Presentacin de PowerPoint

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Alberto Daniel Corizzo BSc (Hons) Psychology
Year 1 BSc (Hons) Psychology Speech Pathology
Year 1 SOCIETAL PSYCHOLOGY
CULTURE Presentation taken from Elaine
Reeves. Available on Web - CT Dr. Paul Duckett
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Road Planner
A. DEFINING and CLASSIFYING CULTURE Some
Ways of classifying culture 1. LEARNED
through CULTURAL TRANSMISSION 2. SHARED Culture
and Society B. PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE 1.
Functionalism a) Functionalist Anthropology-
Malinowski (1922) b) Functionalist Sociology i.
Consensus view ii. Conflict view 2. SYMBOLIC
INTERACTIONISM 3. STRUCTURALISM 4. Post
Structuralism 5. Cultural Relativism 6. CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

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Learning Outcomes

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• By the end of this session you will be able to
• Considered various definitions and ways of
  classifying culture
• Acquired some understanding of the different
  approaches (perspectives) to culture
•       Developed an appreciation of the key topics
  in the study of culture

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A. DEFINING and CLASSIFYING CULTURE
Definitions of Culture Numerous   1. " complex
whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, laws, customs and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a member of
society." Tylor (1871), Social
Anthropologist   2. design for living held by
members of a particular society (Kluckholn,
1951). Anthropologist 3. "shared symbolic
knowledge which people draw on as they make their
way through life" (Erchak, 1992) Cultural
Anthropologist  
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More definitions.
4. It involves communication between all the
senses in patterns that are recognizable even
though members of any given culture may not be
able to express an awareness of the patterns to
which they are responding e.g. individuals
recognize intonation and speech patterns which
are their native patterns (regional accents)
Culture is verbal, visual, rhythmic, spatial,
temporal and symbolic (Agar, 1994). 5. Oxford
Dictionary 5. a). intellectual and artistic
achievement or expression (e.g. city lacking in
culture) 5.b). refined appreciation of the arts
etc. (e.g. person of culture) 5.c Customs,
achievements etc. of particular civilisation or
group (e.g. Japanese culture)   6. The culture
of a society is the way of life of its members
the collection of ideas and habits which they
learn, share and transmit from generation to
generation (Linton, 1945) Anthropologist
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Some Ways of classifying culture
1. High Culture - Traditional arts - ballet,
literature, paintings, opera etc. (Intellectual
aspects of a civilisation). Subjective, elitist,
divisive suggests aesthetically superior to
other forms of culture? 2. Folk Culture
Culture of the ordinary people, particularly in
pre-industrialised/rural societies. Reflects and
emphasises class differences e.g. folk
dancing/music, folklore. from the grass roots,
is self-created and autonomous and directly
refers to the lives and experiences of the
people (Strinati, 1995)
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Some Ways of classifying culture- Cont.
3. Mass Culture (low) Product of industrialised
societies essentially mass media e.g. popular
feature films, TV soap operas, and recorded pop
music. 4. Popular (low) Similar to mass
culture. Includes any cultural products enjoyed
by large numbers of ordinary people with no claim
to any cultural expertise. TV programmes, pop
music, mass-market films.   5. Subculture
groups of people that have something in common
i.e. interest, problem, practice distinguishing
them from other social groups e.g. ethnic groups,
same religion groups, gang members, cults etc.  
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Culture may be described in another sense as
knowledge, values, beliefs, norms, customs,
etc. In this sense culture is 1. LEARNED
and 2. SHARED by its members.  

