Introduction to Anthropology Textbook Chapter 3 Culture Concept Theory Theories of Cultural Change

CHAPTER Culture Concept Theory Theories of Cultural Change I Figure Now and in the past , people have called many different types of dwelling home . Top left , tent on Street in Washington top right , cliff dwellings near , New Mexico bottom left , a water village , Indonesia bottom right the International Space Station ( credit top left Street by Daniel , Public Domain top right Cliff Dwellings by , BY bottom left The water village . by Bernard . Public Domain bottom right The International Space Station after arrival of ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays by , Public Domain ) CHAPTER OUTLINE The of Culture The of Culture The Elements of Culture The of Culture Modes of Cultural Analysis The Paradoxes of Culture INTRODUCTION Though all humans have a set of basic needs , we meet those needs in very different ways in response to environmental conditions and social circumstances . For example , consider the basic human need for shelter . In places prone to , people often build their houses on stilts , constructing and walkways to connect their houses together . In mountainous areas , people sometimes carve their houses into . In societies with extreme inequality , some people live in luxury apartments

with people who pitch their tents on the sidewalk . Humans have even constructed a complex dwelling adapted to the conditions of space , the International Space Center . Similarly , humans have a wide range of solutions to human needs for clothing , food , family life , health , and social order . In each society , the various solutions combine in a complex totality called culture . In this chapter , we explore the concept of culture , what it is and how to study it . Taking the need for shelter as a central example , we will see how culture is created and how it changes . We will learn about how different elements of culture interact with one another . As culture is a central concept in anthropology , our understanding of culture will guide our exploration of human throughout this textbook . The Homeyness of Culture LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this section , you will be able to Explain the importance of culture to the concept of home . Identify the centrality of culture in the discipline of anthropology . Describe how each of the four deploys the concept of culture . Explain why culture feels familiar and homey . 18 10 15 10 , 12 FIGURE The floor plan of a typical American house consists of many individual rooms , including three to four bedrooms , a large kitchen , a family room , and an attached garage . This floor plan depicts such a home . attribution Copyright Rice University , under BY license ) What place do you call home ?

For some people , home is a large , angular structure made of wood or brick , on a permanent foundation of concrete , and rigged with systems to provide running water , electricity , and temperature control . Such houses have separate rooms for distinct activities , such as sleeping , bathing , eating , and socializing . Often , one bedroom is larger than the others and connected to its own bathroom . This is the primary bedroom , designed to accommodate a married couple while their children sleep in smaller bedrooms . The room for cooking ( the kitchen ) used to be separated from the room where people socialized ( the living room or great room ) as it was assumed that one person ( the wife ) would cook in the kitchen while another person ( the husband ) relaxed alone or with company in the living room . More recently , architecture has eliminated the wall separating the kitchen from the living room , as adults often cook together or socialize as one cooks and the other relaxes .

In the , French scholar Pierre ( 1970 ) analyzed a typical house ofa family in northern Algeria . Traditional houses were rectangular buildings made of stone and clay with tiled roofs . Inside , a dividing wall marked off of the house . This section , set lower than the rest of the house and paved with , was the stable , where animals were kept at night . A farming people , the kept oxen , cows , donkeys , and mules . Above the stable was a loft where women and children often slept , though arrangements for sleeping and marital sex tended to vary . FIGURE These houses in Norther Algeria , built by the people , are constructed of stone , and include open space for both animals and human inhabitants under a shared roof . credit , BY ) The of the larger section of the house was higher and paved with a layer of black clay and cow dung that women polished with a stone . This part was reserved for human use . In this larger , elevated section , a large weaving loom sat against the wall opposite the door . Facing east , this wall with the loom received the most light in the house . Guests and brides were seated here , as it was considered the nicest part of the house . Opposite the dividing wall in the larger section was the hearth , surrounded by cooking tools , lamps , grain . With the loom and the hearth , the main area of human activity in the house was associated with the work ofwomen . explained that men were expected to remain outside the house from dawn to evening , working in the and associating with other men in public spaces . Women were supposed to remain in the home . In analysis , the house was divided into two realms a dark , low realm associated with animals and natural activities ( sleeping , sex , childbirth , and death ) and a lighter , higher realm associated with humans and cultural activities ( weaving , cooking , brides , and guests ) Humans all over the world require a place to gather , work , socialize , and sleep . Some have houses , while others have compounds . Some live in tents made beams and covered with animal skins or cloth , in caves hollowed out of sandstone or volcanic rock , or in wooden structures built on stilts or in trees to avoid and predators . While these different forms of home are all designed to perform a common function as human living spaces , they are distinctively shaped by local environments and . Houses are most commonly built with locally available materials and designed to protect against local climatic conditions and predators . Over generations , people develop distinctive technologies to transform available materials into durable and functional homes . Different forms of family , different gender roles and relations , and different

everyday activities determine the organization of space in these different homes . Dominant ideas about work , gender , marriage , parenting , hospitality , and status all shape the places we call home . Home , then , involves a combination of materials , technologies , social relationships , everyday practices , deeply held values , and shared ideas . In every culture , these features are uniquely combined to produce distinctive versions of home . Other combinations of features produce distinctive versions of clothing , food , work , and health . Growing up in a particular social group , a person learns these ways of living , eating , working , and so on and comes to consider them normal and natural . Anthropologists have a word for such integrated combinations of social and environmental features , and that word is culture . The ways ofyour culture are familiar to you , often so deeply ingrained that they come naturally . Culture itself feels like home . All four of anthropology are devoted to understanding human culture . Biological anthropologists are often interested in the emergence of culture in the course of human biological evolution . Archaeologists use material artifacts as keys to understanding the technologies , social practices , and ideas of ancient peoples . Cultural anthropologists often use participant observation to understand how the various features of culture together in contemporary societies . Linguistic anthropologists are interested in how language shapes and is shaped by other features in the constellation of culture . This chapter explores culture as a central concept in anthropology . We examine what distinguishes culture from other aspects of human experience and activity . In an effort to organize the vast array of things included in culture , we divide culture into three levels and consider how those levels together what happens when they don . Finally , we identify a set of contradictions built into the concept of culture and see how those contradictions illuminate the nature of human social life . The of Culture LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this section , you will be able to Provide of culture . Distinguish natural behavior from cultural behavior . Describe deliberate and nondeliberate ways that people acquire culture . Explain how biological processes can be shaped by culture . In the last section , we referred to culture as a combination of materials , technologies , social relationships , everyday practices , deeply held values , and shared ideas . British anthropologist Edward Burnett culture as that complex whole which includes knowledge , belief , art , morals , law , custom , and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society ( 1873 , Thats a lot to include in one concept ! If all of that is culture , then what about human experience and activity is not culture ?

Consider this scenario . A student comes to class one day , and the instructor says , I ve decided that you re all a bunch of failures and I the entire class . Imagine then that the instructor simply stands there after that announcement , blinking calmly as the class erupts in protest . Now imagine that same scenario with one very slight difference . The instructor announces , I decided that you re all a bunch of failures and I the entire class . Then , as the class erupts in protest , the instructor calmly blinks one eye , leaving the other eye open .

FIGURE Would you take this woman seriously ?

In American culture , winking , related to the normal biological function of blinking , takes on special meaning in social interactions . credit Motion Picture Commons , Public Domain ) What just happened there ?

Blinking is a biological compulsion common to humans everywhere . Humans blink to keep eyes hydrated and clear of debris . Humans are born knowing how to blink nobody has to teach us . On average , humans blink 15 to 20 times every minute . Without realizing it , people are necessarily blinking throughout every conversation , every social interaction , every activity during the day . The people we talk to and interact with are also blinking constantly , so often that everyone is accustomed to ignoring it . Blinking does not affect the perceived meaning of speech or actions . But if someone deliberately blinks one eye , leaving the other one open , that a completely different matter . In fact , leaving one eye open makes a blink a wink . Winking is not a biological necessity . Humans are not born knowing to how to wink , and it takes some practice to learn how to do it . Because it requires deliberate effort and people are not constantly doing it , winking can acquire special meaning in social interactions . In American culture ( and many others ) a wink often indicates that someone is joking around and that whatever they ve just said or done should not be taken seriously . Of course , a wink can mean different things in different societies . Moreover , a wink can mean different things in the same society . If someone on a date takes their companions hand and gives a cute little wink , the person may have reason to hope the winker is notjust joking around . American cultural anthropologist Clifford ( 1973 ) used the example of winking to illustrate two important aspects of culture . First , culture is learned . Innate human is , behaviors that people are born biological , not cultural . Blinking is biological . Acquired human is , behaviors that people are cultural . Winking is cultural . This means that cultural behaviors are not genetically inherited from generation to generation but must be passed down from older members ofa society to younger members . This process , as you recall from What is Anthropology ?

is called . Some aspects of are deliberate and systematic , such as learning the rules of written punctuation in a language . At some point in an English speaker childhood , someone explicitly told them the difference between a question mark and an exclamation point . Most likely , they learned this distinction in school , a fundamental institution of in many societies . Religious institutions are another common force of

, providing explicit instruction in cultural rules of morality and social interaction . Extracurricular activities such as sports , dance , and music lessons also teach children cultural rules and norms . While a great deal important cultural content is deliberately conveyed in these systematic , the greater part of culture is acquired unconsciously by is , nobody planned to teach it , and no one made an effort to consciously try to learn it . By virtue of growing up in a culture , children learn what certain actions and objects mean , how their society operates , and what the rules are for appropriate behavior . Going back to the cultural notion of home , did anyone ever explain to you why your childhood home was structured in a certain way ?

