Part 5
Culture And Survival
The Challenge of
Communicating, Raising
Children, and Staying Alive
Part Outline
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



Chapter 14 The Characteristics of
Culture
Chapter 15 Language and
Communication
Chapter 16 Social Identity, Personality,
and Gender
Chapter 17 Patterns of Subsistence
Chapter 18 Economic Systems
Chapter 14
The Characteristics of
Culture
Chapter Outline
What is culture?
 How is culture studied?
 Why do cultures exist?

Characteristics Of Culture
Culture
 Culture
 Culture
 Culture

is
is
is
is
shared.
learned.
based on symbols.
integrated.
Culture Is Shared
Culture cannot exist without society.
 There are no known human societies
that do not exhibit culture.
 All is not uniform within a culture;
There is some difference between men’s
and women’s roles in any human
society.

Culture Is Learned
All culture is learned rather than
biologically inherited.
 The process of transmitting culture from
one generation to the next is called
enculturation.
 Through enculturation individuals learn
the socially appropriate way to satisfy
biologically determined needs.

Culture Is Based on
Symbols
Culture is transmitted through ideas,
emotions, and desires expressed in
language.
 Through language, humans transmit
culture from one generation to another.
 Language makes it possible to learn
from cumulative, shared experience.

Culture Is Integrated
All aspects of a culture function as an
integrated whole.
 A change in one part of a culture
usually will affect other parts.
 A degree of harmony is necessary in
any properly functioning culture, but
complete harmony is not required.

Ethnic Groups of the
Russian Federation
Describing a Culture
Without Bias
Anthropologists must:
1. Examine people’s notion of the way
their society ought to function.
2. Determine how people think they
behave.
3. Compare these with how people
actually do behave.
The Barrel Model of
Culture
Functions of Culture
Provide for the production and
distribution of goods and services
necessary for life.
 Provide for biological continuity through
the reproduction of its members.
 Enculturate new members so that they
can become functioning adults.

Functions of Culture
Maintain order among members, as well
as between them and outsiders.
 Motivate members to survive and
engage in those activities necessary for
survival.
 Be able to change to remain adaptive
under changed conditions.

Why Cultures Change
Environment they must cope with has
changed.
 Intrusion of outsiders.
 Values have changed.

Evaluating a Culture
Cultures can be evaluated according to:
 Nutritional status
 Physical and mental health of
population
 Incidence of violence, crime and
delinquency
 Demographic structure
 Stability and tranquility of domestic life