December 19, 2011

Culture

The World's We Live in

Introduction

Culture is made of the ideas, behavior and social values we share. But why are we all different?

Example-An American teenager may know the following:

*George Washington was the 1st President of the US

*A touchdown in football is worth 6 points.

*The New York Yankees are a baseball team.

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A Masai teenager (living in Tanzania), know none of these things. However, they probably know...

*Red Ochre must be prepared for the hair.

*Cows' blood is a staple for the diet.

*One must build a thorn bush enclosure for cattle.

*A father will choose a wife for his son.

Heredity is the passing on of certain characteristic from parent to child. One of the most visible aspects

of heredity is the way we look. This is a PHYSICAL similarity.

There are many examples of people who look alike but have different ways of behaving.

Example: The Zuni and Apache Indians look very much alike but their cultures are very different from

one another.

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It is therefore possible to reason that physical differences, at least by themselves, cannot explain

the great differences in peoples' behavior.

Environment has also been thought to be a possible explanation for the differences in human behavior.

Environment is one's total surroundings, both geographic and cultural.

Yet the argument that differences in environment can explain the differences in humans fails. If the

way in which people behave depended on the environment, then people living in the same

environment would behave the same.

For example:

Societies living in the forest...

*Use the forest for lumber

*Clear patches of land and farm

*Do not cut the trees at all and use the forest to hunt

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Chapter 1What is Culture?

Let's take a look at the idea or concept of culture.

An anthropologist is a person who studies the way of life of people all over the world.

We could just read what they write but culture is an abstraction.

An abstraction is an idea...something you can't touch or see, it is like gravity.

Back in 1871, E.B. Tylor defined culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities

and habits acquired by people as members of society."

In short - Culture is the total way of life of people in a society.

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Society - a group of people who are united by common ways of living.

Culture - the pattern of living that makes one society different from another.

So what's the difference?

Society is people, it is not a culture. A society HAS a culture.

Three basic ideas about culture

1. Culture has two forms...things we HAVE (artifacts) and things we THINK (ideas)

2. Culture refers to the ACTIONS by which people try to fulfill their basic needs.

3. Cultures differ from society to society.

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Let's look at the Material and Nonmaterial culture

Material Culture

*everything we can touch, see, taste, smell, or hear

*all things that people past or present have invented, discovered, created, or adapted

*this includes:art, clothing, cooking utensils, housing, furniture,

transportation, medicines, tools, and food

Some societies have more material objects than others.

This does NOT make one society better than another. It may mean that it is more complex but it would be difficult to prove whether this complexity is good or

bad.

What is important to anthropologists is how well the society meets the basic human needs of its members.

It is a mistake to think that MORE and GOOD are the same thing.

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Nonmaterial Culture

Consider the following statements:

killing is bad

black cats bring bad luck

people should be hunters

killing ones enemies is good

getting one's feet wet brings illness

Culture includes people's beliefs.

Each of the statements before can be considered a societies nonmaterial culture.

Some beliefs differ greatly between societies.

Example:The Masai believe that killing a cow to provide food for people is a natural thing to do. The Hindu people feel that cows are sacred and must not be killed for

any reason.

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Social Norms

All people eat. Some people eat with their hands, chopsticks, some eat with forks and spoons. Some people sit at a chair and some on the floor. The way

that you eat is determined by your culture.

Social norms are the usual, expected ways of behaving in a society.

Good Morning!

Excuse Me!

Chapter 2

Patterns of Culture

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We have said that culture includes everything we have, think and do, but this is not enough, we need to also know how the contents are fitted together.

Cultural patterns are the ways by which the people of a society organize what they have, think, and do in order to fulfill all of their basic needs.

Every society has at least seven organizational systems that we will call cultural patterns.

Economic Patterns - provide the physical needs of a society (food and shelter)

Culture determines: What will be produced, grown and manufactured

How it is to be produced and by whom (division of labor)

How much is to be produced

How the goods and services produced are to be distributed

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Political Patterns - ways of maintaining order and protection within the society.

What the society's basic ideas and principals of conduct will be.

Who will make the specific laws and decisions within a society.

