Culture and Civilization - Lecture 2

Consider the following distinctions:
 Civilization and civilizations

 (High) Culture
 Culture and civilization
 Civilization and primitivism
Elements of culture
 Culture is learned.
 Culture is shared.
 Culture is dynamic.
 Culture is systemic.
 Culture is symbolic.
“Beginning as a noun of process – the culture (cultivation) of crops or (rearing and breeding) of
animals, and by extension the culture (active cultivation) of the human mind – it became in the late
eighteenth century, especially in German and English, a noun of configuration and generalization of
the ‘spirit’ which informed the ‘whole way of life’ of a distinct people. Herder (1784-91) first used the
significant plural, ‘cultures’, in deliberate distinction from any singular or, as we would now say,
unilinear sense of ‘civilization’.” (Raymond Williams, The Sociology of Culture, 1991)
“Man became man when, having crossed some mental Rubicon, he became able to transmit
‘knowledge, belief, law, morals, custom’ (to quote the items of Sir Edward Tylor’s classical definitions
of culture) to his descendants and his neighbors through teaching and to acquire them from his
ancestors and his neighbors through learning. After that magical moment, the advance of the
hominids depended almost entirely on cultural accumulation on the slow growth of conventional
practices, rather than, as it had been for ages past, on physical organic change.” (Clifford Geertz, The
Interpretation of Cultures, 1973)
“[A] unique set of simple beliefs formed and communicated over generations of time through behavior. It
is the set that is complicated, not the beliefs themselves, which have to be simple in order to remain
coherent over time. And it is the set that is unique, not every belief in it. … Belief-behaviors peculiar to one
or two generations do not make a culture. Only ideas that have been sanctified by being acted upon
continuously from generation to generation are cultural beliefs.” (John Harmon McElroy, Finding Freedom,
America’s Distinctive Cultural Formation, 1989)
What makes up a culture?

 SYMBOLS (verbal and nonverbal language)\
 RITUALS
 VALUES
 HEROES (whose stories are transmitted through MYTHS)
Dimensions of culture (Geert Hofstede)
 Identity (individualist or collectivist)
 Power (authoritarian and egalitarian)
 Gender
 Uncertainty (ambiguity and structure)
 Times (relationship and task):
Terminology:
SUBCULTURE. A subculture resembles a culture in that it usually encompasses a relatively large number of
people and represents the accumulation of generations of human striving. However, subcultures have some
important differences. They exist within dominant cultures and are often based on geographic region,
ethnicity, or economic or social class – (Ethnicity.)
CO-CULTURE. Whereas some define subculture as meaning “a part of the whole,” in the same sense that a
subdivision is part of—but no less important than—the whole city, other scholars reject the use of the prefix
sub as applied to the term culture because it seems to imply being under or beneath and being inferior or
secondary. As an alternative, the word co-cultur is suggested to convey the idea that no one culture is
inherently superior to other coexisting cultures -( American Indians)
SUBGROUP, COUNTERCULTURE. In the past, some used the term subculture to refer to groups that in some
way deviate from the dominant societal standard. While members of subcultures present themselves
differently than the larger culture, they still function and abide by its rules. The term counterculture was
more typically used to refer to groups that actively go against mainstream culture. To avoid confusing
groups based on geographic region, ethnicity, and economic or social class with groups based on
occupations and interests, the term subgroup was sometimes used to refer to these groups. The term
subgroup has at times been negatively linked to the word deviant. Actually, however, deviant simply means
differing from the cultural norm, such as vegetarians in a meat-eating society. Unfortunately, in normal
discourse, most people associate deviance with undesirable activities. To understand what is meant by
subgroups, you must recognize that vegetarians are as deviant as prostitutes—both groups deviate from
the norm, and both are considered subgroups. Membership in some subgroups is temporary; that is,
members may participate for a time and later become inactive or separate from it altogether.
MICROCULTURE. Microculture refers to any identifiable smaller group bound together by a shared
symbol system, behaviors, and values. Microculture, then, clearly communicates a smaller size, but
national cultures can be large while others are so small that they may be smaller than some
microcultures
COMMUNITY. The terms subculture, subgroup, and counterculture carry negative connotations.
Therefore, many researchers recommend the terms culture and community.
MULTICULTURALISM and POSTETHNIC CULTURES. The latter prefers voluntary to prescribed

affiliations, appreciates multiple identities, pushes for communities of wide scope, recognizes the
constructed character of ethno-racial groups, and accepts the formation of new groups as a part of
the normal life of a democratic society. Postethnicity recognizes that groups based on affiliations are
as substantive and authentic as groups based on blood and history. In one sense, postethnicity is an
idealistic attempt to redefine groups rigidly based on ethnicity into groups based on voluntary
interests.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
CULTURAL STUDIES

Culture and Civilization - Lecture 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Culture and Civilization - Lecture 2

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Culture and Civilization - Lecture 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Consider the following distinctions:

 Civilization and civilizations

What makes up a culture?

MULTICULTURALISM and POSTETHNIC CULTURES. The latter prefers voluntary to prescribed

You might also like