Unit-10-----The-Science-of-Custom

1Unit10TheScienceofCustomI.Learningobjectives1.Learntousedefinitioninexposition(e.g.anthropology,custom,cultureetc).2.Knowsomethingaboutanthropology,especiallyculturaldeterminismandculturalrelativisminanthropologicalstudies.IITeachingtime:sixclassperiodsIIITeachingProcedure:Step1Warm-upquestions1.InPara.1theauthorstartsexpositionbymentioningsomefalseideasthatpeoplehaveabout“custom”.Whatdopeopleusuallythinkabout“custom”?2.Whatisthetransitionalexpressiontointroducetheauthor’sownconcepton“custom”?3.Whatexpositorymeansthattheauthorusestoexplainwhathethinksthemeaningof“custom”?4.Afteradefinitionof“custom”,theauthoradds,“Yetthatisarathertrivialaspectofthematter.”Whatdoes“that”refer”to?5.Howwouldyoucommentonthefunctionofthelastsentenceofthefinalparagraph?Examinethestatementanddecidehowmanyaspectsthatweexpecttheauthorwouldelaborate?6.Whatisthedifferencebetweencustomsandlanguage?7.Sumupthemainidesofthisparagraph.Howisthisparagraphrelatedtothethesisstatement?8.TheauthorquotesJohnDewey,afamouseducatorandphilosopher,toexplainthepredominantinfluencescustomsexertonaperson.Findtheanalogyandexplainit.Doesthegenerallanguagepatternaffectpersonalspeechhabitsortheotherwayround?9.SumuptheroleofcustomsdiscussedinPara.2.210.Howdoestheauthorexplaintheindividualbehavioritshapedbycustoms?11.Theauthorsaysinthetopicsentencethatwehavetoacceptcertain“preliminarypropositions”.Whatare“preliminarypropositions”inauthor’smind?12.WhatcriticismisimploredinPara.3?13.Whatisthenormalmethodwhenwemakeresearchinnaturalscience?Inwhatwaydoesnaturalsciencedifferfromsocialscience?Howhasthestudyofmandifferentfromthestudyoflesscontroversialsubjects?14.Howwouldyoudefine“anthropology”?15.Whatcriterionmustbetheanthropologistacceptsbeforehecanundertakethestudyofmanobjectively?Howtomakeastudyoncustom?Step2Relevantinformation1.AdiscussionofthenotionofcultureTheconceptofculturehaslongbeenahotlycontestedissue.Duranti(1997:23-50)inher1997workAnthropologicalLinguisticsmakesareviewofsixtheoriesofcultureinwhichlanguageplaysaparticularlyimportantrole.Thefirstviewofcultureisthatofsomethinglearned,transmitted,passeddownfromonegenerationtothenext,throughthehumanactions,eitherinface-to-faceinteractionorthroughlinguisticcommunication.Thisviewofcultureaslearnedisoftenunderstoodinoppositiontotheviewofhumanbehaviorasaproductfromnature,hencethenature/nurturedichotomy.Thesecondviewistointerpretcultureintermsofknowledgeoftheworld.Thisdoesnotonlymeanthatmembersofaculturemustknowcertainfactsorbeabletorecognizeobjects,places,andpeople.Italsomeansthattheymustsharecertainpatternsofthought,waysofunderstandingtheworld,makinginferencesandpredictions.Thethirdviewisthesemiotictheoryofculturethattakescultureascommunication,i.e.,asasystemofsigns.Initsmostbasicversion,thisviewholdsthatcultureisarepresentationoftheworld,awayofmakingsenseofrealitybyobjectifyingitinstories,myths,descriptions,theories,proverbs,artisticproductsandperformances.Thefourththeoryseescultureasasystemofmediation.Thecommonuseofalanguageis3believedtotakeplaceatthesamelevelasthecommonuseofalloftheobjectswhichsurroundusinthesocietyinwhichwewerebornandinwhichwelive.Inthisview,cultureincludesmaterialobjectssuchastheumbrellaandideationalobjectssuchasbeliefsystemsandlinguisticcodes.Bothmaterialandideationalstructuresareinstrumentsthroughwhichhumansmediatetheirrelationshipwiththeworld.Thefifththeoryviewscultureasasystemofpractices.Itemphasizesthefactthatthehumanactorcanculturallyexistandfunctiononlyasaparticipantinaseriesofhabitualactivitiesthatarebothpresupposedandreproducedbyhisindividualactions.Relatedtocultureasasystemofpracticesisthesixththeory,theideaofcultureasasystemofparticipation.Itisbasedontheassumptionthatanyactionintheworld,includingverbalcommunication,hasaninherentlysocial,collective,andparticipatoryquality.Thisnotionofcultureisparticularlyusefulforlookingathowlanguageisusedintherealworldbecausetospeakalanguagemeanstobeabletoparticipateininteractionswithaworldthatisalwayslargerthanweasindividualspeakers,andevenlargerthanwhatwecanseeandtouchinanygivensituation.Fromthesedifferenttheoriesofculturewecanseethatcultureisahighlycomplexnotionandamuchcontestedground.Whatisofparticularrelevancetoourdiscussionoflanguageandcultureisthattheconceptoflanguageiseitherexplicitlyorimplicitlyembeddedineachofthesetheoriesofculture.However,theargumentofthisdissertationdoesnotdependonaffirminganyonetheoryofculturepresentedhere,butneedsonlytorecognizethat,whicheverculturaltheoryweadopt,“languagealwaysplayanimportantpart”(ibid.:49).----RewrittenbyChenYan2.CulturerelativismCulturalrelativisminanthropologyisakeymethodologicalconceptwhichisuniversallyacceptedwithinthediscipline.Thisconceptisbasedontheoreticalconsiderationswhicharekeytotheunderstandingofscientificanthropologyastheyarekeytotheunderstandingoftheanthropologicalframeofmind.Culturalrelativism4isananthropologicalapproachwhichpositthatallculturesareofequalvalueandneedtobestudiedfromaneutralpointofview.Thestudyofaand/oranyculturehastobedonewithacoldandneutraleyesothataparticularcultu