CULTURE It is a way of life It includes that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, custom & any other capacities and habits acquired by humans as a member of society It includes activities like playing the piano, reading poems & novels and such mundane actions like brushing one’s teeth, washing the dishes and farting It includes both material & non-material aspects It includes agreed-upon principles of human co-existence (values & norms) & techniques for survival (technology) Concepts to Remember in the Study of Culture Cultural relativism Ethnocentrism Noble savage Culture is : Shared Learned Generally adaptive Integrated Always changing Aspects of Culture A. FAMILY and MARRIAGE Family － basic unit of society; comprised of a group of persons closely related by marriage & blood － Types: 1. Nuclear - monogamous single couple family 2. Extended family households 3. Matrifocal - in a single parent family, the mother is the head Marriage －a socially approved sexual & economic union between a woman & a man －presumed to be more or less permanent －reciprocal rights & obligations from the spouses & their children －Reasons for the Universality of Marriage Division of labor Division of produce Care for infants Minimize sexual competition －Restrictions on Marriage Universal Taboo - Incest Taboo Childhood Familiarity Theory Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Family Disruption Theory (Malinowski) Cooperation Theory (Tylor, White, Levi-strauss) Inbreeding Theory － Types of Marriages i. By the number of spouses Monogamy: one spouse at a given time Polygamy: more than one spouse Polyandry: woman has many husbands Adelphic polyandry: marriage of one woman to a group of brothers Polygyny: man has many wives Sororal polygyny: marriage of one man to a group of sisters Group marriages: one man is married to more than one woman ii. By origin of would-be-spouse Exogamous - from other groups Endogamous - from within the group Patterns of Marital Residence 1. Patrilocal residence 2. Matrilocal residence 3. Bilocal residence 4. Avunculocal residence 5. Neolocal residence - son stays, daughter leaves; married couple lives with or near the husband’s parents - daughter stays, son leaves; married couple lives with or near the wife’s parents - either son or daughter leaves; married couple lives with or near either the wife’s/ husband’s parents - both son & daughter leave; but son and his wife settle with or near his mother’s brother - both son & daughter leave; married couple lives apart from the relatives of either spouse Kinship System Kin group - any group of people related through real or putative ties Deals with: a) Life & death b) Identity & personhood c) Honor & shame d) Control of property e) Succession to positions of authority It is social rather than biological e.g. Social parents - pater & mater OR father & mother Physiological parents - genitor & genetrix OR biological father & mother Rules of Descent 1. Patrilineal Descent 2. Matrilineal Descent 3. Ambilineal Descent 4. Bilateral Descent - affiliates an individual with kin of both sexes related to him or her through men only - affiliates an individual with kin of both sexes related to him or her through women only - affiliates an individual with kin related to him or her through men & women - two-sides affiliation Unilineal Descent Groups 1) Lineage 2) Clans 3) Phratries 4) Moieties B. RELIGION and MAGIC Religion －a system of beliefs & practices directed towards the “ultimate concern” of society －it is concerned with the explanation & expression of the ultimate values of society －The Universality of Religion: The Need to Understand Guilt & Projection Anxiety & Uncertainty The Need for Community －Structure/ Hierarchy of Supernatural Beings Monotheistic - one god Polytheistic - many important gods － Ways of Interacting Prayer Physiological experience Simulation Feasts & sacrifices Magic －is referred to as the belief in one’s action to compel the supernatural to act in some particular and intended way. It is private and individual in nature. There is a formula or set of formulas. It is also manipulative, it acts ritually upon impersonal powers in order to automatically make use of them. －Reasons for the Existence of Magic: 1. Explains misfortune & failure 2. Reveals the cause of illness 3. Assigns a human cause to terrifying events 4. It may act to drain off tensions which might otherwise result in physical combat and death 5. Gives the individual confidence in the face of fear －Failure of Magic: 1. 2. 3. －Kinds: Sorcery - use of materials, objects & medicines to invoke supernatural malevolence Witchcraft - thoughts & emotions used to invoke supernatural malevolence 1) It is nearly always inherited 2) It is invariably evil 3) It has an animal form (cat/ bat) 4) The evil eye & the evil tongue are variants of witchcraft Divination - art/ practice of foreseeing future events or discovering hidden knowledge through supernatural means 1) Allows man to control chance 2) To know the future C. The ritual is said to have been incorrectly performed The magician may have violated a taboo and thus have lost his power to perform the ritual There may have been strong counter-magic －Types of practitioners: Shaman Sorcerers & witches Mediums Priests －Techniques used by healers: Naming process Personality of the doctor Patient’s expectations Curing techniques LANGUAGE - Language developed only with the emergence of modern-looking humans who had the mouth or throat anatomy before or about 100,000 years ago - Human Communication > Symbolic (it is learned) > Attach meaning > Multi-faceted D. - Animal Communication > Body movement > Sounds > Odors DIFFERENT SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES Hunting & Gathering Horticulture Pastoralism Agricultural CULTURE CHANGE - Three questions that can be asked about culture change: 1. What is the source of the new trait? 2. Why are people motivated (unconsciously as well as consciously) to adopt it? 3. Is the new trait adoptive? How and Why Cultures Change? 1) Discovery & Invention 2) Diffusion 3) Acculturation 4) Revolution Types of Culture Change in the Modern World 1. Commercialization 2. Religious Change or Revitalized Movements 3. Imposition of a Foreign System of Government - Invasion 4. Discovery of Precious/ Important Minerals SOURCE MOTIVATION OUTCOME ETHNICITY & RACE ETHNICITY - is identification with, and feeling part of an ethnic group & exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation - is based on cultural similarities & differences in a society or nation. The similarities are with members of the same ethnic group, the differences are between that group and others. Ethnic Group - share certain beliefs, values, habits, customs, & norms because of their common background - Distinction is based on: 1. Language 2. Religion 3. Historical experience 4. Geographic isolation 5. Kinship 6. Race - Markers/ Signifiers: 1. Collective name 2. Belief in common descent 3. Sense of solidarity 4. Association with a specific territory RACE - is an ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis - biological basis include: 1. Black, white, yellow, red, brown 2. Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid 3. Amerindian, Euro-American, African-American, Native American Phenotype Genotype Status - refers to any position that determines where someone fits in society 1. Ascribed 2. Achieved Assimilation Multiculturalism - view cultural diversity in a country as something good & desirable Roots of ethnic differentiation/ conflict 1. Political 2. Economic 3. Religious 4. Linguistic 5. Cultural 6. Racial - organism’s evident traits (evident) -organism’s genetic make-up (not evident) - describes the process of change that a minority ethnic group may experience when it moves to a country where another culture dominates INDUSTRIALISM Mode of Production - is a way of organizing production - set of social relations through which labor is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, organization, knowledge Capitalist Mode of Production - money buys labor power, and a social gap between the people is involved in the production process compared with non-industrial societies where labor is given as social obligation
