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What is culture? IB SCA SL Definitions • Ferraro: “Culture is everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society.” – Includes material objects, ideas, values, attitudes, and patterned ways of behaving • Omohundro: “Culture is the learned, shared understandings among a group of people about how to behave and what everything means.” Culture is Shared • Behavior and thought in a society are predictable because of shared culture • There is always some deviation from cultural norms (real vs. ideal culture) • Subculture • Pluralistic societies Culture is Learned • Culture is acquired through a process of interacting with one’s cultural environment • Tacit vs. explicit culture • Enculturation • Culture is not genetic • All peoples in the world acquire their culture through the same process • Because behavior is learned, it can be changed Culture influences biological processes • We all have biological needs, but culture determines how we satisfy those needs Culture Changes • No culture remains static year after year • Process of change – Internal changes = innovations – External changes = cultural diffusion • Causes for change – Theorists have varying ideas for causes Cultural Universals • Early anthropology focused on documenting cultural differences • Each culture has its own set of solutions to universal human problems of societies • Vast number of cultural differences shows how flexible and adaptable humans are • Basic physiological needs must be met – Economics, marriage, family, education, social control, supernatural belief, communication Culture is Adaptive or Maladaptive • Humans rely more on cultural adaptations than on biological adaptations • Some adaptations are maladaptive or dysfunctional • Features adaptive in one culture may be maladaptive or neutral in other cultures • The adaptability of a cultural item varies over time within any culture • Cultural relativism Cultures are Integrated • Cultural components are interconnected with one another • Cultural anthropologists describe the various parts of culture, show how they function and how they are interconnected • Cultures are logical and coherent systems • Because parts of culture are interrelated, change in one part influences other parts Culture is Symbolic • Humans create meaning with symbols • Symbols vary by culture – Oral language – Written language – Money