Chapter 1-9 Flashcards
E.B. Taylor
-“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society.”
Functionalist
-Different elements of culture had their own function and constituted a whole where they coexisted in a harmonious manner
Clyde Kluckhohn
-“By culture, we mean all those historically created designs for living, explicit and implicit, rational, irrational, and non-rational, which exist at any given time as potential guides for the behavior of men.”
Iceberg model
-What we see and experience right now is the explicit element of culture (only the tip of the iceberg
-Under the water, there is a huge body of ice that we don’t see but it must be accounted for
-The visible parts of culture rest on a tremendous body of history production that we no longer see, but we should be aware of
Clifford Geertz
-“The culture concept… denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a symbol of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about an attitudes toward life. Culture is a web of significances spun by people.”
Culture is Symbolic
-Flags
~At a basic level, it’s a piece of cloth with colors and sometimes symbols
~In depth, it’s the moral community, the nation, loyalty, belonging, patriotism, sacrifice, etc.
*Additional meaning may be strong that the flag gains a certain scared quality
Banks and McGee
-“Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies. The essence of a culture is not its artifacts, tools, or other tangible cultural elements but how the members of the group interpret, use, and perceive them. It is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one person from another in modernized societies; it is not material objects and other tangible aspects of human societies. People within a culture usually interpret the meaning of symbols, artifacts, and behaviors in the same or in similar ways.”
Important symbolic systems
-Language and alphabetization
~The relationship between utterances, signs, and their meaning is mostly symbolic
*Based on convention and common agreement
~Natural relationship between sounds and their meaning
*ONOMATOPOEIA
~Different languages will use different words for dog
*Perro (Spanish), chien (French), and txakurra (Basque)
Binding Effects of Culture
-Think of symbols that are frozen in time-related to a specific meaning
~Swastika
*Known to be associated with the Nazi regime
*However, the swastika shape was a benign symbol proper to various societies, particularly cultures where basket weaving was important, as the shape of the basket often inspired these forms
Basque Culture related to the swastika
-One of the most important symbols is the lauburu
~However, since that shape is related to the Nazi regime and holds an evil meaning; it is now a universal and practically unchangeable symbol
*Becomes a web of significance that is unlikely to be changed
Louise Damen
-“Culture: learn and shared human patterns or models for living; day-to-day living patterns. These patterns and models prevade all aspects of human social interaction. Culture is mankind’s primary adaptative mechanism.”
Racist Rhetoric
-Eastern Europe Romani people (gypsies) are often perceived to be “born” to become thieves and criminals, which disregards the extent to which their poverty
~Cultural predicament may push them towards such behaviors
Talcott Parsons
-Known for Social Action Theory
-“Culture consits in those patterns relative to behavior and the products of human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation to generation independently of the biological genes.”
Culture is “Shared” and “Patterned”
-If only one person engages in a belief or behavior, it is not culture; it is personal idiosyncrasy
-If an individual practices a belief but it does not become a pattern, then it cannot become shared
-Subcultures
~Are smaller social groups that share some elements with their border, mainstream, and cultural environment, but also share cultural practices among themselves
*Amish people in Pennsylvania
**Maintained some markedly different lifestyles and cultural practices of simple living, while also maintaining economic and political relationships with mainstream America
Culture is “Adaptive”
-Cultural adaptation means that is can adapt to changing circumstances or it serves to help humans adapt to their environment
~Darwinian “survival of the fittest”
-Homo habilis did not have fur on their bodies and were slower speed compared to the mammals of Africa, but their ability to organize and strategize when hunting or scavenging developed into a cultural product, tools that compensated for their bodies’ weaknesses
