Chapter 2 Cst229
- 1. Chapter 2 Culture: The Heart of Diversity
- 2. Culture Defined Culture includes “knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and habits…” p 20 Society differs from culture ; society : people carrying on a life. Culture : what people produce and practice, culture is more action.
- 3. Broad Version of Culture Artifacts – the things people produce to make life easier, better
- 4. Broad Version of Culture Sociofacts – the practices that people follow that govern behavior, including unwritten codes of behavior
- 5. Broad Version of Culture Mentifacts – things that influence our thinking such as needs, values, attitudes
- 6. High vs Low Culture High culture – things like opera and ballet that are seen as more higher class, expensive, upper crust Low culture – activities that everyone has access to such as sports, rock music, etc Mass media has made high culture activities more available to everyone through TV, the internet, etc
- 7. Culture’s Characteristics Pervasiveness – culture is seen in every aspect of life, even things that we do not see or things that we do subconsciously Learned – we are not born with a culture, we learn from others around us and act as they do to fit in. If we do not follow or break rules, we face consequences (from being an outcast to jail)
- 8. Culture’s Characteristics Shared – culture binds us together as people and makes us an identifiable group Adapted – we adapt to our surroundings; our culture is the best way to act and survive within our surroundings
- 9. Culture’s Characteristics Explicit Behavior Behaviors that are taught to us (such as how to eat with utensils) Most likely to concentrate on when we don’t want to make a fool of ourselves Implicit Behavior These are not taught to us; we pick up these ways of acting unconsciously and are often unaware that we are doing them; habits Most mistakes will be made here
- 10. Culture’s Characteristics Changeability – cultures constantly undergo change as a result of: Cultural borrowing Disasters and crises Environmental reasons For example, think how we would have to change if we lost and never regained electricity…
- 11. Culture’s Characteristics Ethnocentricity – we think that our way of thinking is the only right and good ways and others’ thinking is wrong or stupid It can prevent us from getting to know or understanding how others live What is the difference between ethnocentrism and patriotism?
- 12. Cultural Universals These are basic things that are important or in some way part of every culture in the world. Methods differ from culture to culture but they exist in some form. See page 27 for the list See page 28 for a list of cultural truisms
- 13. Cultural Impact on Life Every person turns to his/her culture in order to answer the following: What is a human’s relation to nature? What is the modality of human activity? What is the temporal focus of human life? What is the character of innate human nature? What is the relationship of the individual to others?