Did anyone ever point out the cultural assumptions about gender and family built into your house ?

Probably not . Now , imagine that you were taken away from your parents as a baby and adopted by a family far away , with a very different way of life situated in a very different environment . With your adoptive family , you might have been raised in a very different kind of home . Growing up , your everyday habits , activities , and expectations would have been shaped by the setup of that home . Living in that house , you would have wordlessly absorbed a set of assumptions about family , gender , work , leisure , hospitality , and property . And all of it would seem quite natural to you . Many forms of culture are passed down through a combination of deliberate and unconscious processes . Perhaps when you were a child , someone told you what a wink was and showed you how to accomplish one or perhaps you just witnessed a few winks , out what they meant from their , and then learned how to accomplish one through trial and error pointed out that there are two important aspects to winking the meaning and the action . As both are learned , both are cultural . But perhaps more importantly , both the standardized action and the assumed meaning of this action are commonly known among members of a group . That is , culture is shared . Consider another aspect of human biology dreaming . People in all societies dream , and no one has to teach them how to do it . Dreaming is biologically innate and spontaneously performed . Biological researchers hypothesize that dreaming helps the human brain process daily stimuli and convert recent experiences into memories . As a biological necessity for brain health , dreaming is natural , not cultural . But why do people dream in stories ?

And why are those stories so often confusing , even troubling ?

In many cultures , people are perplexed by their dreams , never really knowing what the objects and situations they dream about are meant to if they have any meaning at all . In other cultures , however , dreams are recognized as arenas of spiritual communication with supernatural beings . In culture , young people are encouraged to fast for up to a week in order to bring on special visionary dreams ( 1992 Golden 2002 , In such dreams , a young person may be approached by a guardian spirit who imparts knowledge for successful hunting , warfare , or medicine . People are discouraged from discussing the meaning of these dreams , but young people are taught to expect and anticipate this kind of dream , and they know how to interpret the content of such dreams without discussion . The widely shared ability to dream such dreams and the shared knowledge to understand their content makes dreaming profoundly cultural among the . Summing up , when an element of human experience or behavior is learned and shared , we know it is an aspect of culture . That the concept of culture to some degree . However , the variety of things that are learned and shared by humans in groups is still quite enormous , as indicated by rambling list ( knowledge , belief , art , morals , law , custom , Instead of thinking of culture as one vast hodgepodge of things , it helpful to break that hodgepodge into three basic elements . These basic elements of culture are understood to come together in larger combinations , or .

The Elements of Culture LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this section , you will be able to the concept of material culture and provide examples of material culture . Provide a detailed example of cultural practices . Explain how cultural frames orient our experiences and actions . Describe how norms and values are threaded through culture . Explain how ideologies and shape our perception of the world around us . The complex whole of culture can be broken down into three categories what we make , what we do , and what we think . The boundaries separating these categories are somewhat because so much of cultural life involves all of these things at once . However , it useful to start with the basic building blocks of culture , then see how those blocks can be put together to produce more complex structures . Culture Is What We Make Museums are buildings where objects of historical , artistic , or cultural interest are displayed . The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian has one of the worlds largest collections of Native artifacts , including many and objects such as baskets , pottery , and preserved specimens representative of the lives of Native populations from all areas of the country . FIGURE This basket , woven by ( Mono Lake ) artist Lucy , is an excellent example of the art of basket weaving . whose work was done in the early part of the twentieth century , is widely admired for her use of color and innovative designs . credit Mono Lake Basket by Ernest Amoroso , National Museum of the American Commons , Public Domain ) People living in groups learn to craft the things they need in order to make a living in their environment . Early human ancestors learned how to make sharp blades useful for processing meat . They shared their knowledge of toolmaking in groups , passing those skills down to younger generations . Objects that are made and used by humans in group are called material culture . All of the tools developed by early ( blades , arrows , axes , etc . are examples of material culture . All of the artifacts discovered by archaeologists ( buildings , pottery , beads , etc . are examples of material culture . The specialized knowledge and skills used for making material culture are called technology . Today , the word often used to refer to electronic devices such as smartphones and computers . For anthropologists , both smartphones and obsidian blades are forms of material culture produced through specialized technologies . That is , technology refers to the knowledge and skills required to make blades , phones , and other objects of material culture . Material culture is notjust found in museums , of course . Material culture is all around . All of the furniture , appliances , books , dishes , and pictures on the walls in a typical American home are elements of material culture , and they reveal a great deal about the whole way of life of a society . Consider the toothbrush . It would be possible for people to clean their teeth with a found object such as a twig

or leaf , or even with a . Ancient peoples often used a special chew stick , a twig with a frayed end . The bristled toothbrush was invented in China and spread across Europe and into the United States , where it began to be mass produced in the late century . Drugstores now feature many styles of toothbrush with an array of special features . Specialized teams design , manufacture , and market this wide variety of toothbrushes to consumers . Parents buy toothbrushes for their children and teach them the conventional techniques for brushing their teeth ( little circles , two minutes , As adults , people often isolate themselves in a special room to brush their teeth in privacy . Even so , is a profoundly social act , relying on shared knowledge and observance of social norms for hygiene and health . Trees , rocks , microbes , and planets are all material objects , but they are not material culture unless they are made and used by humans in group . For instance , a tree growing in a natural forest is not an object of material culture . However , an apple tree can be material culture if it is planted by a farmer in an orchard designed to produce fruit for human consumption . A microbe can be material culture if it is manufactured to improve human digestion or genetically engineered to cancer . FIGURE This rock is on display in the British Museum . While a rock is not in and of itself material culture , this rock , which carries special meaning for those who View it , is . credit Commons , BY ) On display in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a gray rock . This rock was simply found by humans and never shaped for any particular use . Sitting there in the museum , it has no purpose other than to serve as an object of popular contemplation . Though it is a fairly unremarkable lump of basalt , thousands of people stop to gaze at this rock , reading the sign that describes how it was obtained , marveling at its presence there in the museum . Why ?

What so interesting about a rock ?

This particular rock was collected by astronauts on the Apollo 12 mission to the moon . The rock serves as evidence of this feat of engineering and a source of great pride to the culture that accomplished such a mission . We go to museums to view the items on display there , but clearly , the human activities surrounding those objects are what make them interesting to us . That is , culture is notjust material also what we do and what we think . Culture Is What We Do Ahmed is a carpet seller in the Istanbul Grand Bazaar . Every day , people from all over the world come into his stall to examine , and sometimes buy , the carpets in his inventory . Anthropologist Patricia ( 2019 ) met Ahmed while she was conducting research on market exchange in Istanbul . She carefully observed the set of sales strategies he had crafted to respond to customer desires and knowledge . When anyone pauses at the entrance , Ahmed greets the potential customer and ushers the person into his stall . Bringing out a silver platter , Ahmed offers the customer a cup of tea , a welcoming gesture . As the customer , Ahmed

initiates a carefully constructed conversation designed to determine what sort of person this customer is , what they are looking for , and what they really know ( and do not know ) about carpets . He pulls out various carpets from the stacks , unfurling them as he describes their distinctive qualities . Ahmed this interaction as a sort of game he must play with his customers . European tourists in this Turkish marketplace are often inspired by the desire for handmade traditional crafts made by local rural ethnic groups such as the Kurds . These days , however , most carpets sold in the Istanbul market are industrially produced in Pakistan , India , and China . However , in his many years of selling carpets , Ahmed has learned that he must play to Western orientalist fantasies , weaving a distinctive story around the origins and manufacture of a carpet , in order to win a sale . Like other merchants in this market , Ahmed has a family to support , and he can not afford to openly contradict the knowledge and desires of his customers . Centered on the material culture of carpets , Ahmed work illustrates the importance of what people do and what they think in the making of cultural life . What people do and what they think are nonmaterial elements of culture . In his everyday interactions with customers , Ahmed has developed a set of habitual practices involving gesture and speech . Anthropologists use the term cultural practices to refer to this form of culture . Routine speech communicates meanings and values ( such as the authenticity of a carpet ) while routine action organizes social events ( such as , hopefully , a sale ) People from all walks of life develop similar combinations of habitual action and speech that constitute the everyday culture of people in those circumstances . What do you do in the morning to get ready for the day ?

