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The Cultural Context by Dr. Shoaib Ahmed
The Cultural
Context
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CONTENTS
Introduction to Culture
Types of Culture:
a. Non Material b. Material
Difference b/w Society & Culture
Social & Cultural Development:
a) Biological Factors b) Geographic Factors
Non Human Social Organisation ( Basic differences)
Culture as a system of Norms
(Key Components of culture)
Real & Ideal Culture
Ethnocentrism & Xenocentrism
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Society and Individual
Members of a society are generally
unaware that they are following belief and
custom in their behavior.They seldom wonder why they believe and
act as they do.
Only by stepping outside one's own body of
belief and custom can one become aware
of its actual nature.
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Definition of Culture
From their life experiences people develop a set
of rules and procedures for meeting their needs.
The set of rules and
procedures, together with a
supporting set of ideas andvalues, is called a culture.
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"Culture ... is that complex wholewhich includes knowledge, belief,
art, morals, law, custom and anyother capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of
society."Edward Tylor (1871)
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Culture is everything which is socially learned
and shared by the members of a society.
The individual receives culture as part of a
social heritage and, in turn, may reshape the
culture and introduce changes which then
become part of the heritage of succeeding
generations.
Kinds of Culture
1. Material culture
2. Nonmaterial culture
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Material & Non Material Culture
NONMATERIAL CULTUREcon-sists of the words people use, the ideas,
customs, and beliefs they hold, and the habits
they follow.
MATERIAL CULTURE
consists of manufactured objects such as tools,
furniture, automobiles, buildings, irrigation
ditches, cultivated farms, roads, bridges, and, infact any physical substance which has been
changed and used by people. Such manufac-tured
objects are called artifacts.
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The material culture is always the outgrowth
of the nonmaterial culture and is meaningless
without it.
The nonmaterial culture would include the
rules of the game, the skills of the players,
the concepts of strategy, and the traditional
behavior of players and spectators.
If the game of Cricket is forgotten, a bat
becomes just a stick of wood.
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The Cultural Context by Dr. Shoaib Ahmed
CULTURE & SOCIETY
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Culture is often confused with society,
but the two words have differentmeanings.
Whereas a culture is a system of norms
and values,
a society is a relatively independent,
selfperpetuating human group which
occupies a territory, shares a culture,
and has most of its associations within
this group.
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A society is an organization ofpeople whose associations arewith one another.
A culture is an organized
system of norms and valueswhich people hold.
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SOCIAL AND CULTURALDEVELOPMENT
Biological Factors
Geographic Factors
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1.B
iological Factors The recent growth of a discipline known as
sociobiology has drawn renewed attention tobiological factors in human behavior.
Sociobiology is defined by E. Wilson, 1975 as
"the systematic study of the biologicalbasis of human behavior."
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The interaction of biology and culture influence human
behavior, starting with the development of humansociety.
Cultural accumulation at first was very slow.
People lived in the open or in caves, they used simple
stone tools to skin animals and cut off chunks of meat,
for digging edible roots, they probably used pointed
sticks.
There is some evidence that fire was used, during this
period humans became skilled hunters, but there is
considerable argument as to whether these early
hominids were humans at all.
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SOCIAL EVOLUTION
Biological evolution was one of the exciting ideas ofthe 19th century. While many contribution were
made to evolutionary theory.
CHARLES DARWIN after traveling the world and
classifying tens of thousands of present life forms and
fossil traces of earlier life forms, he developed, in his
Origin of Species (1859), the theory that the human
race had gradually evolved from lower orders of life.
This came about through the survival of those
biological forms best fitted to survive.
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AUGUSTE COMTE in his Positive Philosophy (18511854)
wrote of three stages through which he believed humanthought inevitably moved:
the theological,
the metaphysical (or philosophical), and finally
the positive (or scientific).
HERBERT SPENCER, of the nineteenth century, was enamored
of "social Darwinism." He saw social evolution as a set of
stages through which all societies moved from the simple tothe com-plex.
The progress of society unfolding in a way that would
gradually end misery and increase human happiness.
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2. Geographic Factors
Climate and geography are
undoubtedly very important factors
in cultural development.
