What is culture?
Culture is a broad term that is tricky to define and is often difficult to understand.
Is it all of these things, and more?
Culture is complex. Watch Spinal Tap performing Stonehenge.
How many cultural connections and markers can you identify?
Think in terms of:
Jot them down and try to explain the cultural codes used.
How many cultural connections and markers can you identify?
Think in terms of:
- Musical genre
- Clothes
- Stage set
- Instruments
- Posture of the band members
- Lyrics
Jot them down and try to explain the cultural codes used.
Individually, write down:
An example of an analogy could be that it is like the social glue that binds a specific group people together.
Share and compare your thinking with a partner. Reflect on your shared thoughts by re-working your thinking or adding to them.
- 3 thoughts
- 2 questions
- 1 analogy (a thing which is comparable to something else in significant respects.
"works of art were seen as an analogy for works of nature")
An example of an analogy could be that it is like the social glue that binds a specific group people together.
Share and compare your thinking with a partner. Reflect on your shared thoughts by re-working your thinking or adding to them.
ATL: Communication
Discuss
Do animals have culture?
Find 2 examples of why they may do, and 2 examples of why they may not.
Feed back your thinking with the class.
Do animals have culture?
Find 2 examples of why they may do, and 2 examples of why they may not.
Feed back your thinking with the class.
TASK
Refer to pages 110 and 111 in the student textbook.
For the class display board, you are to identify, explain and justify an example of culture.
Include the conceptual understanding of "Time, place and space" and the related concepts of identity and cultural expression.
You must create a structured, supported and reasonable argument that supports the claims of culture that you are making. This will be added to the display.
For the class display board, you are to identify, explain and justify an example of culture.
Include the conceptual understanding of "Time, place and space" and the related concepts of identity and cultural expression.
You must create a structured, supported and reasonable argument that supports the claims of culture that you are making. This will be added to the display.
An example could be the rise of football hooliganism in the 1970's and 80's and the continental Ultras seen today.
In these subcultures, there are many expressions of connections to family, violence, community, regionalism, sport, the working-class, youth and fashion, amongst others.
People ask, "What made you become such a violent hooligan?" Simple answer: the buzz.
In my day, there was nothing else to do that came close to it. No Xbox, internet, theme parks or fancy hobbies. Football was one of the only hobbies available to young, working-class kids, and at the football, you were either a hunter or the hunted.
I became a hunter. I looked for trouble and found it by the lorry load, as there were literally thousands of like-minded kids desperate for a weekly dose of it. Like a heroin addict craves for his needle fix, our fix was football violence.
In my day, there was nothing else to do that came close to it. No Xbox, internet, theme parks or fancy hobbies. Football was one of the only hobbies available to young, working-class kids, and at the football, you were either a hunter or the hunted.
I became a hunter. I looked for trouble and found it by the lorry load, as there were literally thousands of like-minded kids desperate for a weekly dose of it. Like a heroin addict craves for his needle fix, our fix was football violence.
What impacts can music have on society?
Case study - Grunge and the early 1990's
Twenty plus years ago, grunge had reached its peak. Shortly after Soundgarden’s Superunknown went to No. 1 and confirmed that grunge was no longer an isolated genre but an international phenomenon, Kurt Cobain’s suicide shook the scene to its core. Grunge had been building steadily in the late ’80s before exploding into the mainstream in the early ’90s, but in 1994, it was fading fast. Pearl Jam was trying to hold it together, retreating from the spotlight as fast as they could; Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and hordes of others were battling horrid drug addictions and struggling for survival. It was a dark and dire time, and soon it was clear that the movement had nowhere to go but down.
But before the movement unravelled, it offered some mind-blowing music. While everybody—including the artists themselves—has their own definition of what constitutes grunge, before grunge’s name was sullied and outdated, the movement changed the course of rock ’n’ roll, bringing to the fold tales of abuse and depression, bringing socially conscious issues to the pop culture table, perpetuated by the likes of MTV.
But before the movement unravelled, it offered some mind-blowing music. While everybody—including the artists themselves—has their own definition of what constitutes grunge, before grunge’s name was sullied and outdated, the movement changed the course of rock ’n’ roll, bringing to the fold tales of abuse and depression, bringing socially conscious issues to the pop culture table, perpetuated by the likes of MTV.
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Before grunge, there had begun a move away from pretty pop and pretty rock music. Dinosaur Jr are often considered the Godfather's of grunge for their heavily distorted guitars and their slacker lyrics. |
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The grunge ascetic was low-fi, noisy and loud. Here is a cover of The Cure song "Just Like Heaven", a previous Goth anthem. Given the Jr treatment, it was turned up to 11 and serrated to within an inch of its life. |
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Early grunge could often still be considered rock, as with The Smashing Pumpkins first doodlings, but some of the elements were becoming easier to discern; churning rhythm; stop start verse and chorus; and the now ubiquitous heavy distortion. |
The impact of Grunge on fashion went fairly mainstream and to some degree is still with us today; Nirvana smiley face T-shirt anyone?