That is cultural practice . What do you do when someone comes over to your house ?

That is cultural practice . What you do when you hungry ?

That is cultural practice . Some cultural anthropologists focus on these everyday practices as keys to understanding culture , while others are more interested in special events such as ceremonies and festivals . For instance , Carnival in Brazil is an annual festival of music and dance held every year to mark the beginning of the Catholic season of Lent . Parades of costumed dancers throng tie streets of many cities , interacting with the audience and attracting crowds of followers . Cultural anthropologist Kenneth ( 2012 ) studied Carnival in Salvador , in the north of Brazil . While Brazilian Carnival is framed as a national celebration , found that Carnival in the poorer and largely Black city Salvador is distinctively animated by the politics of race . Local Carnival dance groups incorporate Black forms of movement such as capoeira , a combination of dance and martial art techniques created by Brazilian enslaved peoples . Forms of music and religion originating in Africa also contribute to the distinctiveness of Salvadoran Carnival . Carnival has become increasingly commercialized as a tourist attraction in or , bringing in Black and White tourists alike . Black Brazilian activists complain that forms of Black culture are being appropriated and exploited as forms of cultural leisure with little understanding of their deep cultural meanings as expressions of resistance and survival . Meanwhile , most Black Salvadorans enjoy little rom the burgeoning tourist economy . The of Turkish carpet merchants and Brazilian Carnival participants are both ways of doing culture , every day and on special occasions . As we see in both examples , the materials and actions of culture are infused with patterns of thought , some shared and some controversial . These ways of thinking constitute a thir element of culture . Culture Is What We Think Imagine that you are walking down the street and you see a building . You notice a mailbox next to a driveway . You ollow a little walkway lined with to a front door . Below your feet , you a mat that says , We come ! Peering through a window , you see a central room where two people are sitting on a couch , eating chips , and watching television . Off to the side , there a hallway . You can barely see the stockinged feet ofa sma person resting on a bed . A dog barks . What kind of place is this ?

Are you sure ?

How do you know ?

Now imagine you are walking down the street and see another building . There are neon lights in the front win ow and a large paved area to the side . As you enter the front door , a little bell jingles and young woman in a white blouse greets you from behind a long table . To one side of that table is a large black machine with buttons and numbers on it . The young woman carries a small leather folder in her hand and gives you an

expectant smile . You look around to a room full ofpeople seated at tables of various sizes . Young people in white tops and black pants are scurrying here and there , some carrying giant platters . You hear music in the background . You smell something delicious . What kind of place is this ?

How do you know ?

In both scenarios , elements of material culture are combined with patterns of action and speech . In order to make sense of these two scenarios , we must use shared ways of thinking about them . What we know about the way of life in our society leads us to identify the scenario as somebody home . What we know about the circumstances of eating in public leads us to identify the second scenario as a restaurant . These patterned , shared ways of making sense of situations are called cultural frames . Cultural frames tell people where they are , what role they they play in that context , and what forms and speech are expected and appropriate . There are cultural frames for places , times , events , and relationships . If a couple have been dating for over a year , they probably use a cultural frame for romantic relationships to structure their actions and expectations in that relationship . And if one of the romantic partners invites the other to spend a holiday with their family , the invited person will probably summon a cultural frame for that holiday to tell them what to expect and how to behave . Cultural frames are complex cognitive models that incorporate various roles and actions patterned in space and time . A cultural role is a position held by a person or persons in a particular context or situation . Sociocultural roles are associated with certain behaviors and actions . For example , mother is a sociocultural role in the cultural frame of Waiter is a sociocultural role in the cultural frame of restaurant . While these roles are found in many cultures , the actions and behaviors associated with them vary across cultural . In cultures that celebrate Mother Day , it is conventional to send one mother a card along with a gift . Anyone who has ever been shopping for a Mothers Day card has been bombarded with images and text that convey the stereotypical behaviors and preferences associated with motherhood . Many Mothers Day cards feature pastel arrangements with birds , and delicate calligraphy . The text the emotional and material work of motherhood , praising the constant care and of the good mother . In return , the card promises eternal gratitude .

, I via FIGURE This American Mother Day card from 1916 would still be considered appropriate today . The norm for a Mother Day card in the United States has not changed much in over a century . credit Northern Commons , Public Domain ) The behaviors and actions associated with a sociocultural role are collectively called a norm . Norms are not necessarily normal in the sense that they represent the most common features and behaviors exhibited by people in a certain role . Do all mothers prefer pastel motifs over , say , images of books or sports ?

Rather , norms tend to be idealized , a fantasy about how people in a role how they should behave . Why do we associate , pastels , cursive , and with motherhood ?

The answer lies in another thinking element of culture values . Cultural values are notions about what is good , true , correct , appropriate , or beautiful . A certain mainstream way of thinking about motherhood indicates that mothers should be delicate and feminine , concerned with beauty and decorum . Moreover , mothers should nurture and sustain growth . What better way of conveying these notions than through the imagery of pastel arrangements ?

Messages of gratitude describe the sort considered appropriate to mothers . A good mother is a mother who puts her children at the center of her life at all times , neglecting her own interests for the of her family . In any culture , norms indicate how people should behave , and values explain why they should behave that way . For example , the norm for women in the 19505 was to get married and work in the home rather than have ajob in the public workforce . Not that all women did this , or even most . Many mothers , particularly women of color , were obliged to work outside the home just to make a living for their families . Nonetheless , normative depictions of women as housewives dominated media and public discourse in America , establishing this idealistic norm . Why were mothers supposed to stay at home ?

A set of family values appointed fathers as the breadwinning heads of household , while mothers were relegated to serving men by keeping house and caring for children . Thus , the values that came to be associated with motherhood were subservience , gentleness , and very values we see celebrated on Mothers Day cards . Norms and values can combine in larger models that depict how various social realms operate , such as the family , the economy , the supernatural , and the political sphere . These models are known as ideologies . An ideology the entities , roles , behaviors , relationships , and processes in a particular realm as well as the rationale behind the whole system . Take democracy , for instance . The political ideology of democracy

envisions a society of equal individual citizens who each cast a vote on proposals for government action . The majority vote wins . The essential roles in this ideology are citizen voters and government . The essential actions are voting and government action . The rationale is that government should obey the wishes of the citizenry . Is this how democracy really works , though ?

What about the of powerful organizations such as the media and large corporations ?

Moreover , in most democracies , people do not vote directly on government policies but rather elect representatives , who craft laws and then vote on those laws themselves . Those representatives are accountable to citizens through the process , but they are also strongly by lobbyists representing business interests and the campaign donations of wealthy individuals and groups . Obviously , this ideology is a of the way any democratic system really works . Ideologies are always partial , the perspectives of some people in society while obscuring the perspectives of others . A worldview is a very broad ideology that shapes how the members of a culture generally view the world and their place in it . tend to span several realms , including religion , economics , and politics . A worldview provides an overarching model for the purpose and process of social life , depicting how the world works . Many West African cultures , for instance , are shaped by a worldview that the rationale of society in the accumulation and distribution of material goods in extended families , communities , and the nation as a whole . People rise to leadership through their ability to accumulate wealth , but they are strongly obligated to distribute that wealth through their extended families and communities by funding the education and business ventures of family members and helping those in need . Beyond the family , the actions and business leaders are shaped by this worldview as well . A political leader is expected to support the generation of wealth while also making sure that the are spread through the community . Moreover , leaders are expected to maintain relationships with departed ancestors who watch over their descendants . Through periodic rituals and offerings , leaders petition ancestors to bless their families and communities with prosperity and good fortune . The of Culture LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this section , you will be able to Explain how elements of culture combine in . Give three detailed examples of cultural symbols . Explain how symbols are embedded in rituals . Describe how social structures organize important cultural processes . An aggregate is a combination of elements . What we make , what we do , and what we think all combine in larger of culture . For instance , it pretty clear that toothbrushes , moon rocks , restaurants , and Day cards must be understood as of material objects , practices , and ideas . In order to fully understand the toothbrush as a cultural object , we must examine not only its design and production but also how people use toothbrushes and use them . A set of routine practices surround our cultural objects ( brushing ) and those practices are supported by cultural ideas ( hygiene ) Symbols A symbol is an object , image , gesture , vocalization , or event conventionally associated with a particular meaning . anthropologist Jennifer Hasty was conducting in during an election year , she noticed that the posters and pamphlets of one politician featured a broom . Confused , she asked a friend why a male politician would choose a humble domestic tool associated with women work as his political motif . Making a sweeping motion with her hands , she explained , Because he is promising to sweep away all the corruption . Turns out , he was the not the to use this symbol . Over time , the broom has come to acquire political meaning as a symbolic tool in .

