CULTURE Learned set of beliefs, values, and norms

Creation of culture is universal phenomenon but the form it takes is not

Cultural Universals• Cultural Universals are customs and

practices that occur across all societies.• Examples:

– Appearance (bodily adornment, hairstyles)– Activities (sports, dancing, games, joking)– Social institutions (family, law, religion)– Practices (cooking, folklore, gift giving)

Material (Jewelry, Fashion, Weapons of War,

Technology)

An expression of …… Non-Material

Beliefs, Norms, Values, Symbols

Other American Values? Achievement Religiosity Individualism Education Work Ethic Romantic Love Efficiency Democracy Rationalization Freedom Material Comfort Equality Progress Humanitarianism

Value Contradictions and Social Change

It is precisely at the point of value contradictions, then, that one can see

a major force for social change in a society.

Norms Folkways – informal -- violation is minimal Mores – moral component -- violation

might be severe Laws – formalized and enforced Taboos – most important -- violation

causes repulsion

Nature Versus Nurture Sociability Intelligence Sensitive hands Vocality Eyesight Upright posture Instincts

What instincts do we have?

Instincts versus Innate behaviors Reflexive behaviors

Instincts

Innate capacities

SymbolsArtifacts, gestures, Material and non-material objects that we impute meaning upon and they come to stand for something

Symbols of Love

Life Gem Memorials

“Have your loved one close to you always”Turn their ashes into a diamond!

Diamonds are rare? ?????? More than 800,000,000 mined each year

Symbols Change over time…..

Old Symbol

New Symbol

Has given way to ????

What is “consumer culture” in the U.S. ?

Powerful marketing convinces us to buy things we would not normally purchase

The manufacturing of desire??

Postmodernism & Consumer Culture

Cultural Leveling – the ‘McDonaldization of Society” -- more sectors of society are adopting the principles of fast-food restaurants

Credit cards are our tools of consumption

3.5 billion letters per year to solicit new consumers

83 percent of college students have at least one and average debt is almost $3,000

Consumer Culture and Credit….. Credit card companies now control debit

cards too. They consider those who pay off their credit

cards at the end of the month as “deadbeats” - Why might this be the case?

Postmodernism? An eclectic blending of facets of culture

old/new, east/west, high/low Globalization

Cultural Lag -- material and non-material move at different pace

Components of McDonaldization Efficiency, such as a drive-through windows, ready-made

fast-food is meant to get us in and out fast.

Calculability is emphasis on large quantities, e.g., Big Mac, Whopper or Biggie Fries – mass production

Predictability - people don't like surprises, and at chains they know what to expect: A Big Mac tastes the same in Syracuse as in Salt Lake City.

Control -- options are limited to force customers through –also includes replacing human workers with machines, which are much easier than humans to manage.

Information Overload?? Advertising…… Are we swimming in a sea of messages??

“copywriters, market researchers, pollsters, consultants, and even linguists—most of whom work for one of six giant companies—spend billions of dollars and millions of man-hours trying to determine how to persuade consumers what to buy, whom to trust, and what to think. Increasingly, these techniques are migrating to the high-stakes arena of politics, shaping policy and influencing how Americans choose their leaders.” pbs--frontline

Culture has two faces…. It can allow us to exercise our freedoms

But because it is so taken for granted…. It can also constrain us and we never even

realize it.

“Beauty” always refers to

the female body

“What are the norms for feminine beauty?

Do your ideas coincide? Differ?

How did this happen?

Culture told us to do it

How does it stay this way?

We’ve embodied those images

If Barbie Was Real.. Height 7’2”

Measurement 40-22-36 Weight 83 lbs / 50 lbs would be her breasts

Neck would be twice as long as a normal human

If real, she could not menstruate because she would not have enough body fat

Average Woman in America -- 5’4” 60% wear size 12 or higher

Average Mannequin 6’ 34-22-34 Size 6

“To men a man is but a mind. Who cares what face he carries or what he wears? But woman's body is the woman.”

Ambrose Bierce (1958)

Why is it that…… Attractiveness is a prerequisite for

femininity -- but not for masculinity or this changing too????

Would you go through physical torture to achieve attractiveness?

You would not be the first to do so…..

Questions Would you consider cosmetic surgery for

yourself?

31% women 20% men said yes 27% 18 to 24 years old said yes to now or

in the future 27% white 24% non-white

Percentage change 2010 vs. 2009 13.1 million cosmetic procedures 5% • 1.6 million cosmetic surgical

procedures 2% • 11.6 million cosmetic minimally-

invasive procedures 5% 5.3 million reconstructive procedures

2%http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Documents/news-resources/statistics/2010-statisticss/Top-Level/2010-US-cosmetic-reconstructive-plastic-surgery-minimally-invasive-statistics2.pdf

Overall, women have 91 percent of cosmetic procedures number of surgical and nonsurgical procedures

But men are jumping on the cosmetic surgery bandwagon

Source:http://www.yourplasticsurgeryguide.com/trends/charts-graphs.htm

Americans spend approximately $13.2 billion on cosmetic procedures .

