Culture

CULTURE

SOME DEFINITIONS

• Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.
• Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people.
• Culture is communication, communication is culture.
• Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior; that is the totality of a person's learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social learning.
• A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
• Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols include a group's skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society through its institutions.
• Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning influences upon further action.
• Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation.
• Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.

Culture determines…

Food we eat

Clothing

Music

Games we play

How to express emotions

What is good or bad

What is high or low culture (if any)

TYPES OF CULTURE 

Material culture (overt) a component of culture that consists of the physical or tangible creations (such as clothing, shelter, and art) that members of a society make, use, and share. 

Non-material culture (covert) a component of culture that consists of the intangible human creations of society (such as attitudes, beliefs, and values) that influence people’s behavior.

Characteristics of Culture 

• Culture is learnt Culture is not inherited biologically, but learnt socially by man It is not an inborn tendency There is no cultural instinct as such culture is often “Learned ways of behavior” 

• Culture is social Culture does not exist in isolation Neither is it an individual phenomenon It is a product of society It originates and develops through social interactions It is shared by the members of society

• Culture is shared Culture in the sociological sense, is something shared It is not something that an individual alone can possess For example, customs, traditions, beliefs, ideas, values, morals etc. are all shared by people of a group or society.

• Culture is transmissive Culture is capable of being transmitted from one generation to the other Parents pass on culture traits to their children, and they in turn to their children, and so on Culture is transmitted not through genes but by means of language Language is the main vehicle of culture.

• Culture is dynamic and adaptive Though culture is relatively stable, it is not altogether static It is subjected to slow but constant changes Culture is responsive to the changing conditions of the physical world as it assists us to survive and adapt to the changes.

• Culture varies from society to society Every society has a culture of its own It differs from society to society Culture of every society is unique to itself Cultures are not uniform.

Components of Culture

1. Values: Collective concept of what is good, bad, desirable, proper, and improper and that serve as broad guidelines for social living. In other words, values indicate what people find important and morally right (or wrong)

2. Norms: 

• rules developed by a group of people that specify how people must should may should not and must not behave in various situations
• These are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members.

Aspects of norms

PROSCRIPTIVE: should not and must not -  prohibited. Foe example: Laws that prohibit us from driving over the speed limit
PRESCRIPTIVE  must, should, prescribed like medicine. For example: Persons making a certain amount of money are expected to file a tax return and pay any taxes they owe.

a) Folkways are informal norms or everyday customs that may be violated without serious consequences within a particular culture. 

• Norms of routine or casual interaction (ex. Shaking hands, eating styles, saying excuse me)

b) Mores (məʊriːz) 

• Mores norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance* Often breaking norms lead to being outcast or imprisonment (ex Incest, rape, murder) are strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior 

• Laws* are formal, standardized norms that have been enacted by legislatures and are enforced by formal sanctions.

Because mores are based on cultural values and are considered to be crucial to the well being of the group, violators are subject to more severe negative sanctions/ punishments (such as ridicule, loss of employment, or imprisonment). 

Taboos are mores specifying what actions are prohibited in a culture. 

• Taboos are mores so strong that their violation is considered to be extremely offensive and even unmentionable.
• Taboo meaning a culture absolutely forbids them. For example: Eating human flesh cannibalism  Incest

3. Symbols: A symbol is an object, word, or action that stands for something else 

• Symbol is anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture (a flag, a word, a flashing red light, a raised fist, an animal etc.
• Symbols help us communicate ideas A siren is a symbol that denotes an emergency situation and sends the message to clear the way immediately 
• Symbols mean different things to different people, which is why it is impossible to hypothesize how a specific culture will symbolize something. In European culture the color black has come to symbolize death, and is worn at funerals. In other cultures, Asian for example, white often symbolizes death and is worn at funerals.
• Non verbal gestures can be very “symbolic” and diverse. In Argentina, rotating one’s index finger around the front of the ear means “You have a telephone call,” but in the United States it usually suggests that a person is “crazy” (Axtell, 1991). Similarly, making a circle with your thumb and index finger indicates “OK” in the United States, but in Tunisia it means “I’ll kill you!” (Samovar and Porter, 1991).

