Cyber Culture

The Internet / Cyber world - Few technologies in human history rival the Internet in its speed of adoption and range of impact. The Internet's spread has been compared to the advent of the printing press, which, like the Internet, greatly enhanced the availability of information and the rate of its reproduction.

Many have commented on the Internet's ability to transform business and the broader economy, but perhaps an equally profound change is being felt throughout society and culture, where the Internet and the World Wide Web are transforming how people live and interact.

The Internet's influence generates a range of reactions from different people, ranging from idealism to cynicism, but however it is received, there's no denying that it has led to dramatic shifts in such areas as interpersonal interaction, work culture, relations to time, expectations of speed and convenience, networking between individuals and groups, and even use of language.

The word "cyberculture" is used in a variety of ways, often referring to certain cultural products and practices born of computer and Internet technologies, but also to specific subcultures that champion computer-related hobbies, art, and language.

In the 1970s, cyberculture was the exclusive domain of a handful of technology experts, including mathematicians, computer scientists, digital enthusiasts, and academics, devoted to exchanging and promoting ideas related to the growing fields of computers and electronics. These early cybercultures sometimes advanced a view of the future guided by the progressive and beneficial hand of technological change.

But following the commercialization of the Internet and the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s, cyberculture took on a new life, and computer and information technologies took the dynamics of culture and social relations in dramatically new directions.

The Internet touches many parts of life in advanced industrial societies. Everything from shopping, paying bills, and playing the stock market to news gathering, family interaction, romantic courtships, and play all take place in cyberspace, whereas before the mid-1990s all these activities existed more commonly in the physical world.

The Internet profoundly influences what and how children learn, the vocabulary employed in daily conversation, the way people coordinate their schedules and work habits, and perceptions of distance and time.

 

Ref: https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cyberculture-society-culture-and-internet

Culture Shock & its Relevance in Media

“Culture shock” describes the impact of moving from a familiar culture to one which is unfamiliar. It is an experience described by people who have travelled abroad to work, live or study; it can be felt to a certain extent even when abroad on holiday. It can affect anyone. It includes the shock of a new environment, meeting lots of new people and learning the ways of a different country.

It also includes the shock of being separated from the important people in your life, maybe family, friends, colleagues, teachers: people you would normally talk to at times of uncertainty, people who give you support and guidance.

When familiar sights, sounds, smells or tastes are no longer there you can miss them very much. If you are tired and jet-lagged when you arrive small things can be upsetting and out of all proportion to their real significance.

Culture shock can take place when people move from rural to urban areas and are exposed to different cultural practices, not just from one country to another.

Let us now look at culture shock and its relevance in Media

Mass communication influences both society and culture. Different societies have different media systems, and the way they are set up by law influences how the society works. Different forms of communication, including messages in the mass media, give shape and structure to society.

Individuals and groups in society influence what mass media organizations produce through their creativity on the input side and their consumption habits on the output side.

Many mass media products transcend social structures to influence multiple societies, and even in societies that heavily censor their mass media the news of scandals and corruption can get out. The mass media and society are bound together and shape each other

With the rise of global computer networks, particularly high-speed broadband and mobile communication technologies, individuals gained the ability to publish their own work and to comment on mass media messages more easily than ever before. If mass communication in the 20th century was best characterized as a one-to-many system where publishers and broadcasters reached waiting audiences, the mass media made possible by digital information networks in the twenty-first have taken on a many-to-many format.

For example, YouTube has millions of producers who themselves are also consumers. None of the social media giants such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Qzone and Weibo (in China), Twitter, Reddit or Pinterest is primarily known for producing content. Instead, they provide platforms for users to submit their own content and to share what mass media news and entertainment companies produce. The result is that the process of deciding what people should be interested in is much more decentralized in the digital network mass media environment than it was in the days of an analog one-to-many mass media system.

The process of making meaning in society — that is, the process of telling many smaller stories that add up to a narrative shared by mass audiences — is now much more collaborative than it was in the 20th century because more people are consuming news in networked platforms than through the channels managed by gatekeepers. A mass media gatekeeper is someone, professional or not, who decides what information to share with mass audiences and what information to leave out.

 

On social media platforms, media consumers have the ability to add their input and criticism, and this is an important function for users. Not only do we have a say as audience members in the content we would like to see, read and hear, but we also have an important role to play in society as voting citizens holding their elected officials accountable.

If social media platforms were only filled with mass media content, individual user comments, and their own homegrown content, digitally networked communication would be complex enough, but there are other forces at work. Rogue individuals, hacker networks and botnets — computers programmed to create false social media accounts, websites and other digital properties — can contribute content alongside messages produced by professionals and legitimate online community members. False presences on social media channels can amplify hate and misinformation and can stoke animosity between groups in a hyper-partisan media age.

