Slide 1 : The Concept of Culture Think of 10 ways in which we use the word culture or cultural.
Eg. Culture shock, Filipino culture, multicultural
Slide 2 : Edward Burnett Tylor
1832-1917 Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired my man as a member of society. E. B. Tylor 1871
Slide 3 : `The sum total of knowledge, attitudes and habitual behaviour patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society' Ralph Linton (1940). The pattern of life within a community, the regularly recurring activities and material and social arrangements characteristic of a particular group'. Ward Goodenough (1957):
Slide 4 : “Culture is the framework of beliefs, expressive symbols, and values in terms of which individuals define their feelings and make their judgements” (Geertz 1957 American Anthropologist 59:32-54).
`an historically transmitted pattern of meaning embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means which men communicate' (Geertz 1973: 89). “Cultures are traditions and customs, transmitted through learning, that form and guide the beliefs and behaviour of the people exposed to them.... Cultural traditions include customs and opinions developed over the generations about proper and improper behaviour” (Kottak 2008)
Slide 5 : Culture is Relative Culture is a way of life Material
Objects Ideas
Attitudes
Values Behavior
Patterns “Everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society” (Ferraro, 2008)
Slide 6 : Values
Norms
Ideas/Beliefs Attitudes/Worldviews
Roles
Symbols
Traditions
Artifacts Dimensions of Culture
Slide 7 : Characteristics of Culture
Culture is learned
Culture is unconscious
Culture is shared
Culture is integrated
Culture is Symbolic
Culture is a way of life
Culture is Dynamic
Culture is Relative
Slide 8 : Culture is learned How do we learn our culture? Enculteration
Slide 9 : Culture is unconscious
Slide 10 : Culture is shared
Slide 11 : USA 89%
French Canada 81%
English Canada 77%
United Kingdom 71%
Philippines 69%
France 59%
Australia 25% Culture is Relative
Slide 12 : Culture is Integrated Winston Blackmore has 26 wives and more than 100 children
Slide 13 : A wink or a twitch
Slide 14 : Culture is Symbolic
Slide 15 :
Slide 16 : 1896 1918 1924 1935 1955 1964 1970 1986 1995 2008 Culture is Dynamic
Slide 17 : To communicate - makes the actions of individuals intelligible to others
A tool
gives meaning to differences
Identity
Adaptive Why do humans have Culture?
What is its function? Can culture be maladaptive?
Slide 18 : Is Culture Public or Private?
Slide 19 : What is society?
Slide 20 : `A distinct and relatively autonomous community whose members' mutual social relations are embedded in and expressed through the medium of culture'.
`Any portion of a community regarded as a unit distinguishable by particular aims or standards of living or conduct'. i.e. culture
`A group of people who occupy a specific locality and who share the same cultural traditions or culture.' Society
Slide 21 : Summary: Concept of Culture Tylor’s definition and changes in concept
Culture as a way of life: Have, do, think
Characteristics of Culture: learned, relative, symbolic etc.
Functions of culture
Public vs. private issue
Concept of society