Culture

1. Culture

2. Why do we develop cultures? • Humans are not controlled by natural instincts • Since we are not locked into predetermined behaviors we are able to adapt to and change our environment • The methods by which we deal with out environment forms the foundation of our culture

3. What is culture? • Culture: all the shared products of human groups • Material culture: physical objects • Cars, books, clothing, buildings, computers, cooking utensils, etc. • Nonmaterial culture: abstract human creations • Beliefs, family patterns, ideas, language, political systems, rules, skills, work practices, etc. • Society: group of interdependent people who have organized in such a way as to share a common culture and feeling of unity. • People make up a society-culture is made up of material and nonmaterial products

4. Cautions Regarding Culture and Attitude • Culture Shock – disorientation felt when encountering a culture that is radically different from one’s own • Ethnocentrism – using own culture as a yardstick for judging ways of others; our culture superior to others (cultural cruise control) • Xenophobia – fear or hatred of foreigners • Cultural Relativism – try to understand a culture on its own terms without judging against one’s own culture.

5. Culture • Two Types of Culture • Material Culture – includes jewelry, art, buildings, clothing, weapons • Non-material Culture – a group’s way of thinking (beliefs, values) and doing (patterns of behavior, language, gestures, etc) • Symbolic Culture – synonym for non-material culture; symbols used to communicate are a central component. • Language – system of symbols used to express ideas, values, beliefs, and knowledge • Gestures – common body language

6. Culture • Elements of Non-material Culture • Norms – rules defining appropriate and inappropriate behavior (standard, model) • Folkways – norms that lack moral significance; may be violated without serious consequences (customs) example: a Southerner who doesn’t drink sweet tea • Mores – strongly held norms with moral and ethical connotations; violation  serious consequences (policies, rules) example: a Southerner making and selling moonshine • Taboos – forbidden acts (cannibalism, incest) • Values – broad ideas about what is desirable or good within a society (voting, education)

7. Organization of Culture • Culture is an organized system of many independent factors influenced by physical circumstances (climate, geography, population, plant & animal life, etc) • Eskimos – eat meat almost exclusively live in shelters made from skins dress in seal furs • Rain Forest – diet of primarily fruits & vegetables shelters made of leaves & branches wear few if any clothes ex: Yanomamo of Brazil

8. Organization of Culture • Cultural Universals – customs and practices shared by all cultures (death rituals, food customs) • Cultural Traits – smallest unit of culture: handshake or kiss; many different types of each, with many different meanings • Cultural Complex – combination of related traits: baseballs, bats, gloves are part of a sports complex; books, papers, classrooms are part of education complex. • Cultural organization is not arranged randomly – non-material cultural characteristics complement one another and are integrated into a larger unit.

9. Organization of Culture • Subcultures – groups who share some cultural complexes of the larger society, but also have their own set of cultural complexes. • They have their own norms, values, and lifestyles, reflecting racial and ethnic differences. • May develop around occupations, athletics, ethnicity, medicine, religion, geography, etc. • Southerners, Greasers, Computer Gamers • Counter Cultures – subculture with norms & values that contradict those of the larger society; often withdraw from society physically or ideologically. • Ku Klux Klan, Hippies

10. Organization of Culture • Idiocultures – created through group interaction as people learn information about one another; rules are established, opinions expressed, and members experience events together. (classroom, fraternity, AA meeting, etc) • Ideal (American) Culture – freedom, democracy, equal rights, marital fidelity, equal opportunity. • Real (American) Culture – poor less likely to get good education, infidelity and racial & gender inequality are common, etc.

11. Cultural Change • Culture changes for three reasons: • Discovery – learning about something that already exists within a culture (women athletes) • Invention – creation of something new that changes a culture (technology) • Diffusion – transmission of items or practices from one culture to another (food, language, etc.)

12. Technology • The combination of objects and rules for those objects • Computer is the object, knowing how to use it is the rule • Car is the object, knowing how to drive is the rule

13. Cultural Iceberg When we interact with someone from another culture, we only hear their words and see their behavior. It is like seeing only the tip of the iceberg.. There is much more below the surface that we may not even be aware of.  A person's cultural values and attitudes affect what he/she says and what does. Those values and attitudes are affected by things like the history, religion and geography of his/her culture and country. If you want to communicate more effectively with people from other cultures, you need to look below the surface at the base of the iceberg.

14. Assignment Research a subculture or counterculture and create a brochure that highlights the values, beliefs, norms, and practices of that culture. Each group will present their brochure Test questions will be written based on the information presented.

15. Countercultures Subcultures • Hippies • Shakers • Beatniks/beats • Skin Heads • LGBT • Black Panthers • Nation of Islam • Vegans • Mormons • Goth • Grunge • Hipster • Straight edge • There are TONS just ask if you have a group in mind!

16. Language • The organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system • Words can be used to express ideas • Includes gestures and body language

17. Communication • The ability to take in, store, and use information • Necessary for human survival • The way we transmit culture • Humans have particularly complicated and symbolic means of communicating

18. Two types: • Instinctive • Natural, automatic response to stimuli • Arbitrary • Learned methods of communication • Words, gestures, sounds • Usually symbolic • Transmit ideas through words, gestures or symbols

19. North Carolina Dialects • http://www.wncn.com/story/22524119/nc-state-student-maps-out-regional-dialects • http://www.ncsu.edu/linguistics/ncllp/dialectquiz.php

20. Symbols • Anything that represents something else • Symbols have shared meanings • Words, gestures, images, sounds, objects, events, ANYTHING people give meaning.

21. Language • Complex, symbolic • An arbitrary social construct • Ex: dictionary as snapshot • Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: • Big Idea #1: Language reflects culture • Ex: # of words related to a topic reflects importance (Eskimos) • Ex: http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/savethewords-explore-share-rare-english-words/ • What are the dying words? What do they reflect about our culture?

22. Sapir Whorf Hypothesis • Language shapes culture and experience • Ex: Once you have a word for it, it exists • Paradigm: • Noun 1. An example that serves as a pattern or model. 2. The conceptual framework that permits the explanation and investigation of phenomena or the objects of study in a field of inquiry • Example – http://www.everynone.com • Find the words • http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/06/01/129111163/find-the-words-this-visual-puzzle-is-built-on-them?sc=emaf

23. Slang, Jargon, Code Switching • Slang: informal speech • Functional for: secrecy, gate-keeping, efficiency, humor • Examples – college slang 2009 • Recycled: Wasted, pie hole, ballin’ • New trend = blends. Ex: fratastic, sororisquat, hallcest, sexile, textravert • Humor / comic relief: “Members Only Jacket” • Examples – gang slang

24. Jargon: professional coded speech • Functional for efficiency, gatekeeping • SNL Clip: tech jargon • Ex: Educationese “BTs need to turn in their PDP to their AP by Sept. 10th. As for EOC results, DPI has released data that will be sent ASAP to each LEA. Don’t forget to check NC Wise for IEP, SP, and LEP info.”

25. Code-switching: • When you change the way you talk based on who you are talking to. • It is a sign of social intelligence to code switch. • Ex: teenagers • Ex: between social classes • Ex: home v. school • Assignment: Read Code Switching Article

26. Special Topic #4: Gestures and Body Language • Nonverbal symbolic communication • Global view: video on gestures • Sample application: Facial Action Coding System • Ex: proxemics • The study of personal space • Ex: Standing in line, Elevators, Cars in traffic • Any others you can think of?