6 March 2019

CULTURE MISSING SLIDES

Culture : is a system of human behavior and thought.
precisely it can be defined as =
-total way of life of a people;
-the social legacy the individual acquires from his group;
-way of thinking, feeling, and believing;
-abstraction from behavior;
-a theory on the part of the anthropologist about the way in which a group of people in fact behave
(scientific approach to predict and analyze behavior);
-storehouse of pooled learning;
-set of standardized orientations to recurrent problems;
-learned behavior;
-a mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior;
-a set of techniques for adjusting both external environment and to other men/women;
-a precipitate of history.
it includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, custom, law, and any hotel capabilities and habits acquired
by man as a member of society.
It obeys to natural laws, and can therefore be studied scientifically.

⇣
Some characteristics of culture are:
• Culture is Learned = people acquire culture by growing up in a particular society where they are
exposed to a specific cultural tradition.
This process is called enculturation : the process by which a child learns his or her culture.
Indeed cultural learning is a uniquely elaborated human capacity; it is based on the ability to use
symbols.
Through cultural learning people create, remember and deal with ideas, as they grasp and apply
specific systems of symbolic meaning. People (this is enculturation) gradually internalize a
previously established system of meanings and symbols.
We use cultural system to define the world, express feelings and make judgments; this system helps
guide the behavior and perception.
Enculturation occurs : through a process of conscious and unconscious learning,
through interaction with others
through direct teachings
through observation
In all these cases the person begins immediately to internalize or incorporate a cultural tradition.
As we said cultural learning is a human product only and all human populations have equivalent
capacities for culture, regardless of their genes or physical appearance, people can learn any cultural
tradition.
• Culture is Symbolic = symbolic thought is crucial and unique to humans and to cultural learning.
A symbol is something verbal or nonverbal that comes to stand for something else; they are signs
that have no necessary or natural connection to the things they signify or for which they stand.
Language is one.
Symbols are usually linguistic, but they are not the only ones.
Every contemporary human population has the ability to use symbols and thus to create and
maintain culture.
Indeed, for hundreds of thousands of years, humans have possessed the abilities on which culture
rests; these abilities are to learn, to think symbolically, to manipulate language, and to use tools and
other cultural products in organizing their lives and coping with their environments; no other animal
has elaborated these cultural abilities.

1
 6 March 2019
• Culture is Shared = culture is an attribute not of individuals per se but of individuals as members of
groups.
Culture is transmitted in society.
Enculturation unifies people by providing us with common experiences (we are linked with people
growing in the same country through shared culture).
Although culture constantly changes, certain fundamental beliefs, values, world views and child-
rearing practices endure.
Nowadays we share culture not just in person but also via media.
• Culture and Nature = culture takes the natural biological urges (that we share with other animals)
and teaches us how to express them in particular ways.
Culture molds human nature.
indeed, our culture, and cultural changes, affect the ways in which we perceive nature, human
nature and the “natural” (body perception, idea of what is healthy etc..). through science, invention
and discovery, cultural advances have overcome many natural limitations.
• Culture is All Encompassing = the most interesting and significant cultural forces are those that
affect people every day of their lives, particularly those that influence children during enculturation;
culture encompasses features that are sometimes regarded as trivial or unworthy or serious studies.
• Culture is integrated = cultures are integrated systems, they are patterned systems.
If one part of the system changes, other parts change as well.
Cultures are integrated by their dominant economic activities and related social patterns, by sets of
values, ideas, symbols and judgments.
Cultures train their individual members to share certain personality traits.
A set of core values integrates each culture and helps distinguish it from others.
• Culture is Instrumental, Adaptive and Maladaptive = culture is the main reason for human
adaptability and success.
Humans have biological adaptation but they have cultural ways of adapting too.
People indeed, use culture instrumentally : to fulfill their basic biological needs for food, drink,
shelter, comfort, and reproduction; but we also use culture to fulfill their psychological and
emotional needs.
Cultural traits may be called adaptive if they help individuals cope with environmental stresses;
Cultural traits may be called maladaptive if they don’t.

