Transcript Folk Versus Popular Culture

Folk and Popular Culture
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Key Issues
Where do folk and popular cultures
originate and diffuse
Why is folk culture clustered?
Why is popular culture widely
distributed
Why does globalization of popular
culture cause problems?
Key Issue 1: Where do folk and pop
cultures originate and diffuse?
• Habit- a repetitive act that a particular individual performs.
• Custom- a repetitive act that a particular group performs.
• Folk culture- the culture traditionally practiced primarily by
small, homogenous groups living in isolated rural areas.
Amish, Basque
• Popular culture- the culture found in large, heterogeneous
societies that share certain habits despite differences in other
personal characteristics.
• Material Culture – the physical objects produced by a
culture in order to meet its material needs: food, clothing,
shelter, arts, and recreation. Carl Sauer (Berkeley, 1930s –
1970s).
What is Culture?
• The study of lifestyles, creations,
relationships and supernatural– Cultural Geography- all encompassingWhy culture is expressed in different ways
• Anthropocentrism- interpreting or
regarding the world in terms of human
values and experiences
• Enculturation is the process by which a
child learns his or her culture.
Features of Culture
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Styles of Dress
Ways of Greeting People
Beliefs about Hospitality
Importance of Time
Paintings
Values
Literature
Beliefs about Child Raising
(Children & Teens)
9. Attitudes about Personal
Space/Privacy
10. Beliefs about the
Responsibilities
11. Gestures
12. Holiday Customs
13. Music
14. Dancing
15. Celebrations
16. Concept of Fairness
17. Nature of Friendship
18. Ideas about Clothing
19. Foods
20. Eating Habits
21. Facial Expressions and Hand
Gestures
22. Concept of Self
23. Work Ethic
24. Religious Beliefs
25. Religious Rituals
26. Concept of Beauty
27. Rules of Polite Behavior
28. Attitude Toward Age
29. Beliefs about the Importance
of Family
30. General World View
Cultures
around the
world
Source: Johns Hopkins
Photo Share
The Fundamentals of Culture
• The fundamental ways cultures differ is in the way they
view:
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The concept of time (e.g., How important is punctuality? Are
people’s lives driven by the clock, or do people have a more
relaxed view of time?)
The concept of the self (e.g., Is the culture more individualist, or
is it more collectivist? Is individual self-reliance and
independence more important, or is ensuring the well-being of
the group more important?)
The concept of focus of control (e.g., Do people believe they
control their own lives and their own destinies, or do people
believe things “just happen” to them due to fate—or due to
outside forces they cannot control?)
The concept of personal vs. societal obligations (e.g., Do the
same rules apply to everyone, regardless of the situation, or are
exceptions made for certain individuals depending on the
circumstances?)
• The Basics
– Material vs. Non-Material CultureSongbook vs. Song- Belief vs. Temple
• Carl Sauer- “The Cultural Landscape” (Built
Environment)- Humans footprint on their space
– Sequent Occupancy- left over culture
Levels of Culture
• National culture refers to those experiences,
beliefs, learned behavior patterns, values, and
institutions that are shared by citizens of the same
nation.
• International culture refers to cultural practices
that extend beyond and across national
boundaries.
• Cultural practices may be transmitted through
diffusion.
• Subcultures are identifiable cultural patterns and
traditions associated with particular groups in the
same complex society.
French Wine Regions
Features of Culture
• Cultural universals are certain biological,
psychological, social, and cultural features that are
found in every culture.
• Cultural generalities include features that are
common to several but not all human groups.
• Cultural particularities are features that are
unique to certain cultural traditions.
– Culture Trait- the simplest form of culture- a single attribute
of culture
• A handshake as a greeting- bowing for respect
– Culture Complex- Combination of all culture traits
• USA- Culture
• Values Comprise ideas about what in life seems important.
They guide the rest of the culture.
Norms
Consist of expectations of how people will behave in various
situations. Each culture has methods, called sanctions, of
enforcing its norms.
Institutions Institutions are the structures of a society within
which values and norms are transmitted.
Artifacts
Things, or aspects of material culture—derive from a culture's
values and norms. Clothing Buildings Tools etc
Mechanisms of Cultural Change Acculturation
• Acculturation is the exchange of cultural features that
results when groups come into continuous firsthand
contact.
