Approaching cultural studies

WHAT SHAPES THE HUMAN BEING

INDIVIDUALS: nature vs nurture
(genetic predisposistion vs what we learn as we grow up)
MEMBERS OF SOCIETY: essential humanity - communication, sustaing ourselves with food =>cultural
differences
the inner man, an improvement of head and heart
an uncivilized person may be the most cultured person: cheap apparel vs. the inner refinement of a
person -> cultural activities = higher pursuits of human life (sciences, arts)
Culture- mental & spiritual
Civilization- better ways of living socially & politically.
WHAT EXACTLY DOES CULTURE MEAN?
material or immaterial (thoughts, beliefs, values, customs, traditions, festivals, celebrations).
anthropologists agree with a more inclusive definition of culture: the thoughts, behaviors, languages,
customs, the things we produce and the methods we use to produce them. It is the human ability to
create and transmit culture that differentiates us as humans from the rest of the animal world.
THE ESSENTIAL FEATURE OF CULTURE
The capacity to think symbolically. Language is a symbolic form of communication.
E.g. The word table is nothing other than a symbol for the actual thing. Without language, culture could
not be transmitted, people could not learn from one another across generations, and there would be no
cultural continuity.
CULTURAL CHANGE
Outside influences: cultural diffusion stimulates cultural change.
E.g. cross-cultural contacts like the Silk Road, which brought silk to the West.
Inventions and technological developments from within a society, such as the steam engine or the
automobile, can also have an impact on culture.
"Car culture" is a term describing people's addiction on driving. This addiction gave birth to the concept
of "fast-food spread through cultural diffusion to many parts of the world.
CULTURAL FORMATION
How do cultures form?
Groups of people from specific ecological niches interacted with their environments over long periods of
time. Because of a level of isolation, they developed adaptations to their environment, methods of
survival, and ways of organizing themselves socially =>they came to share beliefs & symbols explaining
their world. - Through language they used to communicate with each other enabling them to transmit
learning to future generations.
increasing communication broke down geographic isolation.
Through cultural diffusion, linkages were formed & many specific cultures evolved into larger
groupings called culture areas - regions with shared cultural traits.
E.g. East Asia: China, Korea, Japan &Vietnam. Speaking languages and having organized societies,
these states, each with its own specific culture, share some features: patriarchal social organization, the
Buddhist religion & an emphasis on the family)
CULTURE VS. CIVILIZATION
A culture can evolve into a civilization which is a more advanced form of organized life.
E.g. writing and the use of metals are features of some civilizations.
Egyptian civilization disappeared and is not continuous with Egyptian society today=> not all cultures
necessarily become civilizations.
 Adjs. (civilized, primitive) may refer to the level of complexity of a society, but they do not define the
quality of life or the values, of the societies they describe.

