Lesson 4 - Aspects of Culture Flashcards
The people’s way of life
Culture
A complex whole, which encompasses beliefs, practices, values, and everything a person learns as a member of the society
Culture
Explain the rationale behind “complex whole”
culture cannot be simply broken down into a set of attributes; understanding a part can only be achieved in relation to the other parts of the system
This explanation was stated by who?
Edward B. Tyler
What are some examples of culture?
Knowledge, music, methods, manners, Language, religion, techniques, customs, jokes food, beliefs, arts, morals, clothes, drama, etc.
What the aspects of culture?
Dynamic ,flexible and adaptive
Shared and contested
Learned through socialization or enculturation
Transmitted through socialization / enculturations
Patterned of social interactions
Integrated and at times unstable
Requires language and other forms of communication.
‘WHAT’ of culture
Actions, artifacts, language, behavior,
‘HOW’ of culture
identifies the processes that guarantee the transmission and dissemination of the contents
‘WHY’ of culture
pinpoints the reason why individuals comply and the mechanisms that facilitate the performance of expected behavior
gradual acquisition of the norms of a culture or society by a person or another group
ENCULTURATION
keyword: acquisition - obtaining - gaining
ex. the third culture shock
starts with exposure to another culture and duration and extent of exposure account to the quality of resulting enculturation
ENCULTURATION
the way of life; design for living
Culture
“A culture is a historically derived system of explicit and implicit design for living, which tends to be shared by all for specially designed members of a group” is stated by two people in the names of…
Kluckhohn and Kelly
refers to similarities in words and actions which can be directly observed
Explicit Culture
Exists in abstract forms which are not quite obvious
Implicit Culture
Give the 4 functions of culture
Culture defines situations
Culture defines attitudes, values, and goals
Culture defines myths, legends, and the supernatural
Culture provides behaviour patterns
a greek word that means “people, nation, or cultural grouping”
ethno
a latin word that means “center”
centric
refers to the tendency of society to place its own culture patterns at the center of things
ETHNOCENTRISM
keyword: center, superior
process of comparing other cultural practices with those of one’s own and finding other cultural practices to be inferior
ETHNOCENTRISM
the idea that all norms, beliefs, and values are dependent on their cultural context and should be treated as such
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
-a requirement regardless of cultural origin
promotes greater appreciation of the cultures one encounters on the way
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
- good way to rehearse the norms and values of a society
Two complementary reasons for appreciation of other cultures
Acquisition of sufficient knowledge about the culture in question
Direct exposure to other cultures
tendency to use one’s own culture for judging the ways of other societies
ETHNOCENTRISM
