Cultural amalgamation

Last updated
The origins of cultural amalgamation: When people from the Chinese culture meet people from the European culture and greet each other. Chinese Emigration to America.jpg
The origins of cultural amalgamation: When people from the Chinese culture meet people from the European culture and greet each other.

Cultural amalgamation refers to the process of mixing two cultures to create a new culture. [1] [2] It is often described as a more balanced type of cultural interaction than the process of cultural assimilation. [3] [4] Cultural amalgamation does not involve one group's culture changing another group's culture (acculturation) [5] or one group adopting another group's culture (assimilation). [6] [1] Instead, a new culture results. [1] This is the origin of cultural amalgamation. It is the ideological equivalent of the melting pot theory. [1]

Contents

The term cultural amalgamation is often used in studies on post–civil rights era in the United States and contemporary multiculturalism and multiracialism. [7] [1] For instance, the cultural amalgamation process happened with the fall of the Roman empire when the Middle Ages started and Roman Jewish/Christian culture and Germanic tribal cultures mixed with each other in the European continent. [8] [9] In present day, cultural amalgamation occurs with immigration. [4]

Origins of cultural amalgamation

This Athebaskan beaded jacket and foot wear are dated to the 19th Century The beadwork is made of dyed porcupine quills. These items of clothing and footwear would appear authentic to early Europeans who never saw them before. Athebaskan beaded jacket, 19th Century 554 01.jpg
This Athebaskan beaded jacket and foot wear are dated to the 19th Century The beadwork is made of dyed porcupine quills. These items of clothing and footwear would appear authentic to early Europeans who never saw them before.

The origins of cultural amalgamation and its distinction begins the moment individuals from one culture encounter individuals from another culture. Each cultural group and their people who represent their society appear exotic to the other group. There is no expectation for anyone in one culture to sacrifice their unique cultural qualities and attributes for the other distinct culture. [10] Instead, there is an appreciation for the social norms, spirituality, language, artistic expressions, food, clothing and rituals that each group brings into the merge. [11]

Social integration occurs as each individual from their group independently represents their unique culture with a mutual appreciation and respect for each member of the other group and their cultural values. [1] [11] [12] The benefits of the cultural exchange are many as it includes all aspects of the other culture in its entirety. [1] [13]

The cultures then combine their influences and amalgamate without dominating each other. [1] [3] [10] This creates a new social structure dynamic where contributions occur in various areas and forms, and all are equally valued. [1] [10]

Cultural amalgamation is beneficial and aids in enhancing the life experience of both cultures. In this photo African American play ball with Europeans at Hyde Park, London. (African American) troops play ball against whites, Hyde Park, London. (African American) and white . . . - NARA - 533504.tif
Cultural amalgamation is beneficial and aids in enhancing the life experience of both cultures. In this photo African American play ball with Europeans at Hyde Park, London.

Materiality and non-materiality

Historically, the practice and process of cultural amalgamation is beneficial and aids in enhancing both cultures. [3] [10] It improves the quality of life for each individual on various levels, including their respective society's materiality and the nonmaterial. [10]

In the social sciences, one aspect of materiality [14] is described as the use of cultural artifacts and how they are incorporated by the receiving culture for their use. [15] The other aspect is the nonmaterial advancements that consist of the various beliefs, creative ideas and attitudes expressed in a society. [16] The value is determined by the type of impact and reception it receives as it is shared with the other culture, and then extended to more broad and diverse cultural groups. [1] [3] [10] [17] The contributions between the two cultures creates an elevated, overall enhancement in the areas of social capital and culture capital for the combined society, which can be highly beneficial. [18] As a result, each group benefits from the other group by sharing their cultural practices, social advances and material advancements in order to develop and establish the new society. [1]

Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu is credited as the social scientist who identified the term social capital, which embodies the following:

Pierre Bourdieu’s social and cultural capital

Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of social and cultural capital embodies both nonmaterial and material attributes. Pierre Bourdieu (1).jpg
Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of social and cultural capital embodies both nonmaterial and material attributes.

Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of social and cultural capital embodies both nonmaterial and material attributes or assets. [12] [14] [17] In the social sciences, materiality is described as the use of cultural artifacts and how they are incorporated into the receiving culture's use of the new technology. [14] [17]  

Pierre Bourdieau in-depthly discussed the concept of social capital and its significance in society while being instrumental in forming the concept as a focal point in his lectures on socialist societies. [17] According to Bourdieau, cultural capital takes the form of material objects when the production and consumption of an objectified form of culture has an energy that influences the other culture. [17] The objectification of the other culture extends beyond the arts or technology as cultural capital. [17] In his view, it is highly influential with regard to what the existing society accepts as their social norms and conduct. It also extends and becomes institutionalized in areas such as education, medicine and law. [17] However, Bourdieu's emphasis about sharing genetics and heritability, also known as miscegenation, [17] as an invisible, prime characteristic of cultural capital is emphasised in his work. [12]