Around the world, societies have democratized mass communication, but in many ways, agreeing on a shared narrative or even a shared list of facts is more difficult than ever. Users create filter bubbles for themselves where they mostly hear the voices and information that they want to hear. This has the potential to create opposing worldviews where users with different viewpoints not only have differing opinions, but they also have in mind completely different sets of facts creating different images about what is happening in the world and how society should operate.

The world of mass media has witnessed the convergence of media content on digital platforms, the ability of individuals to engage in one-to-many communication as though they were major broadcasters, and the emergence of structures that allow for many-to-many communication. 

Thus we see that with the wide variety of information available on the internet, the masses are exposed to varied cultural practices and are thus exposed to cultures that are different and unique from their own. It becomes easier to accept and understand the variety of cultures as we are now exposed to them via social media / mass media.

In conclusion, it is important to stress that culture shock is entirely normal, usually unavoidable and not a sign that you have made a mistake or that you won’t manage. In fact there are very positive aspects of culture shock. The experience can be a significant learning experience, making you more aware of aspects of your own culture as well as the new culture you have entered. It will give you valuable skills that will serve you in many ways now and in the future.

 

Ref: https://press.rebus.community/mscy/chapter/chapter-1/#:~:text=Mass%20communication%20influences%20both%20society,shape%20and%20structure%20to%20society.

 

 

 

COMMODIFICATION OF CULTURE

Media and culture share a relationship which is both positive and negative. Certain negative effects of media on culture are impact on violence, racial stereotypes, economic exploitation, and mindless consumption of commodities. 

On the other hand, media has helped in providing education opportunities, creating awareness about different and unique cultures, etc

One of the most intriguing and challenging perspectives emerging from critical cultural studies is the commodification of culture – the study of what happens when culture is mass produced and distributed in direct competition with locally based cultures.

Media are industries specializing in the producing and distribution of cultural commodities. As with other modern industries, they have also grown at the expense of small, local producers and the consequences of this displacement have been, and continue to be, disruptive to people’s life.

Some important consequences of lifting bits of everyday life culture out of their context, repackaging and then marketing them back to the people:

·        When elements of everyday culture are selected for repackaging, only a very limited range is chosen and thus important elements are overlooked or are consciously ignored.

·        The repackaging process involves dramatization of these elements of culture which have been selected.

·        The marketing of cultural commodities is done in a way which maximizes the likelihood that they will successfully intrude into and ultimately disrupt everyday life.

·        The elites who operate the cultural industries generally are ignorant of the consequences of their work.

·        Disruption of everyday life takes many forms – some are obviously linked to consumption of especially deleterious (negative impact)  content, but other forms of disruption are very subtle and occur over long periods of time.

In modern capitalist societies, ‘commodification’ points to the relationship between large economic systems and hegemonic cultural ideologies and is mainly concerned with generating profit rather than enriching human feelings or experience. Commodification of culture has had an intense impact on the lifestyle of people.

Critical cultural studies researchers have directed their most devasting criticism towards advertising which is viewed as the ultimate cultural commodity.

POPULAR CULTURE

We are surrounded and invaded by popular culture through our daily activities like listening to music, watching a variety of programs, reading books, comics, sports, etc. This form of culture is a characteristic of industrial societies.

Before industrialization, we were familiar with high culture and folk culture. High culture mostly related to a small, literate, elite group, or the upper class. They and encouraged and sustained such a culture. High culture relates to the classics of literature, the great traditions of art and sculpture. Folk culture on the other hand, was seen among folk people in their expression of serious and significant matter of life like birth and death, man and woman, child and adult, seasons, justice, cruelty, fate and destiny. It was shared by everyone and everyone participated in it. The folk people entertained themselves through it, especially on ceremonial occasions like weddings, religious holidays, harvest celebrations, etc.

Industrialization brought about changes that affected industrial capitalism and human culture. It is due to mass production that we have a mass of consumer goods. Folk culture has receded and now it is the mass media which plays a very important role. Mass media promotes and distributes mass culture. Popular culture is a positive term for mass-produced or mass-disseminated cultural products.

According to some scholars, mass culture and popular culture are terms that can be used interchangeably but other scholars state that there are also differences between the two.

Popular culture relates to the culture which is shared, accepted and liked by people.

Mass culture is the culture which cuts across and includes a wide range of social classes and groups. E.g. TV series attract a varied audience.

Since the 1930s sociologists have contended that the characteristics of different social classes determine their cultural preferences. American sociologists have asserted that high culture and popular culture express different values and represent different aesthetic standards.  There is a distinct separation between high and popular culture, that the two are consumed by different classes, and that the prestige of each class is attached to its culture.

