Transcript Folk and Popular Culture

Folk and Popular Culture
Folk Culture
• Practiced by small,
homogenous groups living in
isolated areas
• Small scale
• Why? - geographic isolation,
limited communication
• More likely to vary from place
to place at a given time
• Reflects local diversity and
may be more sensitive to
protecting local environment
• Spreads by relocation
diffusion
Popular Culture
• Found in large, heterogeneous societies that
share certain habits
(habit - repetitive act performed by an individual
custom - repetitive act of a group that becomes a characteristic of
the group)
• Scale is large, wide distribution
• Based on rapid global connections through
communications, travel, and technology
• Rapid diffusion = frequent changes, so, more
likely to vary from time to time in a given place
• Becoming more dominant due to globalization
- threatening the survival of folk cultures,
reducing local diversity (and with it,
intellectual stimulation)
• Threatening quality of of environment - not
based locally, so more likely to modify the
environment according to outside values
Origin of Folk and Pop Culture
• Hearth (center of innovation):
– Folk hearth - usually anonymous w/
unknown dates, sometimes multiple
hearths
– Popular hearth - usually MDCs - arise from
advances technology & leisure time
• I.e. fast food, pop music, TV, video games
• Spreading faster as more of the world’s labor
force changes from agricultural to serive &
manufacturing (more leisure time)
Music
• Folk Music (ancient) - expansion diffusion
– anonymous & transmitted orally
– Across cultures, content of folk songs arises from events in daily
life that are familiar to people (life-cycle events, nature, farming)
• Popular Music (originated in 1900) - hierarchical diffusion
– Written by skilled people for sale to large #’s of people
– Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley - birth of the music industry
– WWII - broadcast music to locations across world for soldiers to
hear, English becomes international language of popular music
(still is)
– After WWII, Tin Pan Alley declined as recorded music became
more important than printed song sheets
– Hip hop - originated in NYC in 1970s, spread to Oakland in 1980s
• Both global and local (global reach through technology, but
many lyrics are local)
Diffusion: Folk Culture
• Relocation Diffusion - The Amish
– Distinctive clothing, farming & religion
– 80K people in US
– Originated in Switzerland, France & Germany in
1600s
– Spread to other parts of NW Europe looking for
religion freedom (merged with other Mennonite
groups & did not develop distinctive traits)
– 2 waves migrated to US: PA in 1700s and OH, IL,
IA & Ontario in 1800s
– Isolated, retained culture
– Diffusing slowly to places where land is cheap (ex:
to KY from PA)
Diffusion: Popular Culture
• Hierarchical diffusion - Soccer
– Started as English folk culture
– Origin is obscure - maybe England in 11th century
after Danish invasion
– Banned in England in 12th cent & legalized by
King James I in 1603
– Transformation to global popular culture began
when professional leagues formed in 1863
• Football Association = Soccer
• Increasing leisure time = more people to play and to
watch
– Diffused through contact with English players,
adoption by schools, universities & factories, &
later through technology - radio & TV
Why is Folk Culture Clustered?
• Isolation promotes cultural diversity
– Ex. Himalayan Art -- 4 distinct groups living
close together but isolated due to the
mountains have very different art
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Tibetan Buddhists
Hindus
Muslims
Animists
– All are influenced by unique religion and by
environment
Influence of the Physical Environment
• One of many things that influences folk
culture such as choices of clothing, food &
shelter
• Food
– Particular foods are produced in the environments
that are good for growing them (rice in moist &
warm, wheat in cold and dry)
– People adapt
• soybeans must be cooked & where fuel is scarce, people
developed ways to each soybeans without extensive
cooking -- fermenting (soy sauce) & bean sprouts
• N. Europe - abundant wood, therefore a tradition of slow
stewing and roasting
• Terrior - the contribution of a location’s physical
features to the way food tastes (I.e. wine)
Food Attractions and Taboos
• Some foods are eaten for their perceived
beneficial traits - strength, sexual prowess,
etc (jaguars, mandrake)
• Some foods have perceived negative
properties
– Taboo - restrictionon behavior imposed by social
custom
– Ainus don’t eat otters, Europeans avoided
potatoes, women in Chad don’t eat chicken or
goat before becoming pregnant & once pregnant
don’t eat antelope with twisted horns
– Some taboos protect the natural environment
• (I.e. Hebrews: pig meat spoils quickly in hot climates & is
not suited to ancient Hebrew lifestyle, Hindus in India
need lots of oxen around at plowing season)
Food Taboos cont…
• Social values also influence food taboos
– Hebrew taboos partially serve to set them
apart from others
– Christianity did not observe these taboos -set them apart
– Even in areas dominated by pop culture,
there are still taboos
• Americans don’t each insects (right?)