Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary word of the year Million users looked up this word every month: CULTURE
What is Culture? History of Culture - Winter 2015 Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture
Culture: broad definitions Culture plays a powerful and central role in shaping human social environments, behaviors, identities and development It is a set of symbolic behaviours that allow human beings to communicate with each other It provides the framework through which we understand the world
Culture: primary meanings Culture as learned common patterned behavior (transmitted between generations) Culture as “groups” (subcultures, societies) groups of people identified on the basis of the shared symbols and norms
Culture as Ethnicity Ethnicity = An ethnic group or ethnicity is a socially defined group of people who share an identity as members of a specific cultural group Language Language Food Food Beliefs Beliefs Dress Dress
Discuss What does Pakistani culture look like? Is everything we do a function of culture?
How do we get culture?
Culture-learning happens at two different levels: Socialization Enculturation
Socialization Socialization involves universal principles of human learning Regardless of what culture you grow up in, you will learn : a language different behaviors for different situations social hierarchy develop an understanding of human nature
Enculturation Enculturation: this refers to the culturally-specific aspects of the mentioned human capacities language different behaviors for different situations social hierarchy understanding of human nature
Norms Norms are the standards or expectations for behavior that people have within a given culture: Ideal Norms Behavioral Norms
Ideal Norms: The formal rules and preferences of a society. Behavioral Norms: The behavior we display when we bend the ideal norms according to a situation.
Culture as a compulsive force Why do people do the things they do? - The Milgram Experiment (Yale, 1961) - Pakistani Nikkah Nama
Deviance Deviance = the state of departing from accepted norms. A deviant act is one that violates a specific society’s norms. Culture also defines the limits of deviance
Stereotypes
Cultures can CHANGE
Processes of Cultural Change Acculturation = cultures change through contact. Changes WILL occur when one group is interacting with another. Assimilation = where less powerful cultures are forced to undergo changes in the direction of the more powerful culture. (cultural loss for one group)
Why should we study culture? By understanding human differences in terms of culture, we have the potential to adapt to other human groups
The role of art in our society is not to reenact history but to offer an interpretation of human experience as seen through the eyes of the artist
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inner significance.” - Aristotle