Theories of Culture

Description

This authoritative but concise guide describes the most significant cultural theories from the 19th to the 21st century and their originators, as well as the links between them and their mutual influences. This guide explores ideas around what culture is, when and why cultures change over time and whether there are any rules or principles behind culture-related phenomena and processes. For those seeking to answer questions on culture, familiarity with these topics is essential. From refugee movements caused by wars, to the ongoing demographical changes in regions of the world like sub-Saharan Africa or the Indian subcontinent, understanding the underlying mechanisms of culture-related processes has become an immediate and essential task. Covering everything from the processes of cultural change to counterculture and destabilisation, the book explains different ideas in a clear and objective fashion and includes approaches that have been unduly neglected but which have high explanatory value regarding culture and its phenomena. Providing readers with an up-to-date idea of what culture is, and how our understanding of it has been established over the past century, this text is the perfect companion for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Introduction 1 Views from a distance 1.1 Totem and Taboo (Freud) 1.2 Pseudo-­external perspectives 1.3 Franz Boas and the consequences 2 Some perspectives on cultural change 2.1 Culture as a being 2.2 Civilising processes 2.3 Processes of rationalisation 3 Structures of culture 3.1 Charting cultural structures 3.2 Claude Lévi-Strauss: structuralism 3.3 Social systems 4 Culture as a storage of information 4.1 Communication 4.2 The collective memory 4.3 Culture and exchange 4.4 Culture and language 5 Finding answers 5.1 Triggers of progress 5.2 Ethnopsychoanalysis 5.3 Heating up culture 6 The individual and cultural context 6.1 The human being as a sign 6.2 Body semiotics 6.3 Identity and transfer 7 Internal perspectives 7.1 Urban perceptions 7.2 Fractality 7.3 Acceleration 7.4 Manufacturing consent 8 External perspectives 8.1 Generating myths 8.2 Instrumentalisations 8.3 Demanding acceptance 9 Meta perspectives 9.1 Mutual perception 9.2 Anthropological contrasting 9.3 Semiotic distance 9.4 Intercultural dominance 10 Disillusions 10.1 Criticising counterculture 10.2 Destabilisations 10.3 Functionalisation Conclusion Appendix References Index of persons Subject index