Dominant culture

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A dominant culture is a cultural practice that is dominant within a particular political, social or economic entity, in which multiple cultures co-exist. It may refer to a language, religion/ritual, social value and/or social custom. These features are often a norm for an entire society. An individual achieves dominance by being perceived as pertaining to a majority of the population and having a significant presence in institutions relating to communication, education, artistic expression, law, government and business. [1] The concept of "dominant culture" is generally used in academic discourse in fields such as communication, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies. [2]

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In a society, culture is established and directed by the individuals with most power (hegemony). [3] In a culture, a group of people that have the ability to hold power over social institutions and influence the rest of the society's beliefs and actions is considered dominant. A dominant culture, or cultural hegemony, is established in a society by a group of individuals that direct the ruling ideas, values, and beliefs that become the dominant worldview of a society. Individuals from the dominant culture spread their dominant ideologies through institutions such as education, religion, and politics. Dominant culture make use of media and laws to spread their ideologies as well. [4] Furthermore, a dominant culture can be promoted deliberately and by the suppression of minority cultures or subcultures. [1]

The culture that is dominant within a particular geopolitical entity can change over time in response to internal or external factors, but one is usually very resilient. Antonio Gramsci imply that the masses are in the grip of a monolithic ruling class. However, the overall picture that Gramsci provides is not a static, closed system of ruling-class domination. Rather, it is a society in constant process, where the creation of counter-hegemonies remains a live option. [1]

The concept of a dominant culture, or the concept of hegemony, originated in Ancient Greece. Although Vladimir Lenin, a politician and a political theorist, defined the concept as “Domination,” Gramsci redefined it as “An intellectual and moral leadership directed by contradictory political and, cultural agents and organizations.” He called these organizations “organic and traditional intellectuals” which represented the interest of the working class. [5]

Examples of dominant cultures

In the United States, for example, a distinction is often made between the indigenous culture of Native Americans, and a dominant culture that may be described as "WASP", "Anglo", "white", "middle class", and so on. Some Native Americans are seen as being part of the culture of their own tribe, community, or family, while simultaneously participating in the dominant culture of America as a whole. [6] Also, ethnic groups are said to exist in the United States in relation to a dominant culture, generally seen as English-speaking, of European ancestry, and Protestant Christian faith. Asian Americans, [7] Jews, [8] [9] African Americans, [10] Latinos, [11] and Deaf people, [12] [13] among others, are seen as facing a choice to oppose, be opposed by, assimilate into, acculturate (i.e. exist alongside), or otherwise react to the dominant culture.

Interactions between dominant culture and co-culture

Co-culture consists of minority groups, or groups whose beliefs and values differ from the dominant culture. [14] Minority groups such as LGBTQ+, women, and black people or African American members, for example, can experience negative effects resulting from their interaction with the dominant culture. [15] [16] Minority groups can be victims of stress produced by the dominant culture. Minority stress can be described as the product that results from the differences between the minority and dominant values. Furthermore, minority stress is the outcome of the conflict that minority group members experience with their social environment. [17]

LGBTQ+ Community

Members from the LGBTQ+ community, that live in a heterosexist society, are susceptible and inclined to suffer from chronic stress due to their stigmatization. Minority stressors include internalized homophobia, stigma and experiences of violence and discrimination. [15] Internalized homophobia can be described as an LGBTQ+ member's disposition to societal negative attitudes towards the self while stigma refers to an LGBTQ+ member's expectation of discrimination and rejection. [17]

Women

Women, as many other co-culture groups, are greatly affected by the dominant culture that surround them. The dominant culture tend to perceive women as less worthy of economic and educational opportunities. [18] Also, In many cultures, women are expected to behave in a certain way and be responsible for tasks that men are not as they are also subject to double standards. [19] These interactions can lead to unfavorable and negative effects on women. For example, women can feel restricted from expressing freely, fighting for their aspirations, and trying new activities. [20]

Black and African American community

Globally,[ where? ] black or African American communities have been affected by the dominant cultures. In different countries, in order for black people to incorporate into the cultural hegemony, they were frequently isolated from their own cultural group, or an attempt was made to eradicate their culture completely. Many examples of cultural alienation and annihilation can be found across black and African American communities. [21] [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Gramsci</span> Italian Marxist philosopher, writer, and politician (1891–1937)

Antonio Francesco Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a founding member and one-time leader of the Italian Communist Party. A vocal critic of Benito Mussolini and fascism, he was imprisoned in 1926 where he remained until his death in 1937.

Acculturation is a process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from the balancing of two cultures while adapting to the prevailing culture of the society. Acculturation is a process in which an individual adopts, acquires and adjusts to a new cultural environment as a result of being placed into a new culture, or when another culture is brought to someone. Individuals of a differing culture try to incorporate themselves into the new more prevalent culture by participating in aspects of the more prevalent culture, such as their traditions, but still hold onto their original cultural values and traditions. The effects of acculturation can be seen at multiple levels in both the devotee of the prevailing culture and those who are assimilating into the culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political sociology</span> Branch of sociology

Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how power is distributed and changes throughout and amongst societies, political sociology's focus ranges across individual families to the state as sites of social and political conflict and power contestation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural hegemony</span> Marxist theory of cultural dominance

In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who shape the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview of the ruling class becomes the accepted cultural norm. As the universal dominant ideology, the ruling-class worldview misrepresents the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable, and perpetual social conditions that benefit every social class, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.