CULTURE’S EVOLUTIONARY BASIS

2
 6 March 2019
Hominidae is the zoological family that includes fossil and living humans.
Hominins is a terms used for humans but not for african apes (gorilla, chimps) and that encompasses
all the human species that ever have existed.
Many human traits reflect the fact that our primate ancestors lived in trees (grasping abilities, manual
dexterity, depth and color vision…).
The dexterity is essential to a major human adaptive capacity: toolmaking.
Also learning is another major adaptive advantage.
There are elements we share with other primates and not:
> what we share with other primates =
-primates too can modify learned behavior and social patterns; they can benefit from
experiences.
-primates also use tool; from that we know that early hominins shared this ability.
-primates are habitual hunters too.
> how we differ from other primates =
There is a substantial gap between primate society and fully developed human
culture which is based on symbolic thought.
-cooperation and sharing are much more developed among humans; we are among the
most cooperative of the primates, in the food quest and other social activities.
-the amount of information stored in human band is far greater that that in any other
primate group.
-mating characterizes humans, indeed humans maximize their reproductive success by
mating throughout the year (instead primates mate only during certain periods in which females show
visible estrus).
-human pair bonds for mating are more exclusive and more durable than are those of
chimps; indeed we have marriage.
-marriage creates exogamy and kinship systems; rules of exogamy require marriage to
occur outside one’s kin or local group, conferring adaptive advantages. Thus, ties of affection
and mutual support between members of local groups is a human feature.
-humans maintain lifelong ties with sons and daughters; the system of kinships and
marriage preserve these links.

UNIVERSALITY, GENERALITY AND PARTICULARITY

> Certain biological, psychological, social and cultural features are universal: features found in every
culture.
Biological based universals include long infant dependency, complex brains (enabling symbolic
communications, tool use…).
Social universals are life in groups and some kind of family.
> Generalities: features common to several but not all human groups; they occur in certain times and
places but not in all cultures (widespread but not universal).
e.g. : nuclear family, kinships group of parents and children.
|
There are different explanations for generalities / societies can share the same beliefs and customs :
-because of borrowing,
-through cultural inheritance from a common cultural ancestor,
-domination, as in colonial rule, when costumes and procedures are imposed on one culture by
another that is more powerful.
Furthermore many cultural traits are shared as cultural universals and as a result of independence
invention: facing similar cultural causes have produced similar cultural results.

> Some traits instead are particularities : unique to certain cultural tradition; these are traits that are
not generalized or widespread but they are confined to a single place, culture or society.

3
 6 March 2019
Yet through cultural borrowing and exchanges (accelerated through globalization), traits that once
were limited in their distribution have become more widespread (especially those traits that are
useful).
Different cultures emphasize different things.
Cultures are integrated and patterned differently and display tremendous variation and diversity.
Even when cultural traits are borrowed, they are modified to fit the culture that adopts them; they are
integrated, patterned anew, to fir their new setting.
Thus, cultures vary tremendously in their beliefs, practices, integration and patterning.

CULTURAL AND THE INDIVIDUAL : AGENCY AND PRACTICE

Individual human beings always make up, or constitute, a system.
But living within that system, humans also are constrained by its rules and the actions of other
individuals (to some extent).
Cultural rules provide guidance about what to do and how to do it.
But people don’t always follow them, people indeed, use their culture actively and creatively; people
learn, interpret, and manipulate the same rules in different ways, or they emphasize different rules that
better suit their interests.
Culture is contested: different groups in society struggle with one another over whose ideas, values,
goals, and beliefs will prevail.
Even common symbols may have radically different meanings to different individuals and groups in
the same cultures.
We can define:
Ideal culture = what people say they should do and what they say they do;
Real culture = actual behavior observed by the anthropologists.
Hence, culture is both public + individual.
Anthropologists are interested not only in public and collective behavior but also in how individuals
think, feel, and act.
Human social life is a process in which individuals internalize the meanings of public (i.e., cultural)
messages. Then, alone and in groups, people influence culture by converting their private (and often
divergent) understandings into public expressions.

Culture has been seen as a social glue transmitted across generations, binding people through their
common past.
However the tendency to view culture as an entity rather than a process is changing,; we now
emphasize how culture is continually created and reworked in the present through day-to-day practice.
Agency : actions that individuals take, both alone and in groups, in forming and transforming cultural
identities.
Practice Theory approach to culture, recognizes that individual within a society or culture have
diverse motives and intentions ad different degrees of power and influence; it focuses on how varied
individuals manage to influence, create and transform the world they live in; thus culture is flexible
and changeable and individuals are both constrained and constraining it.
This approach recognizes the reciprocal relation between culture (system) ➾ and the individual :
system shapes individuals experience and respond to external events
individuals have an active role in the way society functions and changes.

National culture = beliefs, learned behavior patterns, values, and institutions that are shared by
citizens of the same nation.
International culture = cultural traditions that extend beyond and across national boundaries.
Because culture is transmitted cultural traits can spread through borrowing, or diffusion, from one
group to another.

4
 6 March 2019
Cultures also can be smaller than nations; indeed all nations also contain diversity. Subcultures are
different symbol-based patterns and traditions associated with paritucla groups in the same complex
society.

Ethnocentrism = tendency to view one’s own culture as superior and to use one’s own standards and
values in judging outsiders; when people consider their won cultural beliefs to be truer, more proper,
or more moral than those of other groups.
Sometimes as the strange becomes familiar, the familiar seems a bit stranger and less conformable.

Cultural relativism = idea that it is inappropriate to use outside standards to judge behavior in a given
society; such behavior should be evaluated in the context of the culture in which it occurs.
To understand another culture fully, we must try to understand how the people in that culture see
things.
Different people and groups within the same society can have very different opening about what is
proper, necessary and moral; when there are power differentials in a society we should ask who is
relatively advantaged and disadvantaged by that custom.
Human rights evoke the idea of justice and morality beyond and superior to particular cultures,
countries, religions; they are seen as inalienable and international.
Alongside the human rights movement has arisen an awareness of the need to preserve cultural rights,
which are vested not in individuals but in groups, including indigenous peoples and religious and
ethnic minorities.
anthropology, as the scientific study of human diversity, should strive to present accurate accounts
and explanations of cultural phenomena. Most ethnographers try to be objective, accurate, and
sensitive in their accounts of other cultures. However, objectivity, sensitivity, and a cross-cultural
perspective don’t mean that anthropologists have to ignore international standards of justice and
morality. The anthropologist
doesn’t have to approve customs to recognize their existence and determine their causes and the
motivations behind them. Each anthropologist has a choice about where he or she will do fieldwork.

MECHANISMS OF CULTURAL CHANGE

There are different ways in which cultural change occur:

1. Diffusion = borrowing trans between cultures; exchange of information and products occurs (and
has always occurred) because cultures have never been truly isolated.
Diffusion is direct when two cultures trade, intermarry or wage war on one another.
Diffusion is forced when one culture subjugates another and imposes its customs on the
dominated group.
Diffusion is indirect when items move from group A to group C via group B without any
firsthand contact between A and C; in this case, group B might consist of traders or merchants or
it might be geographically situated between A and C.
In today’s world, much transnational diffusion is due to the spread of the mass media and
advanced information technology.
2. Acculturation = the exchange of cultural features that results when groups have continuous
firsthand contact.
With acculturation, parts of the cultures change, but each group remains distinct.
1. Independent invention = the process by which humans innovate, creatively finding solutions to
problems.
Faced with comparable problems and challenges, people in different societies have innovated and
changed in similar ways, which is one reason cultural generalities exist.

The term globalization encompasses a series of processes that work transitionally to promote change
in a world in which nations and people are increasingly interlinked and mutually dependent.

5
 6 March 2019
Economic and political forces, along with modern systems of transportation (tourism…) and digital
communication (media, internet, google, satellite…) promote globalization; the media indeed propel a
transnational culture of consumption.
In this sense, people nowadays live multi locally, in different places and cultures at once.
We learn to play various social roles, change behavior and identity deepening on the situation and
context.
There are 2 different meanings of globalization:
-globalization as a fact : spread and connectedness of production, communication and technologies; it
reflects the relentless and ongoing growth of the world system; it has existed for centuries but it has
now new radical aspects such as: the speed, the scale and the volume of global communication.
-globalization as ideology and policy : global free market for goods and services.
In such a world, Michael Burawoy suggests that anthropologists should shift “from studying ‘sites’ to
studying ‘fields,’ that is, the relations between sites”.
People increasingly live their lives across borders, maintaining social, financial, cultural, and political
connections with more than one nation-state: “multiplaced” people.
Multinational corporations move their operations to places where labor and materials are cheap. This
globalization of labor creates unemployment “back home” as industries relocate and outsource
abroad.
Multinational corporations ally themselves with, and influence, politicians and government officials,
especially those who are most concerned with world trade. Financial globalization means that nations
have less control over their own economies.
As capitalism has spread globally, the gap between rich and poor has widened both within and
between nations
The key role of knowledge in today’s global economy has accelerated this gap, because knowledge
tends to be concentrated in industrial nations and certain regions within them. Knowledge has
commercial value, as new ideas are converted into the products and services that consumers want.

