Chapter 2 Culture

Chapter Outline  Introducing Culture  Defining Culture  Cultural Knowledge  Culture and Human Life  Cultural Knowledge and Individual Behavior  Biology and Cultural Differences

Culture is…  Learned from others while growing up in a society or group.  Widely shared by members of the group.

Culture is…  Responsible for differences in thinking and behaving between societies and groups.  Essential for completing psychological and social development of individuals.

Cultural Knowledge  Attitudes, beliefs, ideas, conceptions, rules, standards, perceptions and other information stored in people’s heads.

Patterns of Behavior  What people do most of the time when they are in similar situations.

Culture  Shared, socially learned knowledge and patterns of behavior  Cultural Integration - The various parts of culture are mutually interdependent.

Culture Is Shared…  People are capable of communicating and interacting without explaining their behavior.  People share a common cultural identity.

Cultural Identity  The cultural tradition a group of people recognize as their own.  The shared customs and beliefs that define how a group sees itself as distinctive.

Society  A territorially defined population most of whose members speak the same language and share a sense of common identity relative to other societies.

Culture Is Socially Learned…  Individuals acquire it from others in the process of growing up in a group.  Culture is not transmitted to new generations genetically.  Culture is learned by observation, imitation, communication and inference.

Enculturation/Socialization  The process by which infants and children learn the culture of those around them.

Culture Is Knowledge…  Members of a culture know how to behave in ways that are meaningful and acceptable to others.  Knowledge allows people to survive and reproduce themselves and transmit their culture.

Culture Is Patterns of Behavior…  Individuals have a role in a group.  The group has expectations about what people with that role should do.  Expectations include rights and duties of the role.

Role  A social position in a group with its associated and reciprocal rights and duties.

Components of Cultural Knowledge  Norms  Values  Symbols  Classifications of reality  Worldviews

Norms  Agreement that people should adhere to standards of behavior.  People judge behavior according to how closely it adheres to these standards.  People who fail to follow the standards face negative reaction from the group.

Norms and Values  Norms are hared ideas (or rules) about how people people ought to act in given situations or about how people should act toward other people.  Vales are people’s beliefs about the way of life that is desirable for themselves and their society.

Symbol  An objects or behavior that stands for, represents or calls to mind something else.

Classifications of Reality  Ways in which the members of a culture divide up the natural and social world into named categories.

Worldview  The way a people interpret reality and events, including how they see themselves as relating to the world around them.

Culture and Human Life  Culture provides the skills to adapt to surroundings.  Culture is the basis for human social life.  Culture affects our view of reality.

Cultural Knowledge and Individual Behavior  Affects the choices people make about how to act in situations.  Limits and influences behavior.  Cultural determinism is the belief that culture largely determines or dictates behavior.

Biological Determinism  The notion that cultural differences have a biological basis.  Groups of people differ in how they think, feel, and act because of their biological makeup.

Cultural Universals  Elements that exist in all known human societies:  Tools  Shelter  Education  Religion

Biology and Cultural Differences  Individuals of any physical type are equally capable of learning any culture.  Cultural diversity is found on all continents and regions of the world.  Different cultural systems succeed one another within the same biological population and the same society.

Quick Quiz

1. Cultures vary in their: a) biological/physical characteristics b) ways of thinking and behaving c) Instincts d) trial-and-error learning

Answer: b  Cultures vary in their ways of thinking and behaving.

2. Culture: a) depends on how much education you have b) depends on one’s speech habits c) is socially transmitted d) is invented by very smart people

Answer: c  Culture is socially transmitted.

3. The aspects of culture that anthropologists are most interested in are: a) genetic differences b) rewarded behaviors c) immoral behaviors d) patterns of behavior

Answer: d  The aspects of culture that anthropologists are most interested in are patterns of behavior.