Symbols of Culture: Evolution and Impact on Society

1. CULTURE • Learned set of beliefs, values, and norms • Creation of culture is universal phenomenon but the form it takes is not

2. Cultural Universals • Cultural Universals are customs and practices that occur across all societies. • Examples: • Appearance (bodily adornment, hairstyles) • Activities (sports, dancing, games, joking) • Social institutions (family, law, religion) • Practices (cooking, folklore, gift giving)

3. Material • (Jewelry, Fashion, Weapons of War, Technology) An expression of …… • Non-Material • Beliefs, Norms, Values, Symbols

4. Other American Values? • Achievement Religiosity • Individualism Education • Work Ethic Romantic Love • Efficiency Democracy • Rationalization Freedom • Material Comfort Equality • Progress Humanitarianism

5. Value Contradictions and Social Change It is precisely at the point of value contradictions, then, that one can see a major force for social change in a society.

6. Norms • Folkways – informal -- violation is minimal • Mores – moral component -- violation might be severe • Laws – formalized and enforced • Taboos – most important -- violation causes repulsion

7. Nature Versus Nurture • Sociability • Intelligence • Sensitive hands • Vocality • Eyesight • Upright posture • Instincts

8. What instincts do we have?

9. Instincts versus Innate behaviors • Reflexive behaviors • Instincts • Innate capacities

10. Symbols Artifacts, gestures, Material and non-material objects that we impute meaning upon and they come to stand for something

11. Symbols of Love Life Gem Memorials “Have your loved one close to you always” Turn their ashes into a diamond! Diamonds are rare? ?????? More than 800,000,000 mined each year

12. Symbols Change over time….. Old Symbol Has given way to ???? New Symbol

13. What is “consumer culture” in the U.S. ?

14. Powerful marketing convinces us to buy things we would not normally purchase • The manufacturing of desire??

15. Postmodernism & Consumer Culture • Cultural Leveling – the ‘McDonaldization of Society” -- more sectors of society are adopting the principles of fast-food restaurants • Credit cards are our tools of consumption • 3.5 billion letters per year to solicit new consumers • 83 percent of college students have at least one and average debt is almost $3,000

16. Consumer Culture and Credit….. • Credit card companies now control debit cards too. • They consider those who pay off their credit cards at the end of the month as “deadbeats” - Why might this be the case?

17. Postmodernism? • An eclectic blending of facets of culture • old/new, east/west, high/low • Globalization • Cultural Lag -- • material and non-material move at different pace

18. Components of McDonaldization • Efficiency, such as a drive-through windows, ready-made fast-food is meant to get us in and out fast. • Calculability is emphasis on large quantities, e.g., Big Mac, Whopper or Biggie Fries – mass production • Predictability - people don't like surprises, and at chains they know what to expect: A Big Mac tastes the same in Syracuse as in Salt Lake City. • Control -- options are limited to force customers through –also includes replacing human workers with machines, which are much easier than humans to manage.

19. Information Overload?? • Advertising…… Are we swimming in a sea of messages?? • “copywriters, market researchers, pollsters, consultants, and even linguists—most of whom work for one of six giant companies—spend billions of dollars and millions of man-hours trying to determine how to persuade consumers what to buy, whom to trust, and what to think. Increasingly, these techniques are migrating to the high-stakes arena of politics, shaping policy and influencing how Americans choose their leaders.” pbs--frontline

20. Culture has two faces…. • It can allow us to exercise our freedoms But because it is so taken for granted…. It can also constrain us and we never even realize it.

21. “Beauty” always refers to • the female body • “What are the norms for feminine beauty? • Do your ideas coincide? Differ?

22. How did this happen? • Culture told us to do it How does it stay this way? • We’ve embodied those images

23. If Barbie Was Real.. • Height 7’2” • Measurement 40-22-36 • Weight 83 lbs / 50 lbs would be her breasts • Neck would be twice as long as a normal human • If real, she could not menstruate because she would not have enough body fat

24. Average Woman in America -- 5’4” • 60% wear size 12 or higher • Average Mannequin 6’ 34-22-34 Size 6

25. “To men a man is but a mind. Who cares what face he carries or what he wears? But woman's body is the woman.” • Ambrose Bierce (1958)

26. Why is it that…… • Attractiveness is a prerequisite for femininity -- but not for masculinity or this changing too???? • Would you go through physical torture to achieve attractiveness? • You would not be the first to do so…..

