cross cultural

Chapter 3: Enculturation

Icebreaker: Introduction to Enculturation

• Activity: Break into pairs of students.

• Discussion Questions:

  • What are some life values that are important to you?

  • Example values: treat others with respect, work hard to succeed in life.

  • How did you come to hold those values?

  • Who did you learn them from?

• Outcome: Share discussions with the class.

Chapter Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• 3.1 Define enculturation.

• 3.2 Describe Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory.

• 3.3 Describe how parents and other family members contribute to how children learn the values and norms of their culture.

• 3.4 Describe how peers contribute to how children learn the values and norms of their culture.

• 3.5 Describe the ways in which schools contribute to how children learn the values and norms of their culture.

• 3.6 Explain how children themselves contribute to the process of enculturation.

3-1 Humans Engage in Cultural Learning

• Shared Intentionality: Engaging in shared intentionality allows cultural learning.

  • This means learning not only from others but also learning through others.

• Tomasello’s Study:

  • Children understand intentionality, social learning, and communication on a complex level.

  • This understanding provides the foundation for cooperation with other humans along with social learning and communication.

  • Conclusion: Humans can create and transmit culture in a sophisticated manner.

Enculturation and Socialization (1 of 3)

• Commonality: Across cultures, there is a desire for individuals to become competent, productive adults.

• Variation: The meanings of "competent" and "productive" vary across cultures.

Enculturation and Socialization (2 of 3)

• Prolonged Process: Culture must be learned and practiced through a prolonged process.

• Socialization: This is the process of learning and internalizing rules and patterns of behavior affected by culture.

• Enculturation: Refers to individuals learning and adopting their specific culture's ways and manners.

Enculturation and Socialization (3 of 3)

• Agents of Socialization and Enculturation:

  • These include individuals, institutions, and organizations that ensure socialization and enculturation occurs.

  • Example: Parents who instill values in children.

• Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory:

  • Emphasizes the importance of studying children in relation to their specific contexts for understanding development.

  • Children actively contribute to their own development by interacting with and influencing those around them.

Figure 3.2 - Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory of Human Development

• Visual Aid: Provides a diagrammatic representation of Bronfenbrenner's theory illustrating the interconnectedness of various systems impacting a child's development.

3-2 Culture, Parenting, and Families

• Family: Identified as the most important microsystem influencing a child's development.

• Observational Learning: Observing parents enables children to understand:

  • The essence of a culture.

  • How cultural rules and values are reinforced and passed from generation to generation.

Whiting and Whitings’ Six Cultures Study

• Study Overview: Conducted by anthropologists, this study gathered field data from Mexico, India, Kenya, the USA, Okinawa, and the Philippines.

• Goal: To examine child-rearing practices and children's behaviors in varied cultural contexts.

• Findings:

  • A child's behavior and personality connect to characteristics of the broader ecology.

  • Women's work roles contribute to children's social behaviors.

Diversity in Parenting as a Function of Economics

• Economic Conditions: Varied enculturation processes arise from diverse economic conditions intrinsic to each culture.

• Caregiving Environment Goals:

  • Physical health and survival.

  • Promotion of behaviors leading to self-sufficiency.

  • Encouragement of behaviors aligned with other cultural values.

Parenting Goals and Beliefs

• Parenting Goals:

  • Serve as motivation and framework for raising children effectively.

  • Lead to variations in parenting behaviors across different cultures.

• Parental Beliefs:

  • Parents' beliefs about their roles as caregivers can have a substantial influence on their behaviors.

  • Parental Ethnotheories: These refer to the cultural belief systems held by parents affecting their parenting approach.

Global Parenting Styles

• Authoritarian Parent:

  • Expects unquestioned obedience and sees the child as needing control.

• Permissive Parent:

  • Allows children to self-regulate with few firm guidelines.

• Authoritative Parent:

  • Promotes a loving yet fair and reasonable parenting style.

• Uninvolved Parent:

  • Indifferent and fails to respond appropriately to children.

Parenting Behaviors and Strategies

• Cultural Differences: The most representative cultural difference in parental behaviors tends to be in sleeping arrangements.

• Variations in Parenting Practices: Based on the HOME Inventory findings, the following areas show cultural differences:

  • Warmth and responsiveness.

