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Categories of and Ways of Looking at Culture

文Categories of culture

Two categories

material culture

any physical object to which we give social

meaning

symbolic culture the ideas

associated with a cultural group

Material Culture

Symbolic Culture

What is the meaning of the red light in each picture?

文Ways of looking at culture

Cultural universals

common practices and beliefs in a societyadaptations to meet essential human

needs, such as the need for food, shelter, and clothing

athletic sports cooking dancing,

visitingpersonal names

marriage medicine religious ritual

Ethnocentrism

refer to the tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others.

Opposite of xenocentrism

Cultural Relativism

viewing people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture

places a priority on understanding other cultures, rather than dismissing them as “strange” or “exotic.”

Cultural Relativism

it does require a serious and unbiased effort to evaluate norms, values, and customs in light of their distinctive culture.

Example:Children marrying adults in West Africa and South AsiaGenital mutilation in some parts of Africa

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