Re: What is culture?

On 26 May 2005 11:20:58 GMT, Stephen.Hayes@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>Professor Omega wrote in a message to All:
>
> PO> From: Professor Omega <professor_omega@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
> PO> Over the last couple of decades (essentially since Foucault
> PO> reintroduced the academic world - esp the social sciences - to
> PO> Nietzsche's ideas) anthropology as a whole has tended to develop
> PO> the concept of power, leaving the old concept of culture by the
> PO> wayside.
>
> PO> Is culture still viable, or must we see all human behaviour as
> PO> governed by systems of power?
>
> PO> Even if power is seen as the primary mover in human relations, does
> PO> culture still have a place in the background, shaping the *ways* in
> PO> which power relations are ultimately articulated?
>
>That is a truism.

Is it?

>The understanding of power and its symbols is culturally
>determined.

And yet in much modern literature, the focus is on power basically to
the exclusion of culture. Hegemony, Dominance, repression, resistance
- all these naturally have unique local forms of expression but
ultimately it is understood that the dynamic is the same.

IOW it would seem that most researchers are dealing with a power
concept that they consider to be a human universal, whether it be a
Foucaultian or a Marxist concept. (not that the two are necessarily
distinct) Culture seems to factor into their analyses primarily as a
garnish.

>
> PO> And if so, what is culture anyway?
>
>Values and codes of behaviour and so on that you learn from other people.

This is, IMO, an overly simple (perhaps deliberately trite?) answer to
a complex question - esp. as it should be clear I'm not looking for a
dictionary definition.

At one time in the not so very distant past culture was accorded a
great deal of influence over human behaviour. It was used as a guide
in developing a taxonomy of societies, for explaining why one society
was able to flourish in a given locale while another was not, why one
kinship system was adopted and not another.

As we know, culture took over from previous deterministic
"evolutionary" models in Boas's era, and basically was the core of
anthropology until the crisis of representation in the 1970s, at which
point power started to dominate.

The question is, have we lost something by abandoning the culture
concept so thoroughly?

Most treatments of power, in accordance with Foucault's admonition to
"study up"[1], focus on the individual and what is essentially sets of
dyadic relationships. But I wonder if this might not lead to us not
being able to see the forest for the trees. By minimising culture
(relegating it to nothing more than a set of learned rules that
influence the way power relations manifest) are we obscuring
something? After all, all animals engage in power relationships to
some degree - while power analysis is valuable, surely it's the
intricacies of culture acquisition and cultural behaviour that should
interest us. Wouldn't this tell us more about the human condition in
particular?

[1] Foucault, M (1980) "Two Lectures" in Power/Knowledge, Colin Gordon
(ed). New York: Pantheon (p100)
--
O

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her
tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with
boldness even the existence of a God; because, if
there be one, he must more approve of the homage of
reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
--Thomas Jefferson
.

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