The document discusses several key concepts related to culture: - Culture is learned, shared, and symbolic. It provides rules and meaning systems that are distinct from biological instincts. - Culture is integrated and adaptive. Changes in one aspect of culture can influence other aspects as the culture aims to maintain equilibrium. - Theories of culture include cultural materialism, which sees culture as adapting to the environment, and symbolic theories, which see culture as systems of meaning and symbols.

1. The Concept of Culture Traditional Potter Caste Work in Rural Nepal, 1989. J. Fortier

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3. The Concept of Culture What Is Culture? Theories of Culture Universality, Generality, and Particularity Me chanisms of Cultural Change Globalization

4. What Is Culture? Culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom...” p. 43

5. Culture Is Learned Cultural learning unique to humans

6. Culture Is Shared Culture located and transmitted in groups

7. Culture can be shared through Diffusion Cultural practices and artifacts are transmitted through diffusion Courtesy www.globaled.org/.../lesson_64_image01.jpg

8. Culture Is Symbolic Symbolic though unique and crucial to cultural learning Performing a Hindu Ritual

9. Culture and Nature Humans interact with cultural constructions of nature rather than directly with nature itself Culture:Nature Male:Female

10. Culture Is All-Encompassing Everyone is cultured To understand North American culture, one must consider both traditional & popular cultures: movies, fast-food restaurants, sports and games The Bourne Ultimatum ; courtesy www.wiw.org/.../category/popular-culture/

11. Culture Is Integrated Changes in one aspect will likely generate changes in other aspects Core values – sets of ideas, attitudes, and beliefs that are basic in that they provide an organizational logic for the rest of the culture Culture is a system

12. Culture Can Be Adaptive and Maladaptive What’s good for individual isn’t necessarily good for group Determining whether cultural practice is adaptive or maladaptive frequently requires viewing results of that practice from several perspectives Humans have biological and cultural ways of coping with environmental stress

13. Theories of Culture Cultural Materialists Symbolic Theories of Culture

14. Materialist principles Cultures adapt humans to environment. Environment shapes cultures Culture change is a process of adaptation Cultures change towards equilibrium Technology & economy are central elements Secondary cultural elements - religion, ritual, world view, myth Marvin Harris, Julian Steward, Elman Service

15. Materialist views of cannibalism Brings protein to population Endo vs Exo cannibalism Adaptive strategy to starvation Created protection from radical prions Strikes fear into enemies Allows political control & expansion www.abc.net.au

16. Symbolic principles of The Culture Concept Culture is a system of knowledge etic/emic knowledge rules of appropriate behavior Competence & performance Ideologies & practices Universals of human cognition Binary oppositions Claude Levi-Strauss: “Universal structures of the human mind”

17. Claude L évi-Strauss & Binary Oppositions Universal structures of human mind use binary coding Binary codes use marked, mediating features Knowing cultures involves knowing those structures particular to a given culture www.tricksterbook.com

18. Cultures as Symbolic Systems Culture is a system of shared meanings and symbols “ Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight” Clifford & Hildred Geertz - Interpretive Anthropology

19. Cannibalism as part of a Symbolic System For é people of New Guinea Sorcerers cause illness (Kuru) Endo-cannibalism incorporates kin ~ Mad Cow Disease Shirley Lindembaum Cannibalism part of a belief system

20. Culture and the Individual: Agency and Practice People use their culture actively and creatively, rather than blindly following its dictates Courtesy: www.winterhouse.com/.../10-magazine-rack.jpg

21. Culture and the Individual: Agency and Practice Practice Theory – recognizes that individuals within a society or culture have diverse motives and intentions and different degrees of power and influence Culture is both public and individual Pierre Bourdieu 1930-2002; courtesy www.rainer-rilling.de/.../uploads/bourdieu.JPG

22. “ Distinctions” in Cultural Practice Cultural Capital Symbolic Capital Social Capital Economic Capital Vendor Plumber Daycare worker Violinist Driver Civil Engineer Business owner House painter Public mural artist Fruit vendor (selling aciote ) in South America

23. Distinctions: Examples of Different Types of Capital cultural capital : went to grad school, got a degree in Public Health social capital : get a good job after friends give you tips on new openings/networks econ capital - make 100K Symbolic capital : bought a mercedes benz Where do class “distinctions” place you in the “field” of society?

24. Problems w/ Culture Concept Overgeneralizations Bicultural oscillations Intersections of race, class, gender Borders

25. Levels of Culture International culture – practices common to identifiable group extending beyond boundaries of one culture Subcultures – identifiable cultural patterns existing within a larger culture National culture – experiences, beliefs, learned behavior patterns, and values shared by citizens of the same nation

26. Levels of Culture, with Examples from Sports and Foods

27. Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism Viewing your own culture as superior Applying your own values to other cultures Contributes to social solidarity Universal Each culture’s behavior is judged oni ts own merits Universal human rights exist which supercede cultural morals Not moral position, a methodological position

28. Human & Cultural Rights Cultural rights –a group’s ability to preserve its cultural tradition Human rights – vested in individuals; the right to speak freely, hold religious beliefs without persecution not be murdered, injured, enslaved, or imprisoned without charge.

29. Universality, Generality, and Particularity traits that distinguish Homo sapiens from other species Cultural Universals People build towns such as Nainatal, India

30. Cultural Generalizations and Cultural Particulars Regularities that occur in different times and places but not all cultures Particularities Traits or features of culture not generalized or widespread Generalities Nukak of Columbia, S. Amer. eats monkey

31. Mechanisms of Cultural Change Borrowing of traits between cultures Direct – between two adjacent cultures Indirect – across one or more intervening cultures or through some long-distance medium Forced – through warfare, colonization, or some other kind of domination Unforced – intermarriage, trade, and the like Diffusion

32. Mechanisms of Cultural Change Exchange of features that results when groups come into continuous firsthand contact Acculturation Khanty are a reindeer-herding people of western Siberia Photo: www.survival-international.org/lib/img/galler...

33. Globalization Processes that make modern nations and people increasingly interlinked and mutually dependent Sweatshops in Saipan: $3.50/hr wage; pay ~7k to come work; never get out of debt; Photo: www.msmagazine.com/ spring2006