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Chapter 3. Culture. Introduction. Listen to Saba Safdar, the Director of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the University of Guelph has to say about about culture in her 2012 Ted talk…. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Culture (TedX). CULTURE is:. a way of life
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Chapter 3 Culture
Introduction • Listen to Saba Safdar, the Director of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the University of Guelph has to say about about culture in her 2012 Ted talk…. • Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Culture (TedX)
CULTURE is: • a way of life • developed as people interact with one another over time • shared, learned, intergenerational • the totality of learned, socially transmitted behaviour • all the values, norms, and customs that people share with one another • all objects and ideas found within a society
Aspects of Culture • Material culture • Physical things created by members of a society • Non-material culture • The ideas created by members of a society • Ideal culture • The way things should be • Social patterns mandated by values and norms • Real culture • They way things actually occur in everyday life • Real social patterns we can observe
Material Elements of Culture: Technology • Physical human creations or artifacts • Material culture reflects cultural values and a society's technology • Information Technology: Post-industrial society uses computers and other electronic devices
Non-material Elements of Culture: Symbols • Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture • Societies create new symbols all the time • Symbols have shared meanings which vary from culture to culture and even within a culture
Non-material Elements: Language Language is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another • Experts document 7000 languages • Cultural transmission: The process by which one generation passes culture to the next • Sapir-Whorf thesis: We perceive the world through the cultural lens of language
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • Also known as linguistic determinism • Language determines how we understand the world and guides our beliefs and actions • “…the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds - and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds…” (Whorf, 1940) • Linguistic relativism more accepted today • Language only somewhat shapes our thought and behaviour
Can language influence how you spend your money? • An application of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis • Watch Keith Chen’s Can language influence how you spend your money? • Watch Keith Chen’s longer Ted Talk on the same topic.
Non-material: Values and Beliefs • Values: Culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and beauty, which serve as broad guidelines for social living; values support beliefs • Beliefs: Specific statements that people hold to be true • Think of an example of a belief that you have….what values do you hold that support that belief?
Value conflict • Sometimes one key cultural value contradicts another: • Individualistic interests vs. contribution to larger community • Belief in equality vs. racism • Cooperativeness vs. competitiveness • Value conflict causes strain • Values change over time
Global value conflict • Cultures have their own values • Lower-income nations have cultures that value survival • Higher-income countries have cultures that value individualism and self-expression • Can you think of an example?
Non-material Elements: Norms, Mores and Folkways • Norms:Rules and expectations by which society guides its members’ behaviour • Proscriptive (Should-nots) vs Prescriptive (Shoulds) • Note that Laws are codified norms • Mores: Widely observed and have great moral significance (taboos) • Difference between right and wrong • Folkways: guide routine and casual interaction
The Transmission of Culture • We pass on culture, especially non-material elements through the “stories” we tell one another about life (George Gerbner) • Stories told by our families, teachers, books and magazines, fictional and non-fictional television programs, and music are just a few. • Many contemporary stories told by the media and through advertising • In this way learn the norms and values of our culture i.e. Safdar on jokes and insults
Reading Culture • Culture is our code for understanding the meaning behind the messages we convey and receive • In Safdar’s talk, insults and jokes are messages • Media images, music and advertisements are all messages that carry cultural meaning • “breaching experiments” (H. Garfinkel) • Griselda Pollock and “gender reversals” • A form of breaching experiment • Used to uncover hidden sexism in ads
Breaching Experiments(Harold Garfinkel) • What’s wrong with this picture?
Cultural Diversity: Types of Culture • High Culture (elite culture) • The culture of “ideas” • Middle Culture (most targeted by marketers) • The culture of “things” • Low Culture (lack wealth) • The culture of “people” • Subculture: Cultural patterns that set apart some segment of society’s population • Counterculture: Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society • Other: Folk culture, youth culture, etc. • Popular culture: widely spread cultural patterns • Transmitted through media and information technology
Cultural Capital • French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu distinguishes between: • Economic capital (wealth) • Social capital (class and status) • Cultural capital • Education • Sophistication of taste esp. in consumption • Cultural capital varies across societies and by subcultures within each society
Cultural Capital and Media • High advertising • Complex, sophisticated imagery • Found in “high brow” magazines (Forbes etc). • Culture of “ideas” • Middle advertising • Compound – has elements of low and high • Seen in middle-class periodicals (Macleans, etc.) • Culture of “things” • Low advertising • Simple structure – focus on product • “low brow” placement (Hot Rod, etc.) • Culture of ‘people”
Cultural (cont.) • We can see class distinctions in advertising in western society • Ads reinforce stratified positions in society • Can you see class distinctions in the following car advertisements?
Popular Culture • Popular culture: widely spread cultural patterns • Patterns can be global • Transmitted through media and information technology • Advertising can be seen as pop culture or as the “art” of Western culture • Michael Schudson called it “capitalist realism” as opposed to socialist realism of communist USSR in the 1930’s to 1980’s
Cultural Change • Cultural integration and cultural lag • Cultural change occurs in three main ways… • Invention (new cultural elements are created) • Computer technology • Discovery of new ideas or technologies • The theory of global warming is changing our culture right now • Cultural diffusion from one society to another or from one subculture to another subculture within the same society
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism • Ethnocentrism = judging a culture by one’s own standards • Cultural relativism = judging a culture by its own standards • Canada is a “multicultural” society • Culturally diverse • Yet “Eurocentrism” is a problem
Culture shock Personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life because of: • Immigration • Visit a new country • Move between social environments • No way of life is “natural” to humanity, but most people around the world view their own behaviour in that way • Have you experienced it??
Bill S-7: Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act • Passed by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government on June 15, 2015 • (http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=8057595&File=19) • Recommended creating a “tip line” to report barbaric cultural practices • Caused by culture shock?
