Idea Entry #3: Culture

Dictionary.com defines culture as:

“the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.” There are many types of culture, heck, even the word culture can mean different things, to a scientist it can mean a sample in a dish. In Anthropology a week ago, our teacher posed the question “Is there an American Culture?” There were some that felt that there was one, but then most felt that our culture was just a bunch of different cultural elements culled together from different countries.

“Cultural Particularism (associated with Franz Boas, among others) emphasized the importance of studying each culture in itself, without trying to explain and/or understand it in some larger theoretical framework. This approach has been marked by such things as detailed data collection and the ideal of objective participant observation.”

Donohue-Lynch, Brian. "Cultural Particularism." Quinebaug Valley Community College. Web. 27 Sept. 2011. <http://www.qvctc.commnet.edu/brian/culpart.html>.

“Is there a global culture? If by a global culture we mean something akin to the culture of the nation-state writ large, then the answer is patently a negative one.”

Featherstone, Mike. Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity. London: SAGE Publications, 2002. Print.

Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity

Featherstone, Mike. Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity. London: SAGE Publications, 2002. Print.

This book discusses the idea of a global culture, is one possible? The author seems to think that if we were to consider a global culture, it would be like making a world state, which in reality, is very very unlikely. He suggests that we need to look into the grounds of the formation of cultural images. He also points out a challenge that has been created by people’s sudden interest in culture in the 80s in the sociology field. They must work to form modes of investigation into these global processes.

“Alain Touraine argues that the idea of revolution which has been at the heart of the Western representation of modernization entailed a belief in the logic of the system, a society without actors.” p.3

I am really curious about people’s views/understanding of culture, when my Anthropology teacher posed the question of an exclusively American culture, I was thrown by it. Most people felt that we do have an “American” culture, but if you think about it, it is really a collection of the best elements of other cultures combined into this hybrid culture. I think I want to get some ideas of what people think about culture, about this American culture, but also about what culture they identify with, whether it’s American, or another.

Image from: http://www.daily-quotes.net/culture-quotes/western-culture-quotes

This image is what reminds me of culture, Chinese New Year, Chinatown, Asian Culture at its finest for most people.