Folk and Popular Culture

Hindu Sadhu (Holy Man)

Varanasi, India

Insanely “Radical” Scot, with Kilt and Classic

Surfboard

Beijing, China2004

Important Terminology

• Folk Culture – traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation.

• Popular Culture – found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in personal characteristics.

• Material Culture – the physical objects produced by a culture in order to meet its material needs: food, clothing, shelter, arts, and recreation. Carl Sauer (Berkeley, 1930s – 1970s).

Important Terms

• Custom – frequent repetition of an act until it becomes characteristic of a group of people..

• Taboo – a restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.

• Habit – repetitive act performed by an individual.

Folk Culture – rapidly changing and/or disappearing throughout much of the

world.

Bhopal, India, 2009

Portuguese Fishing Boat

Indigenous Woman, Guatemala

Northern India, 2009

• Stable and close knit

• Usually a rural community

• Tradition controls

• Resistance to change

• Buildings erected without architect or blueprint using locally available building materials

• anonymous origins, diffuses slowly through migration. Develops over time.

• Clustered distributions: isolation/lack of interaction breed uniqueness and ties to physical environment.

Folk Culture

Brazilian Rainforest, 2011 (click photo!)

FOLK ARCHITECTURE

FOLK ARCHITECTURE

Effects on Landscape: usually of limited scale and scope.

Agricultural: fields, terraces, grain storage

Dwellings: historically created from local materials: wood, brick, stone, skins; often uniquely and traditionally arranged; always functionally tied to physical environment.

FOLK FOODHow did such differences develop?

Ecuador, 2006 (click photo for slideshow)

Food Cultures (i.e. hog production)

Fig. 4-6: Annual hog production is influenced by religious taboos against pork consumption in Islam and other religions. The highest production is in China, which is largely Buddhist.

North American Folk Culture Regions

Food Taboos: Jews – can’t eat animals that chew cud, that have cloven feet; can’t mix meat and milk, or eat fish lacking fins or scales(kosher); Muslims – no pork; Hindus – no cows (used for oxen during monsoon)

Washing Cow in Ganges

Popular CultureClothing: Jeans, for example,

and have become valuable status symbols in many regions including Asia and Russia despite longstanding folk traditions.

Popular CultureWide Distribution: differences from place to

place uncommon, more likely differences at one place over time.

Housing: only small regional variations, more generally there are trends over time

Food: franchises, cargo planes, superhighways and freezer trucks have eliminated much local variation. Limited variations in choice regionally, esp. with alcohol and snacks. Substantial variations by ethnicity.

World Cell Phone SubscribersCartogram, 1990

Territory size shows the proportion of all cellular telephone subscriptions found there in 1990.

Source: www.worldmapper.org

GSM World Cellular Coverage, 2009

Source: GSM Association. 2009.

A Mental Map of Hip Hop

Fig. 4-3: This mental map places major hip hop performers near other similar performers and in the portion of the country where they performed.

Diffusion of TV, 1954–

1999Television has diffused widely since the 1950s, but some areas still have low numbers of TVs per population.

Much media is still state-

controlled. Ten Most Censored Countries:1. North Korea2. Myanmar (Burma)3. Turkmenistan4. Equatorial Guinea5. Libya6. Eritrea7. Cuba8. Uzbekistan9. Syria10. BelarusSource: The Committee to Protect

Journalists. 2009. www.cpj.org.

Internet Connections

The Internet is diffusing today, but access varies widely.

Internet Connections

The Internet is diffusing today, but access varies widely. Some countries censor the Internet, but this is difficult to do.

Popular CultureEffects on Landscape: creates

homogenous, “placeless” (Relph, 1976), landscape

Complex network of roads and highways

Commercial Structures tend towards ‘boxes’

Dwellings may be aesthetically suggestive of older folk traditions

• Planned and Gated Communities more and more common

Surfing at Disney’s Orlando Typhoon Lagoon

Are places still tied to local landscapes?Disconnect with landscape: indoor swimming pools? desert surfing?

Swimming Pool, West Edmonton Mall, Canada

Dubai’s Indoor Ski Resort

McDonald’s Restaurant, Venice

Muslim Women in Traditional Dress at Indoor Ski Resort

Problems with the Globalization of Culture

Often Destroys Folk Culture – or preserves traditions as museum pieces or tourism gimmicks.

Mexican Mariachis; Polynesian Navigators; Cruise Line Simulations

Change in Traditional Roles and Values; Polynesian weight problems

Satellite Television, Baja California

Western Media Imperialism? U.S., Britain, and Japan dominate

worldwide media. Glorified consumerism, violence, sexuality,

and militarism? U.S. (Networks and CNN) and British

(BBC) news media provide/control the dissemination of information worldwide.

These networks are unlikely to focus or provide third world perspective on issues important in the LDCs.

Problems with the Globalization of Popular Culture

Environmental Effects of Globalization

Accelerated Resource Use in Consumer Societies:

• Furs: minx, lynx, jaguar, kangaroo, whale, sea otters (18th Century Russians) fed early fashion trends.

