What is Culture?

ANTH45 Summer 2008 Section 101

vs.

In Pursuit of Culture (Goodenough)

How people become anthropologists
Early interest in culture No previous knowledge about the field

Influence of and relationship with other fields: linguistics, psychology, biology, sociology Introduction to several themes of the course: language and communication, property systems, marriage rules, etc.

The Concept of Culture

Concept used by all social sciences Central to ethnology, archaeology, and biological anthropology Anthropology has done more than any other discipline to refine our understanding of the concept of culture

Defining Culture
Over 160 definitions have been identified Tylors definition (1871)
That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

Goodenoughs definition
The product of learning in society
As opposed to simply patterns of recurring events Focus on the content of culture (observed from behavior)

Criteria for: categorizing phenomena; deciding what can be; preferences and values; what to do about things; how to do those things; skills needed to perform

A better definition
Focuses on what culture is, but also on what it does Culture is the only thing that separates us from all other animals (not social behavior)

When Do We First See Culture?

Anatomically Modern Peoples and the Upper Paleolithic (100,000 years ago) Culture
Emerges as a more potent force than biology Symbolic behavior

Art

Decoration Sculpture Pendants Cave painting

When Do We First See Culture?

More Symbolic Behavior
Ritual
Burial

Culture is
A major adaptive tool for humans
can be direct and can rapidly change

Learned through enculturation Transmitted Universal and specific Shared and integrated Constantly changing Based on human ability to create symbols Exchanged between societies through a process called acculturation

Culture is Adaptive
Humans have adapted by manipulating environments through cultural means. Humans have come to depend more and more on cultural adaptation.
Because it works and fast!! Polar bear vs. Inuit

What is adaptive in one context may be seriously maladaptive in another

Culture is Adaptive
Not every aspect of culture is adaptive
Some are neutral Some are maladaptive Sex in Papua New Guinean tribe American energy policy

Culture is Generally Integrated

Integration
The tendency for all aspects of a culture to function as an interrelated whole. System: a set of connected elements such that if you change one of them, you change the others Concept of holism in anthropology

Individual Cultures
Core values Unique to each culture Constantly changing Language evolves, customs change, beliefs and behaviors change Ideal culture vs. real culture What people say should do and what they say they do vs. what the anthropologist observes Anthropological use of emic vs. etic perspective

Emic vs. Etic: why cows are sacred in India

Emic idea: cows are sacred because our religion tells us so Emic behavior: we dont eat cows Etic idea: cows are crucial for farm labor. It is maladaptive to eat a cow because it produces more on a farm Etic behavior: people sometimes eat old cows

Culture is Symbolic
The most fundamental aspect of culture is the capacity to symbolize

Culture is dependent upon symbols Symbol: something that represents something else with which it is not intrinsically related Symbols are powerful

Culture is Shared
For a thing, idea, or behavior pattern to qualify as being cultural, it must have a meaning shared by most people in a society
Society: a group of people who have a common homeland, are interdependent, and share a common culture More to come: how people in States have shared culture and the institutions that help give common sense of identity

Culture is Differentially Shared

Degree with which traits are shared varies between cultures Sources of variation Sex and Gender Age Class Religion Etc.

Differences exist in different sections of society Subcultures

Subsets of a wider culture Share traits with mainstream But still unique

Subcultures can be threatening to the mainstream

Culture is Learned
Enculturation The process of acquiring culture Learning or interacting with ones cultural environment Observation, direct learning, experience Not all learned behavior is cultural Conditioning by repeated training is not enculturation Brain-washing

Ward Goodenough:
Because culture is learned, its in your head No two people have the exact same criteria As long as differences dont affect the ability to interact with each other, you have a sense of shared culture

but sometimes they do! thats why we squash them whos we? Mainstream, powerful groups, lobbies, governments

Cultures Influence on Biology

Functions Eating Sleeping Work/exercise Body types and images Attitudes Modification

Culture and Change

All cultures change over time for one reason or another
Meeting environmental crises Responding to intrusions by outsiders Evolving internal behavior and values

Results may be beneficial or disastrous

Mechanisms of Cultural Change

Internal Changes
Innovations
Ultimate source of all culture change

External changes
Diffusion
Spreading of a cultural element from one culture to another Responsible for the greatest amount of change in any given society Because people have never been isolated

Acculturation: process of adopting foreign cultural elements (beliefs, customs, behaviors)

Cultural Universals
Despite variation in many aspects there are basic similarities
System(s) of production Marriage and family Education Social control Supernatural beliefs Communication

As Individuals
Culture influences our behavior, but It does not determine our behavior Deviance from cultural norms exists in all societies

Short Exercise
Describe American culture to a foreigner: food, religion, education, political system, values Which aspects of American culture are a result of innovation? Which resulted from diffusion from another culture? List 2 American symbols besides the flag: what do they represent? List and describe 2 American subcultures. How does the mainstream view these subcultures? Are they respected, feared, ignored?