demagogue on 24/5/2016 at 09:21
Well if we're playing this kind of game, "Name an X that defines a Y" I'll add another one.
What's a concept that might define a culture? (Or is there one? You can be skeptical that it's even possible.)
I was talking with friends in Japan recently and we were talking about if there's a central concept that can help you understand the culture of a country or give you some kind of special insight that you might not expect at first. They may be a stereotype and broken all the time, and also people from other cultures may feel it too. The point isn't that they're 100% followed or exclusive to that culture, but that if you understood the meaning of that concept to that culture, it would help make sense of a lot of what people in it do that would otherwise be bewildering if you didn't view it through the lens of that concept.
USA: Self Reliance. So for the USA, personally being from there, I'd say that concept would be a sense of self-reliance or independence. It's maybe a cliche, but I think it explains a lot. Americans want to feel like they're in control of their own destiny and able to take care of things by themselves, and while they'll accept others' help, they don't want to feel dependent on them. It's part of why Americans are very mobile to move around the country and almost feel guilty staying in the same town they grew up, the importance of financial independence, the romance about entrepreneurship, the whole DIY thing, etc... If we want to do it by state, I'd say for my home state, Texas, independence and self-reliance is an even stronger impulse there.
Japan: Amaeru. For Japan, I read a book recently that claimed that much of the culture could be explained by the concept of "amaeru." No translation into a single English word really does it justice, so I'm using the Japanese word, but it translates roughly as that gushing feeling you feel inside when you see something small, cute, and vulnerable that you want to cuddle and take care of. It's something that's inculcated in children and stays with people, for better (wanting to hug everything cute) or worse (lashing out with surprising rage and frustration when you're not getting it), when they become adults. Once I started looking at things through that lens, it started making sense of a lot of things in Japan for me and living with a Japanese, and it's been confirmed by my Japanese friends. So the idea is that Japanese want to get themselves into situations where they can express their concern for one another. It's not just a culture that apologizes and says excuse me a lot. It's a culture where it's important to find if not proactively get yourself into situations where you have the chance to apologize to someone and show your deep concern for them, practically leaping at the chance to be sorry to someone. It's behind things like bringing tea in for someone as soon as they visit, the spectacle of two people trying to out-self-efface each other, and all the little impositions, from roadwork to day to day things like butting through a crowded train, where people seem to be just itching to barge into it and show deep sorrow.
This was interesting to me not only because suddenly a lot of things that happen in Japan started making sense, but I learned how cultures treat feelings differently. Of course in the US, we have this same gushing feeling to take care of babies and kittens, but it's not a particularly important feeling. Some people act on it and others don't. But it's not like in Japan where it's a central concept to the whole culture. And in Japan, they'll also feel validated & happy if they solve a problem themselves too, but not in the critical way it is to Americans where it's almost a matter of self-worth, and they'll feel even happier when a group comes together and group-solve it, something which makes people practically weepy with happiness here. The other thing me & my Japanese friends found interesting thinking about these two cases was how polar opposite Japan and the US are when you look at their two central mythologies. Americans want to be self-reliant, and feeling dependent on others is the nightmare they're running away from, whereas in Japan it's almost the exact opposite. They want to have chances to show their concern for others and dependence on them, and feeling isolated where you're cut off from caring about others is the nightmare. And the book I mentioned above "Amaeru no Kozo", it's English translation is "Anatomy of Dependence", where the central concept "amaeru" is translated directly into "dependence".
So, do you think it's fair to say a concept could help define a culture?
And if so, what concept do you think would help define your own culture, or another culture with which you're familiar?
zacharias on 24/5/2016 at 09:50
Stealing from Robert Hughes here, but the USA is always 'losing its innocence' (JFK Assassination/Nixon/Vietnam/Rodney King/OJ Simpson/Raping of the Poor by Big Banks etc. etc.)
