Folk and Popular Culture

1. Folk and Popular Culture The American Perspective

2. Features of Culture 1. Styles of Dress 2. Ways of Greeting People 3. Beliefs about Hospitality 4. Importance of Time 5. Paintings 6. Values 7. Literature 8. Beliefs about Child Raising (Children & Teens) 9. Attitudes about Personal Space/Privacy 10. Beliefs about the Responsibilities 11. Gestures 12. Holiday Customs 13. Music 14. Dancing 15. Celebrations 16. Concept of Fairness 17. Nature of Friendship 18. Ideas about Clothing 19. Foods 20. Eating Habits 21. Facial Expressions and Hand Gestures 22. Concept of Self 23. Work Ethic 24. Religious Beliefs 25. Religious Rituals 26. Concept of Beauty 27. Rules of Polite Behavior 28. Attitude Toward Age 29. Beliefs about the Importance of Family 30. General World View

3. Levels of Culture National culture refers to those experiences, beliefs, learned behavior patterns, values, and institutions that are shared by citizens of the same nation. International culture refers to cultural practices that extend beyond and across national boundaries. Cultural practices may be transmitted through diffusion. Subcultures are identifiable cultural patterns and traditions associated with particular groups in the same complex society.

6. Origins and Diffusion of Folk and Popular Cultures Origin of folk and popular cultures Origin of folk music Origin of popular music Diffusion of folk and popular cultures The Amish: Relocation diffusion of folk culture Sports: Hierarchical diffusion of popular culture

7. Origin of Country Music

8. Amish Settlements in the U.S.

9. Diffusion of House Types in U.S.

11. U.S. House Types, 1945-1990

12. U.S. House Types by Region

13. Wide Dispersion of Popular Culture Diffusion of popular housing, clothing, and food Popular housing styles Rapid diffusion of clothing styles Popular food customs Television and diffusion of popular culture Diffusion of television Diffusion of the internet Government control of television

14. Contemporary Culture Areas Unique regions of folk culture arise because of the lack of interaction among groups.

15. Surviving Folk Culture Areas

16. The Nine Nations of North America

17. The Foundry Capital: Detroit Symbol: factory Keyword: manufacturing Pop. Culture: The old television show Laverne and Shirley, or Roseanne The Foundry was North America's heavily populated manufacturing belt. Stretching from New York City to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It includes the Megalopolis of the Eastern United States and the "Mainstreet" region of southern Canada. It is a nation of large industrial cities. But the industrial base of these cities is declining, turning the "manufacturing belt" into a "rust belt". During its heyday the Foundry attracted the disadvantaged from around the world including African Americans from the southern states of Dixie. This influx of people looking for factory jobs has made the Foundry an multiethnic nation. But with the decline of manufacturing these multiethnic cities developed cores of urban poor. Furthermore, the pollution created by the massive manufacturing plants still affects these cities. Large areas of urban land is contaminated and lies idle throughout the Foundry. The Foundry includes Chicago. Some geographers define the Fox River as the Foundry's western border.

18. The Breadbasket Capital: Kansas City Symbol: wheat Keyword: agriculture Pop. culture: The old television show Mary Tyler Moore �The Breadbasket is the nation that works best. It lies in the flat interior lowland and great plains physiographic regions of North America. In northern Illinois the Breadbasket begins at the Fox river. The Breadbasket has been called America's "social ratifier": a place where if a new idea is accepted, it is generally considered to be accepted everywhere in the country. President Nixon used to say" Does it play in Preoria?" If accepted in the Breadbasket, it has become a part of our culture. The Breadbasket is a well educated nation, due to the establishment of land-grant universities.

19. New England Capital: Boston Symbol: wood burning stove Keyword: Pop. culture: Cheers �"New England" includes the US states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut and the Canadian Atlantic provinces of News Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. Except for the urbanized southern portion, which can also be classified in the Foundry, New England is mostly rural and economic development has lagged behind its neighbors. The primary activities of agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Today recreation and tourism are growing industries. New Englanders have a strong sense of history, are self-reliant, and highly educated

20. Dixie Capital: Atlanta Symbol: confederate flag Keyword: change Pop. culture: Designing Women, Dallas For us in Illinois, it is of interest that southern Illinois is part of "Dixie". Stop at a truck stop in Carbondale, Illinois. and you'll see grits and hush puppies on the menu. It is not surprising that the southern and southeastern region of the United states is a separates cultural nation. The differences between Dixie and the rest of North America are well known and, of course, culminated in the Civil War. The key word for dixie is "change", although it may be more accurate to say "change, but...". Economically, investment money is flowing into Dixie, BUT its benefits haven't reached most of the southern poor. African-Americans have been elected as mayors of Atlanta, Birmingham, New Orleans, Jacksonville, BUT racism and the KKK are still strong.