The term "minority group" has different usages, depending on the context. According to its common usage, the term minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half, is a "minority". Usually a minority group is disempowered relative to the majority, and that characteristic lends itself to different applications of the term minority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deaf culture</span> Culture of deaf persons

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Collective consciousness, collective conscience, or collective conscious is the set of shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society. In general, it does not refer to the specifically moral conscience, but to a shared understanding of social norms.

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

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In gender studies, hegemonic masculinity is part of R. W. Connell's gender order theory, which recognizes multiple masculinities that vary across time, society, culture, and the individual. Hegemonic masculinity is defined as a practice that legitimizes men's dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of the common male population and women, and other marginalized ways of being a man. Conceptually, hegemonic masculinity proposes to explain how and why men maintain dominant social roles over women, and other gender identities, which are perceived as "feminine" in a given society.

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Businesses benefit by having diversity in the work force. The business case for diversity stems from the progression of the models of diversity within the workplace since the 1960s. In the United States, the original model for diversity was situated around affirmative action drawing from equal opportunity employment objectives implemented in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Equal employment opportunity was centered around the idea that any individual academically or physically qualified for a specific job could strive for at obtaining the said job without being discriminated against based on identity. These initiatives were met with accusations that tokenism was the reason an individual was hired into a company when they differed from the dominant group. Dissatisfaction from minority groups eventually altered and/or raised the desire to achieve perfect employment opportunities in every job.

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The Prison Notebooks are a series of essays written by the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci was imprisoned by the Italian Fascist regime in 1926. The notebooks were written between 1929 and 1935, when Gramsci was released from prison to a medical center on grounds of ill-health. His friend, Piero Sraffa, had supplied the writing implements and notebooks. Gramsci died in April 1937.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Lears, T. J. Jackson (June 1985). "The Concept of Cultural Hegemony: Problems and Possibilities". The American Historical Review. 90 (3): 567–593. doi:10.2307/1860957. ISSN   0002-8762. JSTOR   1860957.
  2. ↑ Gordon Marshall (1998). A Dictionary of Sociology. Oxford University Press.
  3. ↑ Johnson, Richard; Chambers, Deborah; Raghuram, Parvati; Tincknell, Estella (2004-04-14). The Practice of Cultural Studies. SAGE. ISBN   978-1-84860-514-5.
  4. ↑ "Cultural Hegemony – What exactly has construct us?" . Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  5. ↑ "Hegemony - an overview". www.sciencedirect.com. ScienceDirect. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  6. ↑ Maria Falkenhagen and Inga K. Kelly (May 1974). "The Native American in Juvenile Fiction: Teacher Perception of Stereotypes". Journal of American Indian Education. 13 (2). Archived from the original on 2015-01-20.
  7. ↑ Lisa Lowe (1996). Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics. Duke University Press. ISBN   978-0-8223-1864-4.
  8. ↑ Lisa Lowe (review of book by Rabbi Meir Kahane) (2004-02-10). "Why Be Jewish? Intermarriage, Assimilation, and Alienation". The Jewish Eye. Archived from the original on 2019-03-26. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  9. ↑ Shlomo Sharan (April 2004). "Assimilation, Normalcy and Jewish Self-Hatred". NATIV Online. Archived from the original on 2008-12-03.
  10. ↑ Patricia S. Parker (August 2001). "African American Women Executives' Leadership Communication within Dominant-Culture Organizations: (Re)Conceptualizing Notions of Collaboration and Instrumentality". Management Communication Quarterly. 15 (1).
  11. ↑ Penelope Bass (2009-01-29). "Culture and Controversy:The 'Otra Voz' exhibit aims to create conversation". Archived from the original on 2011-07-11.
  12. ↑ Joan B. Stone (1998). Ila Parasnis (ed.). Cultural and Language Diversity and the Deaf Experience. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-64565-2.
  13. ↑ Carla A. Halpern (1995). "Listening In on Deaf Culture". Diversity and Distinction. Harvard University. Archived from the original on 2013-10-06. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  14. ↑ Hebdige, Dick (2013-10-08). Subculture. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-136-49473-4.
  15. 1 2 "Health Disparities and Stress" (PDF). www.apa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  16. ↑ Kaholokula, Joseph Keawe‘aimoku; Iwane, Marcus K; Nacapoy, Andrea H (May 2010). "Effects of Perceived Racism and Acculturation on Hypertension in Native Hawaiians". Hawaii Medical Journal. 69 (5 suppl 2): 11–15. ISSN   0017-8594. PMC   3158444 . PMID   20544603.
  17. 1 2 Meyer, Ilan H. (1995). "Minority Stress and Mental Health in Gay Men". Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 36 (1): 38–56. doi:10.2307/2137286. ISSN   0022-1465. JSTOR   2137286. PMID   7738327.
  18. ↑ "Women as a Minority | Boundless Sociology". courses.lumenlearning.com. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  19. ↑ "Gender and Socialization | Introduction to Sociology". courses.lumenlearning.com. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  20. ↑ Andrews, Dr Shawn. "Council Post: How Culture Impacts Our Value Of Women". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  21. ↑ "Dominant Culture - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2021-08-01.
  22. ↑ "Bringing them home" (PDF). Australian Human Rights Commission. May 26, 1997. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-06-23. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
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