Understanding Culture

Understanding Culture

Author: Robert S. Wyer

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2013-05-13

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 1136642919

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This volume contains contributions from 24 internationally known scholars covering a broad spectrum of interests in cross-cultural theory and research. This breadth is reflected in the diversity of the topics covered in the volume, which include theoretical approaches to cross-cultural research, the dimensions of national cultures and their measurement, ecological and economic foundations of culture, cognitive, perceptual and emotional manifestations of culture, and bicultural and intercultural processes. In addition to the individual chapters, the volume contains a dialog among 14 experts in the field on a number of issues of concern in cross-cultural research, including the relation of psychological studies of culture to national development and national policies, the relationship between macro structures of a society and shared cognitions, the integration of structural and process models into a coherent theory of culture, how personal experiences and cultural traditions give rise to intra-cultural variation, whether culture can be validly measured by self-reports, the new challenges that confront cultural psychology, and whether psychology should strive to eliminate culture as an explanatory variable.


Interpreting Clifford Geertz

Interpreting Clifford Geertz

Author: Jeffrey C. Alexander

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2011-05-09

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0230118984

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Theorist Clifford Geertz's influence extends far beyond Anthropology. This volume reflects the breadth of his influence, looking at Geertz as a theorist rather than as an anthropologist. To date there has been no impartial, comprehensive, and authoritative work published on this critical figure.


Studying Culture

Studying Culture

Author: Judy Giles

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2008-01-29

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 1405155922

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Fully revised and updated, this second edition is an ideal introduction for those who are new to the study of culture. Featuring global case studies, selections of readings, exercises, and commentary throughout, it spans the subject from issues of identity through to technological trends. Explores key issues and theories on identities, representation, histories, places, and spaces, discussing the various interpretations of culture and cultural studies Incorporates new work on the study of space, place, identity, gender, and cultural history, as well as new sections on cultural studies theories and methodology in each chapter Introduces more complex issues including high and popular culture, subjectivities, consumption, and new technologies, and a fully updated section on new and enduring trends in technology and culture


Futures of the Study of Culture

Futures of the Study of Culture

Author: Doris Bachmann-Medick

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2020-08-10

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 3110669544

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How can we approach possible but unknown futures of the study of culture? This volume explores this question in the context of a changing global world. The contributions in this volume discuss the necessity of significant shifts in our conceptual and epistemological frameworks. Taking into account changing institutional research settings, the authors develop pathways to future cultural research, addressing the crucial concerns of the cultural and social worlds themselves. The contributions thereby utilize contact zones within a wide range of disciplines such as cultural anthropology, sociology, cultural history, literary studies, the history of science and bioethics as well as the environmental and medical humanities. Examining emerging inter- and transdisciplinary points of reference, the volume invites scholars in the humanities and social sciences to take part in a conversation about theories, methods, and practices for the future study of culture.


Researching Culture

Researching Culture

Author: Pertti Alasuutari

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 1995-09-27

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 9780803978317

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Introduces a range of approaches and methodological tools available for undertaking critical research. This book shows how cultural studies transcend traditional divisions between qualitative and quantitative methods and between social sciences and humanities.


Investigating Culture

Investigating Culture

Author: Carol Delaney

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 2004-02-23

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 9780631222378

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Investigating Culture offers an innovative approach to understanding culture as a constructed phenomenon open to investigation of its implicit premises and explicit forms. Provides a refreshing alternative to traditional textbooks by challenging students to think in new ways and to apply these ideas to their own lives Focuses on the ways that humans orient themselves, e.g., in space and time, according to language, food, the body, and the symbols provided by public myth and ritual Each chapter includes: an introduction framing the central issues, examples from a range of cultures, a selected reading or two, additional suggested readings, and exercises


Culture and Consumption

Culture and Consumption

Author: Grant David McCracken

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1990-11-22

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780253206282

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"This book compiles and integrates highly innovative work aimed at bridging the fields of anthropology and consumer behavior." —Journal of Consumer Affairs " . . . fascinating . . . ambitious and interesting . . . " —Canadian Advertising Foundation Newsletter " . . . an anthropological dig into consumerism brimming with original thought . . . " —The Globe and Mail "Grant McCracken has written a provocative book that puts consumerism in its place in Western society—at the centre." —Report on Business Magazine " . . . a stimulating addition to knowledge and theory about the interrelationship of culture and consumption." —Choice "[McCracken's] synthesis of anthropological and consumer studies material will give historians new ideas and methods to integrate into their thinking." —Maryland Historian "The book offers a fresh and much needed cultural interpretation of consumption." —Journal of Consumer Policy "The volume will help balance the prevailing cognitive and social psychological cast of consumer research and should stimulate more comprehensive investigation into consumer behavior." —Journal of Marketing Research " . . . broad scope, enthusiasm and imagination . . . a significant contribution to the literature on consumption history, consumer behavior, and American material culture." —Winterhur Portfolio "For this is a superb book, a definitive exploration of its subject that makes use of the full range of available literature." —American Journal of Sociology "McCracken's book is a fine synthesis of a new current of thought that strives to create an interdisciplinary social science of consumption behaviors, a current to which folklorists have much to contribute." —Journal of American Folklore This provocative book takes a refreshing new view of the culture of consumption. McCracken examines the interplay of culture and consumer behavior from the anthropologist's point of view and provides new insights into the way we view ourselves and our society.


Culture in Networks

Culture in Networks

Author: Paul McLean

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2016-11-11

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0745687202

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Today, interest in networks is growing by leaps and bounds, in both scientific discourse and popular culture. Networks are thought to be everywhere – from the architecture of our brains to global transportation systems. And networks are especially ubiquitous in the social world: they provide us with social support, account for the emergence of new trends and markets, and foster social protest, among other functions. Besides, who among us is not familiar with Facebook, Twitter, or, for that matter, World of Warcraft, among the myriad emerging forms of network-based virtual social interaction? It is common to think of networks simply in structural terms – the architecture of connections among objects, or the circuitry of a system. But social networks in particular are thoroughly interwoven with cultural things, in the form of tastes, norms, cultural products, styles of communication, and much more. What exactly flows through the circuitry of social networks? How are people's identities and cultural practices shaped by network structures? And, conversely, how do people's identities, their beliefs about the social world, and the kinds of messages they send affect the network structures they create? This book is designed to help readers think about how and when culture and social networks systematically penetrate one another, helping to shape each other in significant ways.