Culture: The Learning

Process
By: Hilary Jonus & Veaney Ramos

Summary/Outline

The importance of teachers understanding their own cultural identities and

those of their students.
The dynamics of culture & the culture learning process that both students &
teachers experience.
Primary & secondary socialization processes
12 sources of cultural knowledge
12 Socializing Agents that transmit culture
Consequences & limitations of socializations
The 4 elements of culture
More terms

What are some sources of your cultural identity?

Sources of
Cultural Identity

The Process of Socialization

Socialization: the process by which people learn the norms that are expected of
them by a particular group. Your identity.
The process occurs at 3 stages of life:

1) Primary: socialization of infants & young children. Includes how to

eat (Americans vs. Japanese) and how to speak.
2) Secondary: Socialization of older children/teens. School! Introduced
to ideas and values that differ from their cultural identity at home.
3)

Adult: Socialization of adults into roles. Includes getting a job, marrying,

moving into new home, having children.

Socializing
Agents
That
Transmit
Culture

The
Culture-Learning
Process

Limits on Socialization

There are three limitations on socialization important to educators:

Socialization can be limited by the child's physical organism and biological limits.

Socialization is an unending process that is never completely finished, therefore a child may
be socialized a certain way but he/she can learn new ways.

Socialization has limited power because humans can reject/accept norms, interpret
accepted norms differently, and create new accepted normative behavior.

Socialization can help shape individuals but it does not finalize peoples
identity.

Main Consequence of Socialization

Ethnocentrism is when people evaluate and form ideas about others

according to their own standards.

Criticizing, considering certain aspects of other peoples cultures beneath you.

Strong resistance to change: people sometimes believe their way of doing things is the
best/correct way.

In schools: some educators and politicians believe that Eurocentric curriculum is the
most valuable preparation a student needs.

What do you see?

Passage #1: Culture is Both Objective and Subjective

Objective components of culture consist of the visible, tangible elements of a group; that
is the endless array of physical artifacts the people produce, the language they speak, the
clothes they wear, the food they eat, and the unending stream of decorative and ritual
objects they create. These elements are relatively easy to pick up or observe, and all
people would describe them in a similar manner. It is the objective elements of
culture that are most commonly thought of when cultural differences are considered.
Subjective components of culture are the invisible, less tangible aspects of culture, such
as the attitudes people hold, the values they defend, their norms of behavior, the manner in
which they learn, and the hierarchy of social rolesin short, the meaning that the more
objective components of culture have for individuals and groups.

Subjective and Objective Components of Culture from Pictures

Subjective:

Elders high place in social hierarchy

pyramid
Manners/values:
Opening doors for others
Listening to elders
Happiness while dancing

Objective:

Language
Traditional attire:
Colorful Mexican dresses and charro
suits
Native American headpiece and
outfit
Businessman suit

Other Elements of Culture

Culture is constructed by humans

Culture is shared
Culture is nurtured

More Salient Terms and Concepts

Five common terms used to describe social groups that share
cultural elements but are generally smaller than society as a whole
are:

Subculture
Microculture
Minority Group
Ethnic Group
People of Color

Sometimes used interchangeably but microculture suggests a greater

connection with the parent culture