ASPECTS OF CULTURE

When studying culture three observations have been made that shows how every culture is different.

1)     Cultural Variation

2)     Cultural Universals

3)     Cultural Integration

1) CULTURAL VARIATION

Throughout the world there are hundreds of different cultures.  There is an extreme variation within the cultures when it comes to values, norms, and roles.  A number of societies have values and norms that are completely opposite to those that members of our society may take for granted.

Examples of Cultural Variation

Traditional Sex Roles

            Males are expected to be aggressive and females are expected to be passive.  During her study in the society of the Mundugamors, Margaret Mead discovered that both sexes were expected to be aggressive.  She also studies in Arapesh and discovered that both sexes were expected to be passive.   Also in Tchambuli she discovered that females were suppose to be aggressive and the males passive. 

Traditional Marriage Roles

            North America- one kind of legalized marriage is recognized.   A marriage between a living man (person) and living woman (person) that do not fall into the realm of a biological relationship.

            Nuer of Africa- two other forms of marriage.

1-     GHOST MARRIAGE- this occurs when the husband of a woman of child bearing years dies.  Once a woman marries the rights of her unborn child is transferred to the husband’s family in exchange for cattle.  The contract can be upheld if the women marries to some other member of her husband’s family.  Any children born from the second marriage will be considered the children of her deceased husband.

2-     Rarer form- occurs when an older, wealthy woman “marries” a young girl.  The finances occur the same as the previous.  The older woman buys the rights to the young woman’s children in exchange for cattle.  The young takes lovers that she will have children with.  These children are socially defined as the children of their mother’s “female husband, “

Ethnocentrism- this is when an individual looks at the world with the attitude that the only right culture is their own.  They often assume that what is true of their own culture is also true for all cultures.  They usually believe that their culture is superior to others.

Let’s look more closely at North America to see value differences.

***cut and paste from Wayne’s site.

2) CULTURAL UNIVERSALS – few cultural elements are common to all known societies

Are there any elements of culture found in every single known society?  There are a few.  Every society has some rules about sexual behaviour, the content of these rules vary, but there are restrictions.  In every society there is a division of labour by sex. 

Status of men and women- there are many societies where men have more political power and more social pressure than women.  These societies are known as patriarchies.  There are also some societies which men and women are roughly equal in social status.  There is no known society that is a true matriarchy.

3) CULTURAL INTEGRATION- elements of the culture in a society are often interrelated. 

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE

When studying sociology there are different perspective, the same goes for culture.  There is functionalism; structuralism; cultural materialism; and sociobiology.

Functionalism

Functionalist believe that culture is how it contributes to overall stability and survival of the society in which it is found.

Bronislaw Malinowski- an anthropologist that studied Trobriand Islanders, living in the South Pacific.

Fish was their main food supply and the concept of fishing was surrounded by a system of magic.

Malinowski asked the question why?  His first obvious explanation was that they used magic because they believed that it helped them catch more fish.  He then asked, why do they use magic, while others don’t?

He made note that the ocean fishing was very risky and the Trobriand Islanders have no control on the weather or locations where fish might be caught.  The magic could reduce the anxiety because it made them feel like they had control over the environment.  They did not use magic in the sheltered island lagoon.  He argued that the magic is functional in Trobriand because it allows them to do something to control the environment.  It contributed to the overall stability of the culture.

Structuralism

Claude- Levi Strauss developed this approach to culture.  His main concern was with identifying mental processes that are common among all beings.  Levi Strauss asked the question, what makes human beings human?  He answered this with- human beings are capable of abstract thought, while other animals are not.  He also posed the question, how do humans acquire the ability to think abstractly?  He states that it is learned.  He used Totemism to explain why thinking abstractly is learned and not innate.

So what is Totemism?- it is the belief when members of a social group feel a mystical relationship of some sort, usually an animal.

Levi-Strauss believed that individual’s develop the ability to think abstractly using analogies and by referring to things that are observed in nature.

Cultural Materialism

A reaction against structuralism resulted in cultural materialism.  Cultural Materialism views culture as the way individuals adapt to their physical surroundings.

To look more closely at cultural materialism we will look at Marvin Harris’ study of India’s Sacred Cows.  He specifically examined the ban on killing cows in India.

If someone from Western Culture heard this before they studied their culture they would think that starving to death in their country would be their own fault.  Most ask the question, why starve to death when you have perfect meat on your land?  But in India families will starve to death before slaughtering their cows.  Western cultures would suggest that if they were more sensible that they would survive, but their lifestyle is not like ours.  Those from India will argue that if they slaughtered their cows would be even worse.

Unlike in western culture, in India agriculture production is not mechanized.  In India they rely on draught animals like oxen for power.  They also rely on the dung for fertilizer and fuel.

So why do they start using machines?  Well there are a few reasons why.  First they don’t have the money to buy the machines and the machines always lead to people moving from the countryside to the city.  The cities are already overpopulated and could not handle more immigration, which would occur if machines were brought into the picture.

One also must consider that there are not enough oxen for farmers and to get more oxen then they will need more cows.

Sociobiology

This perspective is the most controversial. Those who argue from this perspective believe that culture is mostly based on instincts. Sociobiology is based on the idea that many species are genetically equipped with the ability to deal with the environment in that they live. “doing what comes naturally” is governed by instincts.

Nature and Culture

Taken from Sociology: a Critical Introduction by Karen L. Anderson pg. 68.

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