– Dominate cultures usually push
– Acculturation- the weaker of the two adopts the dominateColonialism- Imperialism
• This leads to Assimilation- the weaker culture adopts all of the
dominate culture- African-Americans in the 20’s
– English Language vs. the USA
• A pidgin is an example of acculturation, because it is a
language form that develops by blending language
elements from different languages in order to facilitate
communication between populations in contact (e.g. in
trade relationships).
Assimilation, Transculturation
• Diffusion happens as we come into contact
with each other
– Cultural Convergence- two cultures adopting each
others traits- Swahili
– Transculturation- Mutual exchange-
• Independent Innovation- Creating
similar innovation without interactionPyramids, Agriculture, domesticationAliens???
Folk and Pop Culture
• Folk Culture- Smaller region and Number
– Isolated- Long lasting Cultural traits
– Amish, Geisha, Music, Housing, Country Music in
the Appalachian Mountains
– Spread through Relocation Diffusion
• Pop Culture- Mass Diffusion– Folk usually do not accept or have never been
exposed
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnRe0S6Ic
• Maladaptive Diffusion- Impractical cultural trait
– Blue Jeans, Rap Music,
• Cultural Imperialism- Imperialized the cultureMcDonalds, KFC etc..
– USA- Star bucks
• Rises to Cultural Nationalism
• Cultural Homogeneity- Destruction of Pop Culture
– Pop Culture and Consumption- Cars, Golf Courses, Water
Bottles,
• Taboo- Against the Cultural Norm- Judaism,
Hinduism, Islam
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_iwrt7D5OA
• Sentinelese• Sentinelese exercise complete autonomy over their
affairs and the involvement of the Indian authorities
is restricted to occasional monitoring, even more
infrequent and brief visits, and generally discouraging
any access or approaches to the island. It is
therefore de facto autonomous.
• In 2006, Sentinelese archers killed two fishermen
who were fishing illegally within range of the island.
The archers later drove off, with a hail of arrows, the
helicopter that was sent to retrieve the bodies
Types of Social Customs
• First type
– Customs which are derived from basic human needs –
especially food, clothing and clothing
– The methods people choose to meet these needs result
in varying landscapes around the world.
• Second type
– Related to people’s choices in leisure activities
– Leisure activities = arts & recreation
Customs
• Arts – literature, performing arts & visual arts
• Leisure activities involves recreation, both active,
such as sports, and passive, such as television
viewing or listening to music.
• Cultural Landscapes
• In monochronic cultures, the belief is that time is
fixed and people need to regulate their lives by it
• In polychronic cultures, the belief is that time is
the servant and tool of people.
Space Concepts
• The western cultures focus their attention on objects, and
neglect the space in between.
• The Japanese, on the other hand, honor the space in
between as ma.
• In a different system, the Hopi Indians have in their
language no words for a fixed room: all objects are
described in their relation to each other, but no concept of
a three dimensional space exists.
• Also the way we deal with space is different.
– The concepts of the private space, the space orientation, the
interpersonal distance and the space design.
Culture Regions and Realms
• Cultural Regions- drawn around people with
similar culture
– People often share regional identity- regional
identity common culture or emotional attachment
• Leads to perceptual regions (Vernacular)- China TownAlabama vs. Tennessee
– Cause problems so we often use a cultural icon- CowboyJersey Shore
– Cultural Realm (geographic)- Merging large
cultures together- Anglo-America, Latin America,
Europe, Sub-Saharan, Slavic, Sino Japanese, Indic,
austral-European
Wine Production per year
The distribution of wine production shows the joint
impact of the physical environment and social customs.
Hog Production & Food Cultures
Annual hog production is influenced by religious taboos against pork
consumption in Islam and other religions. The highest production is in
China, which is largely Buddhist.
• A social custom originates at a hearth, a center of innovation.
• Folk customs tend to have anonymous sources, from unknown dates,
through multiple hearths
• pop culture generally has a known originator, normally from MDC’s,
and results from more leisure time and more capital.
– EX: Folk music tells stories or conveys information about daily activities.
• That terrible polka music you listen to at a family reunion
• Call out songs from slavery, chariot
– Pop music is written by specific individuals for the purpose of being sold
to a large number of people.
• TI, Katy Perry, Gagnam Style
• Diffusion of folk and pop culture differs:
– Folk customs tend to diffuse slowly and then,
primarily through physical relocation of
individuals.