Australia is always 'trying to find its identity' (less concrete examples but stuff like trying to navigate mass immigration/multiculturalism, deal with guilt over treatment of indigenous people (still largely marginalized) and widening rich/poor gap; but mostly keeping a very close eye on china's economy and how it will impact ours..)
Both probably a little cliched, but with some truth.
English people are in theory reserved types. I don't think this applies to the working class at all though. Accepting of eccentricity perhaps. Also perhaps, post-empire/post-greatness(?)
faetal on 24/5/2016 at 09:54
[For me, culture is] like a suite of cognitive and behavioural applications to apply to one's environment, including other living things. It is modified by both copying errors (akin to evolution, only memes instead of genes to use Dawkins' nomenclature) and emergent updates as a result of change in the environment or simply a newer idea being a stronger meme. Amplification /distortion factors include things like media & ideology.
That's my ¥ 2.19 anyway.
demagogue on 24/5/2016 at 09:56
"It" being culture, you mean? Or important cultural landmarks?
faetal on 24/5/2016 at 09:57
Quote Posted by demagogue
"It" being culture, you mean? Or important cultural landmarks?
Yes sorry, I thought it went without saying.
(quote for posterity - will edit now)
demagogue on 24/5/2016 at 10:03
It did, but the reason I asked it like that was because I thought there's a debate about what the actual unit of analysis even is here.
Culture is such a mixed bag of different norms, some that people notice or do proactively and some invisible and reflexive, but for some reason we want to pick out particular things as really emblematic. I remember a poli sci professor speaking about how different cultures, when they want to really emphasize their particularity so they're not absorbed into global culture or whatever, always end up saying really similar things, like the kinds of dishes their grandmother would cook, or a particular kind of hat, or music, or dance... But what makes them any more special or emblematic of a culture than, e.g., the fact people in one hemisphere count on their fingers starting with their index finger, and in another hemisphere start with their thumb? Both might fall under your definition, but why does one seem more "cultural" than another?
faetal on 24/5/2016 at 10:55
I'd imagine the cut-off for what constitutes culture and what is either innate behaviour or objective truth (eg religion) differs from the perspective of the culture of the person making the distinction.
TL;DR cultures all the way down
demagogue on 24/5/2016 at 11:11
Well let me rephrase then. Is there something that French people think defines Frenchness, or Brits think defines Britishness? I don't think driving on the left side of the road would count, cultural though it may be.
faetal on 24/5/2016 at 11:17
Yes, but it probably changes from person to person. However, I think that if you were able to properly record everyone's opinions on what that was, you might get a very fuzzy bell curve out of it. I'd say there is likely to be a positive feedback effect too, where the middle of that bell curve, over time reinforces itself.
Additionally, I'm sure someone in Toulouse will have a different idea of Frenchness to someone in Strasbourg. Creating a bell curve defined by parameters existing within France's borders is verging on creating an arbitrary entity which may not be informative.
io organic industrialism on 24/5/2016 at 12:12
Great discussion here. Also interesting to see your take on Japan, demagogue. I lived there for 3 years as a kid when my dad was in the military.
As faetal seems to hint, it would be difficult to get everyone in a single culture to agree on a common concept or attribute.
Unless you make it broad enough. For example the USA's concept could easily be "Freedom".
However, if you narrow your view of "culture", it becomes easier to define these things. For example, have you ever heard things like "The culture at Google"? Or a particular school?
So here's some narrower ideas of culture and what their attributes might be:
* Compassion defines healthcare workers.
* Greed defines entrepreneurs. (? Pessimistic generalization?)
* Creativity defines artists.
* Methodicalness defines computer programmers. (Sorry, methodicalness seems like a messy word, but it summarized it the best)
* Desire for non-suffering defines Buddhists.
* Love defines Christians. (?)
OK, enough easy ones though.... Let's broaden culture to larger than national terms and see what we come up with :)
* Instinct for survival defines lifeforms.
... Staring at the computer screen for several minutes. That's all I got.
In more specific culture:
* Tired defines the guy sitting at this computer right now.
