culture the cultural landscape folk and popular eleventh

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 4 Lecture

Folk and PopularCulture

The Cultural LandscapeEleventh Edition

Matthew CartlidgeUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln


Culture Definitions

• Built environment - The part of the physical landscape that represents material culture, including buildings, roads, bridges, etc.

• Cultural identity – One’s feeling of belonging to a certain cultural group

• Cultural landscape – the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the physical landscape

• Cultural hearth - an area where new ideas and innovations spring up and spread to other parts of the world. – Most modern cultural hearths are urban areas like New

York City, Paris, London and Tokyo.



Early Cultural Hearths



KEY ISSUE 1:WHERE ARE FOLK AND POPULAR LEISURE ACTIVITIES DISTRIBUTED?


Where Are Folk and Popular Leisure Activities Distributed?• How culture influences behavior - the

difference between habit and custom:1. Habit is a repetitive act performed by an individual.

– One college student wears jeans when the rest wear dress pants.

2. Custom is a repetitive act performed by a group.

– All college students wear jeans.


Habits -> Customs -> Culture

• All of a group’s customs come together to form a culture– College students wear jeans, drink Starbucks

coffee, eat pizza, and listen to hip hop music

Culture

Custom Custom Custom

HabitHabitHabit


What is culture?

• Culture combines:1. Artifacts2. Mentifacts3. Sociofacts

• Material culture includes:1. Survival activities – food, clothing, shelter2. Leisure activities – the arts and recreation


Folk Culture and Popular Culture

• Folk Culture – traditionally practiced among small, homogeneous groups living in isolated rural areas

• Popular Culture – found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics



• Characteristics of Folk and Popular Culture1. Origin

• Folk Culture– Anonymous hearths– Anonymous sources– Unknown dates

• Popular Culture– Product of developed countries

» Typically North America or Europe– Origin often traceable to specific person or

corporation in a particular place

Where Are Folk and Popular Leisure Activities Distributed?


2. Diffusion• Folk Culture

– Smaller scale and slower diffusion– Spreads mostly through relocation

diffusion • Popular Culture

– Spreads through hierarchical diffusion» Diffuses rapidly and extensively from

hearths or nodes with help of modern communications



3. Distribution• Folk Culture

– Generally occurs in a smaller physical space

– Physical factors such as isolation affects distribution

• Popular Culture– Widely distributed across many countries

with little regard for physical obstacles– Main obstacle to access is lack of income

to purchase the goods



Meeting of Cultures• Indigenous people often lose unique cultural

traits, such as how they dress, when they come into contact with another society or culture

• Often this happens to immigrants when they come to a new country or region

• Historical examples include:– U.S. federal government’s program to make “Indians”

into “Americans” – Canada, Australia, Russia and other colonial powers

used similar policies toward indigenous people – used schools, churches, and government agents to discourage native practices



Tom Torlino, Navajo, before and after. Photograph from the Richard Henry Pratt Papers, Yale University. Circa 1882


Acculturation and AssimilationMeeting of cultures can result in:

1.Assimilation occurs when some of the cultural aspects of the dominant group are absorbed in such a manner that the minority’s cultural aspects are lost

– This sometimes occurs over several generations2.Acculturation is a process where the cultural aspects of the dominant group are adapted without losing the traditions and customs of the minority community

– The dominant culture is often changed too (Spanish has been added to U.S. signs and phone recordings)



Multiculturalism• Multiculturalism describes the existence,

acceptance, or promotion of multiple cultural traditions within a single nation or region

• This can happen when a nation is created or expanded by merging areas with two or more different cultures or through immigration from different nations around the world

• Multiculturalism has been described as a "salad bowl" or "cultural mosaic" rather than a "melting pot”



Multiculturalism• Multiculturalism as an official national policy

started in Canada in 1971, followed by Australia in 1973

• Recently, governments in several European states—notably the Netherlands and Denmark— have reversed the national policy and returned to an official monoculturalism

• In the United States, multiculturalism is not clearly established as a federal policy, but ethnic diversity is common in both rural and urban areas due to past and present immigration



KEY ISSUE 2: WHERE ARE FOLK AND POPULAR MATERIAL CULTURE DISTRIBUTED?