– Pop customs tend to diffuse rapidly and
primarily through hierarchical diffusion from
the nodes. (Certain fads can diffuse
contagiously)
Questions
• Give an example of each region using a global
relationship (country)
• Draw an example of a cultural Icon for each
region
• Explain and give a current example of
Acculturation- Assimilation- and Transculturation
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Popular Music
Popular music is written by specific individuals for the purpose of being
sold to a large number of people. It displays a high degree of technical
skills and is frequently capable of being performed only in a studio with
electronic equipment Origin of Popular music It originated around
1900.The first music industry was developed in New York along the
28th streets between fifth avenue and Broadway, to provide songs for
the music hall and vaudeville. This area later came to be known as Tin
Pan Alley.
Diffusion of American popular music started during the World War II.
English became the language of popular music.
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Hip Hop
A more recent form of popular music. Originated in the south Bronx,
New York, in the late 1970’s.It spread to Oakland and Atlanta in the late
1980s.Then to large cities in the South, Midwest and West
• Blue Grass
– Mumford and Sons
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•
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Julia Fallows
Prince Royce
Kpop
Fine China- Chris Brown
Key Issue 2: Why is folk culture
clustered?
• ISOLATION- promotes cultural diversity as
a group’s unique customs develop over
several centuries.
– Folk culture varies widely from place to place
at one time. Since most folk culture deals in
some way with the lives and habits of its
people, the physical environment in which the
people act has a tremendous impact on the
culture.
Clustering of Folk Cultures
• Isolation promotes cultural diversity
– Himalayan art
• Influence of the physical environment
– Distinctive food preferences
– Folk housing
– U.S. folk house forms
Himalayan Folk Cultural
Regions
Cultural geographers have identified four distinct culture regions based
on predominant religions in the Himalaya Mountains.
Broadly Defined Cultural Areas
The 5,000 Worldwide Indigenous
Cultures
Folk Culture – rapidly changing and/or
disappearing throughout much of the
world.
Guatemalan Market
Portuguese Fishing Boat
Turkish Camel Market
• People living in folk culture are likely to be farmers
growing their own food, using hand tools and/or
animal power.
• Local food preferences are a large part of the folk
customs of that region.
– Pork vs. Beef, Fish vs. Red Meat, Bread, Chicken etc..
• Religious, social, or economic factors often
determine the type and amount of food consumed in
a given region.
Hog Production and Food Cultures
Fig. 4-6: Annual hog production is influenced by religious taboos against pork
consumption in Islam and other religions. The highest production is in China,
which is largely Buddhist.
FOLK FOOD
How did such
differences
develop?
• Housing preference is another major
contributor to folk culture. Local traditions,
as well as environmental factors determine
the type of house that is built in a region.
FOLK ARCHITECTURE
House Types in Western China
Four communities in western China all have distinctive house types.
FOLK ARCHITECTURE
Effects on Landscape:
usually of limited scale
and scope.
Agricultural: fields,
terraces, grain storage
Dwellings: historically
created from local
materials: wood, brick,
stone, skins; often
uniquely and
traditionally arranged;
always functionally tied
to physical
environment.
The Cultural Landscape and
Identity
• Land Survey- parceling methods of land
– Nucleus- English Settlements including the
USA- Nucleus and farm around it
– Metes-and-Bounds- Natural boundaries
• Leads to issues when the boundaries move
– Rectangular land survey- USA after
England
• Put it on a grid
– Long Lot System- found in French areas of
the USA and areas the Spanish came
• Found with a river at the front for the soil
• Derelict Landscape
Consumption Landscape
The Citarum River in Indonesia.
• Corn Belt
• Nodes Navigation
• Taboo – a restriction on
behavior imposed by social
custom.
– Ex: little to no pork is
consumed in predominantly
Muslim countries.
Food Taboos: Jews – can’t eat animals that
chew cud, that have cloven feet; can’t mix
meat and milk, or eat fish lacking fins or
scales;
Muslims – no pork;
Hindus – no cows (used for oxen during
monsoon)
Taboo Project
Washing Cow in Ganges
Folk Culture Review
• Stable and close knit
• Usually a rural community
• Tradition controls
• Resistance to change
• Buildings erected without architect or blueprint
using locally available building materials
• anonymous origins, diffuses slowly through
migration. Develops over time.
• Clustered distributions: isolation/lack of
interaction breed uniqueness and ties to
physical environment.
North American Folk Culture Regions
Key Issue 3: Why is popular culture
widely distributed?