  • Discipline.

  • Stimulation and teaching.

  • These aspects are aligned with cultural developmental goals.

Domain-Specific Approach to Parenting

• Focus: This approach emphasizes parenting behaviors rather than overarching styles.

• Complexity: Reflects the complexity of enculturation by distinguishing various domains of parent-child socialization:

  • Protection and control.

  • Reciprocity.

  • Guided learning and group participation.

• Application: Parenting practices should be appropriate for the specific domains where a child functions.

Siblings

• Role in Enculturation: Siblings, whether biologically or non-biologically related, play a significant role in the enculturation of children.

• Functions:

  • Can act as tutors, buddies, playmates, and caretakers.

• Skills Learnt: From siblings, children acquire skills such as:

  • Perspective-taking.

  • Social understanding.

  • Conflict negotiation.

• Influence: The repeated and prolonged interactions make older siblings influential role models for younger siblings.

Extended and Multigenerational Families

• Definitions:

  • Extended Families: Include family members other than just parents and children.

  • Multigenerational Families: Can include grandparents along with parents and children or just children.

• Contribution to Child-Rearing:

  • The presence of maternal grandparents can mitigate negative outcomes in cases of teen mothering.

  • They help share resources, emotional support, and provide caregiving.

Activity: Discussion of Families

• Prompt: Reflect on how your parents, siblings, and other family members have influenced your enculturation process.

3-3 Culture and Peers

Exposure to Peer Groups

• Variation in Exposure: Children's exposure to peers varies culturally:

  • In industrialized nations, children spend significant amounts of time with same-aged peers.

  • In solitary agricultural communities, children have fewer opportunities to interact with diverse playmates.

  • In hunting and gathering societies, children socialize with peers of various ages.

Peers and Bullying (1 of 2)

• Public Health Issue: Bullying among peers is recognized as a major concern in public health.

• Olweus’s Criteria for Defining Bullying:

  • Must involve intentional physical or psychological harm.

  • Utilizes a power imbalance between the bully and the victim.

  • Occurs repeatedly over time.

Peers and Bullying (2 of 2)

• Cultural Variations: The rate at which bullying occurs can differ widely across cultures.

• Cyberbullying: Defines bullying occurring through electronic means.

• Challenges in Comparisons: Cross-cultural comparisons can become complicated due to varying definitions of bullying in different cultures.

Activity: Discussion of Peers

• Prompt: Reflect upon your peers from childhood to now, and discuss how they have influenced your enculturation process.

3-4 Culture and the Educational System

Culture and Educational System (1 of 2)

• Educational System Definition: A formalized mechanism for instruction prevalent in various societies and cultures.

  • Serves to teach and reinforce cultural values.

• School Systems:

  • Content taught in schools reflects cultural priorities regarding selective knowledge.

  • Parental and familial values significantly influence differing parenting beliefs about education and impact children’s experiences.

Culture and Educational System (2 of 2)

• Academic Attitudes: Students' approaches toward their academic work are colored by their worldviews, attitudes, and styles of attribution.

  • These differences can be linked to parental variations.

• Teaching Practices: There are significant variations in teaching styles and classroom expectations across cultures, which affect children's academic achievements.

Activity: Discussion of Educational System

• Prompt: Reflect on your educational experiences throughout your life. Discuss the kinds of teaching practices and school environments you experienced and their contributions to your enculturation process.

3-5 Conclusion

• Cultural Transmission: Each culture’s methods of raising children reflect its strategies for ensuring the transmission of values and norms to future generations.

• Ritualization: Practices are often ritualized to communicate information from one generation to the next.

• Contemporary Theories: Children actively process information, leading to both the reproduction of culture and the creation of new cultural elements.

• Lifelong Process: Enculturation continues throughout life, adapting over time.

Activity: Self-Assessment

• Questions: Reflect on the following:

  • How are humans different from all other animals in their learning processes?

  • How does Bronfenbrenner conceptualize the different contexts of enculturation?

  • What characteristics define the four major parenting styles examined globally?

  • Describe the domain-specific approach to parenting.

  • How is bullying defined, and what cultural variations are observed regarding it?

  • Discuss at least two cultural variations in classroom environments.