Kuper, Adam. Culture: The Anthropologists' Account. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.
Outline of Chapter 7
i. Culture
o Culture does not equal race; culture is learned
o Culture has evolved/advanced technologically
o Anthropologists agree on what is involved in culture
• Ideas
• Values
• “a collective cast of mind”
• expressed through symbols which appear in an infinite number of forms
o Anthropologists studied culture all a long- now there are specific cultural studies fields
o From the study of culture the idea of multiculturalism has been created- multiculturalism however is less a study and more a political movement
ii. Cultural Studies
o Includes
• Ideas
• Values
• Collective mindset
• Fine arts
• Literature
• Scholarship
• Media/pop culture- a lot of this!!
o Culture viewed by many as a way for those in power to keep those different from themselves oppressed
o Therefore cultural studies is very tied into politics- especially in studying the media
• Generally a liberal viewpoint- sees the “oppression” of the different as bad and needing change.. works to educate people thus bringing about a change
o Anthropology as a field is being encouraged to become a form of cultural studies.... or at least to “take on board the central propositions of cultural studies: that culture serves power and that it is (and should be) contested.”
• Anthropologists reluctant to do this because anthropologists have a broader view of culture and also see the cultural studies view as biased
• anthropologists try to study culture from the most un-bias perspective possible- try to just observe and not form opinions of cultures
o Cultures across the world are becoming more and more “Americanized”
iii. Multiculturalism (in the form of many cultures in one area- be it the united states or the entire world) can be seen as an opportunity.
o Multiculturalism is not a social movement
o Terrence Turner
• Difference Multiculturalism- looks inward, feels pride in self and self importance (US conservatives)
• Critical Multiculturalism- outward looking, dislikes dominant social class, looks for change, appreciates difference (US liberals)
• Heavily influence by cultural studies
o Cultural studies favors the idea of multiculturalism
o Multiculturalism promotes difference and rejects the idea of “assimilation”
o Multiculturalism = differences living together
• People in power label other groups as different- deny different groups equality
• Groups see themselves as different
o US conservatives see multiculturalism as undermining common values and threatening national coherence.
o Identity is important to the idea of multiculturalism-
• “self has certain essential properties and some contingent ones”
• there is a true self and a self shown the world and a self shown to certain people… many selves
• “inner self finds its home in the world by participating in the identity of a collectivity”
• Self created influenced by culture? Or self and culture separate?
• One may need to sacrifice ones individuality in order to assure survival of a culture or because once a culture has been established it requires and individual to do so
• By entering a specific culture a person may by expected to behave in a particular way
• Conflicts with individualism may only occur in modern western societies which value individualism
• Perhaps people should simply insist on the right to equal treatment rather than the right to be different
iv. Culture and Immigration
o Immigrants not always willing to take on American culture
o People can choose their identity- people will find their own culture (their place in a pre-existing culture) eventually and inevitably
o Post-modernist anthropologists view different identities as “rooted in preexisting cultural difference”
o “Culture often serves as a politically correct euphemism for race.”
• We find the culture we belong in by determining our race
o Culture invests people with identities
v. Multiculturalism and difference
o people want to see themselves as different and superior to other people (this is false)
o all cultures are compilations of other cultures stemming from the beginning of human civilization
o immigrants (people different from the main culture) generally adapt very well, holding on to their old culture as well as taking on the new culture in which they are immersed
o people in new cultures do not necessarily see their new and old cultures as extremely different therefore blending of the two is easier
vi. We must study culture by breaking it down into each of its elements and looking at them (comparing and contrasting) individually instead of grouping them together as a whole labeled “culture”
Kuper, Adam. Culture: The Anthropologists' Account. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.
Outline of Chapter 7
i. Culture
o Culture does not equal race; culture is learned
o Culture has evolved/advanced technologically
o Anthropologists agree on what is involved in culture
• Ideas
• Values
• “a collective cast of mind”
• expressed through symbols which appear in an infinite number of forms
o Anthropologists studied culture all a long- now there are specific cultural studies fields
o From the study of culture the idea of multiculturalism has been created- multiculturalism however is less a study and more a political movement
ii. Cultural Studies
o Includes
• Ideas
• Values
• Collective mindset
• Fine arts
• Literature
• Scholarship
• Media/pop culture- a lot of this!!
o Culture viewed by many as a way for those in power to keep those different from themselves oppressed
o Therefore cultural studies is very tied into politics- especially in studying the media
• Generally a liberal viewpoint- sees the “oppression” of the different as bad and needing change.. works to educate people thus bringing about a change
o Anthropology as a field is being encouraged to become a form of cultural studies.... or at least to “take on board the central propositions of cultural studies: that culture serves power and that it is (and should be) contested.”
• Anthropologists reluctant to do this because anthropologists have a broader view of culture and also see the cultural studies view as biased
• anthropologists try to study culture from the most un-bias perspective possible- try to just observe and not form opinions of cultures
o Cultures across the world are becoming more and more “Americanized”
iii. Multiculturalism (in the form of many cultures in one area- be it the united states or the entire world) can be seen as an opportunity.
o Multiculturalism is not a social movement
o Terrence Turner
• Difference Multiculturalism- looks inward, feels pride in self and self importance (US conservatives)
• Critical Multiculturalism- outward looking, dislikes dominant social class, looks for change, appreciates difference (US liberals)
• Heavily influence by cultural studies
o Cultural studies favors the idea of multiculturalism
o Multiculturalism promotes difference and rejects the idea of “assimilation”
o Multiculturalism = differences living together
• People in power label other groups as different- deny different groups equality
• Groups see themselves as different
o US conservatives see multiculturalism as undermining common values and threatening national coherence.
o Identity is important to the idea of multiculturalism-
• “self has certain essential properties and some contingent ones”
• there is a true self and a self shown the world and a self shown to certain people… many selves
• “inner self finds its home in the world by participating in the identity of a collectivity”
• Self created influenced by culture? Or self and culture separate?
• One may need to sacrifice ones individuality in order to assure survival of a culture or because once a culture has been established it requires and individual to do so
• By entering a specific culture a person may by expected to behave in a particular way
• Conflicts with individualism may only occur in modern western societies which value individualism
• Perhaps people should simply insist on the right to equal treatment rather than the right to be different
iv. Culture and Immigration
o Immigrants not always willing to take on American culture
o People can choose their identity- people will find their own culture (their place in a pre-existing culture) eventually and inevitably
o Post-modernist anthropologists view different identities as “rooted in preexisting cultural difference”
o “Culture often serves as a politically correct euphemism for race.”
• We find the culture we belong in by determining our race
o Culture invests people with identities
v. Multiculturalism and difference
o people want to see themselves as different and superior to other people (this is false)
o all cultures are compilations of other cultures stemming from the beginning of human civilization
o immigrants (people different from the main culture) generally adapt very well, holding on to their old culture as well as taking on the new culture in which they are immersed
o people in new cultures do not necessarily see their new and old cultures as extremely different therefore blending of the two is easier
vi. We must study culture by breaking it down into each of its elements and looking at them (comparing and contrasting) individually instead of grouping them together as a whole labeled “culture”