What is Culture?

 According to Ralph Linton, culture refers

to the total way of life of any society,
not simply to those parts of this way which
the society regards as more desirable.

 A society’s shared and socially transmitted

ideas, values, and perceptions, which are
used to make sense of experience and
generate behavior and are reflected in that
behavior
What makes up culture?
 Anthropologists see
culture as consisting of
two different categories:

 material culture (any

physical object to which
we give social meaning)
 symbolic culture (the
ideas associated with a
cultural group).
3
Material World
 Material Culture
 Thephysical or tangible (see, touch) that
members of a society make, use, and share
 Raw Materials → Technology → Stuff

 Non-Material Culture or Symbolic

 The abstract or intangible human creations of
society that influences people’s behavior
 Language, beliefs, values, rules of behavior,
family patterns, political systems
Characteristics of Culture
 Culture is Learned
 Culture is Shared
 Culture is based on
Symbols
 Culture is
Integrated
 Culture is Dynamic
 We learn culture
from families,
peers, institutions,
and media.

 While all humans

have basic biological
needs such as food,
sleep, and sex, the
way we fulfill those
needs varies cross-
culturally.
ENCULTURATION
--- The process by which a
society’s culture is passed
on from one generation to
the next and individuals
become members of their
society

--- is the process by

which a child learns
his or her culture
Culture is Shared
 For a thought or action to be
considered cultural, it must be
commonly shared by some
population or group of
individuals.

 Even if an idea is not commonly

shared, it is cultural if most
people think it is appropriate or
inappropriate
To Whom Culture is Shared?
 We share certain values, beliefs, and
behaviors with our family and
friends.

 We share cultural characteristics with

segments of our population whose
ethnic or regional origins, affiliations
and occupations are the same as our
own.

 We share certain characteristics with

people beyond our national borders
who have similar interests and similar
roots.
 Because we share
culture with other
members of our group,
we are able to act in
socially appropriate
ways as well as predict
how others will act.

Despite the shared

nature of culture, that
doesn’t mean that
culture is homogenous
(the same).
Culture and Sub-Culture

 When we talk about the shared

customs of a society, we are referring to
a culture.

 When we talked about the shared

customs of a group within a society,
we are referring to a sub-culture.
LGBT SUBCULTURE
CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC

 Symbolic thought is unique

and crucial to humans and to
human learning.

 SYMBOL is something verbal

or non verbal within a
particular language or
culture that stands for
something else.
Language

 All people regardless of their kind of

society, have had a highly complex
system of spoken, symbolic
communication called language.
 Language is symbolic in that a word or
phrase can represent what it stands for
whether or not that thing is present.
 Symbols are usually
linguistic. But there
are also non verbal
symbols.
Symbols vary cross-culturally
and are arbitrary. They only
have meaning when people in
a culture agree on their use
Culture is integrated.

This is known as holism, or the

various parts of a culture
being interconnected.

All aspects of a culture are

related to one another and to
truly understand a culture,
one must learn about all of its
parts, not only a few.
Culture is dynamic.

This simply means that

cultures interact and
change.

Because most cultures

are in contact with
other cultures, they
exchange ideas and
symbols.
All cultures change,
otherwise, they would
have problems adapting
to changing
environments.

And because cultures are

integrated, if one
component in the system
changes, it is likely that
the entire system must
adjust.
MALADAPTIVE
CUSTOMS

- those that
diminish the
chances of
survival and are
likely to CHINA’S ONE CHILD
disappear POLICY
MECHANISMS OF CULTURAL
CHANGE
1. Diffusion

cultural traits are often

“borrowed” by one culture
from another.

Unless culture change is forced

on people, they can and do
exert both conscious and
unconscious choice.
 2. ACCULTURATION, a
second mechanism of
cultural change, is the
exchange of cultural
features that results that
results when groups have
continuous firsthand
contact.

 With acculturation, parts

of the cultural change, but
each group remains
distinct.
Invention and
Discovery-

has played in human

adaptation ever since
culture emerged as the
human adaptation and
first tools were made.
Cultural Loss

Not all cultural

traits are retained.
New ideas and
techniques often
replace previous
cultural form.
ATTITUDES THAT
HINDER THE STUDY OF
CULTURE
Ethnocentrism

- the judging of other

cultures solely in terms of
his or her own culture.

This is when a person

thinks that his culture is
superior to other cultures.
 Ethnocentrism leads us
to make false
assumptions about
cultural differences.

Within this ideology,

individuals will judge
other groups in relation
to their own particular
ethnic group or culture,
especially with concern
to language, behavior,
customs, and religion.
Xenocentrism

- preferring ideas and

things from other cultures
over ideas and things from
your own culture

- the opposite of
ethnocentrism
CULTURAL RELATIVISM

--- values differ from society to society, and

there are no culture-free standards that we
may use to judge others.

--- the anthropological attitude that a society’s

customs and ideas should be described
objectively and understood in the context of
that society’s problems and opportunities
Moral in Philippines Immoral in
Eating Beef India
Drinking alcohol, Middle Eastern
Gambling Islamic Countries
Women in school or Afghanistan
business (Taliban time)
Women wearing Iran, Saudi Arabia,
shorts, face uncovered Sudan
Immoral in Philippines Moral or Acceptable
Killing newborn females China, India
(female infanticide)
Female genital Many African nations
mutilation (female and Indonesia
circumcision)

Family kills a woman Somalia, Sudan

family member who is
raped (honor killing)
PURDAH BEING
WORN BY
MUSLIM WOMEN
FEMALE
INFANTICIDE IN
CHINA AND INDIA
FEMALE
CIRCUMCISION
in Indonesia
STONING OF
WOMEN IN IRAN,
PAKISTAN and
AFGHANISTAN