How the laws and decisions will be made.

How the laws and decisions will be enforced.

By whom the laws and decisions will be enforced.

Courtship and Marriage Patterns - provides rules for dating and wedlock.

In most urban societies the choice of marriage partner is left up to the individual.

In many other cultures the choice of a marriage partner is left to the parents.

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Educational Patterns - determines how and what society learns.

Education is treated differently around the world (some go to school and some learn by experience).

All education begins at home where we are taught from parents the ways of our cultures.

Religious Patterns- Teaches values that guide behavior

This is where children learn myths and beliefs that adults in their culture must know. These ceremonies also help unite the people of a community. Religious beliefs exist to help people understand and adjust to the problems of life.

Religion developed to help people understand and accept the world they live in.

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Artistic Patterns - teaches the standard of beauty of the society.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"The beholders "eye" is trained by the culture.

Assignment of Role Patterns - sets the roles or positions people fill within a society.

In some cultures an army is made up of men, in Dahomey, Africa, women for the highest corps of the army.

In some cultures men are the home builders, in Tanzania this task falls to the woman of the home.

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The Importance of Cultural Patterns

It can be puzzling when such similar things are done in such different ways. However, when learning about the cultural patterns of other people around the world, it is important to remember that, although the patterns are different, they are not better or worse. People fulfill their needs in the way that is best for them.

Chapter 3 Culture is Learned

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Culture is the knowledge of a society. All of the basic problems that a person may face has already

been solved in some way.

For example:

the means of getting food

rules of the government

what to do for fun

Culture is neither inborn or instinctive. No one is born knowing how to farm or hunt.

Things things are all learned.

Human behavior is a result of fulfilling basic needs. Examples:

breathingeating

sleepingresting

finding protection in extreme temperatures

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Human behavior does not necessarily determine how someone will behave.

For example:

eating

The human behavior is to eat but what about how a person eats?

The habits of how, when, and where a person eats is all part of one's culture.

Human behavior is a combination of both cultural and biological needs.

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Cultural Heritage and Biological Inheritance

Biological Inheritance means PHYSICAL characteristics such as skin, eye, and hair color

inherited by one's parents.

Cultural Heritage refers to the characteristics that are passed on from parent to child through

teaching and learning.

An example of the difference between the two:

Someone could be born in China and be adopted by an American. The child would have a biological inheritance of his/her parents but the cultural

heritage of the American.

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Chapter 4

Differences and SimilaritiesAmong Cultures

Each society has its own way of life. And every society has its own patterns of culture. The great number of cultures shows us how inventive and adaptable people are.

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Many societies throughout the world view marriage quite differently than the way we do. In Masai, a bride is purchased.

The parents - or family- of the groom choose a bride for their son (who is close to 30 before he is considered of "marriageable age") and pay for her with cattle.

Among some of the peoples of New Guinea, in the South Pacific, marriages are arranged by the father. A young man might notice a young woman and ask his father to arrange to be married. This would mean the father would have to offer the prospective bride's father a reasonable price (usually measured in livestock.) During the setteling of the price for the bride, the woman has her once chance in life to disagree. Up to this point her father made her decisions and now her husband will.

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When Gopal is ready to be married, his parents will choose a wife for him. She must be a member of his caste and her astrology sign must fit well with his. Gopals' parents will also ask the astrologer to choose a wedding date that will ensure a happy marriage for their son.

In some societies, the only acceptable marriage partner is one's cousin. In others, one may marry the daughter of one's marternal uncle, but not the daughter of one's paternal uncle.

In the Trobriand Islands of the South Pacific, the reverse is practiced!

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Among the Shoshone Indians of Idaho, and among the Australians and Melanesians, interfraternal and interfamiliar - exchange marriages occur. This involves a brother and sister of one family marrying a brother and sister from another family.

Similarly, "Take thou my sister and give me thy sister" was a formula used by the Arab people in Palestine.

Another example of the great variety of marriage customs is the marriage by service.

For example, in Genesis 29:18 Jacob says to Laban, his mother's brother, "I will serve thee (work for you) for seven years for Rachel, thy youngest daughter." But Jacob had to marry the older daughter, Leah, instead, for the firstborn, the older daughter, had to be married before the younger daughter. So Jacob served another seven years for Rachel.