Miscegenation

The word amalgamation means miscegenation. [13] When different cultural groups come into contact with each other, marriages occur. [1] This in turn creates a genetic mergence through the birth of children. [2] This genetic process, also known as hybridization, [19] [20] results after many generations. [2] [19]

Bourdieu emphasised that the prime characteristic of cultural capital comes in the form of genetics and heritability. [17] Combining DNA creates a source of origin as he felt genetics make a substantial contribution to inter-generational genetics merging to result in population increases. [17] [14] Procreating between two individuals from two isolated and different cultures creates a hybridization [20] state in the resulting children. [19] Bourdieu describes hybridization as a much more subtle, hidden or disguised form for powerful material contributions [14] in comparison to other materialized forms that demonstrate an obvious physical result to attain economic capital gain. [17] The merging of genetics through procreation is when miscegenation occurs with genetic transfer. [2] [17] [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habitus (sociology)</span> How individuals perceive and react to the social world

In sociology, habitus is the way that people perceive and respond to the social world they inhabit, by way of their personal habits, skills, and disposition of character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialization</span> Lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies

In sociology, socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Bourdieu</span> French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (1930–2002)

Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence in several related academic fields. During his academic career he was primarily associated with the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris and the Collège de France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural identity</span> Identity or feeling of belonging to a group

Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality, gender, or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture. In this way, cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual but also of the culturally identical group of members sharing the same cultural identity or upbringing. Cultural identity is an unfixed process that is continually evolving within the discourses of social, cultural, and historical experiences. Some people undergo more cultural identity changes as opposed to others, those who change less often have a clear cultural identity. This means that they have a dynamic yet stable integration of their culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social structure</span> Sociological classification of human societies according to their social characteristics

In the social sciences, social structure is the aggregate of patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to be grouped into structurally related groups or sets of roles, with different functions, meanings, or purposes. Examples of social structure include family, religion, law, economy, and class. It contrasts with "social system", which refers to the parent structure in which these various structures are embedded. Thus, social structures significantly influence larger systems, such as economic systems, legal systems, political systems, cultural systems, etc. Social structure can also be said to be the framework upon which a society is established. It determines the norms and patterns of relations between the various institutions of the society.

In the social sciences there is a standing debate over the primacy of structure or agency in shaping human behaviour. Structure is the recurrent patterned arrangements which influence or limit the choices and opportunities available. Agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. The structure versus agency debate may be understood as an issue of socialization against autonomy in determining whether an individual acts as a free agent or in a manner dictated by social structure.

In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person that promote social mobility in a stratified society. Cultural capital functions as a social relation within an economy of practices, and includes the accumulated cultural knowledge that confers social status and power; thus cultural capital comprises the material and symbolic goods, without distinction, that society considers rare and worth seeking. There are three types of cultural capital: (i) embodied capital, (ii) objectified capital, and (iii) institutionalised capital.

<i>Distinction</i> (book) 1979 book by Pierre Bourdieu

Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste by Pierre Bourdieu, is a sociological report about the state of French culture, based upon the author's empirical research from 1963 until 1968. The English translation was published in 1984, and, in 1998, the International Sociological Association voted Distinction as an important book of sociology published in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of culture</span> Branch of the discipline of sociology

The sociology of culture, and the related cultural sociology, concerns the systematic analysis of culture, usually understood as the ensemble of symbolic codes used by a member of a society, as it is manifested in the society. For Georg Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Culture in the sociological field is analyzed as the ways of thinking and describing, acting, and the material objects that together shape a group of people's way of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Distinction (sociology)</span> Social force that assigns different values upon different people within a given society

In sociology, distinction is a social force whereby people use various strategies—consciously or not—to differentiate and distance themselves from others in society, and to assign themselves greater value in the process. In Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Pierre Bourdieu described how those in power define aesthetic concepts like "good taste", with the consequence that the social class of a person tends to predict and in fact determine his or her cultural interests, likes, and dislikes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Field research</span> Collection of information outside a laboratory, library or workplace setting

Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct field research may simply observe animals interacting with their environments, whereas social scientists conducting field research may interview or observe people in their natural environments to learn their languages, folklore, and social structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of education</span> Study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes

The sociology of education is the study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes. It is mostly concerned with the public schooling systems of modern industrial societies, including the expansion of higher, further, adult, and continuing education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural reproduction</span> Cultural concept

Cultural reproduction, a concept first developed by French sociologist and cultural theorist Pierre Bourdieu, is the mechanisms by which existing cultural forms, values, practices, and shared understandings are transmitted from generation to generation, thereby sustaining the continuity of cultural experience across time. In other words, reproduction, as it is applied to culture, is the process by which aspects of culture are passed on from person to person or from society to society.

