Enculturation:
- The process by which children acquire their culture
- We learn the culture into which we are born and raised
o Born weak as a species (cant walk, cant talk, highly dependant)
o Large brain relative to body size - large part of our survival as a species relies on learning
o Mature slower, but live longer - longer time to learn
- Enculturation takes place in an informal, non-explicit means
- Enculturation continues throughout life (life long process)
Socialization:
- A similar process to enculturation that emphasizes social factors/norms rather than cultural factors in learning ones culture
The Process of Enculturation:
- Becoming a human being
o When does human life begin?
- Considered human a few days/weeks after birth
- Wait to make sure the baby survives
o Social birth
o Naming practices
- Child rearing
o Feeding and weaning
o Sleeping
o Physical and social stimulation
- Implicit: learning by observation, listening and watching culture
Informal and Formal Learning:
- Imitate and observe their elders
- Informal:
o Skills
o Cultural values
o Behavioural expectations
- Formal:
o Socialization
o Rites of passage
o Schooling
- Spiritual and religious education
Learning Skills and Values:
- Cultural values: norms, attitudes, ethics
o Abstract
- Skills: using tools, economic roles
o Things we can do
- Both learned through observation, direct instruction and folklore
Folklore:
- Texts that relate traditional stories, the exploits of cultural heroes, and characters handed down from generation to generation
Learning Behavioural Expectations:
- Appropriate behaviour
- Rules of authority and deference
- Learning through:
o Observation
o Trial and error
o Corrections, reprimands, praise
Age and Gender Socialization:
- Social status
- Age
o Restricted rights and limited control (children, because of their age)
- Children should be seen and not heard
o Lack of power
- Gender
o Gender identity
- Boys: blue
- Girls: pink, names
o Differential treatment
o Ex: boys vs. girls
- Boys: play outside, public, breadwinners
- Girls: play inside, domestic, care takers
Rites of Passage:
- Life transitions
o Birth
o Marriage
o Death
- Initiations rites
o Transition from childhood to adulthood
3 Stage Model (Van Gennep 1909):
- Separation from the familiar
- Transition from old state to new state (called liminality - means "between")
- Reintegration into original social structure
Schooling:
- Formal setting
o Educational institutes
o Only elites were schooled in a formal setting
- Explicit instruction
o Designated teachers
Psychological Anthropology:
- The study of the psychological motivations of behaviour and the personality types prevalent in a society
- Culture and personality traits
o Personality: a constellation of behavioural traits and dispositions
o Cooperation and competition (among children)
o Public self and private self
- Culture and self-concept
o Self-concepts
- Independent self - don't need anybody else, independent
- Interdependent self - interacting with other people determines who you are and how you behave
o National character
- Deviance and abnormal behaviour in cross-cultural perspectives
o Cultures responses to "mental illness”
o Culture specific psychological disorders
- ADHD - mostly in Western industrialized countries
- Latah
- Amok - Southeast Asian disorder
- Anorexia and bulimia - mostly in Western industrialized countries
- Pibloktoq - Arctic hysteria
- Windigo
- Koro - Asian men