RACE AND CULTURE

Race: a misunderstood concept. Racial features are genetic and inherited. Features such as skin, hair, and eye
color & some other factors are aspects of race. But given the globalization and the fact that peoples are no
longer isolated from each other sharing their genes by marriage, "races" that may have once been evident are
less so today. =>social scientists now doubt about the concept of race.
The idea of racialization or race formation stands on the fact that race is a social
construction & not a universal or essential category of biology or culture (Chris Barker).
Yet, how we view race, how we categorize people, & whether we rate or devalue specific racial features
= part of culture.
E.g. skin colors in New Orleans were given different social rank in the community and until recently
were encouraged not to intermarry.
Ethnical hybridisation
E.g. the pejorative meaning of half-caste nowadays and its etymology.
-the legitimacy of multiracial
POSTCOLONIAL CRITICISM
Both postcolonial criticism and multiculturalism emphasise our connexions of psychological,
ideological, social, political and aesthetical experience in ways that specifies how inseparable are
these categories in our life experiences.
GENDER AND CULTURE
The sexual difference is a basic principle in organizing social identity. The double feminine /
masculine does not constitute the exclusive frame in which that specificity can be
acknowledged; the feminine specificity is completely set out of context.
Debate: we are born with a gender or we become one.
RELIGION AND CULTURE
Religion culture ttechnically,
religion =a set of beliefs. But while some religions confine themselves to the realm of ideas or beliefs,
other religions extend into the realm of behavior and prohibit or mandate certain actions as well.
E.g. The Ten Commandments identify behaviors prohibited by the Judeo-Christian religions. For
Moslems, eating during daylight during Ramadan is prohibited behavior.
DEFINITIONS OF CULTURES
Anthropologists have been discussing and debating definitions of culture since the origin of the
discipline in the 19th century. In 1952 two prominent American anthropologists, Alfred Kroeber &
Clyde Kluckhohn, published a volume cataloging definitions of culture.
A useful summary of that discussion, grouping their 160 different definitions into eight categories, is
provided by John Bodley in his Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States and the Global System (1994).
John Bodley condenses what is useful in these categories & defines culture in a useful way. Culture, is
made up of at least three components: what people think, do & the material products they make. The
problem with defining culture as shared values and beliefs, as some anthropologists do, is that there can
be a vast bet. what people think & what they do.
DEFINITIONS OF CULTURES
Besides these components, culture has several properties: to quote Bodley, it is
"shared, learned, symbolic, transmitted cross-generational - as discussed above - adaptive, and integrated."
E.g. there is common agreement in a culture on what things mean. Members of a culture share specific
symbolic meanings, including (but not limited to) language. In America, brides wear white as a symbol
2
 of purity. In China, red is worn by a bride as a celebratory or "happy" color, while white is the color of
mourning.
Culture = integrated.
each aspect of a culture is consonant with every other. If not, there is cultural dissonance that risks a
tearing apart.
a "web of culture." It is like a woven cloth, a fabric (Clifford Geertz).
The term "civilization" or "civilisation" comes from the Latin word civis, meaning "citizen" or
"townsman." By the most minimal, literal definition, a "civilization" is a complex society.
"Civilization" can also mean a standard of behavior, similar to etiquette. Here, "civilized" behavior is
contrasted with crude or "barbaric" behavior. In this sense, civilization implies sophistication and
refinement.
Samuel Hungtington: "the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people
have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species." In this sense, a Christian woman of African-
American descent, living in the US, would be, above all, considered a member of "Western civilization," even
though she identifies with many cultures
CIVILIZATION: TECHNICAL DEFINITIONS
Anthropologists distinguish civilizations in which many of the people live in cities (and obtain their food
from agriculture), from tribal societies, in which people live in small settlements or nomadic groups.
V.Gordon Childe: civilizations could be distinguished from other forms of society by their types of
livelihood, settlement patterns, and forms of government, economic systems, and literacy.
CIVILIZATION: BROADER SENSE
Human society as a hole. e.g. A nuclear war would wipe out civilization=> potential global civilization.
A standard of behavior (civilized) -> etiquette
Superior vs. less complex society > racism and imperialism; civilized vs. barbaric.
Features of civilization
Literally, a civilization is a complex society, as distinguished from a simpler society. Everyone lives in a
society and a culture, but not everyone lives in a civilization.
Historically, civilizations have shared some or all of the following traits:
Intensive agricultural techniques, such as the use of human power, crop rotation, and irrigation. This has
enabled farmers to produce a surplus of food that is not necessary for their own subsistence.
A significant portion of the population that does not devote most of its time to producing food. This
permits a division of labor. Those who do not occupy their time in producing food may instead focus
their efforts in other fields, such as industry, war, science or religion. This is possible because of the food
surplus described above
The gathering of some of these non-food producers into permanent settlements, called cities.
A form of social organization. This can be a chiefdom, in which the chieftain of one noble family or clan
rules the people; or a state society, in which the ruling class is supported by a government or
bureaucracy. Political power is concentrated in the cities.
The institutionalized control of food by the ruling class, government or bureaucracy.
Development of new technologies by people who are not busy producing food. In many early
civilizations, metallurgy was an important advancement.
The establishment of complex, formal social institutions such as organized religion and education, as
opposed to the less formal traditions of other societies.
Development of complex forms of economic exchange. This includes the expansion of trade and may
lead to the creation of money and markets.
The accumulation of more material possessions than in simpler societies.

3
 Advanced development of the arts, especially writing.
"Civilization" can also describe the culture of a complex society, not just the society itself.
CIVILIZATIONS AS COMPLEX SYSTEMS
Civilizations may be regarded as networks of cities coming out from pre-urban cultures, being defined
by the economic, political, military, diplomatic, social, and cultural interactions among them.
E.g. An organization is a complex social system whereas a civilization is a large organization.
=>Systems theory helps guard against superficial but misleading analogies.
FUTURE OF CIVILIZATIONS
Samuel Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations
neither economics nor ideology would be the cause of conflicts, but different values based on history,
traditions, language and religion.
National identity
E.g. Latin Americans, globalisation.
NEGATIVE VIEWS OF CIVILIZATION
Gullivers Travels (yahoos & houyhnhnms)
Civilization through conquest and expansion;
Environmentalists ->exploitation of the environment: intensive agriculture & urban growth.

CULTURE & CIVILIZATION

CONCLUSION
- Both concepts can create misunderstandings & confusion. Civilization is the more connotative word for
culture which is an umbrella concept for all what anthropology and folklore studies.