The of Culture FIGURE Featured in political posters and pamphlets , brooms like these have taken on special meaning in politics , where they are understood as a symbol of a politician intent to sweep away corruption . credit Handmade Brooms at Granville Island Broom by Ruth , BY ) Colors , shapes , gestures , animals , of these commonly acquire cultural meaning . For a Hindu wedding , a bride typically wears a bright red sari , as red is an auspicious color associated with change , passion , and prosperity . White , on the other hand , is typically worn to Indian funerals . Symbols are useful cultural because they provide a kind of shorthand for expressing complex ideas . Consider the American bumper sticker shown in Figure I FIGURE This popular American bumper sticker incorporates a variety of religious and social symbols . credit Coexistence by Rusty , BY 20 ) Combining symbols from Islam , Judaism , Christianity , paganism , women , men , and the peace movement , this sticker aims to promote multicultural diversity . Rather than listing the various religions , identities , and ideologies and describing the among them , the message simply incorporates their symbols into a word urging mutual tolerance . Although symbols have conventional meanings , they can mean different things in different or to different people . Although the intended meaning of the above bumper sticker is diversity , some people 79

interpret it as an emblem of radical atheism . In the wake of the 2016 presidential election , some Americans started wearing safety pins to show their solidarity with people , people of color , and others who had become targets of harassment . For some , however , the safety pin symbolized pretentiousness and hypocrisy . Combining objects , actions , and meanings , ritual is a special kind of repeated , patterned action conventionally associated with a particular meaning . Rituals incorporate symbols and roles along with activities such as gestures , music , and movement . Many rituals are performed by specialists in group settings to accomplish group or individual goals . Rituals bring together symbols , practices , and . Consider this popular American ritual . On the Sunday in February , many Americans gather in each others homes to watch the annual championship game of the National Football League ( on television . So widespread is this practice that stores are nearly empty and many Christian churches cancel afternoon and evening activities . As a whole , the ritual consists of many roles and relationships as well as patterned actions and conventional meanings . At the heart of the action are the two teams competing against one another in a chaotic game featuring an oddly shaped ball carried forward in campaigns of assault across a carefully marked . The players are surrounded by referees , coaches , camera people , and cheerleaders , each group having a strategic role in the action . Surrounding the are commentators who interpret and , giving meaning to the actions of the game . At home , some people watch the game closely , exclaiming or disappointment and commenting on the comments of the commentators . Other people socialize with one another , watching the game intermittently . Vast amounts of food and drink are consumed by Americans on Super Bowl Sunday . Typical foods include potato chips , dips , barbecued chicken wings , and pizza . Beer is the beverage of choice for this occasion . An event celebrating competition , spectatorship , and consumption , Super Bowl Sunday is an effective ritual for reinforcing dominant values in a society structured by corporate capitalism . Notions of gender , race , and class are threaded through the various levels of play and consumption as well . In the Akan communities of central and southern , in West Africa , leaders perform a ritual called that uses important cultural symbols and reinforces cultural commitments to authority , ancestors , and shared prosperity . In the Akan society , people are given special wooden stools to mark certain stages in life , such as puberty and marriage . A person stool is said to contain the personal power of the owner , symbolizing the life essence of that person . FIGURE This stool is more than just a place to sit down . In the Akan society which created it , it is understood to represent the personal power and life essence of the person it was given to . credit Stool ( by Museum Expedition 1922 , Robert Woodward Memorial Commons , BY ) When an eminent person dies , that person stool is enshrined in a special shed called a stool house , or

. Twice every 42 days ( once on a Wednesday and once on a Sunday ) a community leader makes a procession to the stool house of the ancestral leaders of the community . Entering the stool house , the leader must remove their sandals and lower the cloth worn draped around their shoulders , symbolizing their humility and respect for the ancestors . Then the leader greets the ancestral leaders one by one , making offerings of drink and food and asking for blessings and prosperity for the community . Special rituals called rites of passage are used to mark the movement of a person from one social status to another . Naming ceremonies , puberty rites , weddings , and funerals are all common rites of passage . Anthropologist Arnold van ( 1960 ) three stages in rites of passage separation , transition , and incorporation . In the phase , separation , individuals , or groups are taken out of their everyday social context , leaving their original social status . In the second phase , transition , people exist in an state outside of conventional norms of dress and action . In this phase , people are often dressed in special costume , made to engage in unusual behaviors , and taught special forms of secret knowledge . In the third phase , people are brought back into society in a formal ceremony and introduced as subjects in a new social category . Initiation rituals are a common rite of passage in many societies . In many African societies that practice initiation , young people are gathered together in a group and taken to a special camp outside the town or village . This constitutes the separation phase . In the next phase , transition , members of the group are often dressed alike and made to follow a common set of rules and schedule of activities . They may be required to perform unusual feats , such as eating strange foods . Their bodies may be or tattooed . Elders give them special knowledge essential to performing their future roles as women or men . For instance , girls may learn explicit lessons about conception and childbirth . Finally , when the transition is complete , initiates are returned to the town or village and presented as women or men . Often , the completion of initiation marks a young woman as formally eligible for courtship and marriage . Social Structure The way a society is formally organized is called social structure . Typically , a society organizes a set of routine activities and objects in space and time to accomplish a particular function , such as community making , the production and circulation of goods , or religious observance . Social structure is the framework for those realms , designating when , where , how , and by whom these functions are accomplished . Social structures combine material culture ( such as buildings ) with practices ( such as meetings ) and ideas ( such as the rules and procedures of those meetings ) Consider the social structure of community , or the political realm . In some societies , community decisions are routinely made under the authority of a person inhabiting an inherited political , called a chief or king ( such as the , discussed in the last section ) Chiefs often have a council of community elders , the heads of local extended families . A chief is expected to consult with this council in all community matters . Other groups in society may represent the interests of youth , women , farmers , or traders . Each group will have its own leader who communicates directly with the local chief . Regular procedures govern how issues are raised and discussed and how decisions are taken . Together , the groups , roles , relationships , and procedures all constitute the social structure of the political system . Rather than seeing social structure as fixed and immobile , some anthropologists emphasize that people continually make and alter their social structures through everyday forms of interpretation , participation , and resistance . These processes mean that social structures are always subject to a variety of forces in a constant state of change .

Modes of Cultural Analysis LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this section , you will be able to Explain how evolutionary theories have been applied to the study of human culture . Identify two critiques of evolutionary approaches . Describe how anthropologists have studied the functionality of culture . Distinguish functionalism from structural functionalism . Explain how ontological anthropology defines the study of reality . Anthropologists have a number of ways of studying the elements and of culture . Some approaches emphasize the development ofa particular aspect of culture over time , while other approaches examine how the different parts of culture together . Evolution , Adaptation , and Historical Particularism Some anthropologists are interested in the origins of human cultural forms and how these forms have changed over long periods of time . Just as Charles Darwin applied the notion of evolution to explain how biological species change over time , many anthropologists used evolution to explain how cultures changed over time . This approach is called cultural evolutionism . Like Darwin , these anthropologists believed that simple forms evolved into more complex forms . Comparing different cultures of the world , they assigned the ones they considered more rudimentary to earlier evolutionary stages , while the ones they considered more complex were assigned to the more advanced stages . For example , British anthropologist Edward argued that human culture evolved from savagery through barbarism to civilization . He savagery with people who used gathering and hunting to meet their basic needs . The domestication of animals and plants was associated with barbarism . Civilization resulted from more advanced forms of farming , trade , and manufacturing as well as the development of the alphabet . Not surprisingly , British scholars their own culture as highly civilized . Elaborating on scheme , American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan subdivided each of these three stages into an even more elaborate model and proposed a mechanism for moving from stage to stage . Morgan focused on technology as the primary driver of cultural evolution . New and better ways of making things , according to Morgan , resulted in new patterns of social practice and thought . Advanced technology was associated with advanced civilization . But is technology the only measure of cultural accomplishment , or even the best one ?