• Folk material culture varies more by location than by time period

• Popular material culture varies more by time period than by location– Fashions change with the decades but are

universal across the U.S. during that decade

Where Are Folk and Popular Material Culture Distributed?


KEY ISSUE 3:WHY IS ACCESS TO FOLK AND POPULAR CULTURE UNEQUAL?


Why Is Access to Folk and Popular Culture Unequal?

• Electronic Diffusion of Popular Culture– Principal obstacle to accessing popular culture

is lack of access to electronic media.• TV is the most important media format because:1. Watching TV is most popular leisure

activity in the world.2. TV is most important mechanism for

rapidly diffusing popular culture around the world.


How Americans spend their weekends


• Electronic Diffusion of Popular Culture1. Diffusion of TV: Mid-Twentieth Century

• TV technology originated simultaneously in multiple hearths in the early twentieth century— e.g., UK, France, Germany, Japan, Soviet Union, and the United States.

• Over the course of the twentieth century, the United States went from dominating the world share of TVs to being nearly equal in rates of ownership with most developing countries.



2. Diffusion of the Internet: Late Twentieth Century

• Diffusion follows pattern established by TV but at a more rapid rate.

• In 1995, Internet users in the United States accounted for more than half of the global users.

• By 2011, 77 percent of the U.S. population accessed the Internet.

– Today 40% of the world’s people have internet access



3. Diffusion of Social Media: Twenty-First Century

• Same diffusion pattern as TV and Internet– Facebook

» 156.5 million Facebook users in U.S.» 665 million worldwide

– Twitter» 316 million users worldwide today» Top 10 countries by number of Twitter

users: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, France, India, South Africa



• Challenges in Accessing Electronic Media1. External Threat: Developed Countries Control the Media

• TV industry is dominated by Japan, UK, and United States.

• Leaders of developing countries could view dominance as impressing American values upon viewers:

– Upward social mobility– Freedom for women– Glorification of youth– Stylized violence



• News media in developing countries dominated by the government, whereas media in the United States is largely private commercial stations.

• Many African and Asian government officials criticize freedom of the press in the United States.

– Allegedly media do not convey an accurate view of other countries.



2. Internal Threat: Social Media• Limiting Access to TV

– Satellite dishes enable people to access information that would otherwise be censored by their governments.

• Some governments attempt to limit Internet content including:

– Political Content - Opposition to local government– Social Content - Socially sensitive material, such as gambling

or sex– Conflict and Security - Armed conflict, border disputes, or

militant groups– Internet Tools - Email, Internet hosting, and Internet searches



KEY ISSUE 4: WHY DO FOLK AND POPULAR CULTURE FACE SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES?


Why Do Folk and Popular Culture Face Sustainability Challenges?Sustainability Challenges for Folk Culture:

1. Increased connection with popular culture makes maintaining centuries-old practices difficult.

2. Impacts of globalization on the landscape creates challenges in maintaining a unique landscape.

3. Global diffusion of popular culture beliefs has challenged the lower status of women that is embedded in some folk customs.


Why Do Folk and Popular Culture Face Sustainability Challenges?Sustainability Challenges for Popular Culture:•Diffusion of some popular customs can adversely impact the environment:

1. “Pollution” of the Landscape• Uniform landscapes used to generate product

recognition. e.g., motels and fast-food restaurants• Golf courses remake the environment by drastically

modifying its natural state.2. Depletion of Scarce Natural Resources

• Diffusion of some popular customs increases demand for animal products (fur, meat) and for raw materials

culture the cultural landscape folk and popular eleventh

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