4. Language: • Culture is the social heritage of the humans that is transmitted to the future generation mainly through language. 

• Language is a system of words and symbols used to communicate with other people. Language is a set of symbols that expresses ideas and enables people to think and communicate with one another. 

• Verbal (spoken) language and nonverbal (written or gestured 

• Language helps us describe reality.

Popular Culture

• Popular Culture refers to the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in mainstream society. 

• Unlike high culture, popular culture is known and accessible to most people.

High Culture

A culture that is seen to have an artistic and/or intellectual merit which is highly valued in society e.g. Classical music, fine art.

Common culture 

A belief or behavior that is shared between two or more groups, people or countries. 

Examples:
1- Both America and Britain speak English. English is a common culture between these two countries.

2- Both Moroccans and Algerians eat couscous. Couscous is a common culture between these countries.

Cultural relativism

1. Is the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture, rather than be judged against by the norms of another. 

2. Is meant to be used to understand someone's culture not to reject or accept it.

Moral in USA	Immoral in
Eating Beef     Drinking alcohol,   Gambling     Women in school   or business     Women wearing   shorts, face uncoverd	India     Middle Eastern   Islamic Countries     Afghanistan     Iran, Saudi   Arabia, Sudan

Ethnocentrism

Is the belief that your own cultural or ethnic group is better than other groups, so individuals, therefore, tend to judge other groups on with concern to language behavior religion etc.

Cultural Determinism

• The idea that all human actions are the product of culture, which denies the influence of other factors like physical environment and human biology on human behavior. 
  
  
• The idea that our emotional and behavioral patterns are formed by the culture we are raised in. 
  
  
• Some anthropologists suggest that there is no universal "right way" of being human. "Right way" is almost always "our way"; that "our way" in one society almost never corresponds to "our way" in any other society. The proper attitude of an informed human being could only be that of tolerance.

• The optimistic version:  of this theory postulates that human nature being infinitely malleable, human being can choose the ways of life they prefer.
• The pessimistic version: Human beings are passive creatures and do whatever their culture tells them to do.

Culture VS. Nature 

• Culture is learned, not inherited.  It derives from one’s social environment, not from one’s genes.  Understood and practiced within a particular group of people.
  EX: the way how you eat, using bare hands/ forks. 
  
  
• Nature: is what all human beings have in common. It is inherited, universal, instinctual, and animalistic.
  EX: the need for food.

Cultural Text

• Cultural texts are those objects, symbols, and behaviors that reveal cultural meanings. 
  
  
• A text is not a literal text, but in Semiotics it refers to a combination of signs, signifieds and mechanisms like metonymy. 
  
  
• A text could be a sentence, a paragraph, an image, a story, or a collection. Cultural texts are “readable”.  They say something about the purpose, needs, and perhaps even values and beliefs of the people who occupy it 
  
  
• The “text” in a given analysis could be a small as a single image in one commercial, or as large as a whole day of television programs.

Ideal VS. Real Culture

There is sometimes a gap between cultural guidelines (values) and actual behavior. This gap exists at a bigger level between ideal culture and real culture. 

Ideal culture includes the values and norms that a culture claims to have. It involves an idealizes, uncompromising value system that dictates perfect behavior. 

Ideal values are absolute; they bear no exceptions. Using ideal culture as a standard, you are either right or wrong.

Real culture can be observed in our social life. Real culture shows how individuals actually live and act. Example: It is commonly imagined or claimed that the our joint family system is providing care and respect to the elderly parents (ideal culture), but, in reality, many have moved away from their parental homes leaving their elderly parents alone (real culture)

Subculture

A subculture is a category of people who share distinguishing beliefs, values, and/or norms that set them apart in some significant manner from the dominant culture 

• It shares, in overall, the culture of the society, but also maintain a distinctive set of values, norms, lifestyles, traditions and even a distinct language* 

• Sub culture may reflect a social and ethnic difference. 

Examples: Ultras (fans of soccer-ball), hip hop, hippy etc.

Subculture differs from the dominant culture, but not in opposition to that culture. a smaller cultural group within a larger culture

Counterculture

• Some subcultures actively oppose the larger society. 