Members of societies in which people gather and hunt for a living have vast stores of knowledge about their environments . Typically , they can name hundreds of plant species and tell when and where to each of them . Many hunters can examine animal tracks to discern the species , sex , age , and condition of the animal as well as how long ago the tracks were laid . People in these societies also actively sustain and nurture diversity in their environments , careful to avoid depleting important resources . Is it really accurate to think of such cultures as simple ?

All cultures are complex , though in different ways . Technology is highly valued in American culture , while environmental knowledge and sustainability have historically been less valued . Is it any wonder that early American anthropologists ranked other cultures according to one of their own most cherished values ?

Perhaps people in more environmentally sustainable cultures might consider the United States to be an example of environmental savagery . Both and Morgan , like most anthropologists of their day , thought that all cultures passed through this single set of stages in the march toward civilization . This kind of theory is called evolution . Disagreeing with this way of thinking , anthropologists such as Franz Boas argued that there is no single line of cultural evolution but that each culture changes according to its own unique historical trajectory . Moreover , cultures evolve not in isolation but in constant interaction with one another . Rather than focusing on technological changes within a culture , Boas highlighted the diffusion of material objects , practices , and ideas among cultures in complex relations of trade , migration , and conquest . Though theories of cultural evolution have been largely abandoned , some anthropologists are still

interested in discovering regular patterns that might govern how human cultures change over long periods of time . In the , American anthropologist Julian Steward developed an approach called cultural ecology , recognizing the importance of environmental factors by focusing on how humans adapt to various environments . Steward approach showed how humans in each environmental zone develop a set of core cultural features that enable them to make a living . Central to each cultural core are ways of getting or making all the resources necessary for human particular , food , clothing , and shelter . Similarly , anthropologist Marvin Harris developed a theory called cultural materialism , arguing that technology and economic factors are fundamental to culture , molding other features such as family life , religion , and politics . Though recognizing the importance of cultural change , many anthropologists reject the notion that all cultures change according to a general universal model , such as cultural materialism . Drawing from the notion that each culture follows its own historical path many cultural anthropologists analyze change in terms of historical particularism . In this approach , contemporary processes are understood as products of the unique combination of internal and external forces unfolding over time in a particular culture . Functionalism Rejecting the comparative models that assigned each culture to an evolutionary stage , a number of cultural anthropologists developed a radically different approach that attempts to understand each contemporary culture in its own terms . Functionalism seeks to understand the purpose of the elements and of culture in the here and now . an early proponent of this approach , argued that the function of culture is to meet human needs . All humans need to satisfy the need for food , clothing , and shelter . The fundamental purpose of culture is to provide a means of satisfying those needs . In the course of meeting those basic needs , humans in all cultures develop a set of derived is , needs derived from the basic ones . Derived needs include the need to organize work and distribute resources . Family structures and gender roles are examples of cultural elements addressing these derived needs . Finally , cultures also address a set of integrative needs , providing people with guiding values and purpose in life . Religion , law , and ideologies these integrative needs . sought to understand both the biological and psychological functions of culture . At first glance , this approach may not seem all that different from evolutionary approaches that identify the core set of cultural features devoted to human survival . What was so different in approach was his attempt to show that even primitive societies had functionally complex cultural systems for meeting the full array of human needs . ethnography of the economics , religion , and kinship of the people of New Guinea demonstrated this fact in striking and elaborate detail . A second version of functionalism , advocated by British anthropologist Alfred , the functions of various elements of culture in a slightly different way . Rather than looking for the way culture biological or psychological needs , structural functionalism focused more on how the various structures in society reinforce one another . Culture is not a random assortment of structural features but a set of structures that fit together into a coherent whole . Common norms and values are threaded through the family structure , the economy , the political system , and the religion of a culture . Structural culture as a kind of machine with many small parts all working in tandem to keep the machine operating properly . While recognizing the value of this approach , contemporary anthropologists have complicated the mechanistic model of culture by pointing out that the various elements of culture come into just as often as they reinforce one another . Although few anthropologists would now identify themselves as structural , the holistic approach to culture as an integrated system is derived from this important theoretical foundation . In the previous paragraph , you learned about structural functionalism , an approach that marries functionalism with social structure . In a different sense , the term structure can refer to patterns of thought embedded in the culture ofa is , conceptual structure . French anthropologist Claude pioneered this approach , sometimes called French structuralism . considered culture to be a system of symbols that could be analyzed in the various realms of culture , including myths , religion , and

kinship . In these realms of culture , objects and people are organized into symbolic systems of , often structured around binary oppositions . Binary oppositions are pairs of terms that are opposite in meaning , such as , and . For example , kinship systems are varied and complex , but they are fundamentally structured by oppositions such as male versus female , older versus younger , and relation by blood versus relation by marriage . examined myths as well , showing how the characters and plots emphasize binary oppositions . Consider the many European featuring an evil stepmother ( Cinderella , Sleeping Beauty ) a character that combines the opposition of good versus evil with the opposition of blood relation versus relation by marriage . argued that myths operate as public arenas for conceptually pondering and processing the fundamental categories and relations of a culture . Ontology In recent decades , some cultural anthropologists have come to focus on the nature of reality , including but not limited to human perspectives and experiences . Ontology is the study of the true nature of existence . In some cultures , for instance , the social world consists not only of embodied persons but also of spirit beings , such as ancestors and witches , who interact with people in mysterious ways . And in some cultures , people are notjust bodies but that include souls , spirits , characters , or fates . Ontological anthropology explores how culture constructs our social and natural realities , what we consider real , and how we act on those assumptions . Reaching beyond human realities , ontological anthropology also attempts to include nonhuman perspectives , relationships , and forms of communication . For instance , in his provocative ethnography How Forests Think ( 2013 ) anthropologist Eduardo describes how the web of life in the Amazon rainforest consists of continual communication among plants , animals , and humans . He examines how Amazonian peoples engage with dogs , spirits , the dead , pumas , rivers , and even sounds . Humans and these nonhuman beings are both antagonistic and interdependent in this interactive web . Predators and prey read one another behavior , interpreting intentions and motivations . effort is to get beyond conventional modes of human thought and language to understand how humans are embedded in nonhuman ecological realities . SE PROFILES IN ANTHROPOLOGY Dame Mary Douglas Dame Mai Dou , wiki Marv Douglas ) Personal History Mary Douglas was born in San , Italy her British parents had stopped off on their way home from Burma , where her father had been working as a colonial civil servant . As children , Mary and her younger sister lived with their mother parents in England until they were old enough to be sent to Catholic boarding fairly common practice for the children of colonial officers . After the death of her mother and her dearly loved maternal grandfather , young Mary found security in the order and routine of the convent school ( Lyons 2011 ) This respect for rules and order combined with a reverence for the Catholic Church to shape her lifelong commitment to studying the sacred aspects of the social order . Area At Oxford , Douglas studied with the prominent structural functionalist Evans Pritchard . From him , she learned that African belief systems such as witchcraft were structured by an underlying logic . In this approach , the goal of is to examine oral forms of culture as well as ritual and social practice in order to discern the underlying logic that governs culture as a whole . went to the region of what was then the Belgian Congo , where she studied how the people used animals in practical and symbolic ways . She was particularly interested in a strange animal called the pangolin . Though a mammal , the pangolin has scales and no teeth .

Modes of Cultural Analysis FIGURE This pangolin is as a mammal but has scales like a reptile or . Pangolin were considered sacred to the people , who did not classify them as a food animal . credit Official photographer of the Embassy in Commons , Public Domain ) Douglas described how the observed a fundamental distinction between edible and inedible animals . Animals who lived among humans , such as rats and domesticated chickens , were considered part of society and therefore inedible ( most of the time ) Only wild animals were considered food . are wild animals , but the did not eat them ( usually ) Why ?

Douglas argued that the weirdness of the pangolin made people single it out for special consideration . have scales like , but they live on land and climb trees . They look vaguely reptilian , but they do not lay eggs , instead giving birth to live young . Rather than teeth , they have long snouts that they use to vacuum up small insects . Thus , the pangolin the conventional categories the used for dividing up the animal world . This breach of categories made the pangolin both repellent and sacred to the . Members of a special fertility cult engaged in rituals in which they ate to ingest the power of this anomalous animal . As this examination of cultural categories and anomalies suggests , Douglas was also by Claude and the approach of French structuralism . Like , Douglas viewed culture as a coherent system of categories that were expressed in oral culture and social practice . Accomplishments in the Field Following her work on the people , Douglas went on to conduct a broadly comparative study of objects , practices , and people that were considered ritually dangerous , subject to rules of prohibition called taboos . She showed how the subjects of taboos are often matter out of place ( Douglas 1966 , 44 ) things that defy conventional categories for dividing up the social and natural world . In her most famous work , Purity and Danger ( 1966 ) Douglas examines a wide range of taboos , such as rules against eating certain foods or engaging in sex at certain times or with certain persons . She examines the set of social and dietary rules established by ancient Hebrews , detailed in the book of in the Old Testament . According to these rules , the Jewish people were forbidden from eating pigs , and certain wild animals . They were not allowed to wear garments made of cloth that combined different as , for example , a cotton blend . Men were prohibited from having sex with menstruating women . In fact , women were considered so unclean during menstruation that anyone or anything that touched a menstruating woman became contaminated for the rest of that day . What do all of these prohibitions have in common ?

