Material Culture Produces Social Identities - Essay Example

NAME : XXXXXXXXXX TUTOR : XXXXXXXXXX TITLE : XXXXXXXXXXX COURSE : XXXXXXXXXX INSTITUTION : XXXXXXXXXX @2009 Material Culture Produces Social identities Introduction Material culture can be defined as the physical objects produced by a culture of a particular society or community. This could include technology, artifacts, folklores, ideology, sports, food, clothing, arts, and religion, among others. Social identity on the other hand has to do with how we perceive and make sense of each other. In short, social identity refers to those social categories that someone believes he/she belongs to, for example, family, religion, nationality, ethnic group, work group, political party among others. There is a direct relationship between material culture and social identity. Our everyday use of material culture actually defines us. The various objects of our material culture as mentioned above determine our social identity. In fact, social identities are historical creation (Mercer 1990). According to Geertz, culture can be equated with the programs found in a computer as it constitutes a set of control mechanisms, plans, recipes, rules and instructions, used to control human behaviors. Human beings cannot be understood in the absence of culture. Geertz put it very clearly that “no such thing as human nature independent of culture” (Geertz 1973: 49). Geertz argue that it is certain cultural forms known as “extra-somatic sources of information” that channels both individual development and social behavior, therefore acting as a “link between what men are intrinsically capable of becoming and what they actually, one by one, in fact become” (Geertz 1973: 52). For Geertz, culture patterns are symbols that act as extrinsic sources of information. He defines the symbol as any object that acts as a vehicle for conception. From this definition we can deduce that the culture is not only a control mechanism but also conceptual models. Geertz argue that conceptual models have a double nature: On one hand, they are a model of reality that helps us to understand pre-established non-symbolic systems and on the other hand, they are a model for reality that helps us to operate non-symbolic systems. For example, when we understand how dams work by founding a theory of hydraulics, the symbolic system is acting as a model of reality, but when we construct a dam as per the specifications implied in a hydraulic theory, we are using the symbolic system as a model for reality (Geertz 1973: 93). It is this dualistic conceptual models that members of a particular sociocultural groups are able not only to conceive, but also to affect the world around them. From this discussion, we can conclude that culture is creative in different ways: the use of symbolic systems as conceptual models helps human beings to dynamically form and reform their physical, psychological, social and cultural identity. In his article on the Balinese cockfight, Geertz view culture as a commentary. He gives us a thorough description of a cockfight and its associated social behaviors such as gambling, crowds and police raids and asserts that we can best understand these as a complex cultural performance. Cocks do not fight to assuage social passion or to increase them, but to display them (Geertz 1973: 444). In doing this, Geertz provides us with an arena in which Balinese struggle and quarrel over rank and status. The cockfight therefore acts as a metasocial commentary upon the entire issue of grouping human beings into pre-determined hierarchical ranks and then arranging the main part of collective way of life around that group (Geertz 1973: 448). To sum up, the Balinese cockfight tells us something: it acts as a kind of self-interpretation, a Balinese reading of their own culture. All human beings are born in a specific culture context. Language form a specific set of speech norms of a specific community and therefore is an element of the larger culture of the community that speaks it. People use the language as a way to signal their identity as a particular cultural group and to differentiate themselves from the other cultural groups. Even among people who speak the same language, there exist various different ways of using the language that identify them as members of a particular subgroup within a larger culture. A community’s language forms part of their general culture. Language is used as a means of instituting and exhibiting group identity. Language identifies one as a member of a particular community or country. Apart from facilitating communication, language also serves to categorize the social position of the person speaking it. For example, Australians are known for their English speaking language (Lohrey 1996). Another example of our everyday practices that identifies us as members of a particular community is clothing, food and eating habits. Just like religious rituals and language, eating as well as access to appropriate commodities and methods of food preparation, is a social and cultural marker and classifier. For example, among the large Muslim community in Bradford, in north of England, the Halal method of animal slaughter and preparation is critical to their religious practices. There are definite types of food that are associated with specific communities. Certain foods are recognized as national emblems in Australia: fusion cuisine, vegetables, Milo, Anzac biscuits and damper. Clothing also forms a significant part in our material culture. Our dressing style can tell which community we come from. For example, each time we can across a woman wearing a face covering, commonly known as a veil, we automatically know that she is a Muslim (Mercer 1990). Both the family and citizenship are marked by certain national-cultural affiliation. Our ideas as relates to behavior, value and dispositions identify us a members of a particular family or as citizens of a particular country. The way a family conducts itself and its mores makes its different from the others. The ideas produces in literatures, the mass media and histories as regards national character defines our citizenship, which forms our legal identity. Politics of identity has contributed to the development of modern nation-states. This is because the politics of identity involves definite forms and mechanism, for example, cultural, historical, linguistics, political and administrative, which