Today this form of marriage is practiced among many Siberian peoples and several Indians.

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Marriage by Inheritance

Another interesting marriage form was followed by both medieval Mongolians in Asia and a group of Indian people in Chile. In their cultures, upon the death of a father, the son inherited all his father's wives, except his own mother. Similarly, among certain tribes of Northern Nigeria, in Africa, a grandson inherited all his late grandfather's wives.

Similarities in Culture: Cultural Universals

Probably the most important is getting enough food to keep alive. Since people can best acquire food by trading or working together with other people, there is the need for some form of economic system.

Every culture also needs a language for communicating and storing knowledge.

The world is made up of men and women who reproduce helpless infants to continue the species demands that there be some type of family structure.

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Chapter 5: Cultural Changes

Changes by invention

Change can be introduced to society in one of two ways: invention and innovation or diffusion. There are very few true inventions. They include the wheel, the lever and the use of fire. Most of what we can inventions today are really innovations. That is they are the development of something new or original from already existing things. An example of this would be the car.

What were some of the inventions and innovations necessary before TV, the airplane, and the desk lamp could be invented?

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Changes by Diffusion

The second method of change is cultural diffusion. This is the process by which cultural traits (norms, ideas and material objects) spread from one society to another. Organizations such as the Peace Corps is an example of diffusion. Trade, war, intermarriage and literature are others.

Change by gain or loss of cultural traits

A culture accepts new traits that fit its purposes and patterns. Americans quickly accepted the ideas of European thinkers about equality and democracy, although they rejected the idea of kings and nobles, which did not seem to fit with the new American culture.

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A culture gives up those traits that it feels are no longer useful. But it will not quickly give up ideas or ways that are important to it.

Culture will have a fast rate of change in things that have rapid developments in technology which often result in the production of things that are out of date before they reach the public. The car is a perfect example of this. We buy a new-model car, car designs were produced 2 years ahead of time meaning our "new" car is already 2 years outdated when we buy it.

Major social institutions and basic values usually change very slowly. This difference in rates of change among the elements in a society is known as cultural lag.

Chapter 6

Cultural Bias

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There is a story of a man named Mr. Jones. He felt that his way of speaking was the "correct way".

At some point he mentioned seeing a police officer. Another man said that is a "bobby", which is what

they they call them in England.

Mr. Jones exploded and said, "well you are wrong! I'm American and we know what they are called!"

The man replied, "Sure, you are American, but let me ask you, who invented the English language?"

People act and think according to the rules of their own culture. Mr. Jones found it difficult to act

differently (to say it kindly), but he became angry at anyone from another culture who did not behave the

same way he did.

Social Scientists would say that Mr. Jones is ethnocentric.

Ethnocentric is a tendency of people to

regard their own culture as superior.

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Since many of the other cultures are different, they are often considered wrong or bad.

Some cultures may see themselves as better or right.

Examples: (and you may not even realize it)

Saying someone else's accent is weird or sounds strange

Laughing at someone else's traditions that are different than yours.

An example:

An American man went to Japan. He was invited into a classroom and was SHOCKED to see that Japan

was in the center of the map in the front of the room. He was used to seeing the United States in

that exact same spot.

It can be difficult to see our own ethnocentrisms in our own country.

It is easy to overlook some of our actions that can be perceived as having a "superior culture".

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Reasons why it can be difficult to see our own ethnocentrism:

1. We are taught at a very early age what is correct or right. (the "correct" way to eat

your food) - informal education

2. It is reinforced in school (formal education) and at home (the appropriate

way to behave).

It is important to show respect to other cultures. This does NOT mean that you must agree with their practices but that you respect their decisions and

their differences.

Every culture is different.

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Summary

Culture is an abstraction.

Culture is everything we have, think and do as a member of society.

Everything we have - Material Culture

Everything we think - Non material Culture

Everything we do - Social Norms

Culture is learned.

There are similarities and differences in all cultures and it is important to remain tolerant.

Ethnocentrism is the tendency of people to regard their own culture as superior.