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1. LEARNED through CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
By processes of a) Socialisation Learning
norms, values and roles "approved by a particular
society Emphasis on culture as key to human
behaviour (not biological instinct) implies
learning is central to creating social beings.
Agencies of socialisation - family, school,
church, mass media . Socialisation is important
in structuring identity and development of an
individual. b) Enculturation - surrounding of
individual by own culture. Acquired by learning -
involves parents, other adults and peers
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2. SHARED Culture enables people of a particular
society to communicate and co-operate
effectively. This is achieved through the sharing
of     Knowledge and beliefs systems - what
people believe to be true (believing in God,
science, democracy) regardless of
proof.  Values (morals) - shared standards of
judgement about what is right/wrong, good/bad,
appropriate/inappropriate, beautiful/ugly etc.
(values justify social rules about
behaviour)          
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2. SHARED Cont.
Belief system - shapes values (e.g. British
culture values education highly) Value money but
not by any means - supposed to earn it, not
steal.   Norms (customs) Shared rules and
expectations used to guide behaviour. Values
reflected in norms. Norms that are highly
formalised, codified (arranged systematically
into a code) and written are laws.
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Culture and Society   Culture and Society are
closely interdependent - no cultures could exist
without societies and vice versa. However, they
are not the same - Society is composed of people,
Culture is way of life they hold in
common.   Culture not synonymous with
civilisation. All human groups have a culture
whether they are or not considered civilised.
Culture refers to non-biological aspects of
societies values, customs and modes of
behaviour that are LEARNED and internalised (not
genetically transmitted)  Directly related to
social behaviour through moral goals (values),
status (social roles) and shared
rules/expectations (norms)
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Culture and Society- Cont.

• - Every society has a culture, which directs
  actions and defines their views on life
•  
• -  Culture taken for granted as part of our
  existence
•  
• - Culture defines accepted behaviours for a
  particular society BUT varies from society to
  society.
• - Every society has common problems
• e.g. dealing with dependants young children or
  the very old.
• Solutions are culturally determined and differ
  across societies, what works in one may be
  socially unacceptable to another
• e.g. infanticide, geronticide has been practiced
  by some groups of Aborigines, Eskimos and Caribou
  Indians in order to survive.

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Culture and Society- Cont.
Humans create their culture and transmit it from
one generation to another through a SHARED
SYMBOLIC SYSTEM something that stands for
something else encoded (symbolised) in language,
music, art, dress etc. Culture is defined,
constructed and transmitted through this SYMBOLIC
SYSTEM.
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B. PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE   1. FUNCTIONALISM
(e.g. Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, Malinowski).
Various parts of society seen as interrelated,
part of whole, taken together form complete
system. Each part may be examined in terms of
its contribution (function) to maintenance of
society. Focuses on the needs of society.
Stability essential for survival of
society Consensus and harmony possible through
members of society/group sharing common language
and core values established by their
culture When dysfunction occurs (e.g. no
consensus or agreement on core values) social
institutions expected to correct the problem
(e.g. family/school - socialisation of the young
to maintain order and peace)
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• a) Functionalist Anthropology- Malinowski (1922)
• All humans have three basic types of needs
• biological needs (food, shelter),
• instrumental needs (education law, etc.) and
• integrative needs (religion, etc.)
• Societies develop institutions that
  meet these needs.
• All human institutions are functional and
  interrelate to meet your needs.
• Looks for cultural universals
• certain features common to all cultures - e.g.
  communication, shared set of goals.

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Functionalist Anthropology- Malinowski (1922)
cont.

• Culture helps people meet their needs.
• Aspects of culture such as language, norms of
  behaviour, political institutions develop to
  allow humans to satisfy needs more effectively.
• Therefore human culture is functional
• enables people to live together/fulfil needs,
  based on agreed ways of doing things, which
  benefit everyone.

