Culture Flashcards
Culture
The whole complex of learned behaviour, the traditions and techniques and material possessions, the language and other symbolism of some body of people
Our culture
- Influences how we see the world and how we behave n it
Anthropology
The study of human cultures
Culture consists of
- Values (Ideas about what is important in life)
- Norms (Expectation of how people will behave)
- Institutions (Structures within a society that transit values and norms)
- Artefacts (material objects that are derived from a culture’s values and norms)
Sociologist definition of culture
The part of the total repertoire of human actions … which is socially as apposed to genetically transmitted
Inside
To view a culture from the inside we must be a part of that culture
Outside
View from the outside often revolves around understanding and misunderstanding between cultures
Understanding between cultures
- Is difficult, each culture takes an outside view of the other
- E.g. Showing the thumb held upwards in Latin America means ‘OK’ while it is understood in some Islamic countries as a rude sexual sign
Homogeneous
- Of the same kind; alike
- Cultures are not perfectly homogeneous
Cultural Relativism
- It is impossible to understand social or intellectual ‘things’ at all from outside a culture
- To understand the ‘things’ we need to understand the rules that are operating and the way the agents themselves understand the interrelatedness of these ‘things’
Three categories to divide the field of culture
- How we see
- How we say
- How we do
Ideology
A lense through which we view the world. It necessarily distorts the way we see and understand events around us. We may not be aware of this distortion but it is there.
Politics
- A way to describe relationships within a culture
- One common element in politics is power
Power
- Has the capacity to foster or suppress change
Ethical Pluralism
The idea that there may be a number of principles or values that are equally correct, but which are in position to each other
A priori obligation
Moral agents have an obligation to a set of moral patients before anything is experienced
Emmanuel Levinas
We have an obligation to ask “how can i help you?” before another person has asked for anything
A priori
Before experience
Posterori
After the event, or experience
Autonomy
The right or condition of self governing
Authentic
Being true to your own character and spirit despite the pressure that might be applied
Brian Fay
“A culture … provides a group with directions for how to live”
Every society has an economy
A system that deals with the production, distribution and consumption of good and services
Karl Marx
Every society has to have the means of production for the basic necessities
Cultural norms
Consist of rules which detail acceptable way to speak, think, feel and behave
Plato
“Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed by the masses”
“For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories”
Nietzsche
“One must renounce the bad taste of wishing to agree with many people”