• Aggressive consumerism evident in most Western Media , including hip hop and rock and roll.

• Inefficient over-consumption of Meats (10:1), Poultry (3:1), even Fish (fed other fish and chicken) by meat-eating pop cultures

New larger housing desires and associated energy and water use.

Pollution: • Water treatment and improved public health may come with

higher incomes.

• However, increased waste and toxins from fuel use, discarded products, plastics, marketing and packaging materials, etc.

Benefits of Economic and Cultural Globalization

Increased economic opportunity? Higher standards of living? Increased consumer choice More political freedom? More social freedom?

Shanghai, China, 2003

Beijing, China

Palm Springs, CA

Marlboro Man in Egypt

Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings, 2007

Fiji

Suburban Sprawl, Arizona

Resisting Globalization

• Protests at WTO and G9 meetings

• Al Jazeera

• Indigenous Peoples in Latin America

• Chinese government censorship

The Most Violent Places on Earth?

Source: Wikipedia. 2010. List of countries by intentional homicide rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

The biggest military spenders?

Defence costsJun 8th 2011, 14:00 by The Economist online

ON JUNE 8th China's top military brass confirmed that the country's first aircraft carrier, a refurbishment of an old Russian carrier, will be ready shortly. Only a handful of nations operate carriers, which are costly to build and maintain. Indeed, Britain has recently decommissioned its sole carrier because of budget pressures. China's defence spending has risen by nearly 200% since 2001 to reach an estimated $119 billion in 2010—though it has remained fairly constant in terms of its share of GDP. America's own budget crisis is prompting tough discussions about its defence spending, which, at nearly $700 billion, is bigger than that of the next 17 countries combined.

The Happiest Places on Earth?

• What do the social sciences tell us about what makes people happy?

• How does happiness vary around the world?

• How does happiness change over time within a country?

• Family and Friends, Exercise, Faith (Sense of Purpose), Extroversion, Sufficient Employment and Income, Flow and Balance

• Some regions are clearly more happy than others and there are geographic clusters.

• In Japan, China, Australia, and the U.S. satisfaction has stayed level or decreased as GDP increased for most of recent history.

The 20 happiest nations in the World:

1. Denmark 2. Switzerland

3. Austria 4. Iceland

5. The Bahamas 6. Finland

7. Sweden 8. Bhutan 9. Brunei

10. Canada 11. Ireland

12. Luxembourg 13. Costa Rica

14. Malta 15. The Netherlands

16. Antigua and Barbuda 17. Malaysia

18. New Zealand 19. Norway

20. The Seychelles Other notable results include:

23. USA 35. Germany

41. UK 62. France 82. China 90. Japan 125. India

167. RussiaThe three least happy countries were:176. Democratic Republic of the Congo

177. Zimbabwe 178. Burundi

2006. Adrian White, Analytic Social Psychologist at the University of Leicester produces first ever global projection of international differences in subjective well-being; the first ever World Map of Happiness.

Subjective well-being in this study was found to be most closely associated with health, followed by wealth and then education.

World Values Survey

The Happiest Places on Earth?

1.    Denmark2.    Finland3.    Netherlands4.    Sweden5.    Ireland6.    Canada7.    Switzerland8.    New Zealand9.    Norway10.  Belgium

Question: “Taking all things together, would you say you are?

1 Very happy 2 Rather happy 3 Not very happy

4 Not at all happy”

- Based on data from World Values Survey

Based on data from Gallup World Poll, 2006

Question: “Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?”

“All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days? Using this card on which 1 means you are “completely dissatisfied” and 10 means you are “completely satisfied” where would you put your satisfaction with your life as a whole?”

Completely dissatisfied Completely satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Based on data from World

Values Survey

The WVS has shown that from 1981 to 2007 happiness rose in 45 of the 52 countries for which long-term data are available. Since 1981, economic development, democratization, and rising social tolerance have increased the extent to which people perceive that they have free choice, which in turn has led to higher levels of happiness around the world.

Gallu

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Source: Internet appendix to Inglehart, Foa and Welzel, “Social Change, Freedom and Rising Happiness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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2.8

3

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3.4

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1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

mean happiness in China, 1990 - 2006(1= not at all happy, 4=very happy)

Source: Internet appendix to Inglehart, Foa and Welzel, “Social Change, Freedom and Rising Happiness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

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3.4

3.6

1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

mean happiness in Australia, 1946 - 2006(1= not at all happy, 4=very happy)

Source: Internet appendix to Inglehart, Foa and Welzel, “Social Change, Freedom and Rising Happiness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

3.2

3.4

3.6

1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985

mean happiness in U.S., 1946 - 1980(1= not at all happy, 4=very happy)

Source: Internet appendix to Inglehart, Foa and Welzel, “Social Change, Freedom and Rising Happiness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

3.2

3.4

3.6

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

mean happiness in U.S., 1980 - 2006(1= not at all happy, 4=very happy)

World Values Survey