chapter 2 cultural studies

Chapter 2: Questions of Culture and Ideology Raymond William (1921-88) Read page 45

H.w Write biography of Raymond William.

Chapter 2 Questions of CulturePage 44 Objectives: What are the questions of culture? Differentiate culture with small “c” and capital “C”. What is Leavisism?

Critical Thinking: Read the following definition care then write some questions about.

1. the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society.

2. a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc. 3. a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or

organization (such as a business).4. The way of life we pass.5. A whole way of life.

Some Questions of culture.

1. There is no correct or definitive meaning of culture.

What is culture? Different meanings of culture by sociology, anthropology and

literature.

Way of Life. What do you think?

Past Present Future

Task: List at least 4 early and modern human’s activities.

Early Human Activities 1. 2 3 4

Modern Human Activities 1 2 3 4

Task: Compare human’s activities with given culture’s definition then answer the following Question.

Do you think definition is appropriate for present, past and future? Why?

Answer in Your Notebook

Definition : the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society.

Culture can be separated into general categories: “Capital C" High culture and “small c" culture. (Low culture)

C Task : Write some high culture’s examples.

c Task: Write some low culture’s examples.

So Culture with Capital “C” is the popular culture.

Reading: Read the paragraphs on page 45 then highlight different concepts about culture.

Task: Draw this table in your notebook then write the concepts of each writer in front of his name.

Writer’s Name Concepts

Raymond Williams

Matthew Arnold

What is leavisism? A form of literary (written) studies named after F. R. Leavis.

FRANK RAYMOND LEAVIS. Leavis was greatly influenced by Matthew Arnold and they share the idea( notion) that culture is the high point in civilization and concern of an education minority.

(civilization ) the stage of human social development. (Minority) the smaller part or number

Minority012345

MathScience Culture

F.R LEAVIS ARGUED THAT PRIOR INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN (ENGLAND)

Common culture The characteristics common to

the members of a particular group or society.

Example. UAE (Arabian Culture)

Minority culture Minority, a culturally,

ethnically, or racially distinct group that coexists with but is subordinate to a more dominant group.

Example. UAE (Indian Culture)

Task: Write some common and minority cultural activities in UAE.Common culture

1 2 3 4

Minority culture

1 2 3 4

Reading: Read the paragraph on page 46 then highlight the Leavisism’s important tasks.

Tasks are. 1. to define and defend the best of culture represented by the canon

of good works;

2. to criticize the worst of mass culture represented by advertising, films and popular fiction.

Ordinary Culture Culture is ordinary; that is the first fact. Every human society has its own shape,

its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning. The making of a society is the finding of common meanings and directions, and its growth is an active debate and amendment, under the pressures of experience, contact, and discovery, writing themselves into the land. The growing society is there, yet it is also made and remade in every individual mind. The making of a mind is, first, the slow learning of shapes, purposes, and meanings, so that work, observation, and communication are possible. Then, second, but equal in importance, is the testing of these in experience, the making of new observations, comparisons, and meanings. A culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to; the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested. These are the ordinary processes of human societies and human minds, and we see through them the nature of a culture: that it is always both traditional and creative; that it is both the most ordinary common meanings and the finest individual meanings. We use the word culture in these two senses: to mean a whole way of life — the common meanings; to mean the arts and learning — the special processes of discovery and creative effort. Some writers reserve the word for one or other of these senses; I insist on both, and on the significance of their conjunction. The questions I ask about our culture are questions about our general and common purposes, yet also questions about deep personal meanings. Culture is ordinary, in every society and in every mind.

Ordinary (Common) Culture

Art, Place, Heritage Ordinary Culture develops art and heritage projects with

organizations and communities, working in settings where art might not usually be presented or where heritage has not been investigated before.

Ordinary Culture: Usual practices of daily life or common practices.

Exercise

Q. Why is meaning central to the concept of culture? Ans: Because the concept of culture is a tool that is of more or less usefulness to us.

Its usage and meanings continue to change as thinkers have hoped to do different things with it.

Q. In What way culture can be consider an ordinary? Ans: The ordinary process of human societies and human minds, and we see through

them the nature of culture. Q. What are the connections between culture and communication? Ans: It brings understanding to communication through a common background of

shared experiences and histories. Q. By what methods do we construct meaning? Ans: By two aspects 1: The known meanings and directions 2: The new observations and meaning.

The Anthropological approach to culture

Anthropology: the study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture.

One of the earliest articulations of the anthropological meaning of the term "culture" came from Sir Edward Tylor who writes on the first page of his 1897 book: "Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society

Banality- Not original Pragmatic- based on practical Legitimize-conforming to the law or to rules

Tasks: Open answers

Have you ever eavesdropped (secretly listen to a conversation) on a conversation on a train, or “lurked” (remain hidden) online?

Do you think either of these activities constitute a form of anthropology?

How would you feel if you were being studied by an expert who was researching the lives of 21st century university students?

What advice would you give them about how best to study the culture of you and your friends?

Fast food

The anthropologist Levi-Strauss once said that ‘ food is good to think by (See chapter 1) Page 19.

Q1: What do you think he meant by that?

Answering Questions

He meant that the food is signifier of symbolic meanings and the circumstances of their eating and their attached to them.

Example. Circumstances (condition)are attached with fast food.

Food has symbolic importance as well as circumstances of their eating.

Answering Questions

Q2: What culture(s) do we associate with this type of food?

What does it tell us about the lifestyles and values of this culture? …………………………………the traditional family dinner is increasingly

being replaced by the consumption of takeaway, or eating "on the run".

Page 49

Watch the video than answer the question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgDeeMfh3HY

Case Study (Page 49)

Read the Question then answer.

Answer

Cooking at home has become less of a choice and more of a chore. With the large amount of ready meals available, the option of spending time in the kitchen becomes less and less appealing. People are spending more of their time and money in the world of fast foods and restaurants.

Culturalism: Hoggart, Thompson, Williams 1.