- CULTURAL CORE VALUES :

• Idividualism vs Collectivism =
-individualism : while you may seek input from others, you are ultimately responsible for your own
decisions regarding where you live, what your major is, or where you decide to study. You have a
sense of pride in being responsible for yourself and know that others expect you to be independent. If
you do something wrong, you feel guilty and are concerned about how this reflects upon you.
-collectivism : you make important life decisions based on the needs of the group and put the well-
being of the group ahead of your own. You make major life decisions in consultation with your
family, friends, and co-workers. You believe that looking out for others protects one’s self and that
group harmony is the greatest good. As a child, you’re taught to depend and rely upon others, who in
turn could rely upon you. Identity is a function of one’s membership or role in a primary group. If you
do something wrong, you feel ashamed and are concerned about how this reflects on your group.
• Equality vs. Hiearchy =
-equality : you believe that people should interact with each other on a level playing field. While
differences such as age and economic standing obviously exist, you don’t feel these should be used as
the basis for interacting with others. For example, you prefer to be on a first-name basis with your
instructors, boss, and coworkers.
-hierarchy : you believe strongly in status differences and that people should be treated according to
their standing. Teachers, for example, are experts and should be referred to by their titles. At school or
at work, you would defer to the views of your seniors and use forms of address congruent with their
standing. Hierarchy is the fact of life and gives everyone a sense of their place in the world.
• Polychronic vs. Monochronic Time =
-polychronic : you feel that time is an unlimited good and available as needed. People should take the
amount of time necessary to do what they need to do. Life does not follow a clock; things happen
when they are supposed to happen. Promising to meet someone at a certain time is not a commitment

6
 6 March 2019
set in stone. Rather, appointments and social gatherings happen when the time is right. For example, a
wedding won’t start until all the people are there who were invited; when they have arrived is when
the wedding is supposed to begin.
-monochronic : time is a precious commodity You feel that time is a precious good. It should not be
wasted. Human activities must be organized with careful recognition of this fact. You take great care
to plan your day to make sure you arrive to class, work, and meetings with friends and family on time.
It is unthinkable to waste someone else’s time. A wedding must start at the designated time out of
respect for everyone’s time commitments and other obligations.when the wedding is supposed to
begin

• Meritocracy vs. Ascription =

-meritocracy : you believe that people should be judged on merit and that they should earn their
position and status in life. What is fair for one is fair for all. You know that when you graduate, the
jobs you get will be because you have earned them. They won’t be given to you because of who you
are, but because of what you have accomplished. You wouldn’t select people to do a job, for
example, simply on the basis of their age; being older in you culture does not automatically mean
being wiser.
-ascription : you believe that a person’s family background, age, gender, ethnicity, and other
characteristics are very important in determining a person’s status or standing in the community. This
also establishes how you should interact with the person. For example, you would likely assume that
older persons are going to be much more knowledgeable than younger ones and that their knowledge
should be respected. That is how things work in the world.
• Activity vs. People
• Change, Progress, Risk Taking vs. Stability, Tradition, Risk Aversion
• Formality vs. Informality
• Fate and Destiny vs. Personal Self-Efficacy
• Directness vs. Indirectness

DEFINTIONS
enculturation = the process by which culture is learned and transmitted across the generations.

7
 6 March 2019
symbol = something, verbal or nonverbal, that stands for something else.
core values = key, basic, or central values that integrate a culture.
hominid = member of hominid family; any fossil or living human, chimp, or gorilla.
hominins = hominids excluding the African apes; all the human species that ever have existed.
universal = something that exists in every culture.
generality = culture pattern or trait that exists in some but not all societies.
particularity = distinctive or unique culture trait, pattern, or integration.
national culture = cultural features shared by citizens of the same nation.
international culture = cultural traditions that extend beyond national boundaries.
subcultures = different cultural traditions associated with subgroups in the same complex society.
ethnocentrism = judging other cultures using one’s own cultural standards.
cultural rights = rights vested in religious and ethnic minorities and indigenous societies.
cultural relativism = idea that behavior should be evaluated not by outside standards but in the context
of the culture in which it occurs.
IPR = Intellectual property rights; an indigenous group’s collective knowledge and its applications.
human rights = rights based on justice and morality beyond and superior to particular countries,
cultures, and religions.
diffusion = borrowing of cultural traits between societies.
independent invention = the independent development of a cultural feature in different societies
acculturation = an exchange of cultural features between groups in firsthand contact.
globalization = the accelerating interdependence of nations in the world system today.

GLOSSARY RECAP :
1. Culture = Total way of life of people
2. Cultural Anthropology = The study of human behavior around the world and through time
3. Adaptation - Cultural = The cultivation (farming) of food and the domestication of animals
4. Adaptation - Biological = A more efficient respiratory system in response to living in higher
elevations
5. Linguistic Anthropology = The study of language in the cultural context
6. Applied Anthropology = The practice of anthropology in the everyday world
7. Comparative education = A comparison of Italian and American University teaching
8. Cross-cultural perspective = Understanding and appreciating cultural differences
9. Ethnography = The method for studying a particular group, culture or society
10. Anthropological archaeology = Interpreting human behavior from human material remains