CULTURE

CULTURE
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS HAVE A CULTURE
© Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri, 2013
WHY CULTURE SHOCK?
Cultural Diversity (Obvious/Surface)
 Cultural differences often result in
travelers feeling a sense of ‘culture
shock’ only because they rank order

these differences, making their own
cultures the standard.
Ethnocentrism (Unobvious/Deep)

Eurocentrism and Westernocentrism: Are particular kinds of
Ethnocentrism
AVOIDING CULTURE SHOCK

1. Cultural Relativism

All cultures are equally developed according to their own
priorities and values; none is better, more advanced than any
other.

2. Xenocentrism.

Definitions:
 the
preference for the products, styles, or ideas of
someone else's culture rather than of one's own
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki )
 The tendency to assume that aspects of other cultures
are superior to one's own.
(www.webref.org/sociology).
MAJOR CONCEPTS OF CULTURE:













Culture Shock
Ethnocentrism
Cultural Relativism
Xenocentrism
Culture: Material and Non-material
Culture Web
Values and Beliefs
Norms: Folkways, Mores, Taboos, Sanctions
Cultural universals and Cultural uniformity
Cultural Diversity and Multiculturalism
Mainstream Culture, Subculture and Counterculture
High Culture and Popular Culture
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis of language
CULTURAL WEB: Connections
Between Material Culture & Nonmaterial Culture
Emotions
& Rituals
Decorations
Ideas
VALUES &
BELIEFS
Food
Technology &
Infrastructure
Norms
Customs/
Traditions
Symbols &
Entertainment
QUIZ 10
Mark Tonto, a Camosun Anthropology
Student thinks that the realm of the “ideal, the
spiritual, emotional and the moral” (as
opposed to the “material, technological, and
the social-structural”) is the only way culture
exists in human society. Is Mr. Tonto’s
definition of culture sociologically correct?
a)
b)
c)
d)
YES
NO
Both Yes and No
None of the above
CORE DIMENSIONS OF
CULTURE

VALUES:--Ideologies used to
judge.

This is a structure of ideas that people have about
good and bad, about beautiful and ugly, and about
right and wrong, which are the justifications that
people cite to explain their actions (Bartle 2004:56).
“What makes a Woman Beautiful?” (See page 135
of the required textbook).

CANADIAN CULTURAL
VALUES

See pages 128-131 of Textbook.
HIERARCHY OF NORMS
Most Important Norms
TABOO
MORES
FOLKWAYS
More Important Norms
Least Important
Norms
CULTURAL UNIVERSALS

Elements of culture that all societies have in
common:
 Values
 Beliefs
 Symbols
 Norms
 Institutions
 Technology
CULTURAL UNIFORMITY OR
MONOCULTURALISM



Similarity in the expression of cultural
universals.
CLOBAL CULTURE?
Example:
 Similar forms of clothing, pop music, consumer
goods and services, language
(English/Spanish/French) and consumer values
found in Seoul, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur,
Madras, Paris, New York, Cairo, Lagos, Accra,
Nairobi, Toronto, Moscow, Tokyo, Singapore,
Camberra, Bonies Aires, Mexico City,
Kingston, London, etc.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY



variations in the expression of cultural universals
across space and time: E.G.?
VARIATIONS IN LANGUAGE:
Did You Know….that 1) there are approximately
7000 languages spoken in the world today? 2)
Lakota is a gendered language in which women
and men speak slightly different dialects? 3)
According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, the
language a person uses shapes his or her
perception of reality and therefore his or her
thoughts and actions?
CULTURAL DIVERSITY


VARIATIONS IN CULTURES: (Pages 131134 of Textbook)
1. Value Orientations:
 High
Secular-Rational and High Self-Expressive
Values (INDIVIDUALISM)
 Low Secular-Rational and Low Self-Expressive
Values (COLLECTIVISM)

2. Emphasis on Human Development:
 Human Choice (INDIVIDUALISM)
 Human Constraint (COLLECTIVISM)
INDIVIDUALISM
COLLECTIVISM
Source: Pacific Resources Education Programs, Inc.
Independence
Dependence
•I’m
an individual, unique and special in my own right
•My heroes are those who can claim to be “self-made.
•My
Competition
Cooperation
•Competition brings
out the best in me.
•Competition acts as a motivator to stimulate me to
excel.
•We
Directness
Indirectness or Saving Face
•To
be assertive and sometimes even aggressive is
positive.
•Don’t beat around the bush.
•One
Time and Task as Priority
Interaction as Priority
•Agendas,
•Courtesy,
timetables, and promptness help me to
diligently utilize time
•Time
is an invaluable resource not to be wasted
identity, well-being, survival and self-esteem are
derived from being a member of the group.
•I avoid individual recognition or attention.
are only as strong as our weakest link.
•Achievement and success are dependent on how well we
are able to cooperate
is careful not to embarrass or cause dishonor to
another.
•Loss of face has deep meaning and impact on self-esteem
respect, and sensitivity are key to my
interactions with others.
•Getting to know one another has a certain formality to it
and can take time
IDEAL CULTURE: DIVERSITY AS
EQUAL CULTURES
SOCIETY
High Culture
Ideal culture
MAINSTREAN CULTURE
Popular Culture
Real
culture
Ideal
High
SUBCULTURE
Real
High
Ideal
SUB-CULTURES
COUNTER-CULTURES
Popular
Real
Popular
REAL CULTURE: MULTICULTURALISM AS
INEQUALITY OF CULTURES
MAINSTREAM CULTURE
The Dominant Culture
SUBCULTURE
Accepts the dominant culture
COUNTERCULTURE
Special subculture that rejects
the dominant culture
POLITICS OR IDEOLOGY OF CULTURAL
DIVERSITY: MULTICULTURALISM

The IDEAL CULTURE of societies such as
Canada, Australia, Singapore.

seeks to promote the maintenance of the cultures of
immigrants and indigenous people as horizontal mosaic
or cultural equality.

The REAL CULTURE of Canada:

Consists of cultural practices that constitute
a vertical mosaic or cultural inequality :
Discrimination against people that practice
or perceived to be members of nonmainstream cultures.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF
CULTURE: Sociobiology vs. Sociology
SOCIOBIOLOGY: Biological factors
determine human social behavior
 Cultural patterns are a product of
biological factors to a significant degree.
This is evident in the existence of
CULTURAL UNIVERSALS such as
marriages and language
 SOCIOLOGY:
 Culture is socially constructed and
transmitted, not DNA based.

QUIZ 11

When a wife and husband argue about who’ll
clean the bathroom, for example, or who’ll take
care of a sick child when they both work outside
the home, the issue is simply about a cultural
universal reflective of biological reproductive
factors. What theoretical perspective would agree
with this view about gender relations?

A) Sociobiology
B) Social Conflict
C) Feminism
D) Symbolic Interactionism



THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF CULTURE

FUNCTIONALIST PARADIGM:
HOMEOSTASIS (Pages 136-137)
 Culture is produced by the social structure
to meet the homeostasis (social
stability/order/solidarity) needs of society.
 Multiculturalism is dysfunctional to the
homeostasis needs of the social structure.
 Values, beliefs and ideas components of
culture dictate/control the material elements
of culture and the behavior of all individual
members and groups of society
IDEALIST PERSPECTIVE OF CULTURE
(Malinowski’s Theory)
Technology
Artifacts & Symbols
VALUES, BELIEFS,
IDEAS, NORMS &
RITUALS
Food & Clothes
Infrastructure
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF CULTURE

SOCIAL CONFLICT PARADIGM:
POLITICAL ECONOMY AND SOCIAL
CLOSURE (Pages 137-139)
 The powerful, wealthy, and prestigious
members of society, the central players of the
dominant culture of existing political economy
and social closure, use culture to justify or
rationalize or legitimize assimilation,
inequality, exploitation and oppression that are
the basis of class conflict.
 Culture works against lower classes more
than upper classes.
MATERIALIST PERSPECTIVE OF
CULTURE (Harris’ Theory)
Values
Beliefs &
Rituals
TECHNOLOGY
INFRASTRUCTURE
FOOD & CLOTHING
ART & CRAFT
Ideas &
Norms
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF CULTURE

INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM: HUMAN
AGENCY: Definitions of symbolic situations:
(pages 139-140):
 “Culture is actively created and recreated
through social interaction as people go about
their everyday lives engaged in negotiations of
reality based on shared meanings grounded in
cultural symbols.”
 Culture
is liberating for those who define it as
opportunities, but constrains those who define it as
dominating.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF CULTURE
FEMINISM: PATRIARCHY
 “Culture is made by those in power—
men. Males make the rules and laws and
women transmit them” (Anzaldua 1999:
38).

 Patriarchal
culture rationalizes and supports
inequality and oppression of females/women
that are the basis of gender conflict.
 Culture works against the lives and behavior
of females/women more than males/men.
CONCLUSION

Because our very existence and understanding
of ourselves is a product of our culture, and our
socialization into it, we are not aware of the
nature of that culture. Like a fish that has
never been out of water, and able to compare it
with its absence, we cannot and do not exist
outside of culture. Conversely, social scientists
who know more about the nature of society and
culture are not normal—we’re weird (Bartle
2004: Page 59).