what is culture?. definition of culture culture – all the features of a society’s way of life....
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What is culture?
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Definition of Culture
• Culture – all the features of a society’s way of life. Culture informs our behavior and allows us to interpret the behavior of others and the world around us.
• People learn cultureo Systems of meaning – language is primaryo Ways of organizing societyo Distinctive techniques of a group and their
characteristic products
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Culture• If culture is learned, then someone must
teach or share it, which inevitably means that culture is in a constant state of change and evolution
• Culture is naturalized- it feels natural, other ways feel weird
• Culture is integrated- links together different parts of our lives and creates patterns- ex: American individualism
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Material and Nonmaterial Culture
• Material culture of a group of people includes things they construct, such as art, houses, clothing, sports, dance, and food.
• Nonmaterial culture includes beliefs, practices, aesthetics (what they see as attractive), and values of a group of people.
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Culture Traits• Definition: activities and behaviors that people
repeatedly practice, distinctive techniques• Encompasses all aspects of culture, material
and nonmaterial• Social organization- class, gender, race,
ethnicity, government structure…• Food: U.S.- fork & knife, China – chopsticks,
India– which hand?• Reference the ABCs of Culture for a list of
culture traits
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Local Culture and Popular Culture
• A local culture is a group of people in a particular place who see themselves as a collective or a community, who share experiences, customs, and traits, and who work to preserve those traits and customs in order to claim uniqueness and to distinguish themselves from others.
• Popular culture is large, incorporates heterogeneous populations, is typically urban, and experiences quickly changing cultural traits.
• Think of local and popular culture being on the same plane
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Change Within a Culture- Cultures and their cultural traits may change
through time.
- 2 concepts to understand cultural change: Innovation and Diffusion
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Innovation
• New way of doing something
• New ideas that are useful and valuable will last.
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Diffusion• Definition – The process of knowledge,
skills, and technology being spread from one culture to another.
• Culture Hearth – central location where ideas, inventions, and/or culture traits originate
Diffusion can occur in different ways: examples – contagious diffusion, hierarchical diffusion, relocation diffusion Ex: Harlem Shake, Dave Matthews Band, Zen Buddhism
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Acculturation
• Definition – the process of one culture changing a great deal through its meeting with another culture yet remaining distinct. Adopting cultural innovations or culture traits into its own culture
• Two-Way Street• Convergence and divergence, ex. pidgin
language; dialects
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Cultural assimilation is when an individual or individuals adopts some or all aspects of a dominant culture (such as its religion, language, norms, values etc.). - Could be forced or voluntary- Resistance to assimilation
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Culture Regions/Ethnic Groups
• Definition: Culture region – an area that has many shared culture traits
• One country could be a single culture region, or a political boundary may cut across a culture region- North vs. South
• A culture region may also be made up of several countries such as in Latin America
• Definition: Ethnic Group – a population that shares a common cultural background
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Ethnicity
• Who in this room belongs to an ethnic group?• We all do!• Why do we think of some people as pertaining to
ethnic groups and not others?• White, protestant, middle-class is the normalized
standard against which all others are judged “different” and therefore “ethnic” (stores may have “ethnic food” section; people wearing “ethnic” jewelry)
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Politics of recognition
What are the “markers” of ethnic identity?language? dress?what else?phenotype? (hair, etc.)
These men are readily identifiable as Sikhs. But what about Mexican Americans?
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Who imagines you as part of this group?
• Identification:• Internal (yours)• Internal (to
group)• External (non-
group members)• External (state)
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Problematizing ethnic identification
• All of these forms of identification are structured by, and structure, cultural understandings of ethnicity
• Cultures imagine and create ethnicities
• Let’s look at this through the lens of one group:
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Indigenous people
• In Mexico, to be indigenous you must speak an indigenous language (at a minimum)
• Even if you spoke it as a child and no longer do, you are not now indigenous
• What is problematic about this criteria?
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Ethnic group identification
• What is US criteria for indigenous group identification?o Descento Self recognitiono Tribal recognitiono Federal recognition
• Not:o Language or dress, not “looking Indian”
• However, external members may question your identification – why?
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Ethnicities and StatesStates approach ethnic diversity with
different strategies...
• Segregationism• Assimilationism • Multiculturalism • Colorblind society?
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What happens when states don’t/can’t manage ethnic diversity?
• Can result in “ethnic conflict”: outbreaks of violence between groups
• Majority of conflict in the world post-WWII has been defined as “ethnic conflict”
• However, be aware that this does not mean people just fighting amongst themselves
• States and state power are often heavily involved
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Example: post-colonial states
• Europeans divided states according to administrative needs and desires.
• Resulting states often ungrounded in local political realities.
• States created with superimposed boundaries; lumped together unrelated groups; divided communities.
• Changed networks with informal boundaries into Western idea of nation-states.
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Is Race Real?
• YES
- it can determine how one is treated
- what kind of job one has
- what kind of school one attends
- where one lives
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Is Race Real?
• NO
- it has no biological basis
- it was created along with racism as a
way to separate groups and discriminate