Sexual capital or erotic capital is the social power an individual or group accrues as a result of their sexual attractiveness and social charm. It enables social mobility independent of class origin because sexual capital is convertible, and may be useful in acquiring other forms of capital, including social capital and economic capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture change</span> Term in public policy

Culture change is a term used in public policy making that emphasizes the influence of cultural capital on individual and community behavior. It has been sometimes called repositioning of culture, which means the reconstruction of the cultural concept of a society. It places stress on the social and cultural capital determinants of decision making and the manner in which these interact with other factors like the availability of information or the financial incentives facing individuals to drive behavior.

Cultural institutions studies is an academic approach "which investigates activities in the cultural sector, conceived as historically evolved societal forms of organising the conception, production, distribution, propagation, interpretation, reception, conservation and maintenance of specific cultural goods".

In sociology, social transformation is a somewhat ambiguous term that has two broad definitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of literature</span> Aspect of sociology

The sociology of literature is a subfield of the sociology of culture. It studies the social production of literature and its social implications. A notable example is Pierre Bourdieu's 1992 Les Règles de L'Art: Genèse et Structure du Champ Littéraire, translated by Susan Emanuel as Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field (1996).

In sociology, academic capital is the potential of an individual's education and other academic experience to be used to gain a place in society. Much like other forms of capital, academic capital doesn't depend on one sole factor—the measured duration of schooling—but instead is made up of many different factors, including the individual's academic transmission from his/her family, status of the academic institutions attended, and publications produced by the individual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Field theory (sociology)</span>

In sociology, field theory examines how individuals construct socialfields, and how they are affected by such fields. Social fields are environments in which competition between individuals and between groups takes place, such as markets, academic disciplines, musical genres, etc.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Intergroup Relationships | Introduction to Sociology – Brown-Weinstock". courses.lumenlearning.com. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cummins, Emily (2022-01-31). "Amalgamation in Sociology: Gene Transfer & Ethnicity". study.com. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Ian Keen; Takako Yamada (2001). Identity and Gender in Hunting and Gathering Societies: Papers Presented at the Eighth International Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies (CHAGS 8), National Museum of Ethnology, October 1998. National Museum of Ethnology. p. 167.
  4. 1 2 "Assimilation | Introduction to Sociology". courses.lumenlearning.com. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  5. ↑ Hirsch, Walter (2020-01-31). "Assimilation as Concept and as Process". Title:Ethnicity. Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library and MSL Academic Endeavors.
  6. ↑ "Definition of AMALGAMATION". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  7. ↑ Sexton, Jared Yates (2008). Amalgamation schemes: antiblackness and the critique of multiracialism. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN   978-0-8166-5663-9. OCLC   318220788.
  8. ↑ Johansen, Bruce E. (2015-09-22). American Indian Culture: From Counting Coup to Wampum. [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   978-1-4408-2874-4.
  9. ↑ "Boundless Sociology" (PDF). 2022-02-05.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Evans, Reid; Bucki, James (2019-09-10). Cultural Amalgamation and the North American Fur Trade: Rethinking Eurocentrism and Iroquoian Material Culture.
  11. 1 2 Pappas, Stephanie; published, Callum McKelvie (2021-12-15). "What Is Culture?". livescience.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  12. 1 2 3 "Social Context". Genome.gov. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  13. 1 2 Bell, Kenton (2015-02-01). "amalgamation definition". Open Education Sociology Dictionary.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 "Materiality". obo. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  15. ↑ Frantz, Nadine Pence (1998). "Material Culture, Understanding, and Meaning: Writing and Picturing". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 66 (4): 791–815. doi:10.1093/jaarel/66.4.791. ISSN   0002-7189. JSTOR   1466172.
  16. ↑ Little, William (2014-11-06). "Chapter 3. Culture".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Weininger, Elliot B (March 15, 2022). "CHAPTER 4. PIERRE BOURDIEU ON SOCIAL CLASS AND SYMBOLIC VIOLENCE" (PDF). University of Wisconsin-Madison Social Science Computing Cooperative. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  18. ↑ "3.2: Social and Cultural Capital". Social Sci LibreTexts. 2019-03-24. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  19. 1 2 3 Ackermann, Rebecca R.; Arnold, Michael L.; Baiz, Marcella D.; Cahill, James A.; Cortés-Ortiz, Liliana; Evans, Ben J.; Grant, B. Rosemary; Grant, Peter R.; Hallgrimsson, Benedikt; Humphreys, Robyn A.; Jolly, Clifford J. (July 2019). "Hybridization in human evolution: Insights from other organisms". Evolutionary Anthropology. 28 (4): 189–209. doi:10.1002/evan.21787. ISSN   1060-1538. PMC   6980311 . PMID   31222847.
  20. 1 2 3 "Hybridization". Genome.gov. Retrieved 2022-04-07.

.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.