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b) Functionalist Sociology Two points of view
Consensus or Conflict   i. Consensus view e.g.
Durkheim, 1963 Shared or collective conscience
ensure smooth maintenance of society. Shared
culture exists over and above the wishes and
choices of individuals and is passed down from
generation to generation Culture only becomes
possible when humans can distinguish between
things and classify them. Because social
structures are based upon divisions between
social groups, people classify everything else in
terms of divisions.  
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ii. Conflict view e.g. Marx, Williams (1961
1965 1968, neo-Marxist)  Social life seen as a
struggle over control of scarce resources. e.g
money, land, jobs etc. In class-stratified
societies, culture can be seen as ruling-class
ideology view of the world advanced by ruling
class. Cultural ideals/ideas created by most
powerful in society. Majority dont realise they
are being dominated due to false
consciousness  Stresses how cultural
values/norms may perpetuate social
inequalities  Change is inevitable (when people
lose false consciousness and unite against the
system). Includes Marxist theories of the arts
(e.g. John Berger, Ways of Seeing, 1973) works
of art (high culture) reflect the world view of
particular social classes.
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• 2. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
• Sociological perspective not concerned with the
  functions of culture
• Micro (small) level analysis society as sum of
  all peoples interactions
• People create, maintain, and modify culture
  during their daily activities
• Symbols very important we communicate through
  symbols that have shared meanings for us (e.g. in
  British culture people recognise Union Jack and
  its symbolic significance)
• We negotiate what is real. We re-interpret
  each value and norm in each social situation.

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3. STRUCTURALISM -approach to culture which
originated in linguistics, e.g. Ferdinand De
Saussure Language is the key to understanding
the social world - all cultural phenomena are
primarily linguistic in nature. 4. POST
STRUCTURALISM Derrida, Foucault All cultural
phenomena are texts or metaphoric representations
of text. Power is all-important in conception of
culture.
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• 5. Cultural Relativism
• e.g. Franz Boas, Benedict, 1934 Lasch, 1979
  Abelson, 1989
• Anthropology philosophy have used the idea of
  cultural relativism
• all cultures are equally value and need to be
  studied from a neutral point of view - in
  studying another culture we should suspend
  judgement, empathize and try to understand the
  way a particular culture views the world.
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• According to cultural relativism, it is never
  true to say that a certain kind of behaviour is
  right or wrong rather, it can only ever be true
  that a certain kind a behaviour is right or wrong
  relative to a specified society.
•  
•        

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Cultural Relativism Cont.
Tries to eliminate ethnocentrism (judging other
cultures using preconceptions from ones own
culture)   But Cultural relativism may excuses
us from judging the moral standards of another
culture even where it is necessary to judge
e.g. ethnic cleansing, slavery, female genitalia
removal, mass killing , dictatorships,
discrimination, etc,etc,etc  
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• 6. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• Societies and cultures are complex phenomena
• subject to change (internal/external) over time
  at different rates
• (e.g. Geertz, Cohen)
•  
• Methodology often used to study cultures
• Ethnography - Involves participant observation
• Objective is to discover the social organisation
  of activities by the researchers involvement in
  the natural setting of the activity (e.g.
  participant observation).
• Ethnographer should see the society from the
  social actor's 'point of view', but Subjective
  interpretation comes with the job..

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• CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY Cont.
•  Ethnographer must become involved in the
  setting and the activities being studied in order
  to gain the same perspective, as far as possible,
  of the actors concerned.
•  
• Ethnographer does his/her best to understand the
  'native' experience. Must deduce what informant
  thinking and feeling with and through symbolic
  systems

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REFERENCES/FURTHER READING See your
handouts Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation
of Cultures. New York Basic Books Williams, R.
(1976) Keywords A Vocabulary of Culture and
Society, Glasgow Fontana.   Agar, M. (1994)
Culture Shock Understanding the Language of
Conversation. New York Morrow   Erchack, G.
(1992) The Anthropology of Self and Mind. New
Brunswick, NJ Rutgers University Press   Linton
(1945) in Haralambos, M. Holborn, M. Heald, R
(2000). Sociology Themes and Perspectives (5th
Ed). London, Harper Collins.   Lonner, W.J,
Triandis, H.C. (1980). Introduction to basic
processes. In H.C. Triandis W.J. Lonner
(Eds.). Handbook of cross-cultural psychology.
Vol.3. Boston Allyn and Bacon.   Strinati, D.
(1995), An Introduction to Theories of Popular
Culture, London, Routledge.     Journals
Electronic available through Gaskell library
Psychology Culture and Theory, Culture and
Society