Some conservative critics claim that mass culture is profane and dehumanizing and it encroaches upon high cultural production.

Some radical critics agree with the conservative critics as they focus on the negative impact on those who consume it and upon the society as a whole rather just on the high culture upon which it encroaches.

Radical critics call for ‘cultural mobility’ i.e., raising the masses’ tastes through education, opportunity, and economic redistribution. Cultural mobility would free the people from the economic elite and provide opportunity to appreciate high culture.

Moderate or liberal critics take the position that popular culture is harmful neither to the people who consume it nor to the society as a whole. According to them, all cultures are equal in worth if they meet the needs of the people. These liberal sociologists therefore call for reinvigoration of various cultures or subcultures.

In the late 1980s, many sociologists and communication scholars began challenging the validity of class-based distinction between high culture and popular culture. Some critics claim that modern media, particularly television, create ‘media cultures’ accessible to multiple taste public. Thus media culture sets the standards for culture and shapes popular taste.

MA Sociology Part I Notes: Paper III Classical Perspective in Cultural Anthropology

 Paper III Classical Perspective in Cultural Anthropology

Click on the topic you want to learn / study

Unit I: Origin, Sub-Disciplines and Debates

• European Modernity, Colonialism andAnthropology

• Anthropology and its sub-disciplines: [Biological Anthropology, Linguistics, Pre- Historic Archaeology, Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology]

• Claims to holism, the comparative method   and the origin of fieldwork

• Debates in Classical Anthropology [Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism, ‘The book view’ and the ‘field view’]

Unit II: Foundational Perspectives

• Evolutionist Perspectives

• Diffusionism: The Kulturkreis school,British diffusionists.

• Historical Particularism

• Structural Functionalism

Unit III: Classical Ethnographic Registers

• Culture and Personality

• Culture History

• Ethnolinguistics

• Village Studies

Unit IV: Diversified Locations

• Classical Studies in Kinship

• Structuralism

• Structuralism in Indian Anthropology

• Diversification of Anthropology: WorldAnthropologies

CULTURE AND MASS MEDIA

 RELATION BETWEEN CULTURE AND MASS MEDIA

There is a very close relationship existing between culture and mass media. Both these influence each other to a great extent. On one hand, culture determines the content matter of mass media. Example: the different films and tele soaps are based upon and greatly influenced by some or the other kind of culture.

On the other hand, mass media also influences culture. It is generally believed and often asserted that the Mass Media is a very powerful means of spreading culture, determining and controlling thoughts and actions of people to a very great degree in society.

Mass media is an important tool of reinforcing the existing culture and values of a particular society. Example: The latest trend amongst people, to have many ceremonies relating to marriage, this has been popularized by the media, which in turn reinforces the traditional cultural heritage.

Culture also influences people’s choice of a particular kind of media. Example: The different economic and social strata of people in a society select and prefer to access different convenient forms of mass media. The lower income groups prefer audio-visual forms of media compared to the print media.

The impact and influence of persuasive mass communication is tremendous on the minds of the younger generations. No wonder then, Mass Media has radically altered the attitudes, thoughts and lifestyles of the people all over the world.

There is a close connection between the Mass Media of communication and the emergence of mass culture.

Mass culture has emerged as a result of the dynamic revolutionary role played by the modern Mass Media of communications. Example: Movies, radio, television and mass circulation of magazines have extended the mass culture in our country.

SOCIAL CHANGE

Meaning and definition of social change: Change is an ever-present phenomenon. It is an integral part of nature and of man. All societies are subject to change, the physical environment, people, and culture all undergo changes. Society is not static but dynamic.

To Mac Iver and Page, social change refers to the changing pattern of social relations, social structure, of groups and organizations. It is defined as the changes in the structure and functioning of a particular social system. Identifying change involves showing how far the structure of an institution or society or community is altered over a period of time. a given social system is in a process of change when its basic institution is modified, when the roles which individuals constituting the system change when functions change, when status is based on achievement, etc.

Social change mainly refers to changes in the life patterns of people. Changes in art, science, technology, philosophy, may result in the changes in the attitudes, behavior, social processes, social patterns, interactions and relations of people. These changes then amount to social change.

Factors responsible for social change: Social change is the product of the interaction of many factors. A single factor may trigger a particular change, but it is always associated with a number of factors. The physical, biological, technological, cultural, and other factors may together being about social change. None of these factors works separately form the rest. Each factor is therefore an element in the system. Changes in one part influence the other parts, until the entire society or community is involved. The following are the factors that are responsible for change.

