Folk and Popular Culture

1. Folk and Popular Culture Insanely “Radical” Scot, with Kilt and Classic Surfboard Hindu Sadhu (Holy Man) Varanasi, India

3. Beijing, China2004

4. Important Terminology • Folk Culture – traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation. • Popular Culture – found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in personal characteristics. • Material Culture – the physical objects produced by a culture in order to meet its material needs: food, clothing, shelter, arts, and recreation. Carl Sauer (Berkeley, 1930s – 1970s).

5. Important Terms • Custom – frequent repetition of an act until it becomes characteristic of a group of people.. • Taboo – a restriction on behavior imposed by social custom. • Habit – repetitive act performed by an individual.

6. Folk Culture – rapidly changing and/or disappearing throughout much of the world. Indigenous Woman, Guatemala Portuguese Fishing Boat Northern India, 2009 Bhopal, India, 2009

7. Folk Culture • Stable and close knit • Usually a rural community • Tradition controls • Resistance to change • Buildings erected without architect or blueprint using locally available building materials • anonymous origins, diffuses slowly through migration. Develops over time. • Clustered distributions:isolation/lack of interaction breed uniqueness and ties to physical environment. Brazilian Rainforest, 2011 (click photo!)

8. FOLK ARCHITECTURE

9. FOLK ARCHITECTURE • Effects on Landscape:usually of limited scale and scope. Agricultural: fields, terraces, grain storage Dwellings: historically created from local materials: wood, brick, stone, skins; often uniquely and traditionally arranged; always functionally tied to physical environment.

10. FOLK FOOD How did such differences develop? Ecuador, 2006 (click photo for slideshow)

11. Food Cultures (i.e. hog production) Fig. 4-6: Annual hog production is influenced by religious taboos against pork consumption in Islam and other religions. The highest production is in China, which is largely Buddhist.

12. North American Folk Culture Regions

13. Food Taboos: Jews – can’t eat animals that chew cud, that have cloven feet; can’t mix meat and milk, or eat fish lacking fins or scales; Muslims – no pork; Hindus – no cows (used for oxen during monsoon) Washing Cow in Ganges

14. Popular Culture Clothing: Jeans, for example, and have become valuable status symbols in many regions including Asia and Russia despite longstanding folk traditions.

15. Popular Culture Wide Distribution: differences from place to place uncommon, more likely differences at one place over time. Housing:only small regional variations, more generally there are trends over time Food: franchises, cargo planes, superhighways and freezer trucks have eliminated much local variation. Limited variations in choice regionally, esp. with alcohol and snacks. Substantial variations by ethnicity.

16. World Cell Phone SubscribersCartogram, 1990 & 2002 Territory size shows the proportion of all cellular telephone subscriptions found there in 1990 and 2002.Source: www.worldmapper.org

17. World Internet SubscribersCartogram, 1990 & 2002 Territory size shows the proportion of all Internet users in 1990 and 2002.Source: www.worldmapper.org

18. GSM World Cellular Coverage, 2009 Source: GSM Association. 2009.

19. Diffusion of TV, 1954–1999 Television has diffused widely since the 1950s, but some areas still have low numbers of TVs per population. • Much media is still state-controlled. • Ten Most Censored Countries: • North Korea • Myanmar (Burma) • Turkmenistan • Equatorial Guinea • Libya • Eritrea • Cuba • Uzbekistan • Syria • Belarus • Source: The Committee to Protect Journalists. 2009. www.cpj.org.

20. Internet Connections The Internet is diffusing today, but access varies widely.

21. Internet Connections The Internet is diffusing today, but access varies widely. Some countries censor the Internet, but this is difficult to do.

22. Popular Culture Effects on Landscape: creates homogenous, “placeless” (Relph, 1976), landscape • Complex network of roads and highways • Commercial Structures tend towards ‘boxes’ • Dwellings may be aesthetically suggestive of older folk traditions • Planned and Gated Communities more and more common

23. Surfing at Disney’s Orlando Typhoon Lagoon Are places still tied to local landscapes? Disconnect with landscape: indoor swimming pools? desert surfing?

24. McDonald’s Restaurant, Venice Swimming Pool, West Edmonton Mall, Canada Dubai’s Indoor Ski Resort

25. Muslim Women in Traditional Dress at Indoor Ski Resort

26. Problems with the Globalization of Culture Often Destroys Folk Culture – or preserves traditions as museum pieces or tourism gimmicks. • Mexican Mariachis; Polynesian Navigators; Cruise Line Simulations • Change in Traditional Roles and Values; Polynesian weight problems Satellite Television, Baja California

27. Problems with the Globalization of Popular Culture Western Media Imperialism? • U.S., Britain, and Japan dominate worldwide media. • Glorified consumerism, violence, sexuality, and militarism? • U.S. (Networks and CNN) and British (BBC) news media provide/control the dissemination of information worldwide. • These networks are unlikely to focus or provide third world perspective on issues important in the LDCs.

