1. The Idea of Culture
What is Culture?

2. What are we without culture?
Almost everything is learned
Facial expressions, how we eat, how we bathe, how we communicate, how we interact with people, how we move

3. Defining Culture 1. Cultures are learned through enculturation
2. Cultures involve symbols
3. Cultures are logical patterns
4. Cultures are shared by members of a group
5. Cultures help us adapt
6. Cultures are subject to change

4. Defining Culture Many definitions
Anthropologists varying opinions on fundamental aspects of culture
Symbols and practices
Common history
Personality
Adapt to environment
Physical and economic experience
Mental template
Myths and customs
Genetic coding

5. 1. Cultures are learned
We learn how to do things in socially acceptable ways
We have a long childhood
Social birth – the point at which one is considered a human being and member of society

6. 2. Cultures involve symbols
We use symbols to organize our world
Lets you know what is important
Cognitive anthropology – study of a culture’s system of organization
Structural anthropology – studies patterns or universals in organization systems
What do sports symbolize?

7. 3. Cultures are logical patterns
Cultures are composed of parts that make sense to each other
Subsistence system provides food
Kinship and political systems determine distribution of food
Religion provides motivation for the distribution system
Functionalists look for such connections

8. 3. Cultures are logical patterns
Ecological functionalists say such patterns are in place for environmental reasons
Despite famine, Indian Hindu taboo on eating beef prevails
Cows are more valuable as sources of fertilizer and draft animals for farming

9. 3. Cultures are logical patterns?
But all aspects of culture don’t always work together smoothly
Neo-evolutionists study social change and see conflict between parts of a culture as key source of change

10. 4. Cultures are shared by members of a group
Norms – ideas members of a culture share about the way things should be done
Values – shared ideas about what is true and right that guide a society

11. 4. Cultures are shared by members of a group
Norms and values are hard to pin down
Actions don’t always agree
How many people have to agree?
Subculture – groups within a society that share norms and values different from those of the dominant culture

12. 5. Cultures help us adapt
People develop knowledge and technology that allow then to get energy from the environment and make life secure
This knowledge is passed on
Plasticity – the ability to change behavior in response to demands
Example: Karen house, museum

13. 5. Cultures help us adapt
Disadvantage – when misinformation creeps in to cultural practices
Example: Brawndo in Idiocracy

14. 6. Cultures are subject to change
All cultures change
Small increments of drastic bursts
Internal or external influence
Innovation – new object, thought, or behavior eg. Firing clay into pottery
Diffusion – when innovations move from one culture to another through trade, travel, warfare

15. 6. Cultures are subject to change
Innovation and diffusion still struggle for acceptance
The same thing found in a different culture may have different meaning
Transculturation – cultural traits are transformed as they are adopted