Physical environment – has an effect on the development of human social organization, for e.g., in extreme environmental conditions people must reorganize their ways of life in relation to weather conditions. People who live in Alaska follow different patterns of social life from people in Mediterranean countries. Major changes in the environment are quite reare but very compelling when they occur. For e.g., when there is a famine or when soil is eroded or when coal or oil in a particular region is exhausted etc., people have to move away or man’s original activity changes. Human beings however can adapt to their environment. They can master the world around them. Man does not accept the limitations imposed by his natural environment; he strives in various ways to change it. He can change the courses of rivers and turn deserts into fertile areas. Each new invention, each improvement of man can lead to change in society.

Population factors – Changes in the size, density, sex-age composition of population have an important impact on social change. A rapidly growing population must either migrate or improve in productive techniques. For e.g., population explosion in a developing country like India has led to many socio-economic problems including crime and violence. Great historical migrations and conquests of the Vikings, Huns, etc., have arisen from the pressure of a growing population upon limited resources. Migration encourages further change for it brings a group into a new environment, subjects it to new contacts and confronts it with new problems. Population changes have occurred all through human history, by reason of migration, war, changing mores, famines, etc. Those societies were declining death rate have a higher standard of living, high status of women, high levels of literacy, etc. A population change therefore is not only a change in itself, but also becomes a causal factor in further social and cultural changes.

Economic factors – influence the rate and kind of change. Industrial capitalism is one of the most important economic factors that have had a far-reaching impact on the society. It not only aims at technological innovations and increasing productivity but also maximizes profits at the cost of labor welfare. This results in conflicts between the rich and the poor. Economic inequality has become a common feature where there is deprivation of every kind. There is no equality of status, rather, a glaring disparity between the rich and the poor, leaving the country with no savings or capital investments. Our cultural interest are often affected by economy. For eg. Those interested in fine arts, dance, music, theatre, etc., as a career cannot take them for want of enough resources or economic support. However, economic factors alone cannot be the cause of social change.

Political factors – Another type of influence on social change is the impact of political developments. The struggle between nations to expand their power, develop their wealth and military over other nature has been an important source of change over the last few decades. The government as political machinery can either enhance change or disrupt and retard it. The political ideology, the policies and programs and efficiency with which they run the country tends to influence the process of social change. For e.g., political instability in India has adversely affected economic growth. NRIs and other foreign investors dread investing their money in projects or industries in India. Terrorism and religious fundamentalism have caused havoc in India. India has suffered from these politically oriented movements which have resulted in riots and conflicts. Thus, political factors can ruin a generation, affect social change, the socio-cultural and socio-economic life of the people.

Isolation and contact – Societies located at world crossroads have always centers of change. Since most traits come through diffusion, those societies in closest contact with other societies are likely to change most rapidly. Areas of greatest intercultural contact are always the centers of change. Trade, even war has always brought intercultural contact and today tourism is adding to the contacts between cultures. Conversely isolated areas are less likely to change. The most primitive tribes have been those who were the most isolated like the polar eskimos or the Onges of the Nicobar Islands. Isolation invariably retards change.

Attitudes and Values – Societies differ greatly in their general attitude towards change. A society that reveres the past, worships ancestors, are preoccupied with traditions, superstitions, and rituals will change very slowly and unwillingly. Literate and educated people tend to have positive attitudes and values towards change and hence accept changes more readily than illiterate and uneducated people do. A rapidly changing society therefore has a different attitude towards change and this attitude is both cause and effect of the change already taking place.

Perceived needs – A society’s rate and direction of change are greatly affected by the needs its members perceive. ‘Needs’ are subjective, they are real only if people feel they are real. Until people feel a need, they resist change. For e.g., the tire was invented in 1845 but was ignored until the popularity of the bicycle created an awareness of the need for tires. A more recent failure is the need to recognize that death control creates the need for birth control as well as the population will increase tremendously.

The cultural base – By cultural base we mean the accumulation of knowledge and technique available. As the cultural base grows, an increasing number of inventions, innovations and discoveries are possible. Unless the cultural base provides the necessary knowledge and technique available to the inventor, innovations cannot take place. For e.g. Leonardo da Vinci sketched many machines which were entirely workable in principle, but the technology of his day were incapable of building them.

Processes of social change

When we refer to social change as a process we mean that it is a definite step by step manner by which change takes place and where one state leads and merges into another. A process means a continuous change taking place in a definite manner through the operation of forces present from the very beginning with the situation. Examples of processes is communication, integration, socialization, inventions, diffusion, discovery, innovations, etc.

