SYG 2000: Lecture 4. Chapter 2: What is Culture?

I. Culture: lang, beliefs,values,norms,behavior,mat objects, etc. passed from 1 gen to next

A.material cult:e.g., jewelry, art,bldgs,weapons,machines,hairstyles,clothing;not natural

B. nonmat cult: group’s ways thinking(beliefs,values)/doing(pat of behav:lang,gestures)

1. examples: North African assumptions @ crowding to buy ticket/staring in public

2. no custom right: people simply become comfortable with customs learned as child

C. assume normal/natural: @follow w/o ques: Linton (‘36): Last thing fish notice H20

D. culture within us: learned/shared ways of believing/doing penetrate us at early age

E. lens: thru which we perceive/eval what going on—eg staring, hygiene, use space

F. culture shock: disorient when nonmaterial culture fails/not make sense out of wld

G. ethnocentrism: tendency to use own group’s way do things as yardstick judge others

1. positive:creates ingroup loyalties; negative:discrim against those whose ways differ

H. tells us “ought to do”: implicit instructions/provides us basis for decision-making

I. Provides moral imperative: internalize “right way” of doing things—e.g. no shoving

J. universals: all people have culture; all people are ethnocentric

II. Cultural Relativism: try to understand a culture on its own terms, w/o judge inferior

A. example: most U.S. citizens oppose raising bulls to stab them to death in front crowd

1. Once common in U.S.:cock fighting, dog fighting, bear-dog fighting;grad weed out

B.Sick Societies (Robert Edgerton 1992):crit cultures endanger health,happiness,survive

1. argues inferior: fem circumcision, gang rape, wife beating, sell girls as prostitutes

III. Cultural Diversity: Do you feel sorry? Hire an Apology Specialist:

A. Casual apologies common for Americans: “sorry about that”/”excuse me”

B. Chinese/Japanese lose face making apology: affects identities—not taken lightly

C. Just the right words: spoken in precise tone of voice and even require right clothes

1. example: President Clinton apology for bombing Chinese embassy in Belgrade

a. China outraged: too informal, in polo shirt, outdoors, too casual to be “real”

2. The Apology and Gift Center: a business in China, w/ personnel college degrees

a. know right words: in right way; study details to best write letters, give gifts

D. what is it @ U.S. culture making it most unlikely apology specialists ever common?

IV. Symbolic Culture:

A. Symbol: thing to which we attach meaning/use communicate; basis nonmaterial cult

B. universal gestures: expression of anger, fear, pouting, sadness built into biology?

1. infants born deaf/blind: no chance to learn gestures, express themselves same way

C. language: allows human experience be cumulative/social or shared past/planning

1. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: lang det consciousness/perception; influence how see wld

a. Edward Sapir & Benjamin Whorf:wrongly think Hopi no tenses disting fut, past

b. reverse common sense: opposite to events force themselves into consciousness