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C1: Intro to Culture

Relationships
Culture —> (affect) Outcomes -—>(feedback) Culture

DIKW (data, information, knowledge, wisdom)

Synthetic
1.1 CAP True by experience, predicate is not
KEYWORDS contained in the subject
going up the hierarchy, Integrates and
Analytic synthesizes the building blocks into more
A statement true, predicate organized and generic patterns
concept is contained in the subject
E.g: It often rains in KL
going down the hierarchy,
generalized concepts are broken
down into constituent parts
E.g: Triangles have 3 sides

Originates from the area of information science, also central part of the language to
knowledge management

Up/down hierarchy—> process that involves greater or less meaning, context,

subjectivity and automation

1) DATA
-Comes in the form of sign and signals, such as numbers, words, or discrete facts
-Can be describe with reference of objective metrics, proven to be correct or incorrect
-Organized string of symbols

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 -without interpretation and has no meaning, can use automated computation to capture
and process data
e.g: Red 1.4.3.5…

2) INFORMATION
-Comes from providing context to data, has been endowed with meaning and purpose
-Organization of data into descriptions, represents sentences, equation, questions
-Answer interrogative questions such as who what where
-E.g.: South facing traffic light on corner of Pitt and George Streets has turned red.

3) KNOWLEDGE
-The synthesis of multiple sources of information over time to create conceptual
frameworks, theories and axioms
-Gives context through experience, value and insight
-Has subjective dimension to it, once made symbolic and objective, knowledge is
reduced to information
-E.g.: The traffic light I am driving towards has turned red

4) WISDOM
-State of awareness, a paradigm or set of principle
-Is knowing ‘why’, an evaluated understanding, acceptance and appreciation of why
things are the way they are

-Involves knowing the right thing to do, for the greater good
-E.g.: I better stop the car!

ETHNOCENTRISM
-A belief of superiority in one personal “ethic” group

-Can also developed from racial or religious differences

-A major reason for division amongst members of different:

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 ethnicities, races, and religious group

-Individuals believe that they are better than other individuals based solely on heritage

CULTURAL RELATIVISM
-Belief that culture of people serves particular needs and must be looked at it terms of
the world the people inhabit

-Refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right/wrong

-Try to understand cultural practice's of other groups it’s own cultural content

ENCULTURATION VS ACCULTURATION
ENCULTURATION
primary socialization
essential for survival
Process of socialization that helps a
person to acquire social norms, values,
behaviors, language and other tools of the
culture surrounds in the society
Learns abt acceptable behaviors and
behaviors that need to avoid
ACCULTURATION (learning
other people culture)
secondary socialization
not essential for survival
process by individual adopts the
behavior patterns of the culture in which
he/she is immersed
Amalgamation of 2 cultures:
Takes place when there is a
meeting of two differ cultures

adapt to the prevailing cultural

patterns of one’s society

Taking place can be seen both at

cultural events as well as psychological
events

Informal:

Process of acculturation

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 1. Aware: what degree is a person able to “see” the differences in the history

2. Apprehend: one understand “similarities” and differences

3. Accept: Is a person able to receive others favorably and respect others

4. Adapt: Able to make adjustments in speech and behaviors in order to be effective

across culture

5. Assimilate: In what circumstances is it appropriate for a person to take on the

entire way of life on the host society

POWER VS AUTHORITY
Power Authority
Ability to affect another Permission to act on behalf on
another
Ability of a person of a group to
influence the beliefs and actions of Group of people with official legal
other people, and to influence or powers to make decision/make
control actions, events, or outcomes people obey the laws in a particular
areas
Possession or the ability or the right
to control the actions and
performance of others either by
authority or but other means

Influence Manipulate Control

To change ones To change one’s To change one’s
behavior, leaving them behavior, regardless behavior, regardless of
to feel satisfied of their feelings their psychological or
physical well-being
Respect one well Limited respects for
being another well being No respects for
another well being

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 1.2 Culture from an anthropological view
Anthropology:
The study of human beings, their culture, their behavior, their beliefs, their way of
surviving, and study of human diversity.

