Culture
Ch. 2 Characteristics of Culture
The Concept of Culture
Culture is Learned
Culture is Shared
Culture is Based on Symbols
Culture Gives Meaning to Reality
Functions of Culture
Culture and Change
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
What is Culture?
Superstructure:
Superstructure A culture’s worldview, including morals and values, oftentimes grounded in religion Social structure: structure The rule-governed relationships—with all their rights and obligations—that hold members of a society together. This includes households, families, associations, and power relations, including politics.
Infrastructure:
Infrastructure The economic foundation of a society, including its subsistence practices and the tools and other material equipment used to
The Barrel Model of Culture
What is Culture?
The beliefs and behaviors of a society
Culture consists of abstract ideas, values,
and perceptions of the world that inform and are reflected in people’s behavior
Culture is the lens through which we view our world, it “invents” our reality
Iceberg example…
Culture is like an
Iceberg…
Culture is Learned
Rather than inherited biologically
Enculturation: The transmission of culture from one
generation to the next
Mammals in general display cultural behavior (I.e. we all have the urge to eat/sleep, but when we do/with whom/in what order is determined by our social relationships). With humans, our social rules are more varied and complex.
Ex: Social animals…Lions, dogs, chimpanzees…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VCJ1ybkjnA (Chimp
Culture)
If animals display cultural behavior as do we, should we also view animals through an Anthropological perspective? Sub disciplines of Primate Behavior and Animal Communication deal with this question.
Culture is Shared
By members of a society and produces behavior
that is intelligible (able to be understood) to other members of that society
Society vs. Culture
Society: An organized group or groups of interdependent
The Concept of Culture
Culture is Learned
Culture is Shared
Culture is Based on Symbols
Culture Gives Meaning to Reality
Functions of Culture
Culture and Change
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
What is Culture?
Superstructure:
Superstructure A culture’s worldview, including morals and values, oftentimes grounded in religion Social structure: structure The rule-governed relationships—with all their rights and obligations—that hold members of a society together. This includes households, families, associations, and power relations, including politics.
Infrastructure:
Infrastructure The economic foundation of a society, including its subsistence practices and the tools and other material equipment used to
The Barrel Model of Culture
What is Culture?
The beliefs and behaviors of a society
Culture consists of abstract ideas, values,
and perceptions of the world that inform and are reflected in people’s behavior
Culture is the lens through which we view our world, it “invents” our reality
Iceberg example…
Culture is like an
Iceberg…
Culture is Learned
Rather than inherited biologically
Enculturation: The transmission of culture from one
generation to the next
Mammals in general display cultural behavior (I.e. we all have the urge to eat/sleep, but when we do/with whom/in what order is determined by our social relationships). With humans, our social rules are more varied and complex.
Ex: Social animals…Lions, dogs, chimpanzees…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VCJ1ybkjnA (Chimp
Culture)
If animals display cultural behavior as do we, should we also view animals through an Anthropological perspective? Sub disciplines of Primate Behavior and Animal Communication deal with this question.
Culture is Shared
By members of a society and produces behavior
that is intelligible (able to be understood) to other members of that society
Society vs. Culture
Society: An organized group or groups of interdependent