http://www.cosmeticplasticsurgerystatistics.com/statistics.html#2007-FACTS

Top five cosmetic surgeries Breast Augmentation Nose Reshaping Eyelid Surgery Liposuction Tummy Tuck

Top five Cosmetic – minimally Invasive BOTox Soft tissue fillers Chemical Peels Laser Hair Removal Microdermabrasion

Food Poisoning? Sales of Botox grew "at double the rate at

constant currency internationally than in the United States." Botox sales rose 18 percent to $315.5 million, while eye-care pharmaceuticals sales increased 22 percent, to $492.2 million. Medical devices sales rose 23 percent to $203.4 million, with obesity intervention sales up 36 percent and facial aesthetics sales up 24 percent.

Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080507/earns_allergan.html

A sampling of 2,000 girls, with an average age of 15, found that 42 percent have considered getting plastic surgery.

The number of cosmetic surgery procedures has jumped a whopping 457 percent since ASAPS first began gathering these stats in 1997.

Chinese foot binding –

the first historical example of objectification and first sign of norms that

demanded conformity. “golden lotus”

Trying to fitAll the normsOf attractiveness

Can drive us crazy!

American Culture = Diet Culture

Which also means….. Culture of anorexia/bulimia

Culture of obesity

In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.

One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia

Two to three in 100 American women suffers from bulimia

Nearly half of all Americans personally know someone with an eating disorder

An estimated 10 – 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are males

Approximately 25 million more are struggling with binge eating disorder

www.nationaleatingdisorders.org

Once described as “Western Disease”

As many as 150,000 will die of the disease

Very rare disorder until 1970

Women become both producers of …. and products of our culture…. Early 90s – one study found that 25-33% of college women use vomiting

after meals as a method of weight control . See www.nationaleatingdisorders.org For who is at risk among dieters

Another study found…. A majority of woman and men rate

borderline anorexic bodies as very attractive

Attractiveness ratings do not vary for men as they age – for women, the older they are, the lower their rating.

Real versus Ideal Culture Myths

We all start out with the same opportunities

Factors like age, gender, social class, race, ethnicity can inhibit or enhance your

chances in life

Cultural Change Diffusion - spread of culture Imperialism – imposition of culture

Ethnocentrism – judgment of culture

Ethnocentrism A little goes a long way…… Often times --- To say that you are ready to die for cultural

identity means that you’re also ready to kill for cultural identity.

  For examples of this -- look to the Middle East,

India, Africa (e.g., Israel, Palestine, former Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Ruwanda)

Could it be that… Sometimes culture becomes an instrument

of repression, exclusion, and extinction?

Honor Killings, Genital Mutilation

Tempocentrism – judgment of time period Relativism – appreciation as equally valid

Relativist Fallacy – going too far with appreciation

“Basic Human rights”

Functional Perspective

  Culture reflects our structural arrangements in a

given society Division of labor….Kinship relations serves both manifest and latent functions folklore, ideologies, rituals, symbols, values, etc.

support these relations by giving people reasons for their lives and besides, they are learned at a very early age and generally accepted by all who surround us -- they are binding

Conflict Perspective:

 Culture reflects our structural arrangements in a given society -- most often the ideas of

those in power Culture, what we see all around us, often gets

there via cultural gatekeepers (powerful organizations, individuals, groups, that have control over the introduction of cultural innovations -- i.e., what makes it and what doesn’t)

 

Bourdieu offers two important terms for us symbolic capital – consists of culturally approved

intangibles – honor, integrity, trust, goodwill – that may be accumulated and used for tangible gain – Disney – Walmart -- GE

We buy their products because we have public trust in them

Toyota????

Cultural capital habits, tastes, mannerisms used to

distinguish class location – High cultural knowledge converts to social and economic advantage Knowing how to dress for successHow to comport oneself in accordance with elite statusTable manners, knowledge of wine, arty chit-chat

Cultural Capital among the Rich

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective:

 Culture is shaped by daily face-to-face interactions  

People’s perceptions of themselves are derived through subcultures

We are a nation of subcultures ( look through the greeting cards at Hallmark or Wal-mart)

Pop Culture versus High Culture Pop - activities, products, customs, traditions that

belong to the “masses” or the middle and working classes. Sometimes called “mass” culture 

High -- same as above but restricted to those in the upper classes. Sometimes called “elite” culture

Language Language involves symbols that express

ideas and enable people to communicate. Can be verbal or nonverbal Allows us to:

create visual images Share experiences Maintain group boundaries

How does language affect us?

Does language determine how we see the world?

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis…. Linguistic Relativity……. We acquire not only words but perceptions of the world.

New Words Memory foam Unfriend Carbon Footprint Green-collar Twitter Facebook Flash Mob Waterboarding Staycation Sock Puppet

A language-based predisposition to think about women in sexual terms reinforces the notion that women are sexual objects.

Ethnic slurs predispose us to think about groups in derogatory terms