Transcript Chapter 2 PowerPoint

Chapter Two
Culture and the
Culture Learning
Process
Defining Culture
 Culture is socially constructed.
 Culture is shared by its members.
 Culture is both objective and subjective.
 Culture may be defined by geography,
ethnicity, language, religion, history, or
other important social characteristics.
 Culture is socially transmitted.
Culture in Everyday Use
 Terms commonly used to describe social
groups that share important cultural
elements are:
Subculture
Microculture
Ethnic group
Minority group
People of color
Subculture
Subcultures share
characteristics that
distinguish them
from the larger
society in which
they are
embedded; these
characteristics may
be a set of ideas
and practices or
some demographic
similarity.
 Some examples of
subcultures are:
Corporate culture
Adolescent
culture
Drug culture
Culture of poverty
Academic culture
Microculture
Microcultures also
share distinguishing
characteristics but
tend to be more
closely linked to the
larger society, often
serving in
mediating roles.
 Some examples of
microcultures are:
The family
The workplace
The classroom
The school
Ethnic Group
Members of ethnic  Some examples of
groups share a
ethnic groups are:
common heritage, a
Irish American
common history,
Native
and often a
American
common language;
Lebanese
loyalty to one’s
American
ethnic identity can
be very powerful.
African
American
Minority Group
Members of minority
groups occupy a
subordinate
position in a
society; they may
be separated from
the dominant
society by
disapproval and
discrimination.
 Some examples of
minority groups in
the U.S. are:
Racial
minorities
Women
People with
disabilities
Language
minorities
People of Color
This term refers to
members of nonwhite minority
groups; it is often
preferred to the
term “minority
group,” but does
not clearly identify
specific loyalties.
 For example, native
Spanish-speakers
may identify
themselves as
Hispanic people of
color, but their
cultural identity may
be as Puerto
Ricans, Mexicans,
or Salvadorans.
Culture Solves Common
Human Problems
 Means of communication—language
 Determination of power—status
 Regulation of reproduction—family
 Systems of rules—government
 Relationship to nature—magic, myth, religion,
science
 Conception of time—temporality
 Significant lessons—history
 Cultural representations—music, story, dance,
art
The Contributions of CrossCultural Psychology
 While sociologists and anthropologists
study groups and psychologists study
individuals, cross-cultural psychologists
study the interactions that occur when
individuals from different groups meet.
 Cross-cultural psychologists may
approach this problem from one or both
of two perspectives:
Continued…
Culture Is Both Objective and
Subjective
 Objective culture
Physical artifacts
Language
Clothing
Food
Decorative
objects
 Subjective culture
Attitudes
Values
Norms of behavior
Social roles
Meaning of
objective cultural
elements
Two Ways to Understand
Culture
Culture-specific
approaches
Culture-general
approaches
Help to
understand a
particular cultural
group (for
example, Native
Americans)
Help to
understand how
culture “works” in
people’s lives; a
universal
perspective
Do not account for
in-group
differences
Suggest questions
to ask of any
culture
The Culture Learning Process
Sources of cultural knowledge and identity
Individuals in complex societies like the
United States tend to identify themselves as
belonging to various cultural and social
groups, depending on their personal
biographies.
There are twelve major sources of cultural
identity that influence teaching and learning.
Sources of Cultural Identity
(Figure 2.1)
Cultural Knowledge is
Transmitted by People and
Experiences
 We gain the knowledge that contributes
to our cultural identities through
interaction with various socializing agents
 These agents mediate our cultural
knowledge in particular ways
Important Socializing Agents
(Figure 2.2)
How We Learn Culture:
Socialization
Three stages of socialization
Primary socialization—of infants and young
children by the family and early care-givers
Secondary socialization—in childhood and
adolescence, by the school, the religious
affiliation, the peer group, the
neighborhood, and the media
Adult socialization—the workplace, travel,
assuming new roles in life
Some Results of Socialization
Because the process of socialization is
intended to cause individuals to
internalize knowledge, attitudes, values,
and beliefs, it has several results which
should not be surprising:
 Ethnocentrism
 Perception
 Categorization
 Stereotypes
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the tendency people
have to evaluate others according to their
own standards and experience
 While this tendency can help bind people
together, it can also present serious
obstacles to cross-cultural interactions
Perception
Stimuli received by our senses would
overwhelm us if it weren’t somehow
reduced; thus…
What we perceive—what we see, hear,
feel, taste, and smell—is shaped in part
by our culture.
Categorization
 Categorization is the
cognitive process by
which all human
beings simplify their
world by grouping
similar stimuli.
 Our categories give
meaning to our
perceptions.
 A prototype image
best characterizes
the meaning of a
category.
 Example: for the
category “bird,” we
usually think of
robins, not chickens
Stereotypes
 Stereotypes are socially-constructed
categories of people.
 They usually obscure differences within
groups.
 They are frequently negative, and play to
ethnocentric ideas of “the other.”
Some Limits on Socialization
 While socialization is a powerful process,
it does have limits.
It is limited by a child’s physical limits.
It is limited because it is never finished, and
thus never absolute; it can be changed.
It is limited because human beings are not
passive recipients, but also actors in their
environments.
Understanding Cultural
Differences
 In a complex, pluralistic society like the
United States, all people are in some way
multicultural.
 While we all draw on common sources of
knowledge, we are socialized by different
agents, with different perspectives on that
knowledge.
The Culture-Learning
Process (Figure 2.3)
Variations in Cultural
Environments
 Although the sources of cultural identity
are the same in all society, the content in
those sources may be different.
 Moreover, each community varies
considerably in the number and character
of its socializing agents.
Continued…
 Given this complexity, it is wise to
consider the immense variation of
possible cultural elements in our own
lives and in the lives of others.
 Despite this enormous potential for
variation among individuals and within
groups, there are similarities or
generalizations that can be made about
individuals who identify with particular
groups.
 What is needed is a more sophisticated
way of looking at diversity.
Building a positive attitude toward
diversity involves several elements:
 Questioning the “dominant model,” or the
prototype image
Questioning stereotypes
 Looking for commonalities among our
differences
Thinking of differences as resources to
learn from
Something to Think About
By ignoring the cultural and social forms that
are authorized by youth and simultaneously
empower and disempower them, educators
risk complicity in silencing and negating
their students. This is unwittingly
accomplished by refusing to recognize the
importance of those sites and social
practices outside of schools that actively
shape student experiences and through
which students often define and construct
their sense of identity, politics, and culture.
--Giroux and Simon