Extremes of climate or topography
are serious obstacles to many kinds
of cultural development.
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Great civilizations do not flourish in the frozen, Arctic, the
torrid desert, the lofty mountain range or the tangled forest.
People can live in these areas and may develop ingenious
means of coping with natural forces, but such areas have not
produced great cities or highly developed civilizations.
On the other hand, the earliest great civilizations known to
the world developed in the lowlands of great river basins.
Only such areas. met the requirements for an early
civilization:
(1) Fertile land which could support a dense population, with part
of the people Free to engage in nonagricultural work, and
(2) Easy transportation to link together a large area.
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Non-human Social Organization
Non Human have orderly system of Social life.
Many bird species mate for a lifetime and (in
contrast to humans) are absolutely loyal to theirmates.
Many species of insects, such as ants and bees,
have an elaborate pattern of social life, complete
with specialized occupations, lines of authority,
and detailed distribution of Duties and privileges.
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Difference b/w Human life & Non human Life
Human Life Non human Life
Social Life is infinitely variable andcontinuously changing.
Social life tends to be uniform andunchanging.
Lacking in inborn patterns of behavior(instincts).
In nonhuman species have a degreeto which the life of other animals is
based on instinct rather thanlearning.
Inherit a set of organic needs, urges and hunger(derives) must be satisfied in someway to other.In their trail and error efforts to satisfy theirurges, humans create culture.
No concept of trial & error
Unable to rely upon instinct, human beingsmust build culture in order to survive.
Culture is a type of substitute for instinct sinceit gives humans direction and frees them fromperpetual trial and error.
No concept of culture
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Culture as a system of Norms (Key Components of culture)
Norms Symbols & LanguageValues
The term "norm" has two possible meanings.
A statistical norm is a measure of what actually exists ,
actual conduct with no suggestion of approval ordisapproval. (Real Culture)
A cultural norm is a concept of what is expected to exist or
a set of behavior expectations. . (Ideal Culture)
A culture is an elaborate system of such norms ofstandardized, expected ways of feeling and acting which
the members of n society generally acknowledge and
generally follow.
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Kinds of Norms
i) Folkways: Folkways are simply the customary, normal, habitual
ways a group does things. Shaking hands, eating with knives and
forks, wearing neckties on some occasions and sport shirts on
others, driving on the right-hand side of the street, and eating
toast for breakfast are a few of folkways.
ii) Mores : By mores we mean those strong ideas of right and
wrong which require certain acts and forbid others. (Mores is*'the
plural of the Latin word mos, but the singular form rarely appears
in sociological literature.)
iii) Laws; Many people will obey mores automatically or because
they want to do the "right" thing. A few people, however, are
tempted to violate mores. These people may be forced to conform
by the threat of legal punishment. Thus, the law serves to
reinforce the mores.
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The Cultural Context by Dr. Shoaib Ahmed
ETHNOCENTRISM
&
XENOCENTRISM
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ETHNOCENTRISM
That view of things in which one's
own group is the center of everything and all others are scaled
and rated with reference to it".
Sumner, William Graham: Folkways
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Ethnocentrism is the habit ofeach group taking for granted thesuperiority of its culture.
For Example
Our society is "progressive," whilethe non-Western world 'is
"backward". Our art is beautiful,whereas that of other societiesmay be viewed as Ugly.
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Ethnocen
trism a yards
tick
Ethnocentrism makes our culture into a yardstick with which
to measure all other cultures as good or bad, high or low, right
or queer in proportion as they resemble ours.
It is expressed in such phrases as "chosen people,"
"progressive," "superior race," "true believers," and by
epithets (Nickname) like "foreign devils," "infidels," "heathen,"
"backward peoples," "barbarians," and "savages."
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Promotion of group unity, loyalty, and.
Morale. Ethnocentric groups seem to survive better than
tolerant groups.
Ethnocentrism justifies sacrifice and sanctifiesmartyrdom.
The attitude, "I prefer my customs, although I
recognize that, basically, they may be no better
than yours," is not the sort of faith for which
dedicated believers will march singing to their
deaths.
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Ethnocentrism reinforces nationalism and
patriotism.