27. Questions • Would you consider cosmetic surgery for yourself?

28. 31% women 20% men said yes • 27% 18 to 24 years old said yes to now or in the future • 27% white 24% non-white

29. http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Documents/news-resources/statistics/2010-statisticss/Top-Level/2010-US-cosmetic-reconstructive-plastic-surgery-minimally-invasive-statistics2.pdfhttp://www.plasticsurgery.org/Documents/news-resources/statistics/2010-statisticss/Top-Level/2010-US-cosmetic-reconstructive-plastic-surgery-minimally-invasive-statistics2.pdf Percentage change 2010 vs. 2009 13.1 million cosmetic procedures  5% • 1.6 million cosmetic surgical procedures  2% • 11.6 million cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures  5% 5.3 million reconstructive procedures  2%

30. Overall, women have 91 percent of cosmetic procedures number of surgical and nonsurgical procedures • But men are jumping on the cosmetic surgery bandwagon • Source:http://www.yourplasticsurgeryguide.com/trends/charts-graphs.htm

31. Americans spend approximately $13.2 billion on cosmetic procedures . • http://www.cosmeticplasticsurgerystatistics.com/statistics.html#2007-FACTS

32. Top five cosmetic surgeries • Breast Augmentation • Nose Reshaping • Eyelid Surgery • Liposuction • Tummy Tuck

33. Top five Cosmetic – minimally Invasive • BOTox • Soft tissue fillers • Chemical Peels • Laser Hair Removal • Microdermabrasion

34. Food Poisoning? • Sales of Botox grew "at double the rate at constant currency internationally than in the United States." Botox sales rose 18 percent to $315.5 million, while eye-care pharmaceuticals sales increased 22 percent, to $492.2 million. Medical devices sales rose 23 percent to $203.4 million, with obesity intervention sales up 36 percent and facial aesthetics sales up 24 percent. • Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080507/earns_allergan.html

35. A sampling of 2,000 girls, with an average age of 15, found that 42 percent have considered getting plastic surgery. • The number of cosmetic surgery procedures has jumped a whopping 457 percent since ASAPS first began gathering these stats in 1997.

36. Chinese foot binding – the first historical example of objectification and first sign of norms that demanded conformity. “golden lotus”

37. Trying to fit All the norms Of attractiveness Can drive us crazy!

38. American Culture = Diet Culture • Which also means….. • Culture of anorexia/bulimia Culture of obesity • In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.

39. One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia • Two to three in 100 American women suffers from bulimia • Nearly half of all Americans personally know someone with an eating disorder • An estimated 10 – 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are males

40. Approximately 25 million more are struggling with binge eating disorder • www.nationaleatingdisorders.org

41. Once described as “Western Disease” • As many as 150,000 will die of the disease • Very rare disorder until 1970

42. Women become both producers of …. • and products of our culture…. • Early 90s – one study found that • 25-33% of college women use vomiting after meals as a method of weight control . • See www.nationaleatingdisorders.org • For who is at risk among dieters

43. Another study found…. • A majority of woman and men rate borderline anorexic bodies as very attractive • Attractiveness ratings do not vary for men as they age – for women, the older they are, the lower their rating.

44. Real versus Ideal Culture • Myths • We all start out with the same opportunities • Factors like age, gender, social class, race, ethnicity can inhibit or enhance your chances in life

45. Cultural Change • Diffusion - spread of culture • Imperialism – imposition of culture • Ethnocentrism – judgment of culture

46. Ethnocentrism • A little goes a long way…… • Often times --- • To say that you are ready todiefor cultural identity means that you’re also ready to kill for cultural identity. • For examples of this -- look to the Middle East, India, Africa (e.g., Israel, Palestine, former Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Ruwanda)

47. Could it be that… • Sometimes culture becomes an instrument of repression, exclusion, and extinction? • Honor Killings, Genital Mutilation

48. Tempocentrism – judgment of time period • Relativism – appreciation as equally valid Relativist Fallacy – • going too far with appreciation “Basic Human rights”

49. Functional Perspective • Culture reflects our structural arrangements in a given society • Division of labor….Kinship relations • serves both manifest and latent functions • folklore, ideologies, rituals, symbols, values, etc. support these relations by giving people reasons for their lives and besides, they are learned at a very early age and generally accepted by all who surround us -- they are binding

50. Conflict Perspective: •  Culture reflects our structural arrangements in a given society -- most often the ideas of those in power • Culture, what we see all around us, often gets there via cultural gatekeepers (powerful organizations, individuals, groups, that have control over the introduction of cultural innovations -- i.e., what makes it and what doesn’t)