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Lecture 11 Culture

Chapter 14 discusses the concept of culture as the personality of a society, influencing individual identities and consumer behavior. It outlines the dynamic nature of culture, its functional areas (ecology, social structure, ideology), and the role of myths and rituals in conveying cultural values. The chapter emphasizes that understanding culture is essential for recognizing how products resonate with societal priorities and how consumption activities often reflect ritualistic behaviors.

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REEM HAMDY
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12 views26 pages

Lecture 11 Culture

Chapter 14 discusses the concept of culture as the personality of a society, influencing individual identities and consumer behavior. It outlines the dynamic nature of culture, its functional areas (ecology, social structure, ideology), and the role of myths and rituals in conveying cultural values. The chapter emphasizes that understanding culture is essential for recognizing how products resonate with societal priorities and how consumption activities often reflect ritualistic behaviors.

Uploaded by

REEM HAMDY
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 14

Culture
Dr. Reem Hamdy

14-1
Learning Objective 1
• A culture is a society’s personality; it shapes our
identities as individuals.

14-2
What is Culture?
• Culture is the accumulation of shared meanings,
rituals, norms, and traditions
• Culture is a society’s personality

14-3
Understanding Culture
• The relationship between consumer behavior and culture is a two-
way street.

• On one hand, consumers are more likely to embrace products and


services that resonate with a culture's priorities at any given time.

• On the other hand, it's worthwhile for us to understand which


products do get accepted because this knowledge provides a window

14-4
Understanding Culture
• into the dominant cultural ideals of that period. Consider,
for example, some American products that successfully
reflected dominant values during their time:
– The TV dinner for the United States
– Cosmetics made of natural materials without animal
testing

Culture is the "lens" through which people view products

14-5
Cultural System
• Culture is not static.
• It is continually evolving, synthesizing old ideas
with new ones.
• Cultural system consists
of three functional areas
(Ecology- social
subculture- ideology).
2-6
Functional Areas in a Cultural System
refers to the way a system adapts
Ecology
to its habitat

refers to the way people maintain


Social structure an orderly social life

refers to the mental characteristics


Ideology of a people and the way they relate
to their environment and social
groups
14-7
2-8
Cultural values
Values are very general ideas about good and bad goals

norms, or rules that dictate what is right or wrong,


acceptable or unacceptable

14-9
Cultural values
norms, or rules that dictate what is right or wrong,
acceptable or unacceptable

Crescive Norms Enacted norms


Embedded in Culture We explicitly decide on

• Customes
• More
• convention 14-10
Cultural values
• Customes: an norm that is a basic behavior (how
we practice particular ceremonies)

• More: is a custom with strong morals overtone It


involves taboos.

• Convection : a norm that regulate everyday


lives
2-11
Cultural values

• All three types of cresive norms define our culture


appropriate behavior
• EX. Custom when the appropriate time to serve a
meat meal
• Convection (how we eat the meal including utensils
used and details)
• More: pork is forbidden for Muslims
2-12
Learning Objective 2

• Myths are stories that express a culture’s values,


and in modern times marketing messages convey
these values.

14-13
Cultural Stories and Ceremonies

• Every culture develops stories and ceremonies that


help its members to make sense of the world.
• To appreciate how "primitive" belief systems
influence our supposedly "modern“ rational
society, consider the avid interest many of us have
in magic and luck

2-14
Myths

• Myths are stories with symbolic elements that


represent the shared emotions/ideals of a culture
• Story characteristics
– Conflict between opposing forces
– Outcome is moral guide for people
– Myth reduces anxiety by providing guidelines

14-15
2-16
Functions of Myths
Metaphysical Help explain origins of existence

Emphasize that all components of the universe


Cosmological
are part of a single picture

Maintain social order by authorizing a social


Sociological
code to be followed by members of a culture

Psychological Provide models for personal conduct

14-17
Myths Abound in Modern Popular Culture

• Myths are often found in comic books, movies,


holidays, and commercials
• Monomyths: a myth that is common to many
cultures (e.g., Spiderman and Superman)
• Many movies/commercials present characters and
plot structures that follow mythic patterns

14-18
• Versace is an Italian luxury
fashion company. Its logo
design is one of the popular
logo symbols. Based on the
mythological Medusa Head,
the logo is full of snakes in
place of her hair. She can turn
anyone who looked at her to
stone. She was transformed
into a beast by Athena. But it
is also believed that whoever
fell in love with Medusa,
cannot flee from her. That is
also the message of the
fashion brand

2-19
Dove was the symbol of
goddess of beauty
Aphrodite

2-20
For Reflection

• Identify modern day myths that corporations


create.
• How do they communicate these stories to
consumers?

14-21
Learning Objective 3

• Many of our consumption activities including


holiday observances, grooming, and gift giving are
rituals.

14-22
Rituals
• Rituals are sets of multiple, symbolic behaviors
that occur in a fixed sequence and that tend to be
repeated periodically
• Many consumer activities are ritualistic
– Trips to Starbucks
– Sunday brunch

14-23
Common Rituals
• Gift-giving
• Holiday
• Rites of passage

14-24
Common Rituals

14-25
Thank you

14-26

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