lead to identity formation and reproduction. For example, the Ethnic Poles in Ukraine are a very religious community and they attend the same church for worship. However, after the mass has been conducted, the Poles are often left behind in order to conduct mass again in their own language and ethnic or national icons (Mercer 1990). Our religion is also important in the formation of our social identity. The ritual practices performed by a particular church are critical in defining and securing the church identity. Religious activities induce two different types of dispositions to its members: moods and motivations. Religious activities motivate people to perform certain types of acts and experiences specific kinds of feeling in particular types of situations. For example, in the Holy People, the purification rites include imposed sweating, provoked vomiting among others, so as to drive out the illness from the patient physically. The Rangda-Barong ritual depicts a very wide range of everyday Balinese behavior, which is characterized by fear and gaiety. Members of a particular religion shares similar beliefs and practices, faith, mythology and mystic experiences (Geertz Clifford 1973). Sport is another everyday activity that serves to identity people as belonging to a particular group. Despite the fact that sports form a vital part of the Australian popular culture, it is one area where exclusion and inequality are apparent. Women participation in sports and other physical activities is very low as compared to men. Mass media has played an important role in fueling this gender inequality in sports. The mass media often expand the social horizons of their audiences by providing them with symbolic role models to learn from. The status of women in sports has remained low given the male hegemony legitimized by the media. Males have continued to preside over the institution of sport in the society. Sport in Australia reflects male’s dominant values and ideals as regard who can play and the best athlete. The media has made us believe that certain sports are for the white, strong, heterosexual males, where as, other sports are for females, if they have to compete. The media tend to give extensive coverage to males sports while giving little attention to females sport. This has reinforced the stereotype belief that female’s sports are less powerful and less interesting and has therefore contributed to the development of male hegemony in sport. For example, gambling, hockey and soccer are seen as men’s sports while netball is for women and girls (Greenfield and Williams 2000). The growth and development of the capitalist industrial economies and advanced technology, largely classified as the modern era, has led to the spread of a system of culture based upon material possessions. In the capitalist mode of production, inputs and outputs are treated as commodities and are only supplied through the market. It is through sale of output that the capital owner can acquire claims to the surplus-product of human labor and realize those claims as profit. Capitalism is characterized by profit maximization and capital accumulation. Wage-labor is treated as a commodity in a capitalist mode of production. The existence of wage labor in this modern era is a proof that capitalism still exits. One way, in which capitalism low production cost is by paying low wages to their workers, making them to work for long hours and intensifying their work-day. The inherent characteristic of capital accumulation in a capitalistic society is the increased exploitation of workers. They reinvest a large portion of the surplus-product of labor to ensure capital accumulation and output growth. Capitalists purchase commodities with the aim of making more money, additional value and surplus value. Capitalism has also led to creation of a class society. The development of technology for production is driven by the profitability criteria (Mercer 1990). The enlightenment era marked by advanced technological development, such as the print and electronic mass media, has led to the widespread communication and the promotion of democratic ideals. However, these material culture objects have served as resources for powerful social groups to enslave those which are less powerful. Instead of liberating such social groups as it had been expected, these objects of material culture acts as means for social exploitation. They have become objects of exploitation and enslavement. In this sense, material culture has becomes a vehicle for transporting capitalist or Enlightenment ideology to the modern era. Darton in his essay The Great Cat Massacre describe how, just as workers in this Enlightenment era experience hard working conditions, workers slaughtered their master’s cats in order to distress them. This was an early form of worker’s protest. Today, workers protest in form of demonstrations and strikes. The essay “The Meaning of Mother Goose” shows us how the pre-modern peasants in France lived a brutal, ugly and dirty life. The peasant farmers could not be able to provide for his/her children needs just as the working class people (Darnton Robert 1984). In conclusion, our everyday usage of material culture defines our social identity. Material culture involves objects such as technology, religion, food and eating habits, dressing style, beliefs, ideas, folklore, sports and art among others. It classifies us as members of a particular social group: family, country, religion, ethnic group and political, interest and groups among others. Therefore, we can conclude that human beings cannot exit independent of material culture as it is that culture that makes us who we are. Culture is part and parcel of human nature. References Darnton Robert 1984 'Peasants tell tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose, the great cat massacre and other episodes in French Cultural history. Basic Books: New York. Geertz Clifford 1973 ' The impact of the concept of culture on the concept of man: The interpretation of culture: selected essays. Basic Books: New York. Greenfield Cathy and Williams Peter 2000 'The sporting gamble: Media sport, drama and politics', in media international Australia incorporating Culture & Policy No.97 pp 47-58. Lohrey Amanda 1996 'Australia Day 1994', Journal of Australian Studies, No.4 pp 147-171. Mercer Colin 1990 ' Identity crisis', Australian left review July1990. Read More