Discovery – A discovery is a shared perception of reality, which already exists. It is an addition to the world’s store of already existing knowledge. It adds something new to the culture because although this reality may have always existed, it became part of the culture only after its discovery. For e.g., human beings discovered continents, circulation of blood, the different planets, comets, etc. A discovery becomes a factor in social change only when it is put to use. For e.g., before AD 100 Hero of Alexandria had build a steam engine as a toy, but steam power produced no social changes until it was put to serious use years later. Therefore, when new knowledge is used to develop new technology, cast changes generally follow.

Invention – An invention is often defined as a new combination or a new use of existing knowledge. The wheel did not exist until someone had the idea of using a round slice of tree log and length of tree limb, or round stone. Thus, even though the elements used are not new, it is the idea of combining them in a useful way that produces something that never existed before. For e.g., iron, with the addition of small amounts of other metals, became steel, a new metal altogether. Inventions may be classified into material inventions such as bow and arrow, telephone and so on and social inventions such as the alphabet, law, etc. Each invention may be new in form, function and meaning. Form refers to the shape or trait of the new invention; function refers to what the invention does and meaning the long range consequence of its use. For e.g.  the hooka, bedi and cigarette are different in form, but not in function or meaning.

Innovation – The term innovation usually includes both discoveries and inventions. In either case something new has been added to the culture. Innovations are usually compatible with being the existing culture. Usually traits are modified to fit into the existing culture of the society. Example – A new speech form – Hinglish – new dance step, etc. A society with a good cultural base that provides for the accumulation of science, technology will have more innovations.

Diffusion – Most of the social changes in society have developed through diffusion, the spread of cultural traits from group to group. Diffusion operates both within societies and between societies. Jazz originated among the black musicians of New Orleans and today it has been diffused throughout the world. Diffusion takes place whenever societies come into contact. A typical American wears pajamas invented in India, uses coins invented in Lydia, eats waffles invented in Scandinavia and smokes (an American India habit) a cigarette, derived from Mexico. The process of diffusion therefore is an important instrument of social change. Most of the aid-programs in underdeveloped countries and underprivileged groups within countries are efforts to promote diffusion.

 

Planned social change – The direction and spread of change are often conditioned by human engineering. Planned social change referred to a conscious and systematic planning, projects, programs, etc., launched by man to determine and control the rate and development of change. For e.g., fiver year plans, Family Welfare Programs, Economic policies and so on. Planned social change is desirable as the various goals to be achieved the means to achieve them are outlined before. India has adopted planning programs after independence to bring about overall development particularly in the villages. For e.g., irrigation projects, credit societies, etc. Similarity, in the urban areas town planners seek to introduce various projects and constructive changes to make life in cities more bearable. For e.g., building flyovers, highways, controlling air and water pollution, reducing noise pollution, etc., Planning is also necessary to combat the problems that could arise of unplanned changes. Unplanned changes refer to changes resulting from natural calamities, wars, etc. Therefore, planning change is a necessary feature of modern societies in order to achieve overall progress.

 

Resistance to and acceptance of social change

Specific attitudes and values – Aside from its general attitude towards change, each society has many specific attitudes and values. Peoples establishes likes and dislikes are important factors in social change. If an object or trait has a purely utilitarian value – i.e., if it is a valued because of what it will do, or how it will benefit people – change may be accepted quite readily.

Demonstrability of innovations – An innovation is most quickly accepted when its usefulness can be easily demonstrated. The American Indians very eagerly accepted the European guns and pistols, as it was more useful than the bow and arrow. The people in the urban areas readily accepted the pressure cooker, washing machine, and various other household appliances. Sometimes inventions are inefficient in their earlier stages that the general acceptance is delayed until they are perfected. For e.g., the recent innovations of the solar operated autorickshaws or cars are not readily accepted. Social inventions however can be tested only through long term trial.

Compatibility with existing culture – Innovations are most readily accepted when they fit in nicely with the existing culture. If the innovation conflicts with the existing culture, it may be rejected, or it may be modified to fit into it. Many tribal areas have readily accepted the procedures and materials of scientific medicine – antibiotics, vaccinations, etc., and have continued to use their traditional folk medicine. Today American movies, sport, fashion, etc. have been readily accepted in Indian society, but with necessary modifications.

Technical difficulties and costs of change – Change is almost always costly. Not only does it disrupt the existing culture and destroy cherished sentiments and values, but it also involves some specific costs. The very poor resist change because they cannot afford to take any risks. Technology not only costs materially but also brings about difficulties if the culture is not modified enough to accept new change.

