusion - the spread of culture.

  • acculturation - cultural exchange between groups and involves power dynamics

  • globalization - create an interconnected world

• cultural universals - particularities

  • universal - need of water

  • particularity - how the water is accessed and used.

• counter culture / sub culture

  • counter culture - any culture that tries to change the existing culture

  • sub culture - a culture within a larger culture ‘

• culture and power

  • hegemony - dominance of one groups ideology over others.

    • that is the “should be”

  • agency - the ability to challenge and change cultural norms

groupwork -