• Subculture is a group whose values, beliefs, and lifestyle conflict with those of the dominant culture. 

• A counterculture is a group that strongly rejects dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternative lifestyles ( Yinger , 1960, 1982 

Examples: Mafia involved in drug trafficking , Drug abusers and addicts

CULTURAL LAG

The term was coined by William F. Ogburn, an American sociologist in 1922. 

• Material culture tends to develop and advance at a faster rate than non material culture.  A gap between the technical development of a society (material culture) and its moral and legal institutions (non-material culture) is cultural 

• The term cultural lag refers to the notion that non material culture takes time to catch up with technological innovations, and that social problems and conflicts are caused by this lag.

Technology can spread through society in a matter of months, but it can take generations for the ideas and beliefs of society to change. It refers to the gap when a new item of material culture is introduced and when it becomes an accepted part of non-material culture. 

(Is photography Halal or haram)

Acculturation 

Cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture.  Without forgetting your own culture 

2. Is a process in which an individual adopts, acquires and adjusts to a new cultural environment. 

Multi-culturalism

Is the coexistence of different cultures, races, and  ethnicities in one community, all societies we live in nowadays are multicultural. People of different skin color, nationalities, languages, and beliefs living in one community.

The Melting Pot theory of multiculturalism 

Assumes that various immigrant groups will tend to “melt together,” abandoning their individual cultures and eventually becoming fully assimilated into the predominant society. It reduces diversity. 

The Salad Bowl Theory of multiculturalism

This theory describes a heterogeneous society in which people coexist, but retain at least some of the unique characteristics of their traditional culture.

Culture Shock

Persistent feelings of uneasiness, loneliness, and anxiety that occur when a person has shifted from one culture to a different one

• Culture shock is a feeling of dislocation, of being out of place in a new culture 

• Culture shock is the term we use to describe the feelings of confusion and uncertainty that are experienced when you come into contact with a culture that is vastly different from your own 

• Culture shock can be commonly seen in foreign students, immigrants and refugees 

• Suddenly, you find yourself unable to understand, communicate, and function effectively.

Class

A social class is a group of people who share a similar economic position in society based on their wealth and income

Class is determined by economic factors, mainly people’s job and (position) and what they own (land, property)  

Based on these two economic factors, we can classify and categorize people, in one and the same society, into three class models:  Upper class, middle class, and poor class.

What we have to bear in mind is the fact that class is achievable and changeable, (social mobility)
EX: you can be a millionaire today, but due to bankrupt you can fall from that social ladder to be poor. 

There are theories about class; the most known one is Marx's social theory that says class is categorized by conflict. In other words, there is a relation of opposition and conflict  between those who possess the means of production (bourgeois class) and those who don’t (working class/ proletariat) 

According to Carl max, the only relation between the bourgeois and working class is opposition and conflict, and history moves because of this conflict between these two class categories.

There are three aspects that determine class; wealth – power – prestige and they are interconnected. For example, the upper class which possesses businesses, big companies is  usually those people who control politics, economy and decide for the power of the country.

Wealth: access to materials and resources it could be limited or enhanced. 

Power: the function, occupation, you might have someone upper (has power) than you as you can have power over another worker as well.

Prestige: advantages benefit taken from position or occupation, these aren’t necessarily material, but have also to do with how your position is socially viewed/represented (the image society has formed about the status or occupation). 

• It’s not about how much money you own, it’s about the image society has made about you 

Class Social mobility 

Refers to the movement within the social structure, from one social position to another. (Changing social status)

Social mobility can be vertical or horizontal.

Vertical social mobility is the movement from one social status to another. An example of vertical mobility is a high school dropout who becomes a self-made millionaire!

Horizontal mobility refers to the movement from one position to another within the same social status. (Ex: a teacher to a university director) 

Conflict Theory vs. functionalist Theory

Conflict theory says that conflict (social struggle) is the only connection between the bourgeois and the working class, because those who have the means of production exploiting the working class and those who don’t have the means of production will try to get some of the resources even by using force. 