Role of the change agent – who proposes a change how does this person go about it? The identity of the originator greatly affects acceptance or resistance of change. Innovations, which are first adopted by persons at the top of the social ladder, are likely to filter downward quite rapidly. Many change agents are deviants of some sort. The non-conformists may launch a new fashion, speech form, or dance step, which may be readily accepted among people.

GLOBAL CULTURAL FLOWS

Global cultural flow is a result of the process of globalization.

The five ‘Scapes’ of Globalization

Globalization refers to the increasing pace and scope of interconnections crisscrossing the globe. Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai has discussed this in terms of five specific “scapes” or flows: ethnoscapes, technoscapes, ideoscapes, financescapes, and mediascapes.

Thinking of globalization in terms of the people, things, and ideas that flow across national boundaries is a productive framework for understanding the shifting social landscapes in which contemporary people are often embedded in their daily lives.

Questions about where people migrate, their reasons for migration, the pace at which they travel, the ways their lives change as a result of their travels, and how their original communities change can all be addressed within this framework. Questions about goods and ideas that travel without the accompaniment of human agents can also be answered using Appadurai’s notion of scapes.

Ethnoscape refers to the flow of people across boundaries. While people such as labor migrants or refugees travel out of necessity or in search of better opportunities for themselves and their families, leisure travelers are also part of this scape.

According to the World Tourism Organization, a specialized branch of the United Nations, tourism is one of the fastest growing commercial sectors and that approximately one in eleven jobs is related to tourism in some way. Tourism typically puts people from developed parts of the world in contact with people in the developing world, which creates both opportunities and challenges for all involved.

Technoscape refers to flows of technology. Example - Apple’s iPhone an example of how the movement of technologies across boundaries can radically affect day-to-day life for people all along the commodity chain. Sales records are surpassed with each release of a new iPhone, with lines of customers spilling out of Apple stores and snaking around the block. Demand for this new product drives a fast and furious pace of production.

The revenue associated with the production and export of technological goods is drastically altering the international distribution of wealth. As the pace of technological innovation increases, so does the flow of technology.

This is an entirely new phenomenon; earlier technologies have also drastically and irrevocably changed the human experience. For example, the large-scale production and distribution of the printing press throughout Europe (and beyond) dramatically changed the ways in which people thought of themselves—as members not only of local communities, but of national communities as well.

Ideoscape refers to the flow of ideas. This can be small-scale, such as an individual posting her or his personal views on Facebook for public consumption, or it can be larger and more systematic.

Missionaries provide a key example. Christian missionaries to the Amazon region made it their explicit goal to spread their religious doctrines. Local people do not necessarily interpret the ideas they are brought in the way missionaries expect. In addition to the fact that all people have agency to accept, reject, or adapt the ideologies that are introduced to or imposed on them.

Financescape refers to the flow of money across political borders. Like the other flows discussed by Appadurai, this phenomenon has been occurring for centuries. The Spanish, for example, conscripted indigenous laborers to mine the silver veins of the Potosí mines of Bolivia. The vast riches extracted from this region were used to pay Spain’s debts in northern Europe. The pace of the global transfer of money has only accelerated and today transactions in the New York Stock Exchange, and other such finance hubs have nearly immediate effects on economies around the world.

Mediascape refers to the flow of media across borders. In earlier historic periods, it could take weeks or even months for entertainment and education content to travel from one location to another. From the telegraph to the telephone, and now the Internet (and myriad other digital communication technologies), media are far more easily and rapidly shared regardless of geographic borders.

For example, Bollywood films are shown in Canadian cinemas, and people from around the world regularly watch mega-events such as the World Cup and the Olympics from wherever they may live.

An example of the working of all the scapes: Clothing industry – it is found that the average American might be wearing clothes made in Honduras, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and China. Something as seemingly simple as a T-shirt can actually involve all five of Appadurai’s scapes. The transnational corporations responsible for the production of these shirts themselves are part of capitalism, an idea which has become part of the international ideoscape. The financescape is altered by a company in the U.S. contracting a production facility in another country where labor costs are cheaper. The equipment needed to create these T-shirts is purchased and delivered to the production facility, thus altering the technoscape. The ethnoscape is affected by individuals migrating from their homes in rural villages to city centers, often disrupting traditional residence patterns in the process. Finally, the mediascape is involved in the marketing of these T-shirts.

Ref: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-culturalanthropology/chapter/globalization/

MEMES

MEMES

An element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means.

An image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations.

 

A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme.

Aaron Lynch described seven general patterns of meme transmission, or "thought contagion":

1.   Quantity of parenthood: an idea that influences the number of children one has. Children respond particularly receptively to the ideas of their parents, and thus ideas that directly or indirectly encourage a higher birth rate will replicate themselves at a higher rate than those that discourage higher birth rates.