-Draws and builds upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as the
humanities and physical sciences

humanities, physical sciences

focuses value, capacities and worth; empirical and measurable evidence

THREE VIEWS of culture

Matthew Arnold and *Edward B Tylor Franz Boas

Anarchy
A study in perfection, in
making things better than
they are, moved by the
moral and social passion
for doing good.
-Never complete because
perfection cannot be
attained; always in flux
and adaptable
Complex while which An integrated system of
includes knowledge, symbols, ideas, and
belief, art, morals, law, values that should be
custom, and any other studied as a working
capabilities and habits system, as as organic
acquired by man as a whole.
member of the society The differences between
All people have acquire peoples were the result of
culture by being a historical, social, and
member of as social geographic conditions

-High culture vs low group

culture. Usually seen as
closely related to
aesthetics vs social
sciences

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 The culture wheel

greater community

knowledge and stories

language

tools and object

the arts

food and drink

technique and skills

traditions and rituals

values

Values:
standards or ideals which we evaluate actions, people, things, or situations

Example: beauty, honesty, justice, peace

ARE IDEAS THAT TELL WHAT IN LIFE IS CONSIDERED AS

IMPORTANT

IMPORTANT AND LASTING BELIEFS OF IDEALS

COMMON DIFFERENCE: GOOD AND BAD, RIGHT OR WRONG,

DESIRABLE AND UNDESIRABLE

Norms:
Guideline or an expectation of behavior
Makes up it’s own rules for behavior and decides when those rules have been violated
and what to do abt it

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 CONSIST OF EXPECTATIONS OF HOW PEOPLE SHOULD
BEHAVE IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS

ESTABLISHED STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR MAINTAINED BY A

SOCIETY

MUST BE WIDELY SHARED AND UNDERSTOOD

CAN BE DIVIDED INTO FORMAL AND INFORMAL

CAN BE REINFORCE BY SANCTIONS

Artefacts:
Aspects of material culture produced by a society, such as books, magazines, television
shows and movies
Content is frequently used to measure cultural change and to study different aspects of
culture

Sanctions
-penalties/ rewards for conduct concerning a social norm
-Important values will carry higher sanctions

Positive:
An action that rewards a particular kind of behavior

Example: cheers from teammates

Negative:
A punishment or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity

Example: A parking ticket

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 Formal:
A reward or punishment given by formal organization or regulatory agency
(Planned/ Pre-determined action)

Examples: school giving high or low grades.

Informal:
A spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval given by an individual or
group (Unplanned/ Not pre-determined action)

Example: standing ovations, gossips

Culture Subfields
Subcultures

Cultural industry

Cultural universal

Subcultures
A cultural group within in a larger culture often having beliefs or interests at variance
with those with larger culture

Culture Industry
Theodor Adorno (1903-1969), suggest that oppression is derived from such
involvement of politics, economics, culture and materialism

Spread by the emergence of mass communication

Allowing culture to transcend national borders via mass production of popular

cultural artefacts to influence individuals

Culture universals
Arts and leisure: Dancing, decorative art
Basic needs: clothing, cooking, housing

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 Beliefs: Funeral rites. religious ritual

Communication and education: language, greetings

Family: marriage, courtship
Government and economy: calendar, division of labor, government, law property right

Technology: Medicine, toolmaking

Society
A fairly large number of people that live in the same territory and is relatively
independent of people outside their area

Largest form of human group

Culture-sociological perspectives
Cultural variation
Functionalist: subculture serve the interest of subgroups

Conflict: counterculture questions the dominant social order; ethnocentrism devalues

groups
Symbolic interactionist: customs and traditions are transmitted through intergroup
contact
Feminist: cultural relativism respects variation in the way men and woman are viewed
in different societies

Norms
Functionalist: Reinforce social standards

Conflict: Reinforce patterns of dominance

Symbolic Interactions: Maintained through f-t-f interactions
Feminist: Reinforce role of men and woman

Values
Functionalist: Collective conceptions of what is good

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 Conflict: May perpetuate social inequality
Symbolic Interactions: Defined and redefined through social interactions
Feminist: May perpetuate men’s dominance

Culture and society

Functionalist: Culture reflects a society’s strong central values

Conflict: Culture reflects a society’s dominant ideology

Symbolic Interactions: Perpetuated through daily social interactions
Reflects society’s view of men and woman

3 Major Sociological Perspectives

Functionalist Perspective: (only looking at the positive side)
Well Integrated

Look at society as whole (macro)

People sociate to perform social functions

Reinforcing social structure

Conflict Perspective:
Tensions and struggles between classes

Look at society as whole (macro)

People are shaped by authority and power

Struggle to change for better life

Law reinforce the positions of those in power

Symbolic Interactionist:
Meanings are important for social interactions

Micro analysis to understand values and meanings

Meaningful symbols to create a society’s worldview

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 Maintained by shared understanding

Reflected in everyday communication

1.3 Characteristic of Culture

Culture is learned (not genetically acquired)