The look was T-shirt and jeans, big jumpers and hair, as much and as messy as you could muster. This was in many ways anti-fashion. It was said that Kurt Cobain's look came from the fact he was so lazy and poor that he didn't often wash and the holes in his clothes were genuine. |
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Pearl Jam signalled grunge as a mainstream genre, with songs like "Even Flow" and "Alive" played regularly on TV and radio. The flannel shirt was now a staple of most teen wardrobes. |
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Musical and cultural high points came with the near legendary status of Nirvana and with unit-shifter songs like In Bloom being listened to across the social demographic. |
Task
Use pages 116 - 117 in your textbook.
1. Explain why Grunge became a popular musical and social sub-culture in the early 1990's? Use the concept of Time, Place and Space in your answer.
2. Why do sub-cultures such as Grunge only last for relatively short periods of time? Think about the role of significant individuals.
Use pages 116 - 117 in your textbook.
1. Explain why Grunge became a popular musical and social sub-culture in the early 1990's? Use the concept of Time, Place and Space in your answer.
2. Why do sub-cultures such as Grunge only last for relatively short periods of time? Think about the role of significant individuals.
How does culture depend on time, place and space?
Time, place and space play an important role in shaping culture. The time period in which individuals and societies live effects the types and forms of culture. Imagine how different the world was 500 years ago from the world we see today, and how this subsequently has led to different cultural identities.
Imagine today if popular books caused moral hysteria among the population and establishment classes?
Penny Dreadfuls circa 1880.
Penny Dreadfuls circa 1880.
Named for a combination of its cover price of a penny an issue as well as the macabre nature of its contents, the Victorian penny dreadful—short, graphic, often serialised stories targeted at juvenile audiences—caused near-hysteria towards the end of the nineteenth century when outraged parties accused the violent books of subverting the natures of its generally poor readership towards indecent behaviour. Cheaply produced, often poorly written, and readily available, the books became a source for cultural vitriol when it became apparent the widespread devotion they inspired among a broadly unpopular segment of the restless juvenile male population of the era. Despite their appeal at large, penny dreadfuls were commonly associated with "the wild boy" population who earned a reputation as violent, directionless thugs prone to dangerous encounters and presenting a threat to the general citizenry.
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Place and space are also important as the specific location that people live or lived can influence their culture. For example, indigenous cultures are often strongly connected to the natural environment in which their people live.
For example, most Native American religions share a set of common features. Most important among these are a lack of distinction between the spiritual world and the natural world, the existence of some type of creative deity, and a general lack of objective, fixed principles. Few Native American religious ideas were considered absolutely unchangeable, and even fewer were codified in writing. As a result, historic spiritual beliefs in the Americas were diverse and extremely fluid.
Some tribes in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island area believed that the afterlife lay to the southwest, where a village of ancestors would welcome the souls of the dead. |
Illustration of the funeral scaffold of a Sioux chief. Spiritual practices were a part of daily life, including those involving death.
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Task
Read through the following scenarios. In pairs, discuss the different ways in which living in each scenario influences the cultural identity of the society, then write a brief paragraph of 100 to 200 words on two of the scenarios to show how culture depends upon time, place and space.
Read through the following scenarios. In pairs, discuss the different ways in which living in each scenario influences the cultural identity of the society, then write a brief paragraph of 100 to 200 words on two of the scenarios to show how culture depends upon time, place and space.
- The early 21st century and the internet's incredible increase in peoples' ability to connect globally.
- A family in an authoritarian state with high levels of censorship and control.
- A liberal society with high levels of education, freedom and justice.
- Early industrial societies, such as Britain, were the lower classes were seen as morally and socially inferior.
What is multiculturalism?
"Multiculturalism" is the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviours, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles. (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA))
In sociology, multiculturalism is the view that cultural differences should be respected or even encouraged. Sociologists use the concept of multiculturalism to describe one way of approaching cultural diversity within a society. Underlying multiculturalism is the belief that members of different cultures can live peacefully alongside each other; assimilation is not necessary, nor perhaps even desirable. Contrasted with multiculturalism is the "melting pot" perspective, according to which cultural differences — such as differences in religion, language, and other customs — blend into another to form a new whole. Proponents of multiculturalism favour people keeping at least some features of their traditional culture. The United States has often been described as a multicultural nation. Critics claim that multiculturalism threatens social unity and the dominant culture.
ATL: Critical thinking
In essence, critical thinking requires you to use your ability to reason. It is about being an active learner rather than a passive recipient of information.
Critical thinkers rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them at face value. They will always seek to determine whether the ideas, arguments and findings represent the entire picture and are open to finding that they do not. Critical thinkers will identify, analyse and solve problems systematically rather than by intuition or instinct. Someone with critical thinking skills can:
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1. What is the main argument about multiculturalism being made in the video above, "Are some cultures better than others?"
