The Dispute Over Defining Culture Part 1, Chapter 1

1. The Dispute Over Defining Culture Part 1, Chapter 1

2. The African “Eve” Connection Watch the Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJDGzzrMyQ&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmHloU_xEJo&feature=related

3. Regulators of Human Life & Identity • Culture is a regulator and is observed at all levels of social organization. • Culture provides diverse ways of interpreting the environment and the world, as well as relating to other peoples (pg. 5). • Recognizing that people see their worlds differently is key to overcoming ethnocentrism.

4. Definitions of Culture 19th Century Today’s Definition Not synonymous with countries or political boundaries. Self sustaining. Totality of a group’s thoughts, experiences, behaviors, assumptions. Seen in symbols, rituals, myths, values, heroes. See pages 6,7, & 8 for more. • Synonymous with Western civilization

5. Cultures within cultures Subcultures exist within dominant cultures and are often based on economic or social class, ethnicity, race, or geographic location.

6. Cultures within Cultures • Terms used to denote groups that are cultures that exist within a dominant culture: • Subculture • Co-culture • Subgroup

7. What are subgroups? Definition • Membership groups • Exist within dominant culture • Could be occupation • Usually involve smaller groups of people than cultures. • Deviant label. • Temporality • “Wanna-Be” Behavior

8. Race and Skin Color The concept of race 2000 census form • The use of the term race is used to refer to a group of people who share a similar descent. • There is no single race defining gene. • Today we use the socio-historical concept of race. • This is reflected in the different categories we see on hiring forms.

9. Identity & Race White Culture White Privilege • Is there such a thing as white culture? • Who belongs, who does not? • What does “white” symbolize? • Where is this culture found? • Perceptual influences on behavior affects all of us.

10. The Contact Zone • “the space in which peoples geographically and historically separated come into contact with each other and establish ongoing relations, usually involving conditions of coercion, radical inequality, and intractable conflict” (pg. 22). • “Othering refers to the labeling and degrading of cultures and groups outside of one’s own” (pg. 22). • Ethnic and religious conflict, role of women, technology, migration & environmental sustainability.

11. Migration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTXEUSTPeJA

12. http://www.knowledge.allianz.com/demography/migration/?608/climate-change-drives-population-migrationhttp://www.knowledge.allianz.com/demography/migration/?608/climate-change-drives-population-migration http://knowledge.allianz.com/about.cfm

13. Environmental Sustainability • The environment is an international policy topic. This has implications for all of us living today as well as future generations.

14. Questions? Have you visited the student study site at WWW.SAGEPUB.COM/JANDT7E..\fall 2012 ppt