Culture is based on symbols

Culture is shared

Culture is patterned and integrated

Culture is adaptive

1. Culture is learned (not genetically acquired)

Say or believe is learned

Learn culture from adults: cultural transmission

Example: Yanomamo boys are learning to hunt by shooting a lizard with their toy
bows and arrows

These are the ways of enculturation, or the learning ways of a culture

We acquire our skills by learning: Inheriting our cultural capacity from generation to
generation

Conditioning does not transmit culture

2. Culture is based on symbols

Based on the following:

Language

Objects with meaning

Events with significance impact on our society

Carrying on it’s own meaning

Example: Mah Meri (culture)

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 3. Culture is shared
A group of common language and custom shares a culture

Dominant culture, subculture, counterculture; are all shared by it’s members

Example: The Amish, Japanese speak the same language

4. Culture is integrated and patterned

One aspect of culture reflects other aspects ; they all fit into a pattern as a whole

Customs, belief, values, etc, are interrelated. If one changes, others will change as
well

5. Culture is adaptive
Technology generally reflects features of environment

Settled communities usually indicates safety and stable food supply

Example: Aztec Chinampas (raised agriculture platforms), Grassland, which cannot

be hand-cultivated, are best for pastoralism

1.4 Cultural Dimensions

Culture is learned
Individuals within all cultures are different based on preferences, values, experience etc

Dr Geert Hofstede
Identified four dimensions that could distinguish one culture from another

Added fifth and sixth edition, cooperation with Drs Michael H. Bond and Michael
Minkov

Scored each country on a scale of 0 to 100 for each dimension

Studied based on 100k individuals from 40 countries

Divided into:

1. Power Distance

2. Individualism

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 3. Masculinity

4. Uncertainty Avoidance

5. Long Term Orientation

6. Indulgence

1. Power Distance
Deals with the fact that individuals in societies are not equal

The less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect
and accept that power is distributed unequally

Power is concentrated

Managers rely on their bosses AND on rules

Employees expect to be told what to do

Communication is indirect

Information flow is selective

Index (power distance)

High PDI Low PDI

Centralized organizations Flatter organizations

More complex hierarchies Supervisors and employees are

considered almost as equal
Large gaps in compensation,
authority and respect Delegate as much as possible

Be aware that you many need to go Ideally, involve all those in decision
to the top for answers making who will be directly affected
by the decisions
Acknowledge a leader status

2. Individualism
Related to whether people’s self image is defined in terms of “I” or “We”

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 The degree of interdependence a society maintains among it’s member

People are supposed to look after themselves and their directly family only

VS Collectivist

People belong to “in groups” that take care of them in exchange for loyalty

High IDV Low IDV

High time placed on people’s time Emphasis on building skills and an

and their need for privacy and expectation of individual rewards for
freedom hard work

An enjoyment of challenges and People work for intrinsic rewards

expectation of individual rewards for
Maintaining harmony among group
hard work
members overrides other moral
Acknowledge individual issues
accomplishments
Wisdom is important
Don’t mix work life with social life too
Suppress feelings and emotions that
much
may endanger harmony
Encourage debate and expression of
Avoid giving negative feedbacks
people ‘s own ideas
Saying No can cause loss of face,
unless it’s intended to be polite

3. Masculinity
Society driven by competition, achievement and success

Usually starts at childhood and continues through life

Leaders are expected to be decisive and assertive

Focus on fairness, competition and performance

Any conflict is to be resolved by “fighting” them out

VS feminine (lower scores)

Driven by values of caring for others and quality of life

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 This is seen by a sign of success

Masculinity VS Feminine

Masculinity Feminine

1. Pertains to cultures in which social 1. Describes cultures in which social

gender roles are clearly distinct gender roles overlap

2. High scores: Wanting to be the best 2. Low Scores:

3. Liking what you do

High MAS Low MAS

Strong EGOS Relationship oriented/ consensual

feeling of pride and importance are More focus on quality of life

attributed to status
Success is more likely to be achieved
Money and achievement are through negotiation, collaboration
important and input from all level

Be aware of the possibility of Avoid “old boys club” mentality,

differentiated garden roles although this may still exist

A long hours culture may be the Workplace flexibility and work-life

norm, so recognize it’s opportunities balance may be important, both in
and risk terms of job design, organizational
environment and culture, and the way
People are motivated by precise
that performance management can
targets, and by being able to show
be best realized
that they achieved them either as a
group or individuals

4. Uncertainty avoidance
Relates to how society deal uncertainty in the future

The unknown brings stress… and society learns to deal with this stress differently

