1 / 9

CULTURE

CULTURE. Definition:. Culture is a complex system of meaning & behavior that defines the way of life for a given group or society. Culture gives meaning to society. 1. Culture is shared. Held in common; collectively experienced & agreed upon In US - culture varies significantly

devin
Télécharger la présentation

CULTURE

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. CULTURE

  2. Definition: • Culture is a complex system of meaning & behavior that defines the way of life for a given group or society. • Culture gives meaning to society.

  3. 1. Culture is shared. • Held in common; collectively experienced & agreed upon • In US - culture varies significantly • Different races & ethnicities with different histories, languages & beliefs • Despite diversities - certain symbols, language patterns, belief systems are distinctively American (1st amendment freedoms)

  4. 2. Culture is learned. • Beliefs & practices are so well learned that they seem perfectly natural (food prep or how to dress); we do or know w/o realizing in most instances • Learned directly or indirectly • Until culture learned, feel like outsider (teacher to administrator, new recruit in military) • Process of learning = socialization

  5. 3. Culture is taken for granted. • We engage in specific cultural practices that people seldom question (how do you eat your hamburger or pizza?) • To recognize “taken for granted” - observe a tourist, ninth grader or new student at SHS • Culture unifies people, but the lack of communication across cultures can have negative consequences (US in Iraq or exchange student in class)

  6. 4. Culture is symbolic. • Meaning of symbols is created by cultural significance. • Symbols mean different things to different cultures (American flag in US or in Iraq) • Cultural meaning created in specific social contexts (cross on alter v. cross burning in front yard) • Symbols have great influence & are powerful expressions

  7. Symbols

  8. Culture varies across time & place. • Physical & social environments vary so people adapt to the challenges they face differently (urban v. rural, civil rights movement). • Culture not fixed from 1 place to another. • Therefore, meaning systems that develop within cultures must be seen in their context • Cultural relativism - not possible to understand behavior if not know context, but does not mean that every cultural practice is morally acceptable.

More Related