Chapter 2

Culture and Culture Change

 Defining Culture
 Cultural Constraints
 Attitudes That Hinder the Study of
Cultures
 Cultural Relativism
 Describing a Culture

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 Chapter 2
Culture and Culture Change
 Culture is Patterned
 How and Why Cultures Change
 Culture Change and Adaptation
 Globalization: Problems and
Opportunities
 Ethnogenesis: The Emergence of New
Cultures
 Cultural Diversity in the Future
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 Defining Culture
Culture is a set of learned behaviors
and ideas that are characteristic of a
particular society or other social
group.

Some anthropologists include

material culture in defining culture.
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 Defining Culture

Culture is Commonly Shared

Culture Is Learned

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 Defining Culture
Culture is Commonly Shared
The size of a group within which
cultural traits are shared can vary
from a particular society or a
segment of that society to a group
that transcends national
boundaries.

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 Defining Culture
Culture is Learned
A defining feature of culture is that
it is learned.

Humans have a unique way of

transmitting their culture through
the use of spoken, symbolic
language.

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 Defining Culture
Controversies About the Concept of
Culture
One of the disagreements is whether
the concept of culture should refer to
just the rules and ideas behind behavior
or if it should also include the behaviors
or products of behaviors.

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 Cultural Constraints

Emile Durkheim stressed that culture

is something outside us, exerting a
strong coercive power on us.
 Norms are standards or rules about
what is acceptable behavior.

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Attitudes That Hinder the Study
of Cultures

The person who judges other

cultures solely in terms of his or
her own culture is practicing
ethnocentrism.

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 Cultural Relativism
The anthropological attitude that a
society’s customs and ideas should
be described objectively and
understood in the context of that
society’s problems and
opportunities became known as
cultural relativism.
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 Cultural Relativism

Can the concept of cultural relativism be

reconciled with the concept of an
international code of human rights?

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 Describing a Culture

There is much individual variation

within a population, but most
behaviors have socially acceptable
boundaries on that variation.

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 Describing a Culture

A modal pattern reflects an average, or

most common, behavior amongst
the individuals in a population.

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Figure 2.1 (p. 27)
Frequency Distribution Curve
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 Culture is Patterned
Culture is Integrated
The elements or traits that make up
that culture are not just a random
assortment of customs but are
mostly adjusted to or consistent
with one another.

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 Culture is Patterned
Adaptation to the Environment
 Maladaptive Customs— those that
diminish the chances of survival
and reproduction
Adaptive Customs— those that
enhance survival

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How and Why Cultures Change

Discovery and Invention

Diffusion
Acculturation

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How and Why Cultures Change
Discovery and Invention
Unconscious Invention
Intentional Invention
Who Adopts Innovations?
Costs and Benefits

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How and Why Cultures Change
Diffusion is a process by which
cultural elements are borrowed
from another society and
incorporated into the culture of the
recipient group.
Direct Contact
Intermediate Contact
Stimulus Diffusion
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How and Why Cultures Change
Acculturation refers to the changes
that occur when different cultural
groups come into intensive contact.

A situation in which one of the

societies in contact is much more
powerful than the other.
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 How and Why Cultures Change
Some conditions that may give rise
to rebellion and revolution:
 Loss of prestige of established authority
 Threat to recent economic improvement
 Indecisiveness of government
 Loss of support of the intellectual class

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 Culture Change and Adaptation
While customs are not genetically
inherited, cultural adaptation may
be somewhat similar to biological
adaptation.

If culture is generally adapted to its

environment, then culture change
should also be generally adaptive.
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 Globalization:
Problems and Opportunities
Globalization is the spread of
cultural features around the world.

The diffusion of a cultural trait does

not mean that it is incorporated in
exactly the same way.

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Page 43
Worldwide communication and the spread of ideas is facilitated by technology such as satellite TV and
the internet. Balconies are used to dry clothes and to hang satellite dishes in this city in Algeria.

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 Ethnogenesis:
The Emergence of New Cultures

Ethnogenesis is a process whereby

new cultures are created usually in
the aftermath of violent events such
as depopulation, relocation,
enslavement, and genocide.

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 Cultural Diversity in the Future
The process of globalization is
minimizing cultural diversity.

However, in the last 30 years or so,

it has become increasingly
apparent that many people are
affirming their ethnic identities.
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