2.   Efficiency of parenthood: an idea that increases the proportion of children who will adopt ideas of their parents. Cultural separatism exemplifies one practice in which one can expect a higher rate of meme-replication—because the meme for separation creates a barrier from exposure to competing ideas.

3.   Proselytic: ideas generally passed to others beyond one's own children. Ideas that encourage the proselytism of a meme, as seen in many religious or political movements, can replicate memes horizontally through a given generation, spreading more rapidly than parent-to-child meme-transmissions do.

4.   Preservational: ideas that influence those that hold them to continue to hold them for a long time. Ideas that encourage longevity in their hosts or leave their hosts particularly resistant to abandoning or replacing these ideas, enhance the preservability of memes and afford protection from the competition or proselytism of other memes.

5.   Adversative: ideas that influence those that hold them to attack or sabotage competing ideas and/or those that hold them. Adversative replication can give an advantage in meme transmission when the meme itself encourages aggression against other memes.

6.   Cognitive: ideas perceived as cogent by most in the population who encounter them. Cognitively transmitted memes depend heavily on a cluster of other ideas and cognitive traits already widely held in the population, and thus usually spread more passively than other forms of meme transmission. Memes spread in cognitive transmission do not count as self-replicating.

7.   Motivational: ideas that people adopt because they perceive some self-interest in adopting them. Strictly speaking, motivationally transmitted memes do not self-propagate, but this mode of transmission often occurs in association with memes self-replicated in the efficiency parental, proselytic and preservational modes.

 

Memes first need retention. The longer a meme stays in its hosts, the higher its chances of propagation are. When a host uses a meme, the meme's life is extended. 

The reuse of the neural space hosting a certain meme's copy to host different memes is the greatest threat to that meme's copy. 

A meme that increases the longevity of its hosts will generally survive longer. On the contrary, a meme that shortens the longevity of its hosts will tend to disappear faster. However, as hosts are mortal, retention is not sufficient to perpetuate a meme in the long term; memes also need transmission. 

HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY

 Hegemonic Masculinity is a gender order theory propagated by R. W. Connell. This theory recognizes multiple masculinities that vary across time, culture and the individual.

Hegemonic masculinity is defined as a practice that legitimizes men's dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of the common male population and women, and other marginalized ways of being a man. 

Conceptually, hegemonic masculinity proposes to explain how and why men maintain dominant social roles over women, and other gender identities, which are perceived as "feminine" in a given society.

As a sociological concept, the nature of hegemonic masculinity derives from the theory of cultural hegemony, by Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci, which analyses the power relations among the social classes of a society. Hence, in the term hegemonic masculinity, the adjective hegemonic refers to the cultural dynamics by means of which a social group claims, and sustains, a leading and dominant position in a social hierarchy; nonetheless, hegemonic masculinity embodies a form of social organization that has been sociologically challenged and changed.

The conceptual beginnings of hegemonic masculinity represented the culturally idealized form of manhood that was socially and hierarchically exclusive and concerned with bread-winning; that was anxiety-provoking and differentiated (internally and hierarchically); that was brutal and violent, pseudo-natural and tough, psychologically contradictory, and thus crisis-prone; economically rich and socially sustained. However, many sociologists criticized that definition of hegemonic masculinity as a fixed character-type, which is analytically limited, because it excludes the complexity of different, and competing, forms of masculinity. Consequently, hegemonic masculinity was reformulated to include gender hierarchy, the geography of masculine configurations, the processes of social embodiment, and the psycho-social dynamics of the varieties of masculinity.

Hegemonic masculinity draws some of its historical roots from both the fields of social psychology and sociology which contributed to the literature about the male sex role that had begun to recognize the social nature of masculinity and the possibilities of change in men's conduct. This literature preceded the Women's Liberation Movement and feminist theories of patriarchy which also played a strong role in shaping the concept of hegemonic masculinity. The core concepts of power and difference were found in the gay liberation movement which had not only sought to analyse the oppression of men but also oppression by men. This idea of a hierarchy of masculinities has since persisted and strongly influenced the reformulation of the concept.

Proponents of the concept of hegemonic masculinity argue that it is conceptually useful for understanding gender relations, and is applicable to life-span  development, education, criminology, the representations of masculinity in the mass communications media, the health of men and women, and the functional structure of organizations. 

Critics argue that it is heteronormative, is not self-reproducing, ignores positive aspects of masculinity, relies on a flawed underlying concept of masculinity, or is too ambiguous to have practical application.

Terry Kupers of The Wright Institute describes the concept of hegemonic masculinity in these terms: In contemporary American and European culture, [hegemonic masculinity] serves as the standard upon which the "real man" is defined.