Marxism does not see this as a bad or negative because and according to Marxism, history moves due to that (social struggle)

Functionalist theory focuses on one’s occupation (job) and qualification or level.Basically, society needs a variety of occupations and social mobility depends, amongst other factors, on one’s evolution in his/her job career.  (having better positions, different roles and responsibilities, better salary, etc.)  

For example, I don’t need to get engaged  in any social conflict if I was a primary teacher and preparing my doctorate because I want to be a university teacher. If things are transparent, and there is equity, I will get that chance to be a university professor without ant conflict because all what it takes is qualification or level of education. 

Sex

Refers to the biological characteristics that define humans as a male or female

EX: Only women can give birth. Only women can breastfeed.

1. We born with it

2. Natural

3. Universal

4. Cannot be changed, except with the medical treatment

Gender

Refers to the role of men and women in a society.

1. Not born with.

2. Unnatural

3. Learned

4. Changeable

EX: The expectation of men to be economic providers of the family and for women to be caregivers is a gender norm in many cultural contexts. However, women proved to be able to do traditional male jobs as well as men (e.g. Men and women can do housework; men and women can be leaders and managers).

Gender equality

Means men and women enjoy equal rights and opportunities, including economical, Political, social, and Cultural rights

Gender equity

Refers to justice and fairness in the treatment of men and women in society

Gender gap

Is the difference in any area between man and women

EX: Gender pay gap

Gender stereotypes

Gender stereotypes, are over-generalizations about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender. While women were barred from serving in military combat in Western nations until the latter half of the 20th century, in recent times they have served in combat roles as capable as men. And while many men may watch sports, not all men would necessarily do so.

Gender stereotypes can have negative connotations, but they can also have positive connotations, even though they're often over-generalized. For instance, the notion that women are better caregivers than men is a positive connotation, but it is a generalization and not necessarily true in all cases. This is similarly so for the notion that men are better providers than women, which is positive, but can be disproved by looking at cases where men have abandoned their families and defaulted on child support.

Androgyny

• Is a combination of male and female characteristics the characteristics can be manifested on fashion, Sexual identity, and lifestyles.
• Is the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics into an ambiguous form. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual identity. When androgyny refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it often refers to intersex people. And it is the opposite of what society expects from their biological appearance (male/female)

Sexism

It can be the belief that one sex is superior to or more valuable than another sex.

type of sexism

Old-fashioned sexism and this refers to explicit and overt beliefs that men are superior to women in a variety of skills and tasks. Someone who believes in old-fashioned sexism might publicly make statements like, 'Men are just smarter than women,' or 'Women shouldn't be politicians because they can't handle the pressure.' It's called old-fashioned sexism because someone from 50 or 100 years ago might have heard these statements all the time in public

Modern sexism and this form of sexism is fairly common in today's society. Modern sexism refers to three basic beliefs:

a) The belief that sexism is no longer a problem in today's world

b) That programs designed to help women are not necessary

c) That women who complain about sexism are just causing trouble

Hostile sexism. Just like the name implies, hostile sexism has components of anger and bitterness in it. Basically, hostile sexism is the belief that women are whiny, sexual teases who enjoy controlling men. People who have high levels of hostile sexism do not like women, and they believe that all women are trying to take all power away from men. Hostile sexists are most likely to publicly disparage feminists, and they prefer women who are submissive to men.

Benevolent sexism. Benevolent sexism is the belief that women have qualities of purity and morality that men lack and should be treated like princesses.

So, on the surface, people high in benevolent sexism actually favor women, thinking that they are precious, beautiful and delicate. Do you think benevolent sexism benefits women in general? While benevolent sexism seems like it would help women because it's sort of complimenting women, many social scientists believe that these beliefs really hurt women. Believing that women are delicate princesses is actually condescending in some ways because it creates expectations that women need to be protected and can't accomplish difficult tasks on their own. It implies that women are dependent on men. Finally, it means that women who don't fit into this pretty, delicate expectation are considered less-desirable wives and mothers.

Ambivalent sexism is the belief that some women are good and pure, while other women are bad and deserve bad treatment. When people are high in ambivalent sexism, they sort women they meet into one of these two categories. Some women, such as maybe their own mother and grandmother, are revered and considered worthy of protection and love. However, other women who don't fit traditional expectations are considered to be 'evil feminists' who deserve no respect or love.