Douglas shows how each forbidden object or condition produced discomfort because it transgressed conventional categories . for instance , are sea animals , but they do have or scales , and many of them do not swim . Menstruation is blood loss , but it does not indicate injury . Moreover , menstruation is hidden and connected to the dangerous states of pregnancy and childbirth . In Hebrew law , menstruation itself was considered a dangerous and contaminating exception to the purity of persons and objects . 85

86 Culture Concept Theory Theories of Cultural Change In her later work , Douglas applied this style of analysis to a variety of other social phenomena , including humor and trickster . She argued that humor functions as a release for thoughts and actions that might threaten the social order . Whereas taboos regulate and prohibit interaction with dangerous objects , animals , and people , humor seeks to sap them of their dangerous power by making light of them . Importance of Her Work After more than 25 years of teaching at the University of London , Douglas moved to the United States , where she held positions at the Russell Sage Foundation and Northwestern University . She continued to publish widely on such topics as consumerism , environmental risk , and in bureaucracies . When she retired , she moved back to England . In 2006 , she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire . She died in 2007 at the age of 86 . The Paradoxes of Culture LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this section , you will be able to Identify four paradoxes in the concept of culture . four mechanisms of cultural change . Provide a detailed example of the mobility of culture . Describe culture as an arena of argument and contest . Explain how members of a culture can have different versions of their shared culture . As European immigrants settled in the western frontier of the United States , they faced the challenge of reinventing the elements of culture familiar to them in very different environmental and social conditions . Used to living in houses made planks or logs , they found themselves on vast plains with very few trees . A common adaptation to this environmental limitation was to dig into a slope to create a dugout home with turf walls and roof . FIGURE This Nebraska home , photographed with cow on its roof in 1870 , was constructed in the side of the hill directly behind it . While such dugout homes were practical and functional , those who lived in them typically strove to replace them with houses , as symbols of wealth and achievement . credit Solomon of Congress , Public Domain ) While these homes were perfectly functional , many settlers considered them dirty and backward . When their farming ventures became prosperous , they often undertook the great expense of importing wood from forested areas to build the kind of house familiar to them from life back east , either on the East Coast of the United States or in the European countries they originally came from . While conducting in in the , cultural anthropologist Jim Ferguson observed that Access for free at

people who became prosperous often replaced their round homes made of mud and stone and thatched roofs with rectangular ones featuring cement and galvanized steel roofs . While the round buildings were functionally adapted to local conditions , made of local materials , cool on hot days , and warm in cool nights , the rectangular ones heated up like ovens under the hot sun and were noisy in the rain . The materials were imported and expensive . Talking to one man who was planning to replace his round house with a rectangular one made of cement and steel , Ferguson suggested that local building methods and materials might be superior to foreign ones . Looking me carefully in the eye , he asked , What kind of house does your father have , there in America ?

Is it round ?

No , I confessed it was rectangular . Does it have a grass roof ?

No , it did not . Does it have cattle dung for a ?

No . And then How many rooms does your father house have ?

I mumbled , About ten , I think . After pausing to let this sink in , he said only That is the direction we would like to move ( Ferguson 2006 , 18 ) In both cases , for settlers and villagers , the idea of home is not a settled matter but subject to the forces of environmental adaptation , functionality , social status , and ideological debate . Both examples illustrate a set of tensions at the heart of the concept of culture . Originally , anthropologists studied culture as a fairly stable and consensual set of features commonly embraced by the people of a certain geographical area . In the course of the century , however , anthropologists began to realize that this notion of culture was misleading and incomplete . In the early century , American anthropologist Franz Boas argued that the elements of culture are highly mobile , diffusing through the cultural contacts of trade and migration . Since the , cultural anthropologists have come to emphasize the controversial aspects of culture how people disagree and argue over the dominant values and practices of their societies . Much of this controversy stems from the unevenness of culture within a people in different social categories and participate differently in their common culture , with different versions or perspectives on the same cultural norms and practices . Despite these forces of change and controversy , there is something durable and shared about culture , some set of common elements that distinguishes the whole way of life of each society . Even as cultures change through innovation and contact , they often hold on to some of their distinctive features . In the , some scholars thought that increases in global trade , migration , and technology were transforming all the diverse societies of the world into one uniform global monoculture . In the , we see that the opposite has happened . In many parts of the world , we have seen a resurgence of cultural identities and explicit efforts to maintain , rehabilitate , and reinvent forms of cultural heritage . So riddled with contradictions is the concept of culture that some anthropologists have suggested ditching the whole notion altogether and some other concept to bind together the four in their pursuit of knowledge about humanity . Perhaps such an integrated understanding of humanity is even possible . Or maybe the contradictions of culture are the most illuminating aspects of the culture concept . Maybe those contradictions are anthropology most important contribution to our understanding of humanity . This textbook takes the latter approach . Culture is the whole way of life ofa people subject to a set of contradictory forces . These forces constitute four central paradoxes of culture . Paradox Culture Continuous , but It Changes Cultural materials , practices , and ideas are handed down from older to younger members of a culture , giving some degree of continuity to culture over time . However , many factors can intervene in this process of cultural reproduction to subtly alter or dramatically change the elements and of culture . In some , younger people either fail to precisely learn the culture of their elders or deliberately reject those cultural lessons . Through travel and trade , people learn about other ways of doing things , and they take these ideas back to their own cultures , trying them out to see how they might improve their own ways of life . Accidents and deliberate experimentation introduce new possibilities . People may simply get tired of doing things one way over and over and thrill at some refreshing style or craze . We can identify four main mechanisms of cultural change . These four mechanisms overlap and interact as the history of a culture unfolds over time . Diffusion is the movement of an element of culture from one society to

88 Culture Concept Theory Theories of Cultural Change another , often through migration or trade . Friction occurs when two or more elements of culture come into , resulting in alteration or replacement of those elements . Innovation is the slight alteration of an existing element of culture , such as a new style of dress or dance . Invention is the independent creation of a new element of culture , such as a new technology , religion , or political form . In the examples at the beginning of this section , building techniques and ideals move along with human migration to new settings , where they must be altered to the materials and challenges of the new environment . In colonial and , dominant groups may introduce the techniques and ideals of their own homelands as superior even if they do work very well in the environments of colonial conquest . Some cultural inventions are so successful that they transform the whole way of life of a people . Consider the information technologies that have reshaped American life since the , such as computers , the Internet , and cell phones . These tools have changed the ways Americans communicate , work , learn , shop , navigate , and entertain themselves . Diffusing through trade , these inventions have transformed cultures all over the world in diverse ways . In many societies , modes of interacting through communication technologies come into with norms for interacting , creating friction between the two realms . Where the movements , behavior , and social relationships of young women are tightly controlled , for instance , mobile phones allow women to secretly make new friends , explore new topics of conversation , and engage in behavior their elders might not sanction . Sometimes the forces of innovation and invention catch on , and sometimes they do . In the , Ralph Hasty , a disc jockey from southwest Missouri , moved to Northern California , where he lived and worked for many years . There , he learned about a new technology for building houses in the form of geodesic domes , structures comprising intersecting assembled from prefabricated kits . In late , he returned to live in southwest Missouri , bringing with him this enthusiasm for geodesic construction . He ordered a kit and built a geodesic dome house on a piece of rural land , intending to sell the house and use the to build more of these geodesic wonders . Well , things did not exactly go to plan . The locals apparently found the house far too weird to suit their notion of home . From the outside , the dome looked like some sort of futuristic greenhouse or zoo habitat . On the inside , conventional furniture did not in the oddly shaped rooms of the dome . Once , the geodesic home sat on the market for a number of months , and eventually , he had to sell it at a loss . It must be mentioned that Ralph Hasty , geodesic innovator , continued to live in a conventional rectangular house for the rest of his life . FIGURE Ralph Hasty stands in front of the geodesic dome he built . Although providing all of the needs of a secure and warm dwelling space , it was hard to find a buyer for this unconventional home . credit Jennifer Hasty , Public Domain ) Access for free ot

