SESSION 1: THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE :SESSION 1: THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE


ARE THERE CULTURED AND UNCULTURED PEOPLE? :ARE THERE CULTURED AND UNCULTURED PEOPLE?


WHAT IS CULTURE? :WHAT IS CULTURE? Matthew Arnold: Culture is High Culture??? Raymond Williams: Culture is Ordinary???


CULTURE IS HIGH CULTURE??? :CULTURE IS HIGH CULTURE???


CULTURE IS ORDINARY??? :CULTURE IS ORDINARY???


IN FACT, WE ALL HAVE CULTURE :IN FACT, WE ALL HAVE CULTURE


WHAT IS CULTURE? :WHAT IS CULTURE? Edward Tylor: culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of the society.


Or simpler :Or simpler Culture is everything that people have (material possessions), think (values and attitudes) and do (behavior patterns) as members of a society


CULTURE VS SOCIETY :CULTURE VS SOCIETY THIS IS A SOCIETY


CULTURE VS SOCIETY :CULTURE VS SOCIETY THIS IS ALSO A SOCIETY


WHICH SOCIETY HAS CULTURE? :WHICH SOCIETY HAS CULTURE?


WHAT MAKES A SOCIETY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SOCIETY? :WHAT MAKES A SOCIETY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SOCIETY?


CULTURE IS WHAT MAKES A SOCIETY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SOCIETY :CULTURE IS WHAT MAKES A SOCIETY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SOCIETY HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO A SCHOOL OF FISH?


CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE :CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE Culture is shared (member vs outsider) -> people of the same culture can predict, within limits, how others will think and behave -> explain cross-cultural misunderstanding caused when we step outside out familiar cultural setting where meanings are not shared with other people.


CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE :CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE Culture is learnt (not biologically transmitted) (through the process of learning or interacting with one’s cultural environment) ? enculturation.


CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE :CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE Culture is dynamic cultures interact and change (through networks, telecommunications, education, migration, and tourism) -> cultural diffusion: the spreading of a cultural element from one culture to another -> acculturation


CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE :CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE culture is adaptive culture is humanity’s most powerful strategy for survival -> how basic “natural” demands of human life are met in different ways because of culturally defined variations


CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE :CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE culture is integrated -> all various parts of a culture must operate in perfect harmony at all times -> study one or two aspects of a culture does not give a comprehensively grounded knowledge of the culture.


COMPONENTS OF CULTURE :COMPONENTS OF CULTURE


LAYERS OF CULTURE :LAYERS OF CULTURE Cultural universals: learned behaviour patterns shared by all human beings Mainstream culture: Cultural tradition that distinguish a specific society Subculture


Cultural universals :Cultural universals economic system, systems of marriage and family, educational system, social control system, system of supernatural beliefs, systems of communication


Sub-culture :Sub-culture