• Pop culture, compared to folk, varies widely
from time to time in a given place. This is
due to its widespread and rapid diffusion, and
the relative wealth of the people to acquire
the materials associated with pop culture.
Pop culture flourishes where people have
sufficient income to acquire the tangible
elements of the culture and the leisure time
to make use of them.
• Housing in the US, from the 1940’s on, has
been less dependent on what type of house
is appropriate for what site or region, but
more on what the dominant trend is in the
architectural field at the time of
construction.
U.S. House
Types by
Region
Small towns in different regions of the
eastern U.S. have different combinations
of five main traditional house types.
• The most prominent example of pop
culture in the realm of clothing is the
mighty blue jeans. They have become
a symbol of youth and “westernization”
throughout the world. Many people in
foreign countries are willing to depart
with a week’s earnings just for a pair of
Levi jeans.
Clothing: Jeans, for example, and have
become valuable status symbols in
many regions including Asia and
Russia despite longstanding folk
traditions.
• Food preferences in pop culture depend on high
income and national advertising. The spatial
distribution of many food or beverage trends are
difficult to explain.
• Wine is generally consumed in areas where the
vineyards grow best, and where people can afford to
drink it.
• Religious taboos often are responsible for certain
areas’ preference or dislike of specific foods, much as
in folk custom.
– Ex: Wine is rarely consumed outside Christian dominate
countries.
Beijing, China
2004
• TELEVISION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
MECHANISM FOR THE RAPID DIFFUSION OF POP
CULTURE. It is also the most popular leisure activity in
MDC’s throughout the world. There are four levels of
television service:
– Near universal ownership. US, Japan, Europe, etc.
– Ownership common, but not universal. Latin American countries,
etc.
– Ownership exists, but is not widely diffused. Some African and
Asian countries,
– Very few televisions. Sub-Saharan Africa, some regions of Mid
East.
Diffusion of TV, 1954–1999
Television has diffused
widely since the 1950s, but
some areas still have low
numbers of TVs per
population.
Much media is still state-controlled.
Ten Most Censored Countries:
1.
North Korea
2.
Myanmar (Burma)
3.
Turkmenistan
4.
Equatorial Guinea
5.
Libya
6.
Eritrea
7.
Cuba
8.
Uzbekistan
9.
Syria
10.
Belarus
Source: The Committee to Protect Journalists.
www.cpj.org.
Diffusion of
TV
1954 - 2005
Television has diffused
widely since the 1950s,
but some areas still have
low numbers of TVs per
population.
• Diffusion of the Internet is following roughly the
same pattern as TV did at the start, which is the
U.S. has a disproportionately large share of the
Internet hosts compared to its share of the world
population. As the Internet increasingly becomes
the people’s resource of choice, pop culture will
have yet another conduit to rapidly and effectively
diffuse to nearly every inhabited place on the
planet.
Distribution of
Internet Users,
1990 - 2005
Internet users per 1000
population. Diffusion of
internet service is
following the pattern of TV
diffusion in the 20th
century, but at a much
faster rate.
Internet Connections
The Internet is diffusing
today, but access varies
widely.
Internet Connections
The Internet is diffusing today, but access varies widely. Some countries
censor the Internet, but this is much harder to do.
Key Issue 4: Why does globalization
of popular culture cause problems?
• DOMINANCE OF WESTERN PERSPECTIVES
• Three MDC’s, the U.S., the U.K., and Japan, virtually
control the television industry.
– At least one of the three serves nearly every LDC on Earth.
• The U.S. serves primarily Latin America
• the U.K. serves primarily Africa
• Japan serves mainly S. and E. Asia.
• Many LDC leaders claim that because the “westerners”
own nearly all of the TV broadcast within their countries, a
fair, unbiased report of local news is not presented.
Instead, the media focuses only on sensational, ratingboosting stories.
Why Does Globalization of Popular
Culture Cause Problems?
• The basic problems related to social customs
derive from
– the increasing dominance of popular culture,
originating in more developed countries, and
– the diffusing more rapidly around the world than in the
past due to modern communications.
• This increasing dominance of popular culture
poses two problems:
– the threat to survival of distinctive folk customs and
– increasing pollution.
Impacts of the Globalization of
Popular Culture
• Threats to folk culture
– Loss of traditional values
– Foreign media dominance
• Environmental impacts of popular culture
– Modifying nature
– Uniform landscapes
– Negative environmental impact
• NIMBY
The Generational and Cultural
Divide
• They’re well-off, well
educated, widely traveled,
fluent in several
languages.
