Week 3 Lecture Notes

Culture
Lecture 3
SC1101E: Making Sense of Society
Dr George Radics
Transcultural Exchange
and Encounters
• Globalization - The ever increasing flow of goods,

services, money, people, technology, information, and
other cultural items across political boundaries, most
notably countries.
• Glocalization - embracing, adapting, or resisting a

product, idea, or way of behaving that emerges through a
cross-national flow.
K-Pop and the World
• Economic, cultural, political
phenomenon.
• Invading the United States and

Latin America due to Chinese
sanctions
• Manifest and Latent - New

markets and changing gender
rolls for men. Dysfunctions?
What is Culture?
• The way of life of a people; more specifically, the human-
created strategies for adjusting to their surroundings and to
those creatures (including humans) that are part of those
surroundings.
• Culture consists of material and non-material culture.
• Material - all the natural and human-created objects to

which people create meaning.
• Non-Material - the nonphysical creations that people cannot

see or hold. This includes: Beliefs, Values, Norms, Folkways,
Mores, Language.
Non-material Culture
• Beliefs - Conceptions that
people accept as true.
• Values - Shared conceptions

of what is right.
• Norms - Written and

unwritten rules that specify
appropriate and
inappropriate behavior.
• Folkways - Norms that
apply to the mundane
aspects or details of daily
life.
• Mores - Norms that people

define as critical to the
well-being of a group.
• Language - A symbol
system involving the use of
sounds, gestures, and/or
characters to convey
meaning.
Two Approaches to
Studying Cultures
Sociology Anthropology
Deep
Quantitative History Ethnography
Theory Building Interviews Immersion in Field
Observation Material Culture

Big Data
Geography
Researching
Arose out of
Diverse and “non-industrial”
Industrial Revolution
people
Geography and History
• Korea’s geographic terrain is harsh, limiting the types of
crops that can be grown. Preserving vegetables became
important.
• Hangul was an example of Korean ingenuity and set itself

apart from the larger Japanese and Chinese influences in
the region.
• Low patterns of intermingling between people led to a

homogenous society with very rigid social mores.
Problem Solving Tools
• Universals - things all cultures have in common.
• Particulars - specific responses or practices put in place

to handle inevitable challenges of being human.
• Social emotions- internal bodily sensations that we

experience in relationship to other people.
• Feeling rules - Norms that specify the appropriate ways to

express internal sensations.
Transcultural Diffusion
• The process by which an idea, invention or some other
cultural item is borrowed from a foreign source.
• One can encounter culture shock, reentry shock,

ethnocentrism, reverse ethnocentrism, cultural genocide.
• Cultural Relativism - The perspective that a foreign

culture should not be judged by the standards of a home
culture and that a behavior or way of thinking must be
examined in its cultural context.
Subculture
• Groups that share in some parts of the dominant culture
but have their own distinctive values, norms, beliefs,
symbols, language, or material culture. (cf. with
counterculture)
• Gangs - Product of Subcultural Theory in the 1950’s

(Delinquent Boys by Albert Cohen, 1955)
• Pot Smokers - New wave of symbolic interactionism

(Outsiders by Howard Becker, 1963)
• Cosplay - External judgments versus Internal motivations.

“Culture” as
Uncomfortable
Problems with
Defining Culture
• Culture as confusing - culture vs civilization, personal

growth (post-war years), community (1970-1990),
negative or empty (2000s-onwards).
• Recently, term has become sinister, sharper, more

skeptical.
• Multiple meanings? Can we ever get away from it?

Singaporean Culture?
• Asian Values - Are Singaporeans culturally diﬀerent from
Westerners? Is there really a diﬀerence between East and
West?
• Rule of Law - Economic development comes with legal

and fiscal discipline.
• Social Control - Powerful elites control society (Rule by

Law versus Rule of Law).
• Cultural Development - Catch up game with the rest of

the world. Education, national identity, Singaporean story.
Culture as “Dangerous”
• Samuel Huntington argued
that the next major conflict
in the world will be cultural.
• The western world and its

values of human rights was
going to clash with the rest
of the world.
• Islam and Asian values are

but two examples of how
there is a clash of values.
“The Government's general position has always been that foreign entities should
not interfere in our domestic issues, especially political issues or controversial
social issues with political overtones. These are political, social or moral choices
for Singaporeans to decide for ourselves. LGBT issues are one such example”.
Conclusion
• Culture is the way we live our lives and consists of
human-created strategies for adjusting to our
surroundings. It can be both material and non-material.
• Culture has always crossed borders but can arguably be

seen as moving at a more rapid pace due to globalization.
• Because it is essentially a way of life, it can lead to

tension and conflict, or cross-fertilization of ideas.
Diversity can bring strength.

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Culture

SC1101E: Making Sense of Society

• Globalization - The ever increasing flow of goods,

• Glocalization - embracing, adapting, or resisting a

• Invading the United States and

• Manifest and Latent - New

• Culture consists of material and non-material culture.

• Material - all the natural and human-created objects to

• Non-Material - the nonphysical creations that people cannot

• Values - Shared conceptions

• Norms - Written and

• Mores - Norms that people

Quantitative History Ethnography

Theory Building Interviews Immersion in Field

Observation Material Culture

Diverse and “non-industrial”

• Hangul was an example of Korean ingenuity and set itself

• Low patterns of intermingling between people led to a

• Particulars - specific responses or practices put in place

• Social emotions- internal bodily sensations that we

• Feeling rules - Norms that specify the appropriate ways to

• One can encounter culture shock, reentry shock,

• Cultural Relativism - The perspective that a foreign

• Gangs - Product of Subcultural Theory in the 1950’s

• Pot Smokers - New wave of symbolic interactionism

• Cosplay - External judgments versus Internal motivations.

• Culture as confusing - culture vs civilization, personal

• Recently, term has become sinister, sharper, more

• Multiple meanings? Can we ever get away from it?

• Rule of Law - Economic development comes with legal

• Social Control - Powerful elites control society (Rule by

• Cultural Development - Catch up game with the rest of

• The western world and its

• Islam and Asian values are

• Culture has always crossed borders but can arguably be

• Because it is essentially a way of life, it can lead to

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