Ex:

1-when a man looks after a new born baby is ridiculed 

2- women politicians  are not suitable 

Patriarchy vs. Matriarchy

Patriarchy The word literally translates as 'rule of fathers,' and it means a society in which male members have more social and political power than female members for example the father should be the one who makes important decisions

Matriarchy is a society in which female members have more social and political power than male members. For example, the Musuo, a very small community of people in rural China, where women control property, choose their husbands and make most of the decisions in the community.

Race 

Is a socially defined category, based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people.

Ethnicity 

Is a socially defined category based on common language, religion, nationality, history, or other cultural factor

Stereotype

“The idea that ‘all’ members of a group are the same, rather than individuals with differing abilities, personalities and values.”

1. Stereotype leads to (stereotype treat) which effect social groups in a negative way.

2. Stereotyped groups begin to believe it themselves, and don’t even try.

Examples

• All terrorists are Muslims

• Scottish people are stingy.

• Teenagers are loud and obnoxious.

• Asians are good at math.

Prejudice

1. Is an unjustified, typically negative emotional attitude held toward members of a specific social group, In other words, “to have an opinion or image based on previously held ideas rather than knowledge or experience”, It is when you agree with the stereotypes.

2. is a feeling towards a person based on their affiliation with a group. For example, a person thinks that meat eaters don't care about the environment, which is  a stereotype. But if he decides that he doesn't like his friend just based on the fact that Jeff eats meat, then he is being prejudiced. His feeling of dislike, which springs from his belief in a negative stereotype, is prejudice.

Examples: 

1. It is believed that Adolf Hitler came into contact with anti-Semitic ideas at an early age, which fueled his prejudice against Jewish people. During his rise to power, he became obsessed with the idea of ethnic purity in Germany. Hitler's position allowed him to spread and act on his prejudices against "inferior peoples," leading to the death of millions in the Holocaust.

2. Apartheid in South Africa involved racial segregation where non-whites were viewed as unfit to partake in the voting process and had to live in separate communities because they were viewed as "lesser than" or "inferior" to their white counterparts.

Discrimination 

1- is the act of prejudice against a person because they have a certain set of characteristic. Discrimination characteristics can include disability, race, sex and sexual orientation.

2- “To treat a particular group or member of a particular group differently or unfairly.” It is based on prejudices.

Examples 

1- For centuries women have been stereotypically viewed as being less intelligent, or incapable of doing things such as say math or science. They were to be “barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen”.  This prejudicial attitude led to discrimination when it came to women of ability being allowed to hold down traditional male jobs that required math/science.  And if they did get the job, women were paid less for doing the same job.

2- Mary is six months pregnant. After ten years working at an accounting firm, she applies for a senior position that has just opened up. Despite having more experience and qualifications than the other applicants, she was passed over. When she asked the manager, he said: “I need someone who will be more dedicated to the position.”

Racism 

1- a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that are used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others.

2- The mistreatment of people on the basis of race, place of origin, or ancestry;  belief that one group of people is inferior or superior to another.” Racism is any action based on stereotypes that view all members of a racial, ethnic or cultural group as being the same, rather than individuals

3- Racism is a power relationship by which racial prejudice is systematically structured to the advantage of one group and the disadvantage of another.

4- racism is described as the prejudice antagonism or discrimination against someone’s race and a belief that your own race is superior

Representation

Description of someone or something in a particular way

Example: In the past due to racism, black people in American movies were seen as bad or just villains. This is an example of bad representation of black people

Civilization

The term ‘civilization’ opposite of primitivism; is derived from a Latin term ‘civic’ which indicates ‘someone who lives in a town’.  It means having a better ways of living conditions 

ex: means of transport, technology and democratic system of governance

Orientalism

Orientalism: is a term brought to prominence by (Edward Said) 1978

It means that Europeans and Americans constructed images of the Orient that includes Asian and Arab countries that are self-serving, images and that reduced the Orient to projections that lived in the white man’s imagination like violent- stuck in the past- sensual and monstrous.

