Cultures, Subcultures, and Countercultures: Crash Course Sociology #11

How Many Cultures Are There in the World?

This section discusses the concept of culture and how it is defined. It explores the idea that there is no agreed-upon number of cultures in the world, as cultural backgrounds can vary within a single country or city.

Understanding Culture

• Culture encompasses norms, symbols, and languages that define a group.

• Different individuals living in the same country and speaking the same language can have distinct cultural backgrounds.

• Cultural backgrounds are influenced by various factors, resulting in a diverse range of cultures within a society.

Cultural Patterns and Society

• Cultural patterns can be distinguished based on preferences such as leisure activities, entertainment choices, and fashion.

• Low culture (popular culture) represents behaviors and ideas popular among most people in a society.

• High culture refers to cultural patterns associated with a society's elite.

Mainstream Culture and Subcultures

• Mainstream culture aligns with a society's ideals and values.

• Subcultures exist within any society, representing distinct cultural patterns followed by specific segments of the population.

• Examples include hipster subculture characterized by unique expressions rejecting mainstream trends.

Diversity and Judgment

• The labeling of cultures as mainstream or subcultures is often influenced by power dynamics within societies.

• Some cultures are valued more than others, leading to unequal treatment.

• Ethnocentrism involves judging other cultures based on one's own standards.

Recognizing Individual Flavors

• Instead of assimilating all cultures into one, recognizing each individual flavor allows for appreciation and understanding.

• Afrocentrism focuses on studying African and African-American contributions to history and sociology.

• Multiculturalism encourages examining behavior through different cultural lenses.

How We Judge Other Cultures

This section explores the tendency to judge cultures and subcultures based on preconceived notions. It discusses ethnocentrism and the influence of Eurocentrism on historical interpretations.

Ethnocentrism and Eurocentrism

• Ethnocentrism involves judging one culture by the standards of another.

• Eurocentrism refers to a preference for European cultural patterns, impacting historical records and interpretations.

• Recognition of these biases is essential for a more inclusive understanding of cultures.

Embracing Cultural Diversity

• Rather than attempting to merge all cultures into one, valuing diversity allows for a richer understanding of each individual culture.

• Research should focus on historically underrepresented cultures, such as afrocentrism's emphasis on African and African-American contributions.

Expanding Perspectives through Multiculturalism

This section highlights the importance of adopting a multicultural perspective when studying behavior and cultural patterns. It encourages equalizing focus and appreciating diverse perspectives.

Multicultural Lens

• Multiculturalism involves examining behavior through various cultural perspectives, avoiding biases associated with one's own culture.

• Expanding research to include diverse cultures leads to a more comprehensive understanding of human behavior.

The transcript ends here.

New Section

This section discusses different perspectives on culture, including structural functionalism and conflict theory. It explores how cultures can provide order and cohesiveness in a society but also create social inequalities. It introduces the concept of counter-cultures and their role in challenging mainstream culture.

Perspectives on Culture

• From a structural functionalist perspective, cultures form to provide order and cohesiveness in a society.

• Conflict theorists view interactions between sub-cultures differently, emphasizing how prioritizing one sub-culture over another can lead to social inequalities and disenfranchisement.

Counter-Cultures

• Counter-cultures are sub-groups that actively oppose mainstream culture in an attempt to change how a society functions.

• The 1960s was a significant period for counter-cultural movements, with protests against the Vietnam war, civil rights activism, and the embrace of alternative lifestyles such as free love and drug use.

• Counter-cultures can act as catalysts for cultural change if they gain enough mainstream support. However, cultures naturally change over time with or without pushback from sub-cultures or counter-cultures.

Cultural Change

• Cultural change can occur through invention, where new things like cell phones revolutionize not just communication but also socialization.

• Discoveries of new things also contribute to cultural change; for example, the introduction of tomatoes completely changed food culture when European explorers brought them back to Europe from Central America.

• Cultural diffusion is another cause of cultural change, where traits spread from one culture to another. Many aspects of "American" culture are borrowed and transformed from other cultures.

Impact of Globalization

• As technology and globalization make the world smaller, cultures overlap more, leading to shared aspects of culture across nations.

• The question of whether a shared culture encourages cooperation or divides society is debated by structural functionalists and conflict theorists. Both perspectives have valid points, as there will always be different ways of thinking and living within a society, but culture serves as the tie that binds us together.

Crash Course Sociology Studio

This section provides information about the filming location and the team behind Crash Course Sociology.

Filming Location and Team

• Crash Course Sociology is filmed in the Dr. Cheryl C. Kinney Studio in Missoula, MT.

• The series is made with the help of various individuals.

• The Animation Team responsible for the visuals is Thought Cafe.

• Crash Course is created using Adobe Creative Cloud.

• Viewers have the option to support the series to keep it free for everyone.

No specific timestamps were provided in this section of the transcript.