Culture and Culture Change Flashcards
What is culture?
The elements of social life that have meanings social actors interpret can also convey
Languages, symbols, discources, texts, knowledge, values, attitudes, beliefs, norms, worldviews, folways, art, music, ideas and ideologies
Can refer to:
-our patterns of behaviour (the way we do things in our culture)
-artistic/aesthetic/symbolic products
-a set of (cultural) institutions
Why study culture?
Culture is a powerful social force
- leads to familiarity and comfort in social interaction or division and otherness
Key to understanding how we relate to each other
What is structure and how is it different from culture?
Enduring patterns of social relations and social institutions through which society is organized and through which behaviour is carried out
- political and school systems, taxes, free-market financial system. Occupational segregation in Canada’s labour market means mostly female elementary school teaches while principals are male.
- The ideas that are normal or appropriate for this segregation to exist is cultural
How does culture exist in place and time?
Significant variation occurs within cultural groupings over time and space (evolution)
-National cultures (regional on local variations
Determined by physical space and social groupings (age, gender, race and ethnicity)
Cultural boundaries are often difficult to delineate within cultural groupings as borrowing happens all the time.
- they constantly develop new features and characteristics
-more similarities than differences
-impacted by global economy and growing global community
What is Orthodox Marxist Theories?
Strucutral is nature
The nature of society is largely determined by the economic mode of production
The economic base of society
Everything else is known as the superstructure
What are neo-marxist theories?
Believe that ideological (super-structures) forces accompanying the economic mode of production
-dominant ideology (a system of thoughts. knowledge and beleifs) legitimates adn perpetuates the existing order. Minimizes criticism of capitalism and maximizes participation in and support for capitalism
What are cultural studies?
Developed from neo-marxism and sociology in the UK Cultural manipulated by dominant (hegemonic) groups of people to reproduce inequality; by portraying it as natural and inevitable Differs from Marxism by seeing class conflict as just one kind of ideological dominance
What is Cultural functionalism?
Cultural functionalists base their claims on the work of Emile Durkheim
THey focus on the integrative aspects of culture
Culture reflects the needs of a society
Culture is a functional social production
What is Symbolic interactionist?
Culture is a vehicle that transmits meaning to people
Culture is generated by individuals in face-to-face encounters
- body language and teh signals that we communicate are a clear element of culture
More responsibility on individuals as active creatures of culture
What is dramaturgical perspective?
The sending and receiving of signals and messages is central to the overall organization of society
People are like actors in a play
Follow out scripts and roles perform for others
Manage impressions of themselves (performing for others) on front stage. We let down our guard and stop managing impressions on backstage
What is the production of culture perspective?
The production of aesthetic of culture perspective rejects the mirror or reflection view of culture held by Marxist and functionalists
These theorists examine cultural products that are explicitly and intentionally produced
Culture is said to be a product of social action just as non-cultural products are
What is language and discourse?
The primary means through which communication takes place. Works because meanings are agreed upon, but language is always changing
The promotion of certain discourses can set the public agenda for certain issues. Plays a role in the social construction of the categories and definitions we use to understand the world
What is discourse?
Simple terms it is a way of talking (writing, communicating) about something. A set of ideas, concepts and vocabulary routinely used together
English is a language. We can identify many discourses in English.
Drawing from Foucault, we can define a discourse as a system of statements addressing some domain of society
Each follows a certain pattern
A discourses “rule of formation” specify what can be said in what form and by whom
What is mass medias role in culture?
Print, film, music, TV, radio, internet, social media
Potent social forces in the production of culture
Serve as information gatekeepers
Large influence on people’s attitudes and behaviours
What is subculture?
A subset of cultural traits of the larger society that also includes distinctive values, beliefs, norms, style of dress adn behaviour
