Section 2: Cultural Variation
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Transcript Section 2: Cultural Variation
Section 2: Cultural Variation
Cultures vary widely
Commonalities
Certain features are shared in all cultures
○ Cultural universals
George Murdock looked at hundreds of cultures to
determine general traits of cultures
Ex. Family, dancing, cooking, housing, language,
myths and folklore, religion, sports, tool making are
just a few.
Survival dictates the need for cultural universals but
the nature of the trait varies between cultures
Variations among societies
Margaret Mead’s Study of cultural variation
○ Purpose= determine whether differences in
basic temperament results mainly from
inherited characteristics or from cultural
influences
○ Two societies of New Guinea= Arapesh and
the Mundugumor
The Arapesh:
Gentle, non-agressive, receptive, trusting,
and warm
Society based on cooperation
Villages consist of clans
Roles for men and women clearly defined
Children grow in a loving and friendly
environment
Marriage practice
○ Girls at the age of 7 or 8 are promised to boys
6 years older and the girls are chosen by the
boy’s father
○ The girl goes to live with the boy’s family and
in about 5 years they begin to live as true
husband and wife
○ Marriage is seen as a way to increase the
warm family circle in which the descendants
may live.
○ Usually marriage is only between one man
and one woman but if a woman’s husband
dies then she will remarry to a man who has a
wife
The Mundugumor
Aggressive, very
competitive, jealous,
and violent
They seek revenge
and delight in
showing off and
fighting
Prior to government
intervention they were
headhunters
Families are so
competitive that they
don’t talk to each
other and are
ashamed to be seen
with one another
The only ties that are shared are called the
“rope” which is through members of the
opposite sex
○ Ex. One rope = The father, his daughters, his
daughter sons and his daughters sons
daughters
○ The opposite is true for the mother
○ When someone dies the property passes
down the rope
Wealth and power determined by the # of
wives
○ Wives are obtained by trading sisters
Children push parents apart
○ Father wants a daughter to trade for another
wife and the mother wants a son for help and
as an heir
○ Children have little contact with the parents as
infants
○ Children have many rules and receive
physical punishment when the rules are not
obeyed
This is a
Mundugumor
mother holding her
child
Mead’s conclusion:
The environments were different
○ Arapesh= mountains, food scarce
○ Mundugumor= river valley, abundant food
Temperament is a result of culture rather
than biology
This study is a wonderful example of the
variations of culture
Studying variation
Sociologists must be careful of biases in
their observations and conclusions
Ethnocentrism builds unity among group
members in a society
○ Too much could make a society stagnant and
unwilling to accept traits that could be
beneficial
Cultural relativism helps sociologists keep
an open mind about different cultures
○ Sociologists attempt to understand cultural
practices from the points of view of the
members of the society being studied
○ Marvin Harris and the cows in India
This study helps us understand why there may be
practical reason Indian people protect cows
But it only makes sense when you look at it from an
Indian perspective!
There are also variations within a
society
Subcultures
○ Ex. age, gender, religious, political,
geographic, social-class, and occupation
○ They do not reject all of the values held by the
larger society and don’t present a treat to
society
Countercultures a specific kind of subculture
○ Ex. hippies, Organized crime families,
anarchists
○ Reject societal norms and values and
sometimes create a threat to society
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-youthsubcultures.php