Aladdin as an example. It was a large orientalist fantasy. The depiction of Arabs was racist from the extreme poverty to the idea of a bloodthirsty Arab man and a submissive, yet seductive Arab woman.

The images present a narrative of how the western world sees itself, superior and rational and everyone else is mysterious and inferior if not outright barbaric. 

It works to weave a story that the west is bringing civilization and grace to the rest of the world, saving them from themselves. These projections functioned like a self-servicing loop, you invade and conquer people because you believe that they are barbaric and you hope to civilize them in your own image, because they need your help.

It paints how we all talk about the Middle East, the Muslim world, and the so called Orient, and we see the impact of that on politics and real people’s life. This ideas have been perpetuated in the politics, arts, music, movies and religion that have underpinned the west’s relationship with the Orient.

The Binary oppositions

Binary opposition is a key concept in structuralism, a theory of sociology, anthropology and linguistics that states that all elements of human culture can only be understood in relation to one another and how they function within a larger system or the overall environment. We often encounter binary oppositions in cultural studies when exploring the relationships between different groups of people, for instance: upper-class and lower-class or disabled and non-disabled. On the surface, these seem like mere identifying labels, but what makes them binary opposites is the notion that they cannot coexist.

 Mission Civilisatrice

‘Civilizing Mission’ the concept is used by the French colonialism. It was founded on the idea that the Europeans came to the Orient (Africa/ Middle East/far East) to civilize its residents.

Nation/ Nationality

A nation consists of a distinct population of people that are bound together by a common culture, history, and traditions. The concept of a nation is a recent creation: the First World War gave birth to the League of Nations, and the Second World War to the United Nations Organization. Since then, this concept has attained worldwide recognition as the only legitimate basis for the state.

Nationality is a legal relationship between an individual person and a state.

Identity

1. Identity: A reflective self-conception or self-image that we each derive from our family, gender, cultural,  ethnic, and individual socialization process. (Ting-Toomey)

2. Identity is about how individuals or groups see and define themselves, and how other individuals or groups see and define them.

3. Is the concept including aspects of your life you develop about yourself that evolves over the course of your life

• Identity isn’t given for once and all. It is built up and changes throughout a person’s lifetime. 

• Identity isn’t fix and finite but Becoming According to Amin Malouf

• We form our identity throughout two ways 

1-Vertical: one that comes to us from our ancestors, our religious community and our popular traditions

2 Horizontal: one transmitted to us by our contemporaries and by the age we live in.

• My identity is context bound: It is influenced by the environment in which I live Once I change the place of living/ or travel my identity change.

Personal identity 

is the concept you develop about yourself that evolves over the course of your life. This may include aspects of your life that you have no control over, such as where you grew up or the color of your skin, as well as choices you make in life, such as how you spend your time and what you believe. You demonstrate portions of your personal identity outwardly through what you wear and how you interact with other people. You may also keep some elements of your personal identity to yourself, even when these parts of yourself are very important.

Collective Identity

Refers to sharing the same or common cultural characteristics  including history, beliefs, values, food, entertainment preferences, religion and language.

-set of behavioral and personal characteristics by which we are recognized as members of a group

(National identity  / national traits)

Cultural Identity

1. Cultural Identity: Shared system of symbolic verbal and non-verbal behavior meaningful to a group. 

2. Cultural identities are the identity of culture in each country, if another see it will make them know if that one is the country’s own culture

Racial Identity

Race is a social construct arising from efforts to categorize people and is often based mainly on aspects of physical appearances such as skin and/or hair color, eye shape and color, and facial appearance. A biological heritage.

Ethnic Identity

Ethnic Identity Stems from a sense of a shared heritage, history, traditions, values, behaviors, area of origin, and sometimes language with others of a certain group.

National identity: 

A behavior or tradition shared by everyone in the country:

Example: Everyone in America speaks English, so English is part of the American national identity.

Commodification

In the context of Marxism, commodification is the taking of something ordinary or a cultural practice that is not commercialized and transforming it into a commodity.

• To go from something that is a very community focused and organic to something that feels like a big advertisement.

