Culture

Ch. 2 Characteristics of Culture
The Concept of Culture
Culture is Learned
Culture is Shared
Culture is Based on Symbols
Culture Gives Meaning to Reality
Functions of Culture
Culture and Change
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

What is Culture?
Superstructure:
Superstructure A culture’s worldview, including morals and values, oftentimes grounded in religion Social structure: structure The rule-governed relationships—with all their rights and obligations—that hold members of a society together. This includes households, families, associations, and power relations, including politics.
Infrastructure:
Infrastructure The economic foundation of a society, including its subsistence practices and the tools and other material equipment used to

The Barrel Model of Culture

What is Culture?
The beliefs and behaviors of a society
Culture consists of abstract ideas, values,

and perceptions of the world that inform and are reflected in people’s behavior
Culture is the lens through which we view our world, it “invents” our reality

Iceberg example…

Culture is like an
Iceberg…

Culture is Learned
 Rather than inherited biologically
 Enculturation: The transmission of culture from one

generation to the next
 Mammals in general display cultural behavior (I.e. we all have the urge to eat/sleep, but when we do/with whom/in what order is determined by our social relationships). With humans, our social rules are more varied and complex.
 Ex: Social animals…Lions, dogs, chimpanzees…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VCJ1ybkjnA (Chimp
Culture)
If animals display cultural behavior as do we, should we also view animals through an Anthropological perspective? Sub disciplines of Primate Behavior and Animal Communication deal with this question.

Culture is Shared
By members of a society and produces behavior

that is intelligible (able to be understood) to other members of that society
Society vs. Culture
 Society: An organized group or groups of interdependent