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fandomhigh2006-03-22 09:47 pm
the-ascended.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-03-22 09:47 pm
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Anthropology, 6th Period
"There are several characteristics of culture. In order to better understand culture, it is useful to closely examine its characteristics and their ramifications," Daniel began as his two students sat down.
"I've listed a few of them, and we're going to examine them."
He hands them each a sheet, on which is typed:
"1. Culture is an adaptive mechanism.
2. Culture is learned.
3. Culture is cumulative.
4. Cultures change.
5. People are not usually aware of their culture.
6. We do not know all of our own culture.
7. Culture gives us a range of permissible behavior patterns.
8. Cultures no longer exist in isolation."
"Take point 5, as an example. The way that we interact and do things in our everyday lives seems "natural" to us. We are unaware of our culture because we are so close to it and know it so well. For most people, it is as if their learned behavior was biologically inherited. It is usually only when they come into contact with people from another culture that they become aware that their patterns of behavior are not universal.
The common response in all societies to other cultures is to judge them in terms of the values and customs of their own familiar culture. This is ethnocentrism. Being fond of your own way of life and condescending or even hostile toward other cultures is normal for all people. Alien culture traits are often viewed as being not just different but inferior, less sensible, and even "unnatural." For example, European cultures strongly condemn other societies that practice polygamy and the eating of dogs--practices that Europeans generally consider to be immoral and offensive. Likewise, conservative Moslem societies, such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, consider European women highly immodest and immoral for going out in public without being chaperoned by a male relative and without their bodies covered from head to toe so as to prevent men from looking at them."
"I've listed a few of them, and we're going to examine them."
He hands them each a sheet, on which is typed:
"1. Culture is an adaptive mechanism.
2. Culture is learned.
3. Culture is cumulative.
4. Cultures change.
5. People are not usually aware of their culture.
6. We do not know all of our own culture.
7. Culture gives us a range of permissible behavior patterns.
8. Cultures no longer exist in isolation."
"Take point 5, as an example. The way that we interact and do things in our everyday lives seems "natural" to us. We are unaware of our culture because we are so close to it and know it so well. For most people, it is as if their learned behavior was biologically inherited. It is usually only when they come into contact with people from another culture that they become aware that their patterns of behavior are not universal.
The common response in all societies to other cultures is to judge them in terms of the values and customs of their own familiar culture. This is ethnocentrism. Being fond of your own way of life and condescending or even hostile toward other cultures is normal for all people. Alien culture traits are often viewed as being not just different but inferior, less sensible, and even "unnatural." For example, European cultures strongly condemn other societies that practice polygamy and the eating of dogs--practices that Europeans generally consider to be immoral and offensive. Likewise, conservative Moslem societies, such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, consider European women highly immodest and immoral for going out in public without being chaperoned by a male relative and without their bodies covered from head to toe so as to prevent men from looking at them."