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 It is the extent to which the members of a culture feels threatened by ambiguous or
unknown situations

Society have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these unknown
situations

High UAI Low UAI

Conservative, rigid and structured, Openness to change or innovation,

unless the danger of failure requires and generally inclusive
a more flexible attitude
More inclined to open-ended learning
Many societal conventions or decision making

People are more expressive, and are Less sense of urgency

allowed to show anger or emotions, if
Ensure that people remain focused,
necessary
but don’t create too much structure
A high energy society, if people feel
Titles are less important, so avoid
that they are in control of their life
“showing off” your knowledge or
instead of feeling overwhelmed by
experience Respect is given to those
life’s vagaries
who can cope under all
Be clear and concise about circumstances
expectations and goals, and set
clearly defined parameters

Recognize that there may be

unspoken “rules” or cultural
expectations that need to learn

Recognize that emotion, anger and

vigorous hand gestures many simply
part of the conversation

Long term orientation

Societies need to maintain some links with its own past while dealing with the
challenges of the present and future

Past vs Present: Future challenges are dealt with different strategies

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 1. Low scores would indicate (normative) societies that prefer maintain traditions and
norms and will view and change with suspicion

2. High scores may indicate pragmatics societies that may encourage thrift and efforts
in modern education as a way to prepare for the future

Long term Orientation Short term orientations

People often wonder how to know
what is true. for example, questions
like WHAT and HOW are asked more
than WHY
People often want to know WHY
Strong convictions
Values and rights are emphasized

Modesty

Virtues and Obligations are

emphasized

5. Indulgence
Related to our outbringing (or how we are praised)
Weak control- Indulgence

Strong control- Restraint

High indulgence Low indulgence

Optimistic Pessimistic
Important of freedom
More controlled and rigid
Focus on personal happiness behavior

Don’t take life too seriously Avoid making jokes when

engaged in formal sessions,
Prioritize feedback , coaching and mentoring
Instead, be professional
Emphasize flexible working and work-life
Only express negativity about
balance
the world during informal
meetings

1.5 Arts- An Introduction

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 Arts- The word “art” is derived from the Latin Arts, which mean skills, or art
Other related English words derived from arts are “artifact” (a thing made by human
skill) and ”artisan” (a person skilled at making things)
“Art” however involves more than just skilled craftmanship

Arts- An introduction
Historians focused on the so-called fine arts- painting, sculpture, and architecture-
analyzing the virtues of their forms

Complicated history: new genres and art-forms develop, standards of taste evolve,
understandings of aesthetics properties and aesthetics experience exchange

Evolved so radically, hence, art historians shifted their focus from the analysis of
art’s formal beauty to interpretation of it’s pan-cultural and trans-historical meaning

Has the potential to move us emotionally and intellectually

Do this visual characteristic.

Expression of ideas, craftmanship, ingenuity, rarity, or some combination of these or

other qualities.

Provides example of human ambition, skill, imagination, perception, and feeling

Best perhaps best understood as a special class or artifact- exceptional in it’s ability
to make us think and feel through visual experience

Definition of arts:

Possessing positive aesthetic properties

Being expressive of emotion

Being intellectually challenging

Being formally complex and coherent

Having the capacity to convey complex meanings

Exhibiting an individual point of view

Being original

Being an artifact or performance which is the product of a higher degree of skill

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 Belonging to an established artistic form

Being the product of an intention to make a work of art

Different Forms Of Arts

Music
When the performance stops, so to will the music
Visual and Structural
Permanence
We may still admire a building when a concert is over

Literature
May be read in a specific context and also for pleasure

Timeline: Ancient Art

Pre-historic: Stone Age (30,000 BC-2500 BC)

Ancient Near East: Mesopotamian (3500 BC-500 BC)

Egyptian (3100 BC-30 BC)

Greek and Hellenistic (850 BC-31 BC)

Roman (500 BC-476 AD)

Byzantine and Islamic (476 AD-1453 AD)

Middle Ages (500-1400

Timeline: Renaissance
Early and High Renaissance (1400-1500)
Venetian and Northern Renaissance (1430-1550)
Romanticism (1780-1850)

Timeline: Modern Art

Realism (1848-1900)

Impressionism (1865-1885)

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 Post-impressionism (1885-1910)

Cubism (1907-1914)
Abstract Expressionism (1940-1950 and Pop Art (1960)

💡 Questions that may asked: Definition and purposes, What common subject
matter is portrayed, What are the common characteristic/ styles of their arts

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