CHAPTER 2
ROOTS AND MEANING OF CULTURE
DEFINITION OF
CULTURE
To the social
scientist culture is the specialized behavioral patterns,
understandings, adaptations and social systems that summarize a group of
peoples way of life.
Culture
includes the visible (buildings) and the invisible (language).
COMPONENTS OF
CULTURE
Culture is
learned - it is not biological.
Culture is
passed on generation to generation through imitation, instruction, and example.
CULTURE TRAITS
Culture
traits
are units of learned behavior.
Language
Tools
and Technologies to make a living
Games/Entertainment
Beliefs
(Religion) and Attitudes
Culture traits
are the building blocks of the complex behavioral patterns of distinctive
groups of peoples.
CULTURE
COMPLEX
A Culture
Complex is a related set of culture traits descriptive of one aspect of a
societys behavior.
The Maasai of Kenya
CULTURE REGION
Culture traits
and complexes have spatial extent.
A Culture
Region is a portion of the earths surface occupied by populations that
have recognizable and distinctive cultural characteristics.
The
Midwest
CULTURE REALM
A set of
culture regions showing related culture complexes and landscapes may be grouped
together to form a Culture Realm.
Keep in mind
that when you generalize at this scale you ignore the tremendous amount of
diversity that exist in each of these Culture Realms.
THE STRUCTURE
OF CULTURE
Leslie
White-Anthropologist
Ideological
Subsystem
Values/belief
Systems
Technological
Subsystem
Material
Objects
Sociological
Subsystem
Social
Organizations, Social Behaviors
Julian Huxley
Biologist
Mentifacts
Language,
Religion
Artifacts
Tools,
Technology
Sociofacts
Political
and Educational Institutions
INTERACTION OF
PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Cultural
Ecology
is the study of the relationship between a culture group and the natural
environment it occupies.
Technology
Site and Situation
(Resources)
PEOPLE AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
Environmental
Determinism
is the belief that the physical environment exclusively shapes human culture.
Possibilism
is the
belief that people not the environment are the dynamic forces of cultural
development.
AGRICULTURE
The
domestication of plants and animals can be traced to a limited number of areas
in the world.
What came first, beer or
the pretzel?
CULTURE
HEARTHS
The term Cultural
Hearth is used to describe centers of innovation and invention from which
key culture traits moved to exert and influence surrounding regions.
These early Culture
Hearths formed in areas of surplus from agriculture freeing some people to
pursue other occupations outside of farming.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF CULTURE HEARTHS
The
characteristics of Hearth Areas include:
Social
stratification and labor specialization
Government
Metallurgy
and other technologies
Long-distance
trade connections
Urban
Culture
Writing,
Astronomy, Mathematics
CULTURAL
DIVERGENCE
When all
people were Hunters and Gatherers their cultures had similarities.
The switch to
agriculture brought Cultural Divergence which is the tendency for
cultures to become increasingly dissimilar with the passage of time.
CULTURAL
DIVERGENCE
HUNTING AND
GATHERING
Requires
large areas (England)
Nomadic
lifestyle (Children)
Technology
and Warfare
AGRICULTURE
Greater
population per area of land
Settled
lifestyle (Children)
Technology
and Warfare
CULTURAL
CONVERGENCE
Cultural
Convergence
is the tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly share
technology and organizational structures in a modern world united by improved
transportation and communication systems.
CULTURE CHANGE
Culture change
is constant.
Culture change
can be both major and minor.
Culture change
is brought about by:
Innovation
Spatial
Diffusion
Acculturation
INNOVATION
Innovation are
ideas or technology created within a group and adopted by the culture.
Ice
Age (environmental pressures)
Phonograph
All cultures
have some innate resistance to change however when a social group is especially
unresponsive to innovation it exhibits Cultural Lag.
SPATIAL
DIFFUSION
Spatial
Diffusion
is the process by which an idea or innovation is transmitted across space.
There are
several ways ideas/innovations move:
Relocation
Diffusion
Expansion
Diffusion
Hierarchical
Diffusion
RELOCATION
DIFFUSION
Relocation
Diffusion
is when people move and take their culture with them.
Immigrants to America
EXPANSION
DIFFUSION
Expansion
Diffusion is the spread of a culture (idea/innovation) from one place to
another by direct contact. Otherwise known as Contagious Diffusion.
Islam
HIERARCHICAL
DIFFUSION
The process of
transferring ideas first between larger places and then later to smaller places
is special form of expansion diffusion called Hierarchical Diffusion.
Christianity
Clothing Fashion
DOCUMENTING
DIFFUSION
Many times the
diffusion of ideas and culture can be documented:
Tobacco (England and
Spain)
Corn Hybrids
Soccer in America
Wal-Mart
INDEPENDENT
INVENTION
It is not
always clear or certain whether the existence of a cultural trait in two
different areas is the result of diffusion.
In some cases Independent
(or Parallel) Invention has occurred.
Pyramids
Telephone
DIFFUSION
BARRIERS
Barriers to
the spread of ideas/culture can be both physical and cultural.
PHYSICAL
DIFFUSION BARRIER
A Physical
Diffusion Barrier can impede the spread of an idea.
Mountains, oceans
Basques
Physical
Diffusion Barriers were more effective in the past with limited transportation
technology.
CULTURAL
DIFFUSION BARRIERS
A Cultural
Diffusion Barrier is when a culture makes a decision not to use a new idea or
accept a new culture.
Amish
Greeks
ACCULTURATION
AND SYNCRETISM
Acculturation
is the
process when a culture group (or individual) adopts the traits of a new culture
through immigration or conquest.
Syncretism is the development of a
new form of culture trait by the fusion of two or more distinct parental
elements.
Food
Religion
(South America and Africa)