2. "PragerU, short for Prager University, is an American non-profit organization that creates videos on various political, economic and philosophical topics from a conservative or right-wing perspective. The videos are posted on YouTube and usually feature a speaker who lectures for about five minutes. PragerU is not an academic institution, does not hold classes, and does not grant certifications or diplomas." (wikipedia). Click on the link below for more information.
2. "PragerU, short for Prager University, is an American non-profit organization that creates videos on various political, economic and philosophical topics from a conservative or right-wing perspective. The videos are posted on YouTube and usually feature a speaker who lectures for about five minutes. PragerU is not an academic institution, does not hold classes, and does not grant certifications or diplomas." (wikipedia). Click on the link below for more information.
Considering the origin and purpose of the video and the organisation who produced it, how might the validity of the arguments presented be challenged? Explain using a short paragraph and specific evidence.
3. How does the TRTWorld Roundtable video differ in argument, language and tone from the first video?
4. The Individuals and Societies assessment criteria for Criterion D strand iv requires you to:
"recognize different perspectives and explain their implications."
Reflect upon the the two videos as sources of information upon the issue of multiculturalism and write a short paragraph that explains the importance of this aspect of thinking critically.
4. The Individuals and Societies assessment criteria for Criterion D strand iv requires you to:
"recognize different perspectives and explain their implications."
Reflect upon the the two videos as sources of information upon the issue of multiculturalism and write a short paragraph that explains the importance of this aspect of thinking critically.
Unit Assessment
"Explain the different ways that culture affects our identity and society"
For this, you will investigate a specific example of a cultural genre (sport, music, politics, gender, for example) and use a range of examples within that genre.
You will need to thoroughly and explicitly investigate your chosen genre and produce a well-supported theoretical argument as a way of explanation.
You will present your argument in the form of a simple stop-motion animation with voice over.
Ideas to consider:
You will be assessed on Criteria B: Investigating (strands i, ii, iii, iv) and Criteria D: Thinking critically (strands i and ii).
"Explain the different ways that culture affects our identity and society"
For this, you will investigate a specific example of a cultural genre (sport, music, politics, gender, for example) and use a range of examples within that genre.
You will need to thoroughly and explicitly investigate your chosen genre and produce a well-supported theoretical argument as a way of explanation.
You will present your argument in the form of a simple stop-motion animation with voice over.
Ideas to consider:
- What are the different ways culture can affect identity?
- How is culture expressed? Explain the impact of this.
- Culture can be visible, invisible, material, a subculture, multicultural.
- How is culture changed across time, place and space?
- Who is affected? Is everyone affected in the same way?
- Does everyone see the aspect of culture and examples given in the same way (perspective)?
You will be assessed on Criteria B: Investigating (strands i, ii, iii, iv) and Criteria D: Thinking critically (strands i and ii).
Criterion B: Investigating
i. formulate/choose a clear and focused research question, explaining its relevance ii. formulate and follow an action plan to investigate a research question iii. use methods to collect and record relevant information iv. evaluate the process and results of the investigation, with guidance. 0
The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below. 1–2 The student: i. identifies a research question that is clear, focused and relevant ii. formulates a limited action plan or does not follow a plan iii. collects and records limited or sometimes irrelevant information iv. with guidance, reflects on the research process and results in a limited way. 3–4 The student: i. formulates/chooses a research question that is clear and focused and describes its relevance ii. formulates and occasionally follows a partial action plan to investigate a research question iii. uses a method(s) to collect and record some relevant information iv. with guidance, reflects on the research process and results. 5–6 The student: i. formulates/chooses a clear and focused research question and describes its relevance in detail ii. formulates and mostly follows a sufficiently developed action plan to investigate a research question iii. uses methods to collect and record appropriate relevant information iv. with guidance, evaluates on the research process and results. 7–8 The student: i. formulates/chooses a clear and focused research question and explains its relevance ii. formulates and effectively follows a consistent action plan to investigate a research question iii. uses methods to collect and record appropriate and varied relevant information iv. with guidance, provides a detailed evaluation of the research process and results. |
Criterion D: Thinking critically
i. analyse concepts, issues, models, visual representation and/or theories ii. summarise information to make valid, well-supported arguments 0
The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below. 1–2 The student: i. begins to analyse concepts, issues, models, visual representation and/or theories in a limited way ii. begins to identify connections between information to make simple arguments 3–4 The student: i. completes a simple analysis of concepts, issues, models, visual representation and/or theories ii. summarises information to make some adequate arguments 5–6 The student: i. completes a substantial analysis of concepts, issues, models, visual representation and/or theories ii. summarises information in order to make usually valid arguments 7–8 The student: i. completes a detailed analysis of concepts, issues, models, visual representation and/or theories ii. summarises information to make consistent, well-supported arguments |