 For example you can see that in some subcultures where a group of people have a shared sense of values, work hard until they stand out, and then no more values are added. However, they start exploiting what they had achieved by commercializing it. 

Cultural capital (by Pierre Bourdieu)

1. To gain more cultural knowledge or ideas over time

2. Cultural capital is having assets that give a person social mobility. These assets are both tangible and intangible, as with skills and music taste; but importantly, they are not related to income, net worth, or any financial measure. 

3. A person's education (knowledge and intellectual skills) that provides advantage in achieving a higher social-status in society

• Cultural capital falls into three categories: institutionalized (education or specialized knowledge), embodied (personality, speech, skills), and objectified (clothes or other belongings). 

The Culture Industry (Theodore Adorno)

It says that we, as people, have become standardized because corporations produce standard products which fit our needs and demands. Thus, corporations produce our needs and desires.

We are all the same

Subconsciously, we may not realize that each time we buy a new and trendy product; we are merely buying the new trendy “thing” to add to our very own material product of a self. The truth is that we are buying this product because it is frequently publicized through media only to illustrate this materialized commodity of “WOW!” that everyone must have. We are truthfully as much of a commodity as the product itself. Regardless, we have a situation where the consumers are being victimized by the producers in that they know what we like and give us what we want; therefore, we no longer have genuine experiences. We may “think” we are expressing our sense of self and individuality by buying the latest Samsung phone of a different color, because in our mind, we find that typically everyone buys blue or silver and we want to be different; thus we conclude we are being unique.

Musicians are all the same

Take for example pop stars like Britney Spears, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and other female performers on the top 40 charts. These women share similar characteristics that our young population is attracted to. 

The music industry recognizes this and begins to mass produce more “Britneys” and more “Rihannas” and pick a different name to the new evolving pop star. They are human beings treated as manufactured goods that can be purchased or replicated, just like a Barbie doll or an iPod.

Alienation 

The condition in which the individual is isolated from society, work, and the sense of self.

4 Types of Alienation

• Alienation from the product

1. Worker’s labor exists outside of him

2. Worker is paid less than the value he creates

3. a portion of what he creates is appropriated by his boss

4. The worker is exploited

• alienation experienced in the production or labor process

1. no control over the production process

2. no control in organization of work, the condition in which they work, or how it affects them physically and mentally

3. deprivation of skills, talents, abilities, and strengths

• Alienation from fellow human beings

1. Class structure separates capitalists from workers or producers from consumers

2. Humans are only connected to each other as buyers and sellers of commodities

3. No equal rights

4. Look at each other as competitors, as superior or inferior

• Alienation of worker from human nature

1. “species-being”

2. Labor is coerced- forced labor

3. Personal inclinations or interests are not or cannot be reflected in labor

4. Produces intelligence, but idiocy for the workers

5. Rather than consciously shaping nature, they cannot see the consequences of their actions

Paradigm

1. The collection of beliefs and concepts is what is known as a paradigm, which is a set of theories, assumptions, and ideas that contribute to your worldview or create the framework from which you operate every day.
   
   
2. Broadly speaking, a paradigm is a set of assumptions, theories, or beliefs that serve as the foundation of concepts, like identity, or institutions, like religion. In the field of sociology, paradigms grew out the pioneering work of 19th century European thinkers, like Karl Marx, and are now used as frameworks for sociological inquiry into how societies function.

Hegemony

Hegemony is the political, economic, or military dominance or control by one state over others. This term can be applied to situations in ancient times. In Ancient Greece, the city-state of Sparta was designated as the hegemon, or leader, of the Peloponnese League. In the 20th century, Nazi Germany held military hegemony over much of Western Europe. The Nazi annexation of Austria into the Third Reich is called the Anschluss by historians. The political hegemony held by Great Britain in the 18th and 19th century was profound. Through the East India Company, Great Britain was able to exert its influence over India and East Asia. The United States emerged as the dominant economic force following World War I. The prosperity of the 1920s is partly why the decade has been called the 'Roaring Twenties' in the U.S. This economic hegemony lasted through much of the 20th century.

• Gramsci is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class – the bourgeoisie – use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies.