Lecture 2 What Is Culture

ANTH45 Summer 2008 Section 101 What is Culture?

In Pursuit of Culture (Goodenough)
How people become anthropologists
Early interest in culture
No previous knowledge about the field
Influence of and relationship with other fields: linguistics, psychology, biology, sociology
Introduction to several themes of the course: language and communication, property systems, marriage rules, etc.

The Concept of Culture
Concept used by all social sciences
Central to ethnology, archaeology, and biological anthropology
Anthropology has done more than any other discipline to refine our understanding of the concept of culture

Defining Culture
Over 160 definitions have been identified
Tylor’s definition (1871)
That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
Goodenough’s definition
The product of learning in society
As opposed to simply patterns of recurring events
Focus on the content of culture (observed from behavior)
Criteria for: categorizing phenomena; deciding what can be; preferences and values; what to do about things; how to do those things; skills needed to perform

A better definition…
Focuses on what culture is , but also on what it does
Culture is the only thing that separates us from all other animals (not social behavior)

When Do We First See Culture?
Anatomically Modern Peoples and the Upper Paleolithic (100,000 years ago)
Culture
Emerges as a ‘more
potent’ force than
biology
Symbolic behavior
Art
Decoration
Sculpture
Pendants
Cave painting

When Do We First See Culture?
More Symbolic Behavior
Ritual
Burial

Culture is …
A major adaptive tool for humans
can be direct and can rapidly change
Learned through enculturation
Transmitted
Universal and specific
Shared and integrated
Constantly changing
Based on human ability to create symbols
Exchanged between societies through a process called acculturation

Culture is Adaptive
Humans have adapted by manipulating environments through cultural means.
Humans have come to depend more and more on cultural adaptation.
Because it works and fast!!
Polar bear vs. Inuit
What is adaptive in one context may be seriously maladaptive in another

Culture is Adaptive
Not every aspect of culture is adaptive
Some are neutral
Some are maladaptive
Sex in Papua New Guinean tribe
American energy policy

Culture is Generally Integrated
Integration
The tendency for all aspects of a culture to function as an interrelated whole.
System: a set of connected elements such that if you change one of them, you change the others
Concept of holism in anthropology

Individual Cultures
Core values
Unique to each culture
Constantly changing
Language evolves, customs change, beliefs and behaviors change
Ideal culture vs. real culture
What people say should do and what they say they do vs. what the anthropologist observes
Anthropological use of emic vs. etic perspective

Emic vs. Etic: why cows are sacred in India
Emic idea: cows are sacred because our religion tells us so
Emic behavior: we don’t eat cows
Etic idea: cows are crucial for farm labor. It is maladaptive to eat a cow because it produces more on a farm
Etic behavior: people sometimes eat old cows

Culture is Symbolic
The most fundamental aspect of culture is the capacity to symbolize
Culture is dependent upon symbols
Symbol: something that represents something else with which it is not intrinsically related
Symbols are powerful

Culture is Shared
For a thing, idea, or behavior pattern to qualify as being cultural, it must have a meaning shared by most people in a society
Society: a group of people who have a common homeland, are interdependent, and share a common culture
More to come: how people in States have shared culture and the institutions that help give common sense of identity

Culture is Differentially Shared
Degree with which traits are shared varies between cultures
Sources of variation
Sex and Gender
Age
Class
Religion
Etc.

Differences exist in different sections of society
Subcultures
Subsets of a wider culture
Share traits with mainstream
But still unique
Subcultures can be threatening to the mainstream

Culture is Learned
Enculturation
The process of acquiring culture
Learning or interacting with one’s cultural environment
Observation, direct learning, experience
Not all learned behavior is cultural
Conditioning by repeated training is not enculturation
“ Brain-washing”

Ward Goodenough:
Because culture is learned, it’s in your head
No two people have the exact same criteria
As long as differences don’t affect the ability to interact with each other, you have a sense of shared culture
… but sometimes they do!
… that’s why we squash them
… who’s we? Mainstream, powerful groups, lobbies, governments…

Culture’s Influence on Biology
Functions
Eating
Sleeping
Work/exercise
Body types and images
Attitudes
Modification

Culture and Change
All cultures change over time for one reason or another
Meeting environmental crises
Responding to intrusions by outsiders
Evolving internal behavior and values
Results may be beneficial or disastrous

Mechanisms of Cultural Change
Internal Changes
Innovations
Ultimate source of all culture change
External changes
Diffusion
Spreading of a cultural element from one culture to another
Responsible for the greatest amount of change in any given society
Because people have never been isolated

Acculturation: process of adopting foreign cultural elements (beliefs, customs, behaviors)

Cultural Universals
Despite variation in many aspects there are basic similarities
System(s) of production
Marriage and family
Education
Social control
Supernatural beliefs
Communication

As Individuals…
Culture influences our behavior, but…
It does not determine our behavior
Deviance from cultural norms exists in all societies

Short Exercise
Describe American culture to a foreigner: food, religion, education, political system, values
Which aspects of American culture are a result of innovation?
Which resulted from diffusion from another culture?
List 2 American symbols besides the flag: what do they represent?
List and describe 2 American subcultures. How does the mainstream view these subcultures? Are they respected, feared, ignored?

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Lecture 2 What Is Culture

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