Transcript Defining Culture, Griswold 2013, Chapter One

Defining Culture
January 13th
Reflections
• Tidbits?
• Reflections
• Opinions
Questions
• How do we define “culture”?
• Why does it have so many different meanings?
• How is it related to the social world?
Dimensions of Culture
• Norms – how people behave
• Values – what they hold dear
• Beliefs – how the world works
• Symbols – representations of all three
Dimensions of Culture
• Recently, sociologists have added a fifth
dimension: practices
• Culture stands for a variety of different values,
beliefs, and objects
Culture and Society
• Neither “culture” nor “society” exist in the real
world
• Instead, they define our experiences
• Culture as expressive and social as
relational/practical
Culture and Society
• Which level of abstraction does exchanging
business cards in American society represent?
• What about in Japan?
Past Schools of Thought on Culture
• (1) Humanities: culture as an aesthetic/artistic
or literary pursuit
• “high art”, i.e. classical music, theater, etc.
• Here culture signifies high status, worth, and
social standing
(1) Humanities
• Culture as the cultivation of the human mind
and sensibility
• Inherently hierarchical, i.e. some forms are
better than others
• Separation of culture and civilization—culture
as apposed to civilization
(1) Humanities
• It must be preserved and replicated through
educational institutions, museums, libraries,
etc.
• Culture meaningful only if removed from
everyday existence
(1) Humanities
• Very rigid view that separates high culture
from all else
• Most traditional views don’t hold today
• Nevertheless, this is the way most of us think
about culture
(1) Humanities
• Espouses an “elitist” but common notion of
culture
• “The best that has been thought and known”
(2) The Complex Whole
• Nineteenth century sociologists and
anthropologists came up with a very different
notion of culture
• From culture as a homogenous “thing” to
cultures as heterogeneous “things”
• Culture inclusive of civilization, not opposed
to it
(2) The Complex Whole
• Culture as “the totality of man’s products”
Berger (1969)
• Avoids the ethnocentrism and elitism of the
humanities perspective
• However, this definition too suffers from being
too broad and imprecise
Implicit vs. Explicit Culture
• Recent theoretical work suggests a useful
differentiation that helps us narrow our
definitions of culture
• Implicit culture – ground upon which social
relations take place
• Often invisible and behind the scenes
• Think business card example
Implicit vs. Explicit Culture
• Explicit culture – tangible and involves
symbolic good or commodity
• Visible effects of culture
• Think fit body example
Sociology of Culture or Cultural
Sociology?
• Sociology of culture - expressive, symbolic,
visible
• Cultural sociology – implicit, invisible, ground
for social action
• But not always!
(2) The Complex Whole
• Assumes a close linkage between culture and
society
• Culture is a persistent activity rather than a
fragile “thing” or sets of “things” that need to
be preserved
• The object of study is the cultural
activity/practice
Limitations
• Both schools have limitations
• Humanities - culture as fragile and rigid; elitist
and ethnocentric; one better than the other
• Holistic View – culture as expansive; includes
all human thought, product, and action; not
precise enough
Connecting the Two
• Working definition of culture: refers to the
expressive side of human life, behaviors, objects,
and ideas that express/stand for something else
• Example of talking about a community in terms of
its culture: jokes, slang, practices, beliefs
• And in terms of “social structure”, i.e. network of
relationships between members and institutions
(political, educational, economic, etc.)
Key Terms
• Cultural object – “shared significance embodied
in form”
• That is, a socially meaningful expression that is
visible/tangible, with no inherent meaning, which
tells a story and becomes meaningful in the
context in which it is used
• Cultural object is to culture what the leopard frog
is to the ecosystem
Key Terms
• All cultural objects are shaped and created by
and for humans
• Cultural sociology pays equal attention to both
culture and society, and is grounded in
empirical methods and analysis
• Whereas cultural studies predominantly focus
on culture alone and are more interpretive
The Cultural Diamond
The Cultural Diamond
• (Cultural objects) are created (by creators), enter
the public/social discourse (social world), and are
consumed (receivers)
• Creators and receivers of cultural objects are
linked through the social world
• Not a theory or model but rather, a schema used
to help us understand how culture and the social
world are linked
The Cultural Diamond
• To understand the mechanisms driving social
phenomena, we need to investigate the
individual linkages/relationships between
creator, receiver, the social world and the
cultural object
• How might one understand the “fake news”
phenomena using Griswold’s schema?
Culture is…
• “the stuff that matters” 