Anthropology: the scientific study of the physical, social, and cultural development of man
Cultural Anthropology:
Deals with the analysis of
social life and the
relationship that exists
between culture and
personality
Linguistic Anthropology:
focuses upon language
Archaeology: Studies the
past, by using ancient
artifact
Culture
a set of thing, practices.
Concerned with the production
and exchange of meanings,
between members of a society.
Clotaire Rapaille
Culture can be thought of as a series of codes
that we learn while we grow up and that
shapes our behavior in many different areas
"imprints" at an unconscious level, shapes attitudes towards things we buy or own
Culture Code
Every artifact reflects certain
national, cultural or subcultural
attitudes and values that have
been imprinted on young children
growing up in a given culture
Grid-group theory
the objects and services that we buy or possess are culturally defined as being tied to our lifestyles
Elitist
Individualist
Egalitarian
Fatalist
Shapes our behavior as consumers
Individuals in all societies have
decided who they are and what
they should do
Applies to shopping and purchasing
things
Shopping: a struggle to define now
one is but what one is not
Myths: sacred
narratives that
shape cultural
values and
behavior
Characters are gods, heroes, and mystical
beings, plot is about origin of things,
metaphysical events in human life, world is
juxtaposed against real world
Mircea Eliade
Myths help shape culture, they are
camouflaged and unrecognized informing
our behaviors and reason of purchase
Mark Gottdiener
Cultural Studies
Cultural objects that are produced by industrial process
A set of institutions that produce and distribute such objects on a large scale
Collectivity(res) or social groups
"Mass Cultural Object" include
everything from perceptual
products yo highly subjective
experiences
"Mass Cultural Forms" found in the
means by which these objects are
produced and distributed