Human cultural variation

HUMAN CULTURAL

VARIATIONAn Interactive Presentation

by MR. DIEGO C. POMARCA JR.Teacher I, Pangpang National High School - SHS

Human Cultural Variation: A Definition

• refers to the differences in social behaviors that different cultures exhibit around the world. What may be considered good etiquette in one culture may be considered bad etiquette in another.

(globalsociology.pbworks.com).

Cultural Variation Between Cultures

• If human cultures modify the natural environment, it is also true that the natural environment initially shaped, and still shapes to some extent, the culture of society.

Variation Between Cultures• The Japanese diet consists largely of fish,

seafood and vegetables because Japan is an archipelago and the sea provided consistent sources of food and, with one twentieth of the surface of the United States, there is no room for grazing land for raising beef cattle. Similarly, climate, soil, and geography affect cultural aspects.

Variation Between Cultures• Marvin Harris (1974) has demonstrated

that the specific treatment of cows in India is in fact an adaptation to natural and social conditions. India is still a largely traditional agricultural country with extremely low mechanization. Cows are sources of male calves that become oxen which can be used to plow fields. Cows are also a major source of manure, a valuable resource since India does not have oil resources and suffers from a shortage of wood. Manure can be used as fertilizer and heating energy. Finally, when cows die, they are given to Untouchables (the lowest caste) who then tan the skin into leather. Untouchables are also then relieved from the prohibition of eating beef, which provides them with a source of proteins.

VARIATION WITHIN

CULTURES

SUBCULTURE1. SUBCULTURES - A segment of society which shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values which differ from the pattern of larger society. It is a culture within a culture. - These are groups that have specific

cultural traits that set them apart from the dominant culture. 

Example of Subculture (Activities done during

December in the United States of America)

HANUKKAH - a lesser Jewish festival, lasting eight days from the 25th day of Kislev (in December) and commemorating the rededication of the Temple in 165 BC by the Maccabees after its desecration by the Syrians. It is marked by the successive kindling of eight lights.MENORAH - a candelabrum used in Jewish worship, especially one with eight branches and a central socket used at Hanukkah.

KWANZAA - a secular festival observed by many African Americans from December 26 to January 1 as a celebration of their cultural heritage and traditional values.

Example of Subculture (Activities done during

December in the United States of America)

WINTER SOLSTICE - the solstice that marks the onset of winter, at the time of the shortest day, about December 22 in the northern hemisphere and June 21 in the southern hemisphere.

COUNTER CULTURE• is a group whose values and norms place it at odds

with mainstream society or a group that actively rejects dominant cultural values and norms. In most Western countries, the 1960s saw the rise of different countercultural groups and social movements that sought to dismantle the different inequalities that were then part of the dominant culture, such as racism (Civil Rights movement), sexism (modern Feminist movement) and homophobia (Gay rights movement).

COUNTER CULTURE• More recently, paramilitary groups, militias and

survivalist groups constitute countercultures as they reject the social changes that came out of the 1960s and became part of the mainstream.

A paramilitary is a semi-militarized force whose organizational structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, and which is not included as part of a state's formal armed forces.

MILITIA - a military force that engages in rebel or terrorist activities, typically in opposition to a regular army.

Falun Gong - a spiritual movement active in China

The Chinese government has banned this movement. Its practitioners are regularly imprisoned for advocating superstition and spreading social disorder. In a country where religion is outlawed, a spiritual sect (there is debate as to whether Falun Gong is merely a spiritual movement or a cult) constitutes a countercultural movement, seen as challenging established norms. 

HIGH CULTURE / POPULAR CULTURE

• "High culture" is a term now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture.

• POPULAR CULTURE - culture based on the tastes of ordinary people rather than an educated elite.

References:

• https://faisal2050.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/culture-2/

• https://globalsociology.pbworks.com/w/page/14711170/Cultural%20Variation