Without ethnocentrism, a dynamic national
consciousness is probably impossible.
Nationalism is but another level of group loyalty.
Periods of national tension and conflict are
always accompanied by intensified ethnocentric
propaganda.
Perhaps such a campaign is a necessary
emotional preparation for the expected
sacrifices.
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PROTECTION AGAINST CHANGE
If our culture is already superior, then why tinker (Cheat) with
alien innovations?
Ethnocentrism has been used to discourage the acceptance
of alien elements into the culture. Such efforts to prevent
culture change are never entirely successful.
Yet if people share a serene, unquestioning faith in the
goodness of their culturea conviction so completely
accepted that no proof is necessarythen change is delayed.
In discouraging culture change, eth-nocentrism is
undiscriminating. It discourages both the changes which
would disrupt the culture and the changes which would help it
attain its goals.
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Since no culture is completely static, every culture
must change if it is to survive.
In an age of atom bombs and pushbutton warfare,
when the nations must probably either get together
or die together, ethnocentrism helps to keep themtied to concepts of national sovereignty.
Under some circumstances, then, ethnocentrism
promotes cultural stability and group survival;
under other circumstances, ethnocentrism dooms
the culture to collapse and the group to extinction.
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XENOCENTRISM
a preference for theforeign
other than own.
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It is the belief that our own products, styles,
or ideas are necessarily inferior to thosewhich originate elsewhere.
It is the conviction that the foreign has a
special charm which one familiar can neverachieve.
It is based on the glamour of the strange
and faraway and the prestige of distantcenters, supposedly removed from the
sordid limitations of one's own community.
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It is the belief that our own products, styles, or
ideas are necessarily inferior to those which
originate elsewhere.
It is the conviction that the foreign has a specialcharm which one familiar can never achieve.
It is based on the glamour of the strange and
faraway and the prestige of distant centers,
supposedly removed from the sordid limitations
of one's own community.
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There are many occasions when people seem
happy to pay more for imported goods on the
assumption that anything from abroad is better.
Are French fashions, Japanese electronic ware
really superior? Or are people inclined to
assume they are superior because of the attract
of the foreign label? What applies to material products is also true of
ideas and life-styles.
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Rejection of Ethnocentrism
Those who leave their country to live
abroad are not the only ones who reject
ethnocentrism.
In every society a few persons reject their
group or some part of its culture. There
are anti-Semitic Jews, blacks who reject
black identity, aristocrats who lead
revolutions, priests who abandon their
faith, and so on.
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Evolutionary theories of social developmentwere once popular and are enjoying a revival
today. Animal societies are base, largely upon instinct;
human societies largely upon culture. Folkways are the customs of a society. Mores are the ideas of right and wrong which
become attached to some kinds of behavior.Mores may become sanctified by religion andstrengthened by being made into laws.
Values are ideas about whether experiences areimportant or unimportant.
Institutions are major clusters of folkways andmores which center on an important human
need. A trait is the simplest unit of culture; related
traits are grouped into culture complexes.
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A subculture is the behavior and value system of a group
which is a part of the society, but which has certain uniquecultural 'patterns.
A counterculture is a subculture which is not merely
different from but sharply opposed to the dominant values
of the society.
A culture is an integrated system of behavior with its
supporting ideas and values. In a highly integrated culture
all elements fit harmoniously together.
Cultural relativism describes the fact that the function and
meaning of a culture trait depend upon the culture in which
it operates. Traits are judged "good" or "bad" according to
whether they work efficiently within their own culture.
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Every society has an ideal culture, including the patterns
which are supposed to be practiced, and a real culture,
including illicit behavior which is formally condemned butwidely practiced. Gashes between the two are evaded by
rationalization. In some cases,
All societies and groups assume the superiority of their own
culture; this reaction is called ethnocentrism. The ideas andcustoms about which people are ethnocentric vary from
society to society, but all known societies, and all groups
within a society, display ethnocentrism.
Culture both aids and hinders human adjustment. It enables
people to survive in an inhospitable physical environment,
although in many respects it sustains habits which are
physically injurious. We could not live without culture;
sometimes it is not easy to live with it.