Culture Is Bounded but Mobile Because many elements of culture are shaped by environmental forces , trading opportunities , and local histories of settlement , culture becomes associated with territory . But because of the mobility ofpeople , objects , and ideas , culture rarely stays within the boundaries of any society rather , it wanders restlessly along lines of travel , communication , conquest , and trade . People move around a lot , and this is nothing new . On the popular British television series Time Team , archaeological excavations all over the United Kingdom uncover artifacts from ancient times that were produced in places such as Rome , and the Middle East . In episode of season 16 ( 2015 ) the team excavated a town in Wales that was constructed by Romans during the time of Roman conquest . There , archaeologists unearthed the foundations of Roman buildings along with a variety of Roman objects , including a Roman coin , a Roman tool for removing earwax , a bracelet , and a knife handle decorated with gladiators . Other Time Team investigations have uncovered artifacts from travelers and pilgrims to sacred religious sites . These objects have diffused to British cultures through conquest , trade , and migration . As people move around , so do objects , technologies , practices , and ideas . FIGURE This fabric shop displays a number of colorful wax print patterns . Although wax print fabrics are now associated with Africa , the wax print technique actually originated in Indonesia . credit National Colors by Miranda for , BY ) However , certain integrated sets of things , practices , and ideas do cluster in certain places . Take a look at the cloth in Figure . This kind of cloth is quintessentially African . It called wax print , and indeed , clothing made cloth is very popular in many parts of Africa . cloth is industrially produced cotton cloth with intricate designs and bold colors . In most African countries , a vast selection of designs and brands of wax prints can be found in any market . Rather than buying clothes in clothing shops , people more often purchase cloth in the market and take it to a seamstress or tailor to be made into the garment of their own choosing . Many designs are symbolic , serving as a means of nonverbal communication for the people who wear them . Some cloths are associated with proverbs , occasions , monuments , and famous people . In the West African country of , many cloth designs are named using the vivid proverbs of the large Akan cultural group . One popular design features a bird in , associated with the Akan proverb Sika , meaning money takes . Another elaborate motif is called ?

or the back of the tortoise , worn by wise people who move through life with slow intention . One design with long , corrugated stripes is called sugarcane , which is said to mean I love you like FIGURE The various designs on these fabrics are understood to each have a special meaning . In the upper left , is an example of the Sika wo design , meaning money takes flight . credit , BY ) Though associated with African dress , wax print actually originated in Indonesia , derived from local techniques for making batik cloth . Batik is made using wax to draw designs on plain cotton cloth that is then immersed in a dye bath . When the wax is melted off , the design remains against the background of color . When the Dutch colonized Indonesia in the , Dutch merchants were impressed with the beauty of local batik and sought to use their own methods of block printing to imitate the vibrant colors and elaborate designs of Indonesian cloth . In the , Dutch and British merchants introduced their own wax prints to people in their African colonies , particularly along the west coast of Africa . Dutch wax cloth was enthusiastically embraced by Africans , who began to infuse certain patterns with social meanings . With independence in the century , many African countries developed their own textile industries using designs developed by local artists . the cultural paradox of locality and mobility , cloth is culturally embedded in African culture while carrying a complex history of global trade , appropriation , and colonial domination . In the context of global power relations , the mobility of culture poses questions about who has the right to claim or use elements of culture diffused from elsewhere . As part of the process of cultural immersion and participant observation , many cultural anthropologists adopt the dress , diet , gestures , and language of the peoples they study while they are conducting . Often , anthropologists bring their love of these cultural elements back to their home societies and continue to use and practice them to show their appreciation for the cultures they have studied . However , some people may it unsettling to see a white anthropologist wearing an African a silk sari from India , or an ornately woven cape from Peru . In your travels , have you ever purchased an item of clothing worn by local peoples ?

Is it appropriate to wear such items in your home society ?

If someone is using cultural items as a way of honoring that culture , many people would think it perfectly . Ifsomeone is wearing items from another culture as a form of humorous costume , such as a sports mascot or Halloween costume , most people would that offensive . An even more serious problem emerges when a person uses or claims cultural elements from another society in order to make a . What if , for instance , someone from the American fashion industry copied a wax print motif such as Sika wo , using the design for American clothing , housewares , or art ?

The elements of culture , both material and nonmaterial , constitute the intellectual property of the people of that culture . Claiming or using the elements of another culture inappropriately is called cultural appropriation . Paradox Culture Is Consensual but Contested In any society , people interact using a set of assumptions about the sorts and speech considered

appropriate to certain people in certain situations . That is to say , culture is consensual through their words and actions , people agree to a certain way of doing things . As discussed earlier in this chapter , culture includes roles , behavioral norms , and shared ideas for framing situations . For example , imagine that someone in the United States has just graduated from college and is looking for a job . What should that person do ?

In the United States , it is common to spend time crafting an impressive resume , using a form of technical language that accentuates the quality ofa person skills and experiences while demonstrating their educational background . Instead of listing worked as a camp counselor , someone might indicate that they developed systems of cooperative leadership among youth in an environmental awareness A recent graduate would likely post this linguistic masterpiece to a job search website such as . For many people in China , such a strategy would seem very rudimentary and even grossly inadequate . Seeking opportunities for education , employment , and business , people in China frequently rely on a cultural system known as . Informed by , refers to gifts and favors exchanged among people in wide social networks based on mutual benefit . is based on family ties but also includes relationships formed in schools , in workplaces , and even among strangers who meet at parties or through mutual friends ( Yin 2017 ) While still in school , a student may be on the lookout for people who might be able provide access to employment opportunities in the future . Using the practices of , the student would seek to establish personalized links with such people in the hope that these links might prove advantageous in the future . Say , for instance , a student hopes to get ajob in solar technology after graduation . That student might seek out professors whose teaching and research suggest connections in that industry . To establish relations of , the student would not only take courses from that professor but also attempt to establish some sort rapport . This is typically done through strategic gift giving . In a particularly brutal winter , a student might knit a sweater for the professor . An artistically inclined student might sketch a portrait of the professor and frame it as a gift . Importantly , the gift must go slightly beyond the bounds of their professional relationship as professor and student . Over time , the student might ways to meet with the professor , further cementing the social bond . After carefully cultivating this personalized relationship over months or years , the student might then ask the professor to use industry connections to help them a job . What this means is that personal connections can be just as important as , if not more important than , the language or of a persons . While Americans emphasize the importance techniques , personal connections also play a role in securing employment in the American context , particularly in highly paid , competitive industries such as software development and finance . In many societies , people prefer to work with people they trust . Rather than hiring a random stranger , many prefer to hire someone recommended by a trusted friend or business partner . In relationships , relations of trust are established through the exchange of gifts and favors over time . But what if the people who are hired in competitive industries are the ones who deployed their strategic social connections and not necessarily the ones who are most skilled , talented , or otherwise best suited to the work ?

What if the companies who are hired to complete infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges are not necessarily the most competent or experienced ones but those who have given strategic gifts to government ?

What use their networks to obtain special privileges , such as government licenses or social services ?

Legal scholar Ling Li ( 2011 ) argues that some people use the cultural system of to facilitate and rationalize bribery and other acts of corruption . In 2012 , the Chinese government launched an ambitious campaign against corruption among government . More than people have been investigated and charged with corruption , including many ranking government , military , and senior executives of companies . Investigations have revealed how powerful people use their extensive networks to secure deals , exert , and extract goods and services . The campaign against corruption in China raises questions about the morality and legality of practices . Although is a widely accepted system for gaining access to goods , services , and opportunities , people who do have elite connections may feel that this informal cultural system is unfair . For personal or ethical reasons , some people may challenge or resist the practices of . Chinese journalist Zhang ( 2013 )

describes how she was denied a promotion in her because she refused to give the expected gifts to her boss . Zhang reports that most Chinese people complain about the widespread practices of corruption but are forced to use their networks to get ahead in life . illustrates how culture can be generally taken for granted but also highly controversial . Many other cultural norms are also widely accepted but challenged and resisted by certain groups who are disadvantaged or limited by those norms . Gender roles are a good example , as are norms of sexuality and marriage . Paradox Culture Is Shared , but It Varies The examples of and the geodesic dome both illustrate another paradox how culture is widely yet unevenly shared among members ofa group . Different members of and groups in a society have different on their shared different versions of that culture . Among elites , the use of Chinese ( or American networking ) might seem to be a more personal and trustworthy process for making things happen . But for people who lack access to elite networks , these cultural norms may seem to be an exclusive and unfair tool of class oppression . Returning to the notion of home , consider the many , many versions of home in your society . People in different and regions live in structures of different shapes and sizes that are made of different materials . And yet , the members of a culture do share a common set of assumptions about home . Home is where we live , where we sleep , and most often where our family lives as well . Even with such diversity , people in a society a common image or ideal of home . On the West Coast of the United States , geodesic innovators sought to expand the notion of home with a new shape and a new way of building . But in southwest Missouri , that variation of home did not take root . Alas . The four paradoxes all illustrate how culture operates as a force of stability in a society while also generating of constant alteration , adaptation , and change . As culture is mobile , controversial , and variable , some elements are always in the process of transformation even as other elements are maintained and reinforced . Over time , people reinterpret their cultural norms and practices and sometimes even reject them altogether in of some other way of thinking or doing things . This paradoxical view of culture points to the dynamic tensions of people living in groups . Societies are of individuals , families , regional groups , ethnic groups , socioeconomic classes , political groups , and so on . Culture provides a way for people to live and work together while also allowing for the expression and performance of distinctive differences . Rather than breaking down , culture responds to pressures for change with adaptation to new conditions . The paradoxes that make culture seem impossible also make culture and durable . In an era that combines increasing polarization with an urgent need for cooperative change , perhaps we need culture now more than ever . ACTIVITY Romance over Time Write down the answers to the following questions . What does a person in your culture do when they want to become romantically involved with a particular someone ?

