Download Culture - Cloudfront.net

Chapter 4
Folk and Popular
Culture
What is Culture?
Regional differences
that are the essence
of Human Geography
Culture can be visible
and invisible
What are the different
elements of culture?
Definition of Culture
Culture is the
specialized behavioral
social patterns,
understandings,
adaptations, and
social systems that
summarize a group of
people’s learned way
of life.
CULTURE:
The total way of
life of a society,
it is learned,
shared,
adaptive, and
dynamic.
Habits are formed in
the way individuals
do things.
Customs develop as
a group practices a
repetitive habit that
eventually becomes
the norm.
Norms:
The beliefs
and values
that influence
our actions
and affect our
outward
behavior.
Customs:
norms that come about
as solutions to human
problems, two kinds:
Folkways and Mores.
Folkways:
The ordinary
rules of daily
behavior which
are accepted and
expected by the
members of a
given society.
Preferred
behavior.
Mores:
customs that
are deemed
necessary for
the welfare of
the society.
Required
behavior.
Laws - mores
that have
been codified
and carry
specific
consequences
Death
Taboo - a
religious or
magical
stricture,
something that
is not done for
fear of
punishment by
magic or God.
Folkway, More or Taboo?
Eating with Chopsticks
Not marrying your sister
Stopping at red light
Bowing when meeting
Not eating pork
Not eating human flesh
Removing shoes at door
Holding door for women
Taking off hat indoors
Culture Displays a
Social Structure
Framework of roles
and interrelationships
of individuals and
groups.
Individuals learn and
adhere to the rules
not only of the culture
but of specific
subcultures to which
he/she belongs.
Sub –
Cultures in
America
Components (structure) of
Culture
Culture Traits
Culture Complex
Culture Region
Culture Realm
Globalization
Small
Large
Culture Traits
Smallest item of
culture-building block
of culture.
Learned behavior
ranging from
language spoken to
tools to games.
They can be objects,
techniques, beliefs, or
attitudes.
Culture Complex
Individual cultural
traits that are
functionally
interrelated.
Examples include:
religious complexes,
business behavior
complexes, sports
complexes.
Culture Regions
Culture traits and
complexes have areal
(spatial) extent.
Used to show the
spatial extent of
similar cultural areas.
Examples - Cajun
Region
http://www.louisianamuseums.org/trail/images/map/map_cajun.gif
Culture Realm
Cultural regions showing similar complexes
and landscapes are grouped to form a
larger area.
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Cultural Realms of the Modern World
Figure 2.4
2-1
Structure of Culture
Two schools - different terms
similar ideas
Two Schools of Thought to Structure
Culture
Leslie White
Ideological subsystem
– Ideas beliefs and
knowledge of a culture
and the ways these
ideas are expressed in
speech or other forms
of communication.
Julian Huxley
Mentifacts – what we ought to
believe, value and how
we should act
Mythology, theology, legend, literature, philosophy,
language, and religion.
White
Technological
subsystem
Material objects, together
with the techniques of
their use. Tools and
weapons.
Huxley
Artifacts
Material objects,
together with the
techniques of their
use. Tools and
weapons.
Guns, planes, cars, i-pods, hammers, swords, plows and rockets.
White
Huxley
Sociological subsystem
Sociofacts
Sum of those accepted
and expected patterns of
interpersonal relations
that find their outlet in
economic, political,
military, religious, kinship
and other associations.
Defines the social
organization of
culture.
Dictates our social
behavior.
Family , Army, Government, Wall Street
Identify elements in each of the following pictures as artifact,
sociofact or mentifact - briefly explain your reasons.
It is possible for elements of the pictures to represent a combination
of categories.
1.
3.
2.
4.
Cultural Landscape - Carl Sauer
“The cultural landscape is fashioned from a natural
landscape by a cultural group. Culture is the agent,
the natural area is the medium, the cultural
landscape is the result. Under the influence of a
given culture, itself changing through time, the
landscape undergoes development, passing through
phases, and probably reaching ultimately the end of
its cycle of development. With the introduction of a
different -that is an alien- culture, a rejuvenation of
the cultural sets in, or a new landscape is
superimposed on remnants of an older one.”
Folk Culture
Stable and close knit
Usually a rural community
Tradition controls
Resistance to change
Buildings erected without architect or
blueprint using locally available building
materials
anonymous origins, diffuses slowly
through migration. Develops over time.
Clustered distributions: isolation/lack of
interaction breed uniqueness and ties to
physical environment.
FOLK ARCHITECTURE
FOLK ARCHITECTURE
Effects on
Landscape: usually
of limited scale and
scope.
Agricultural: fields,
terraces, grain
storage
Dwellings: historically
created from local
materials: wood,
brick, stone, skins;
often uniquely and
traditionally arranged;
always functionally
tied to physical
environment.
FOLK FOOD
How did such
differences
develop?
Hog Production and Food Cultures
Fig. 4-6: Annual hog production is influenced by religious taboos against pork
consumption in Islam and other religions. The highest production is in China,
which is largely Buddhist.
U.S. House
Types by
Region
Small towns in different regions of the
eastern U.S. have different combinations
of five main traditional house types.
North American Folk Culture Regions
Food Taboos:
Jews – can’t eat animals that chew cud,
that have cloven feet; can’t mix meat and
milk, or eat fish lacking fins or scales;
Muslims – no pork;
Hindus – no cows (used for oxen during
monsoon)
Washing Cow in Ganges
Popular Culture
Clothing: Jeans, for example, and have become
valuable status symbols in many regions
including Asia and Russia despite longstanding
folk traditions.
Soft Drinks – Coke and Pepsi can be
Found all over the world.
Popular Culture
Wide Distribution: differences from place to
place uncommon, more likely differences at
one place over time.
Housing: only small regional variations, more
generally there are trends over time
Food: franchises, cargo planes, superhighways
and freezer trucks have eliminated much local
variation. Limited variations in choice
regionally, esp. with alcohol and snacks.
Substantial variations by ethnicity.