Culture Notes

http://www.slideshare.net/yatee151/what-is-culture-6556982

Culture when applied to society = clarification of meanings and values implicit and explicit in a particular way of life. A particular ideal way of life woven into society expressing certain meanings and values in art, learning, institutions and ordinary behaviour which keeps ‘the norm’ present within society.  Any theory of culture must include the three most important aspects of culture – the ideal, documentary and social features of culture.

Culture distinguishes one group from another.

Patterns of behaviour and thinking that people living in social groups learn, create and share. Culture is something we are taught and varies depending on our psychographs and sociographs. Culture can have many categories such as symbolic learned shared and adaptive.

People who share a common culture especially common rules of behaviour and social organisation can constitute a society.

Edward B. Taylor (1871) ‘Culture includes socially acquired knowledge, beliefs, art law, morals, customs and habits.’  – To adapt from this it emphasises the role society plays in not only formulating culture but growing culture to create societal norms in which individuals follow through gaining ‘socially acquired knowledge’ highlighting we are taught how to act and believe in from a young age which becomes encrypted into our ideologies and allows us to join a formulated culture one enriched with civilization and ‘morally right’ actions. e.g we are conditioned to abide by the law and recognise acts of violence, vandelisation and theft are morally wrong acts and should be avoided. 

George P. Murdock (1930) – Human relation area files to identify and sort distinctive cultural variations – Imporatant when it comes to comparing and contrasting.

3 categories: material, social, ideological and the arts which has characteristics of material and ideological culture)

Material culture

Products of human manufacture sold to society for materialistic consumption to emphasise someone’s wealth or to simply praise an individual for their hard work a trophy of achievement. – can be applied to weddings, we are often taught when it comes to weddings the bigger the celebration the better which ties into our competitive nature to succeed. Thus the materialistic items seen in weddings can work as an investment to impress guests with their wealth – westernised ideology derived from American culture portrayed in TV shows, films and magazines the celebrity ‘wow factor’ the working class are striving for to perhaps cover up their own culture which isn’t as idealistic.

The economy – Technologies and objects people make and use. Ways in which people exchange goods and services to survive and flourish e.g selling our labour to ensure people have houses to live in, in exchange for money to pay for materialism.

Social Culture

Forms of social interaction and organization – we are taught how to engage in conversation from when we are born we are taught to speak via imitation and social interaction therefore designed to interact with others however in a ‘socially acceptable’ way.

Bonds by kinship and marriage – something socially derived in order to emphasise your love for another you should marry to create an everlasting bond between the two of you through a celebratory ceremony where friends and family gather to show their acceptance and support of the ‘act of love’

Important factors of social culture include age and gender in defining your role in society in relation to stereotypes for example culture conditions females to desire to marry ‘prince charming’ with the help of films we are raised to watch such as Disney’s ‘Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs’ which demonstrates the significance of love and how women should be sweped away by a man who she will then marry. To further this we are also conditioned to become a ‘princess’ especially in contemporary culture with the influence of merchandise manufactures who create dolls and fancy dress costumes for young children who can become their favourite Disney princess through sharing their attire.

Ideological culture

Ties into believes and our understanding of how the world works and how we respond to others, their actions and environments. Relates to daily concerns such as politeness.

Values of culture – Our differentiation of right and wrong leading to morally right decisions

Ideals – Models for ehat people hope to achieve in life which can be influenced from many different things such as religion, the media, secular beleifs and values e.g some people aim for money others want a family.

The arts – Other forms serve no real functional purpose but are created as pure expression of the creater or the societys thoughts and actions.

High vs popular /mass culture

High culture used to be the realm of the wealthy and educated classes

‘high art’ includes opera, historical art, classical music, traditional theatre or literature – Widley perceived as the work of professional and favourable artists whose work is to be taken seriously and is highly valuable. Intellectual input and introspection needed

Popular culture used to be considered commercial entertainment for the lower classes

Low art/ mass culture = opposite of high cultural art forms. Often linked to commercial or mass production and perceived as having little or no serious aesthetic, intellectual or economic value as it’s usually inspiration drawn from daily experiences with no intellectually thought out processes.

Popular culture continues to develop, adapt and evolve over the last few decades.

It is important to remember culture is highly symbolic and dependant on the ability to communicate with symbols. This enables people to create, explain and record new ideas and information such as human language, sign language and colour association with can be linked to the work of Roland Barthes semiotics the study of signs. In terms of wedding traditions common items would include red roses which connote love and passion thus they are used to emphasise the romantic bond between the couple being married. Culture is also something that is taught as appose to an innate instinct therefore culture is captured as knowledge which is influenced by scientific discoveries and traditions such as taking holidays.

Culture is therefore socially inherited from other people in society who influence others especially important figures in society such as parents and teachers who stereotypically set morally right standards for those must vulnerable to influence. This is known as Enculturation which begins in the family and continues throughout the duration of a person life for example learning the importance of respecting elders from knowledge and skills accumulated over a lifetime.

Culture can also be influenced and adapted by new ideologies thus the joining of cultures which happens when events such as migration, tourism and international trade takes place. This results in the exchange and share of culture which can influence traditional values. This is seen in modern weddings which disenfranchise themselves from traditions for example having a pink coloured wedding dress as an alternative to white can be seen as a cultural influence from America thus the Americanisation of weddings. This could be inspired from princesses such as sleeping beauty or even celebrity weddings such as Jordan’s. Television shows also emphasise stepping out of the norm when it comes to weddings such as my big fat gypsy wedding which focuses on going as big as can you to achieve the ‘perfect princess wedding’ despite costs.

Cultural exchange led to the rise of an increasingly globalised culture – with increasing globalisation it has become difficult to find culture that is shared within only a single society

Subcultures can co-exist or clash with the mainstream culture

Ethnocentrism – members of a society who share culture often share feelings of notion that one’s culture is more sensible/superior to that of others societies

Cultural imperialism

-          Americanisation of the world criticised = much of what is exported reflects questionable morals or is dumbed down content. Are we immune to this?

Cultural adaptation has made mankind one of the most successful species. E.g technological advances, medicine and nutrition allowed the race to flourish and survive with ever-increasing numbers

Despite society still retaining their distinctive cultures they are nevertheless being changed by the influx of global popular culture resulting in cultural dilution.