Culture Flashcards
Culture definition by E. B. Tylor
Book
Year
Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, art, morals,customs, beliefs, laws and any other capability or habits acquired by man as a member of society.
Primitive culture
1871
BAK MCL LKC PC
Elements of culture
Traits: simplest and irreducible unit of culture.
Complex: 2 or more traits together
Norms: accepted or established standard of behaviour.
Value: Actual measurement of norms.
Belief: Every sect within a culture having some beliefs for cultural refuge.
Examples of each
Attribute or characteristics of culture
- Socially learned: “enculturation”; continuous process; delearning & relearning. Ex= Toda, Nair, Ghana
- Culture is symbolic: central concept
- Culture is shared: attributes of group and not individuals
- Culture is integrated: of belief, norms, values, social status etc, change in 1 lead to change in others. Ex- pig slaughter and rising status.
- Culture is pattern
- Culture is adapt/ maladaptive: adapt to environment or mobile destroying it.
- Is organic ( present coz of existence of human) super organic (goes beyond control of human being)
3 SI PAO(pao)
Definition of civilisation
by?
Exact word. And book name with year.
In book “Society” 1949.
MacIver and Page.
Used it to denote the utilitarian things- the whole mechanism and social organism, techniques and material instruments- which has been devised by man in his endeavour to control the condition of life.
6 difference b/w civilisation and culture.
- Civilization has a precise standard of measurement, but not culture
Ex= bullock cart and lorry can be called inferior or superior
Painting and drama can’t be measured - Civilization is always advancing, but not culture
Bull to lorry; Drama or clothing can move both ways - Civilization is passed on without effort, but not culture
Culture need effort like if singer don’t learn song, he can’t sing. But to get a fan, no skill is required. - The works of civilization can be improved by any body but that is not possible in the case of culture
Lesser minds can improve the work of the great inventors, but lesser artists instead of improving may rather spoil the poems of Milton or Tagore - Civilization is external and mechanical while culture is internal and organic
culture is related to internal thoughts, feelings, ideals, values
MacIver remarks, “Civilization is what we have, culture is what we are.” - Civilization is borrowed without change or loss, but not culture
The transference of civilization from one generation to another is quick and easy.
Culture, on the other hand, has an intrinsic quality and can only be imbibed. It will have a limited appeal. In India we have borrowed much western civilization, but not western culture.
Similarities between culture and civilisation
- Culture and civilization are interdependent and interactive.
The articles of civilization called artifacts are influenced by culture called “mentifacts” and culture is influenced by articles of civilization.
An automobile or radio may be a useful thing, but the models and finish are determined by our culture. - The objects of civilization after some time acquire a cultural aspect
The tools of the primitive communities are not merely tools, they are more than that. They are the symbols of culture.
Ethnocentrism, who gave it, which book and year?
Notion where people take their culture as centre of reference and judge all other culture as from own POV and treating them inferior.
W. G. Summner in “Folkways” 1966
And initially all anthropologist were ethnocentric
Weak relativism Notion? Thinkers 2 point of what they want 2 points on what they are focusing at?
Descriptive relativism
All cultures are diverse
Franz boas and Margaret mead
1.a) sceptic(doubt on) of broad generalisation about human beings
1.b) challenged notion of unnatural superiority of western civilisation.
- a) exposing vast culture differences
- b) disregard certain data showing significant degree of patterned similarities among human societies.
Strong relativism Year Notion Thinker 2 points on What it says Benedict observed that:
Normative
1950-70
No culture can be judged or compared
Ruth Benedict and Herskovits
1.a) All std are culture bound, there can be no Transcultural moral/ ethical standards from which other culture can be judged.
1.b) forcing relativists to accept and tolerate all practice of other. Sati etc.
- a) Morality differs in every society and
- b) Morality is continently approved term of socially approved right and
- c) Viewed all culture as equally valued pattern of life”
Epistemological Year Thinker Claimed Rosaldo said
Extreme relativism
1970
Cliffered greetz
1.a) humans are shaped exclusively by their culture so there cannot be any cross cultural human characteristics.
1.b) no extra cultural standard to judge cultural practices as all culture are incomprehensible.
“My own group aside, everything human is alien to me”
Some didn’t accepted relativism, instead? Emphasis? Thinker Notion Sahlins Gellner stated?
Favoured evolutionary analysis
they emphasize in finding common denominator among culture and said: the common humanity along with Ethics can serve as basis of cross-cultural morality that are not completely culturally relative.
Radcliffe and Kroeber
Notion: Develop objective scheme by which one could judge other culture/custom.
Sahlins stated: Cultural evolution more usefully viewed as combination of 2 simultaneous process of specific and general evolution.
Gellner stated: Many anthropologist has done study on seemingly alien culture but no one was has ever encountered a culture which was so vastly different as to be wholly incomprehensible or un-interpretable to each other.
Function of culture
Culture defines attitude, values and goals
Culture defines myths, legends and the supernaturals
Culture provides behavior patterns
Is culture unique to man?
It does largely depend on how we define the term:
Culture consists of learned and shared lifeways then it is not uniquely human trait
But if culture consists of learned and shared life transmitted primarily through language and other forms of symbolic communication, then it is unique to man
Is culture unique to man?
C. Greetz
Culture is an idea based on cultural learning and symbols.
People are connected to symbols and is deeply embedded with religion.
Aspect of culture
Emic-culture and Etic- Culture
Overtness and covertness
Explicit and implicit
Ideality and reality
Ethos and Eidos