21. The Islands Capital: Miami Symbol: palm tree or money Keyword: drugs Pop. culture: Miami Vice, Jimmy Buffet, Golden Girls �

22. Mex-America Capital: Los Angeles Symbol: cowboy boot Keyword: economic boom Pop. culture: movie: El Norte

23. Ecotopia Capital: San Francisco Symbol: tree Keyword: water Pop. culture: Movie: Citizen Cane From Northern California to Alaska, Ecotopia (from the words ECOlogy and uTOPIA) comprises the northern west coast of North America. Its a land where individualism and the environment are respected (some says "worshipped"). It is the home of the Posse Comitatus right-wing militia, and radical environmentalists who pound spikes into trees to stop the lumberman's saw. but it is also the home of Boeing Arilines, Microsoft, and Silicon Valley. Ecotopia is surrounded by hostile forces. To the south, dry Mex-America has their eyes on Ecotopia's water, but the Ecotopians defend their water fiercely. Ecotopia's individualism is expressed in a form of xenophilia (the love of things strange and foreign). It's educational center, UC Berkely, is known for being at the center of the '60s generation. the home of LSD and the Grateful Dead. Silicon Valley is just up the road. Holistic medicine, solar energy, "weird"? Ecotopia is a Pacific Rim nation.

24. The Empty Quarter Capital: Denver Symbol: mining crane / steam shovel Keyword: resources or distance Pop. culture: Great distances A harsh land: "you conquer it, or it conquers you" Source of raw materials for the other nations of North America Decisions made outside of the nation Sparsely populated A proposed Yellowstone to Yukon conservation zone.

25. Nine Nations of North America, So What? The implication of these developments is that everything from politics to urban planning needs to be redesigned to match the evolving regional sensibilities that now matter more to people than national and international borders. In the Ecotopia, for instance, residents prize the natural environment and specialize in environmentally friendly high-technology industries like software. Meanwhile, communities in the Empty Quarter are organized around extraction of natural resources such as the oil and timber that are their economic mainstay. Such regional differences result in fundamental differences in worldviews that are pulling each of the nine nations apart.

26. A New �Nation Divided� The phrase �culture wars� refers to the ongoing struggle to define the moral character of the nation. The term was first coined by James Davison Hunter in his book of the same name. The culture wars are manifest today in the conflicts among individuals and social institutions over abortion, gay rights, gun control and religious expression, as well as other issues. The deepening divide between the competing camps is evident in the uncompromising stance taken by the fiercest moral advocates on either side.

29. The �Camps� The terms �red zone� and �blue zone� derive from a map of the results of the 2000 presidential election. Counties Gore/Kerry/Obama won are in blue and the counties Bush/McCain won are in red. While it is certainly true that American beliefs do not fit exactly into two distinct clusters, the generalization is useful when discussing values conflicts.

30. Red Zone Usually associated with the Republican party and conservative politics Accept a basic Christian identity for the nation in the form of references to God in public ceremonies and adoption of Christian holidays Uphold family values, nationalism and capitalism A belief in personal moral responsibility leads them to support vice laws, the right of gun ownership and the death penalty Favor low taxes Believe abortion is the taking of an innocent human life and should not be considered a private matter.

31. Blue Zone Usually associated with the Democratic party and liberal politics Believe that Christianity should be expunged from the national identity (separation of church and state) Support multiculturalism, the idea that a wide variety of religious and moral systems should coexist in society, and internationalism A belief in tolerance for human moral frailty leads them to support drug and sex legalization, gun control and abolition of the death penalty Support a woman�s right to choice with regard to pregnancy and abortion Tolerate (as opposed to favor) higher taxes Believe that humanity is a threat to the natural environment and that laws should restrict human activity accordingly

32. Election 2000: Regional Differences

33. Presidential Election 2004Regional Differences

36. The �Real� Political (& Popular ?) Landscape

37. Why is Popular Culture Widely Distributed? Popular culture is most often a product of the economically more developed countries. Popular culture diffuses rapidly across Earth, facilitated by modern communications, especially television.

38. Discussion Questions Do cable and satellite television produce a different process of diffusion than that produced by traditional television signals? What role does the World Wide Web play in diffusing popular culture, and what are the resulting patterns? To what extent do Canadians have a distinct culture from Americans? What common goods, ideas, and activities link U.S. and Canadian cultures?

39. Key Concepts Custom Folk culture Popular culture Taboo Habit Culture wars National culture International culture Subculture Acculturation Enculturation Cultural landscapes Monochronic cultures Polychronic cultures Cultural areas Indigenous cultures Globalization of popular culture Environmental problems of cultural globalization