Post on 23-Dec-2015
CULTURE Learned set of beliefs, values, and norms
Creation of culture is universal phenomenon but the form it takes is not
Cultural Universals• Cultural Universals are customs and
practices that occur across all societies.• Examples:
– Appearance (bodily adornment, hairstyles)– Activities (sports, dancing, games, joking)– Social institutions (family, law, religion)– Practices (cooking, folklore, gift giving)
Material (Jewelry, Fashion, Weapons of War,
Technology)
An expression of …… Non-Material
Beliefs, Norms, Values, Symbols
Other American Values? Achievement Religiosity Individualism Education Work Ethic Romantic Love Efficiency Democracy Rationalization Freedom Material Comfort Equality Progress Humanitarianism
Value Contradictions and Social Change
It is precisely at the point of value contradictions, then, that one can see
a major force for social change in a society.
Norms Folkways – informal -- violation is minimal Mores – moral component -- violation
might be severe Laws – formalized and enforced Taboos – most important -- violation
causes repulsion
Nature Versus Nurture Sociability Intelligence Sensitive hands Vocality Eyesight Upright posture Instincts
SymbolsArtifacts, gestures, Material and non-material objects that we impute meaning upon and they come to stand for something
Symbols of Love
Life Gem Memorials
“Have your loved one close to you always”Turn their ashes into a diamond!
Diamonds are rare? ?????? More than 800,000,000 mined each year
Powerful marketing convinces us to buy things we would not normally purchase
The manufacturing of desire??
Postmodernism & Consumer Culture
Cultural Leveling – the ‘McDonaldization of Society” -- more sectors of society are adopting the principles of fast-food restaurants
Credit cards are our tools of consumption
3.5 billion letters per year to solicit new consumers
83 percent of college students have at least one and average debt is almost $3,000
Consumer Culture and Credit….. Credit card companies now control debit
cards too. They consider those who pay off their credit
cards at the end of the month as “deadbeats” - Why might this be the case?
Postmodernism? An eclectic blending of facets of culture
old/new, east/west, high/low Globalization
Cultural Lag -- material and non-material move at different pace
Components of McDonaldization Efficiency, such as a drive-through windows, ready-made
fast-food is meant to get us in and out fast.
Calculability is emphasis on large quantities, e.g., Big Mac, Whopper or Biggie Fries – mass production
Predictability - people don't like surprises, and at chains they know what to expect: A Big Mac tastes the same in Syracuse as in Salt Lake City.
Control -- options are limited to force customers through –also includes replacing human workers with machines, which are much easier than humans to manage.
Information Overload?? Advertising…… Are we swimming in a sea of messages??
“copywriters, market researchers, pollsters, consultants, and even linguists—most of whom work for one of six giant companies—spend billions of dollars and millions of man-hours trying to determine how to persuade consumers what to buy, whom to trust, and what to think. Increasingly, these techniques are migrating to the high-stakes arena of politics, shaping policy and influencing how Americans choose their leaders.” pbs--frontline
Culture has two faces…. It can allow us to exercise our freedoms
But because it is so taken for granted…. It can also constrain us and we never even
realize it.
“Beauty” always refers to
the female body
“What are the norms for feminine beauty?
Do your ideas coincide? Differ?
How did this happen?
Culture told us to do it
How does it stay this way?
We’ve embodied those images
If Barbie Was Real.. Height 7’2”
Measurement 40-22-36 Weight 83 lbs / 50 lbs would be her breasts
Neck would be twice as long as a normal human
If real, she could not menstruate because she would not have enough body fat
“To men a man is but a mind. Who cares what face he carries or what he wears? But woman's body is the woman.”
Ambrose Bierce (1958)
Why is it that…… Attractiveness is a prerequisite for
femininity -- but not for masculinity or this changing too????
Would you go through physical torture to achieve attractiveness?
You would not be the first to do so…..
31% women 20% men said yes 27% 18 to 24 years old said yes to now or
in the future 27% white 24% non-white
Percentage change 2010 vs. 2009 13.1 million cosmetic procedures 5% • 1.6 million cosmetic surgical
procedures 2% • 11.6 million cosmetic minimally-
invasive procedures 5% 5.3 million reconstructive procedures
2%http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Documents/news-resources/statistics/2010-statisticss/Top-Level/2010-US-cosmetic-reconstructive-plastic-surgery-minimally-invasive-statistics2.pdf
Overall, women have 91 percent of cosmetic procedures number of surgical and nonsurgical procedures
But men are jumping on the cosmetic surgery bandwagon
Source:http://www.yourplasticsurgeryguide.com/trends/charts-graphs.htm
Americans spend approximately $13.2 billion on cosmetic procedures .
http://www.cosmeticplasticsurgerystatistics.com/statistics.html#2007-FACTS
Top five cosmetic surgeries Breast Augmentation Nose Reshaping Eyelid Surgery Liposuction Tummy Tuck
Top five Cosmetic – minimally Invasive BOTox Soft tissue fillers Chemical Peels Laser Hair Removal Microdermabrasion
Food Poisoning? Sales of Botox grew "at double the rate at
constant currency internationally than in the United States." Botox sales rose 18 percent to $315.5 million, while eye-care pharmaceuticals sales increased 22 percent, to $492.2 million. Medical devices sales rose 23 percent to $203.4 million, with obesity intervention sales up 36 percent and facial aesthetics sales up 24 percent.
Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080507/earns_allergan.html
A sampling of 2,000 girls, with an average age of 15, found that 42 percent have considered getting plastic surgery.
The number of cosmetic surgery procedures has jumped a whopping 457 percent since ASAPS first began gathering these stats in 1997.
Chinese foot binding –
the first historical example of objectification and first sign of norms that
demanded conformity. “golden lotus”
American Culture = Diet Culture
Which also means….. Culture of anorexia/bulimia
Culture of obesity
In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.
One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia
Two to three in 100 American women suffers from bulimia
Nearly half of all Americans personally know someone with an eating disorder
An estimated 10 – 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are males
Approximately 25 million more are struggling with binge eating disorder
www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
Once described as “Western Disease”
As many as 150,000 will die of the disease
Very rare disorder until 1970
Women become both producers of …. and products of our culture…. Early 90s – one study found that 25-33% of college women use vomiting
after meals as a method of weight control . See www.nationaleatingdisorders.org For who is at risk among dieters
Another study found…. A majority of woman and men rate
borderline anorexic bodies as very attractive
Attractiveness ratings do not vary for men as they age – for women, the older they are, the lower their rating.
Real versus Ideal Culture Myths
We all start out with the same opportunities
Factors like age, gender, social class, race, ethnicity can inhibit or enhance your
chances in life
Cultural Change Diffusion - spread of culture Imperialism – imposition of culture
Ethnocentrism – judgment of culture
Ethnocentrism A little goes a long way…… Often times --- To say that you are ready to die for cultural
identity means that you’re also ready to kill for cultural identity.
For examples of this -- look to the Middle East,
India, Africa (e.g., Israel, Palestine, former Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Ruwanda)
Could it be that… Sometimes culture becomes an instrument
of repression, exclusion, and extinction?
Honor Killings, Genital Mutilation
Tempocentrism – judgment of time period Relativism – appreciation as equally valid
Relativist Fallacy – going too far with appreciation
“Basic Human rights”
Functional Perspective
Culture reflects our structural arrangements in a
given society Division of labor….Kinship relations serves both manifest and latent functions folklore, ideologies, rituals, symbols, values, etc.
support these relations by giving people reasons for their lives and besides, they are learned at a very early age and generally accepted by all who surround us -- they are binding
Conflict Perspective:
Culture reflects our structural arrangements in a given society -- most often the ideas of
those in power Culture, what we see all around us, often gets
there via cultural gatekeepers (powerful organizations, individuals, groups, that have control over the introduction of cultural innovations -- i.e., what makes it and what doesn’t)
Bourdieu offers two important terms for us symbolic capital – consists of culturally approved
intangibles – honor, integrity, trust, goodwill – that may be accumulated and used for tangible gain – Disney – Walmart -- GE
We buy their products because we have public trust in them
Toyota????
Cultural capital habits, tastes, mannerisms used to
distinguish class location – High cultural knowledge converts to social and economic advantage Knowing how to dress for successHow to comport oneself in accordance with elite statusTable manners, knowledge of wine, arty chit-chat
Cultural Capital among the Rich
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective:
Culture is shaped by daily face-to-face interactions
People’s perceptions of themselves are derived through subcultures
We are a nation of subcultures ( look through the greeting cards at Hallmark or Wal-mart)
Pop Culture versus High Culture Pop - activities, products, customs, traditions that
belong to the “masses” or the middle and working classes. Sometimes called “mass” culture
High -- same as above but restricted to those in the upper classes. Sometimes called “elite” culture
Language Language involves symbols that express
ideas and enable people to communicate. Can be verbal or nonverbal Allows us to:
create visual images Share experiences Maintain group boundaries
How does language affect us?
Does language determine how we see the world?
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis…. Linguistic Relativity……. We acquire not only words but perceptions of the world.
New Words Memory foam Unfriend Carbon Footprint Green-collar Twitter Facebook Flash Mob Waterboarding Staycation Sock Puppet