• The elder woman, mother
of the younger, is a
biochemist, married to a
prosperous businessman in
Mumbai.
• Her daughter (in a PVC
catsuit of her own design)
is a model and former host
on the music video
channel VTV.
• Parents vs. You!!
Marboloro Man in Egypt
Problems with the Globalization of
Popular Culture
Western Media Imperialism?
 U.S., Britain, and Japan dominate
worldwide media.
 Glorified consumerism, violence, sexuality,
and militarism?
 U.S. (Networks and CNN) and British (BBC)
news media provide/control the
dissemination of information worldwide.
 These networks are unlikely to focus or
provide third world perspective on issues
important in the LDCs.
Abu Dubai
New York City
Tokyo
Bilbao
• ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
• Pop culture is less likely than folk to be considerate of physical
features.
– For many popular customs, the environment is something to be
modified to enhance a product or promote its sale.
• Ex: golf courses, destruction/modification of large expanses of
wilderness to promote a popular social custom.
Problems with the Globalization of Culture
Often Destroys Folk
Culture – or preserves
traditions as museum
pieces or tourism
gimmicks.
 Mexican Mariachis;
Polynesian Navigators;
Cruise Line
Simulations
 Change in Traditional
Roles and Values;
Polynesian weight
problems
Satellite Television, Baja California
Popular Culture
Effects on Landscape: creates homogenous,
“placeless” (Relph, 1976), landscape
• Pop culture also promotes uniformity of
landscape, as evidenced by the prevalence of
nearly identical fast-food restaurants at
convenient stops along highways.
 Complex network of roads and highways
 Commercial Structures tend towards ‘boxes’
 Dwellings may be aesthetically suggestive of
older folk traditions
• Planned and Gated Communities more and more
common
Surfing at Disney’s Orlando Typhoon Lagoon
Are places still tied to local landscapes?
Disconnect with landscape: indoor swimming pools? desert surfing?
McDonald’s Restaurant, Vencie
Swimming Pool, West
Edmonton Mall, Canada
Dubai’s Indoor Ski Resort
Muslim Women in Traditional Dress at
Indoor Ski Resort
Environmental Problems with
Cultural Globalization
Accelerated Resource Use through Accelerated
Consumption
• Furs: minx, lynx, jaguar, kangaroo, whale, sea otters (18th
Century Russians) fed early fashion trends
• Inefficient over-consumption of Meats (10:1), Poultry (3:1),
even Fish (fed other fish and chicken) by meat-eating pop
cultures
 Mineral Extraction for Machines, Plastics and Fuel
 New Housing and associated energy and water use.
 Golf courses use valuable water and destroy habitat worldwide.
Pollution: waste from fuel generation and discarded
products, plastics, marketing and packaging materials
Beijing, China
Palm Springs, CA
Marlboro Man in Egypt
Benefits of Economic and Cultural
Globalization





•
Increased economic opportunity?
Higher standards of living?
Increased consumer choice
More political freedom?
More social freedom?
Is Globalization good or bad?
 Explain using the text to back your answers
World Values Survey
Everyone Has a Culture –
Everyone is Different
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5.
What languages do you speak?
What music do you listen to?
What dances do you know?
What food do you eat at home?
In your family, what is considered polite and what is
considered rude? (what manners have you been taught?)
6. What do you wear on special occasions?
7. How important is your extended family (e.g. grandparents,
aunts, uncles, cousins)?
8. What holidays and ceremonies are important to your family?
9. What things are most important to you?
10. Based on your answers, how would you describe the
characteristics of the culture of which you are a part?
The End
• Sources cited:
– Rubenstein, James M. An Introduction to
Human Geography. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey. 2002.
– Jordan-Bychkov, Terry G. The Human Mosaic.
New York. W. H. Freeman and Company. 2003.
– Paradis, Tom. Architectural Styles of America.
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/ntwp/architecture/i
ndex.html.
• Rubenstein, James- Cultural Landscape; An
Introduction to Human Geography
• http://www.glendale.edu/geo/reed/cultural/c
ultural_lectures.htm
• http://www.quia.com/pages/mrsbellaphg.htm
l
• Ike Heardhttp://geoearth.uncc.edu/people/iheard/1105
syllabus.html
• Google