According to [R. W.] Connell, contemporary hegemonic masculinity is built on two legs, domination of women and a hierarchy of intermale dominance. It is also shaped to a significant extent by the stigmatization of homosexuality. Hegemonic masculinity is the stereotypic notion of masculinity that shapes the socialization and aspirations of young males.

Today’s hegemonic masculinity includes a high degree of ruthless competition, an inability to express emotions other than anger, an unwillingness to admit weakness or dependency, devaluation of women and all feminine attributes in men, homophobia, and so forth.

The Hegemonic Masculity theory has enabled an understanding of:

Hegemonic masculinity has been used in education studies to understand the dynamics of classroom life, including patterns of resistance and bullying among boys. This concept has also been helpful in structuring violence-prevention programs for youth and emotional education programs for boys.

Hegemonic masculinity has greatly influenced criminology as data reflects that men and boys perpetuate more conventional crimes and more serious crimes than women and girls. These all are because men are treated to be very masculine. This leads toxic masculinity in them.

The concept of hegemonic masculinity helped in theorizing the relationship among masculinities and a variety of crimes. It was also used in studies on specific crimes by boys and men, such as rape, murder, football hooliganism and white-collar crime, and assaultive violence. Research in criminology showed how particular patterns of aggression were linked with hegemonic masculinity, not because criminals already had dominant positions, but because they were pursuing them.

Hegemonic masculinity has also been employed in studying media representations of men. Because the concept of hegemony helps to make sense of both the diversity and the selectiveness of images in mass media, media researchers have begun mapping the relations between different masculinities. Portrayals of masculinity in men's lifestyle magazines have been studied and researchers found elements of hegemonic masculinity woven throughout them. 

Commercial sports are a focus of media representations of masculinity, and the developing field of sports sociology found significant use of the concept of hegemonic masculinity. For e.g. in games like Rugby, American football, we see that encouraged dominant mode of hegemonic masculinity valuing emotionlessness, invulnerability, toughness, and risk-taking, concussions have become normalized

Hegemonic masculinity has been increasingly used to understand men's health practices and determinants.

Hegemonic masculinity has proved significant in organizational studies as the gendered character of workplaces and bureaucracies has been increasingly recognized.

Hegemonic masculinity has impacted both conflict and international relations, serving as a foundation for militarism.

 

CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make judgments using the standards of one’s own culture. The goal of this is promote understanding of cultural practices that are not typically part of one’s own culture.

Using the perspective of cultural relativism leads to the view that no one culture is superior than another culture when compared to systems of morality, law, politics, etc.  It is a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social context. This is also based on the idea that there is no absolute standard of good or evil, therefore every decision and judgment of what is right and wrong is individually decided in each society. The concept of cultural relativism also means that any opinion on ethics is subject to the perspective of each person within their particular culture. Overall, there is no right or wrong ethical system. In a holistic understanding of the term cultural relativism, it tries to promote the understanding of cultural practices that are unfamiliar to other cultures such as eating insects, genocides, etc.

The Cross-Cultural Relationship is the idea that people from different cultures can have relationships that acknowledge, respect and begin to understand each other’s diverse lives.

People with different backgrounds can help each other see possibilities that they never thought were there because of limitations, or cultural proscriptions, posed by their own traditions. Traditional practices in certain cultures can restrict opportunity because they are “wrong” according to one specific culture. Becoming aware of these new possibilities will ultimately change the people that are exposed to the new ideas. This cross-cultural relationship provides hope that new opportunities will be discovered but at the same time it is threatening. The threat is that once the relationship occurs, one can no longer claim that any single culture is the absolute truth.

There are two different categories of cultural relativism: 

Absolute: Everything that happens within a culture must and should not be questioned by outsiders. The extreme example of absolute cultural relativism would be the Nazi party’s point of view justifying the Holocaust.

Critical: Creates questions about cultural practices in terms of who is accepting them and why. Critical cultural relativism also recognizes power relationships.

Cultural relativism can be seen with the Chinese culture and their process of feet binding. Foot binding was to stop the growth of the foot and make them smaller. The process often began between four and seven years old. A ten foot bandage would be wrapped around the foot forcing the toes to go under the foot. It caused the big toe to be closer to the heel causing the foot to bow. In China, small feet were seen as beautiful and a symbol of status. The women wanted their feet to be “three-inch golden lotuses” It was also the only way to marry into money. Because men only wanted women with small feet, even after this practice was banned in 1912, women still continued to do it. To Western cultures the idea of feet binding might seems torturous, but for the Chinese culture it was a symbol of beauty that has been ingrained the culture for hundreds of years. The idea of beauty differs from culture to culture.