28. Environmental Effects of Globalization Accelerated Resource Use in Consumer Societies: • Furs: minx, lynx, jaguar, kangaroo, whale, sea otters (18th Century Russians) fed early fashion trends. • Aggressive consumerism evident in most Western Media , including hip hop and rock and roll. • Inefficient over-consumption of Meats (10:1), Poultry (3:1), even Fish (fed other fish and chicken) by meat-eating pop cultures • New larger housing desires and associated energy and water use. Pollution: • Water treatment and improved public health may come with higher incomes. • However, increased waste and toxins from fuel use, discarded products, plastics, marketing and packaging materials, etc.

29. Benefits of Economic and Cultural Globalization • Increased economic opportunity? • Higher standards of living? • Increased consumer choice • More political freedom? • More social freedom? Shanghai, China, 2003

30. Beijing, China Palm Springs, CA

31. Marlboro Man in Egypt

32. Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings, 2007

33. Fiji

34. Suburban Sprawl, Arizona

35. Resisting Globalization • Protests at WTO and G9 meetings • Al Jazeera • Indigenous Peoples in Latin America • Chinese government censorship

36. The Most Violent Places on Earth? Source: Wikipedia. 2010. List of countries by intentional homicide rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

37. The Happiest Places on Earth? • Family and Friends, Exercise, Faith (Sense of Purpose), Extroversion, Sufficient Employment and Increasing Income, Flow and Balance • Some regions are clearly more happy than others and there are geographic clusters. • In Japan, China, Australia, and the U.S. satisfaction has stayed level or decreased as GDP increased for much of recent history. • What do the social sciences tell us about what makes people happy? • How does happiness vary around the world? • How does happiness change over time within a country?

38. The 20 happiest nations in the World: 1. Denmark 2. Switzerland 3. Austria 4. Iceland 5. The Bahamas 6. Finland 7. Sweden 8. Bhutan 9. Brunei 10. Canada 11. Ireland 12. Luxembourg 13. Costa Rica 14. Malta 15. The Netherlands 16. Antigua and Barbuda 17. Malaysia 18. New Zealand 19. Norway 20. The Seychelles Other notable results include: 23. USA 35. Germany 41. UK 62. France 82. China 90. Japan 125. India 167. Russia The three least happy countries were: 176. Democratic Republic of the Congo 177. Zimbabwe 178. Burundi Subjective well-being in this study was found to be most closely associated with health, followed by wealth and then education. 2006. Adrian White, Analytic Social Psychologist at the University of Leicester produces first ever global projection of international differences in subjective well-being; the first ever World Map of Happiness.

39. World Values Survey

40. The Happiest Places on Earth? 1.    Denmark2.    Finland3.    Netherlands4.    Sweden5.    Ireland6.    Canada7.    Switzerland8.    New Zealand9.    Norway10.  Belgium • Question: “Taking all things together, would you say you are? • 1 Very happy • 2 Rather happy • 3 Not very happy • 4 Not at all happy” - Based on data from World Values Survey

41. Question: “Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?” Based on data from Gallup World Poll, 2006

42. Based on data from World Values Survey The WVS has shown that from 1981 to 2007 happiness rose in 45 of the 52 countries for which long-term data are available. Since 1981, economic development, democratization, and rising social tolerance have increased the extent to which people perceive that they have free choice, which in turn has led to higher levels of happiness around the world. “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days? Using this card on which 1 means you are “completely dissatisfied” and 10 means you are “completely satisfied” where would you put your satisfaction with your life as a whole?” Completely dissatisfied Completely satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

44. Source: Internet appendix to Inglehart, Foa and Welzel, “Social Change, Freedom and Rising Happiness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

45. Source: Internet appendix to Inglehart, Foa and Welzel, “Social Change, Freedom and Rising Happiness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

46. Source: Internet appendix to Inglehart, Foa and Welzel, “Social Change, Freedom and Rising Happiness.” Accessed in 2010. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

47. HAPPY PLANET INDEX (HPI) Map showing countries shaded by their position in the Happy Planet Index (2006). The highest-ranked countries are bright green; the lowest are brown. www.happyplanetindex.org The new HPI results show the extent to which 151 countries across the globe produce long, happy and sustainable lives for the people that live in them.  The overall index scores rank countries based on their efficiency, on how many long and happy lives each produces per unit of environmental damage (ecological “footprint”). Thus, high environmental impact countries drop in ranking.

48. World Values Survey