Redefining Culture: Perspectives Across the Disciplines (Lea's Communication Series) (Lea's Communication Series)

285 Pages·2005·2.15 MB·English

by  John R. Baldwin

Redefining Culture
Perspectives Across the Disciplines
LEA’s COMMUNICATION SERIES
Jennings Bryant/Dolf Zillmann, General Editors
Selected titles include:
Carbaugh: Cultural Communication andInterculturalContact
Carbaugh: Cultures in Communication
Hecht/Jackson/Ribeau: African American Communication: Exploring Identity
and Culture, Second Edition
Leeds-Hurwitz: Semiotics and Communication: Signs, Codes, Cultures
Leeds-Hurwitz: Wedding as Text: Communicating Cultural Identities Through
Ritual
For a complete list of titles in LEA’s Communication Series, please contact
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers at www.erlbaum.com.
Redefining Culture
Perspectives Across the Disciplines
Edited by
John R. Baldwin
Illinois State University
Sandra L. Faulkner
Syracuse University
Michael L. Hecht
The Pennsylvania State University
Sheryl L. Lindsley
California State University, Stanislaw
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
2006 Mahwah, New Jersey London
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Copyright © 2006 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinany
form,byphotostat,microform,retrievalsystem,oranyothermeans,
without prior written permission of the publisher.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
www.erlbaum.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Redefiningculture:conceptualizingcultureacrossdisciplines/JohnR.
Baldwin...[et al.]
p. cm.—(LEA's communication series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8058-4235-7 (cloth :alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8058-4236-5 (pbk. :alk. paper)
1.Culture. 2.Culture—Studyandteaching. I.Baldwin,JohnR.,1960–
II.Series.
HM621.R425 2005
306'.01—dc22 2004059640
CIP
ISBN 1-4106-1700-9 Master e-book ISBN
Dedicated to the memory of SherylL. Lindsley
friend, colleague,
and promoter of cultural understanding
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Contents
Foreword: Defining Culture ix
RenatoI.Rosaldo
Preface xv
About the Authors xix
Part I: (Re)Considering Contemporary
Definitions of Culture
1 A Moving Target: The Illusive Definition of Culture
John R. Baldwin, Sandra L. Faulkner, and Michael L.Hecht 3
2 Layers of Meaning: An Analysis of Definitions of Culture
Sandra L. Faulkner, John R. Baldwin,SherylL.Lindsley, 27
and Michael L.Hecht
3 The (In)Conclusion of the Matter: Shifting Signs and Models
of Culture
Michael L.Hecht, John R. Baldwin, and Sandra L. Faulkner 53
Part II: Views of Culture
From Across the Disciplines
4 The “Cultures” of Cultural Studies 77
MichaelBérubé
vii
viii CONTENTS
5 Culture and Behavior: An Approach Taken in Psychology 83
and International Business
Richard W.Brislin
6 Communicating Culture 91
JenniferFortmanand Howard Giles
7 Conceptualizing Culture in Education: Implications 103
for Schooling in a Culturally Diverse Society
ShernazB.Garcíaand Patricia L.Guerra
8 Narratives on Culture: FromSocio-semioticsto Globalization 117
NéstorGarcíaCanclini
9 Political Culture 127
RonaldInglehart
Part III: Definitions of Culture
Selected From Across Disciplines
Definitions of Culture 139
Definitions References 227
Definitions Index by Category 229
References 239
Author Index 243
Subject Index 253
Foreword: Defining Culture
Renato I. Rosaldo
New York University & State College, PA
The present collection updates Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn’s
(1952)Culture:ACriticalReviewofConceptsandDefinitions,avolumethat
makesthereadermarvel,even50yearsafteritspublication.Kroeberand
Kluckhohn’shistoricalandcomparativecompilationofdefinitionsofcul-
tureismajestic.Itencompassesdistinctacademicdisciplines,nationaltra-
ditions,andhistoricalperiods.Thevolumebeginsbyconfidentlyasserting
that“fewintellectualswillchallengethestatementthattheideaofculture,
inthetechnicalanthropologicalsense,isoneofthekeynotionsofcontem-
poraryAmericanthought”(p.3).
KroeberandKluckhohn(1952)arguedthatthebasicideaofculture—
that different nations operate with different categories, assumptions, and
moralities—isancientandcanbefoundintheBible,Homer,Hippocrates,
Herodotus,andChinesescholarsoftheHandynasty.Keytotheancientand
enduringconceptofcultureistherelativelymodest,yetenormouslyconse-
quentialdoctrinethatifpeoplethinkandfeeldifferentlyabouttheworld,
theyarenotdementedorstupid.Instead,theysimplyaremakingdifferent
assumptionsandusingdifferentcategoriestomakesenseoftheworldthey
inhabit and find meaning in it.
FormostAmericananthropologistsfromthe1930s throughthe1960s,
culturewastheprimaryobjectofstudy.Onecouldsay,forexample,“Iam
studyingculture”or“IamstudyingBalineseculture.”Anthropologybyand
large accepted a definition of culture based on the legacy of German
thought,mostcommonlyattributedinitsoriginstoJohannGottfriedvon
Herder (1744–1803), combined with that of the historically more recent
ix