Are there common practices for this ?

What rules guide this behavior , explicit or implied ?

What are the different roles involved ?

Are there symbols and rituals ?

Is there some amount of disagreement in your culture about any of these activities ?

Now , a person in your culture who is much older than you , perhaps a person over 70 years old . Ask that person to describe how people did the same things when they were your age . Ask the same set of questions , and write down the answers . How have romantic relations changed over time ?

What forces have shaped this change ?

What aspects have remained the same ?

What explains the durability of some practices ?

Based on this trajectory of change , can you predict how romantic relations will change in the future ?

Suggested Readings Anthropological Theories A Guide Prepared by Students for 2012 . Department of Anthropology , University College of Arts Sciences . Doris , Jens , and , 2020 . Futures ofthe Study Perspectives , Global Challenges . Boston De . Clifford . 1973 . The Interpretation Selected Essays . New York Basic Books . and , 2012 . Travelling Concepts for the Study of Culture . Boston De .

Key Terms cultural appropriation claiming or using elements of another culture in an inappropriate way . cultural ecology how humans develop culture as an adaptation to various environments . cultural evolutionism the study of the origins of human cultural forms and how those forms have changed over long periods of time . cultural frames patterned , shared ways of interpreting situations . cultural materialism an evolutionary approach that technology and economic factors as fundamental aspects of culture , molding other features of culture such as family life , religion , and politics . cultural practices routine or habitual forms of behavior . cultural role a position in a particular context or situation . culture the whole way of life of a society , combining material objects , technologies , social relationships , everyday practices , deeply held values , and shared ideas . diffusion in an anthropological context , the spread of material objects , practices , and ideas among cultures in complex relations of trade , migration , and conquest . friction occurs when two or more elements of culture come into , resulting in alteration or replacement of those elements . functionalism a form of analysis that focuses on the contemporary purposes of culture . historical particularism an approach to cultural change that describes the combination of internal and external factors that shapes the unique historical trajectory culture . ideology a model that depicts how a social realm operates or should operate . An ideology the entities , roles , behaviors , relationships , and processes in a particular realm as well as the rationality behind the whole system . innovation the slight alteration of an existing element of culture , such as a new style of dress or dance . intellectual property material and nonmaterial products of an individual or group that are protected by national and international laws and can not be used for by others without attribution or compensation . invention the independent creation of a new element of culture , such as a new technology , religion , or political form . material culture objects made or used by humans , such as buildings , tools , clothing , household items , and art . norm the cultural expectations , including behaviors and attributes , that are associated with a cultural role . ontological anthropology an approach that explores how culture constructs our social and natural realities , what we consider real , and how we act on those assumptions . Reaching beyond human realities , ontological anthropology also attempts to include nonhuman perspectives , relationships , and forms of communication . ontology the study of the nature of existence . rite of passage a ritual that moves a person or group of people from one social category to another , often more highly valued one . Examples of rites include naming ceremonies , initiations , weddings , and funerals . ritual repeated , patterned action conventionally associated with a particular meaning , often incorporating symbolic objects and actions . social structure the organizational framework for a particular realm of culture , such as the family , the economy , or the political system . Social structures combine material culture with practices and ideas . structural functionalism a form of analysis that describes how various aspects of culture together and contribute to the integrated whole of culture . structuralism the study of culture as a system of symbolic categories embedded in the myths , religion , kinship , and other realms ofa culture . symbol an object , image , or gesture conventionally associated with a particular meaning . technology specialized knowledge or skills required to produce objects of material culture . evolution the idea that all cultures pass through a single set of developmental stages . values cultural notions about what is good , true , correct , appropriate , or beautiful . worldview a very broad ideology that shapes how the members of a culture generally view the world and their place in it . tend to span several realms , including religion , economics , and politics .

Summary The discipline of anthropology is centered on the concept of culture . What we make , what we do , and what we think constitute the basic elements of culture . These elements combine in such as symbols , rituals , and social structures . Since the century , anthropologists have developed various modes of analysis for understanding culture , Critical Thinking Questions . Draw a plan for your ideal home . What rooms would you have , and why ?

How would those rooms be organized ?

How is the imagined structure of this home shaped by an imagined lifestyle ?

What form of family or social relations are embedded in your house plan ?

What forms of work ?

What notions about gender and age are assumed ?

Describe your routine for getting ready in the morning . What aspects of this routine are governed by biology , and what aspects are cultural ?

Ask a friend to describe their morning routine . Are there differences ?

Commonalities ?

What norms and values shape these practices ?

List the colors of the rainbow . With a friend , describe the symbolic meanings associated with each color . Do you agree on these meanings ?

Do some colors have multiple meanings in your culture ?

How do people use and interpret colors with multiple meanings ?

List the social roles you inhabit in your culture . What are the ideal behaviors associated with Bibliography some examining change over time and others considering the functions of culture at one particular point in time . While it is an incredibly useful tool for understanding human social life , the concept of culture is riddled with paradox . Though durable and integrated , culture is subject to constant change , mobility , contest , and variability . those roles ?

Do you observe all of these norms , or do you choose to ignore or resist some of them ?

What happens when you publicly resist the norms ofyour culture ?

What rituals mark the passage of children into adulthood in your culture ?

Identify symbolic objects and actions in those rituals . What norms and values are expressed ?

Which sports are popular in your culture or region ?

Choose one . How might an anthropologist use an evolutionary perspective to analyze this sport ?

How might another anthropologist use a functionalist approach ?

Do you believe in ghosts ?

Is this belief widely shared among the people you know ?

How might the belief in ghosts shape cultural ideas about life and death ?

Would ghost beliefs what people do after a person dies ?

Under what circumstances is it appropriate for a person in one culture to adopt elements from another culture , such as dress , food , or speech ?

Is that cultural appropriation ?

Why or why not ?

Pierre . 1970 . The House or the World Social Science Information ( Douglas , Mary . 1966 . Purity and Danger An Analysis and Taboo . London Paul . Ferguson , James . 2006 . Global Shadows Africa in the World Order . Duke University Press . Clifford . 1973 . The Interpretation of Cultures Selected Essays . New York Basic Books . Arnold van . 1960 . The Rites . Translated by and Gabrielle Caffe . Chicago University of Chicago Press . Irving . 1992 . The of River , History . Edited by Jennifer Brown . Fort Worth , Brace . Eduardo . 2013 . How Forests Think Toward an Anthropology beyond the Human . Berkeley University of California Press . Li , Ling . 2011 . Performing Bribery in China , Corruption with a Human Journal of Contemporary China 20 ( 68 )

96 Bibliography Lyons , Harriet 2011 . Dame Mary Douglas . In Fifty , edited by Robert Gordon , Andrew Lyons , and Harriet Lyons , New York . Holly . 2002 . Culture Sketches Case Studies in Anthropology . ed . Boston . Patricia . 2019 . Weaving Value Selling Carpets in the Liminal Space Grand Bazaar . Anthropology ( Edward Burnett . 1873 . Primitive Culture Researches into the Development of Mythology , Philosophy , Religion , Language , Art , and Custom . ed . London John Murray . Kenneth . 2012 . Night Becomes Day Carnival , Contested Spaces , and the Black Movement in . The Journal ot Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 17 ( Yin , 2017 . An Analysis of Corruption in China The Network of Chinese High Level and Master thesis , Clark University . International Development , Community , and Environment ( 140 ) Zhang , 2013 . Author In China , Everyone Is Guilty of . October 24 , Access for free at