Culture

I found the chapter on culture in The Theory Toolbox to be particularly interesting.  The first thing that I read that really got me thinking was the idea that the term ‘contemporary culture’ is so diverse that it almost doesn’t mean anything due to the fact that it could include everything.  Let me explain.  Everyone’s idea of contemporary culture is different due to context.  I grew up in a suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, so my idea of culture is very different from someone who grew up in Texas, or from someone who just immigrated to the United States. 

This point actually made me think of an experience I had recently at Fort Worth’s International Newcomer’s Academy.  It is a middle and high school for students who have just come to the United States and are learning English as a second language.  The students attend INA for 1 to 2 years (depending on their level of literacy) and are then integrated into the Fort Worth public school system.  During one of my first visits there I was observing a 9^th grade entry level classroom, meaning the students ranged from ages 12-15 and their ability to speak and understand English was extremely limited.  There were 9 students in the classroom and they all introduce themselves to me and said where they were from.  The nine students came from 6 different countries including Mexico, the Congo, Somalia, and Thailand.  Talk about diverse.

 Anyway, about halfway through the class the school counselor came in to speak with the students about sexual harassment and personal hygiene.  This was a difficult task for her because of the students’ limited English skills, so she had to act out much of what she was saying.  She told them of the importance of wearing tennis shoes once the colder weather hits and that if they couldn’t afford them they should go to her and she would provide a pair for the student.  She told them about shampoo, soap, and razors and how it was necessary to bathe on a daily basis.  It hit me that bathing daily might not be such an obvious idea to the student from the Congo who had to walk several miles to get water every day.  And it might night be second-nature to the kids from Mexico who lived in the poorer cities where the water was turned off by the government whenever it was deemed necessary.  It was a pretty wide opening experience and quickly made me realize:  contemporary culture for these students is COMPLETELY different from your or my idea of contemporary culture.      

I also found the section on popular culture and the argument that high culture offers ‘timeless’ values that are not tied to a specific time or place or set of cultural values and popular culture is essentially garbage—and dangerous.  I thought Bloom made a good point when he said that the importance of studying popular culture lies not within what we can learn from it, but rather in the examination of how it teaches us certain things.  The book goes on to say that popular culture teaches us how to have fun, be sad, be in love, the kind of body we should have, and what should bore us.

I happen to agree with that statement: popular culture absolutely shapes who we are and how we think.  The media is hugely influential in how we live, how we behave, how we speak/the language we use, etc.  In fact, I think that you could take anything and explain how it was influenced by popular culture.  For example, take a girl off the street and you can see that the way she dresses, wears her hear, and talks are characteristics embedded in popular culture.  Choose a random TV commercial and they probably used some sort of influential characteristic from popular culture to help sell their product, like a famous person or a popular song.  Popular culture is inescapable and I think that we are more influenced by it than it is influenced by us. 

Finally, I thought the section on media culture raised a really good question, “What is it like to grow up in today’s complex world?  Are we witnessing the death of childhood innocence?”  I think the answer to this is absolutely yes.  I think of the kids that I nanny for, ages 6 and 8, and what they do in their free time.  When I was young I spent every second that I could playing outside with neighborhood friends or riding my bike or playing soccer.  The kids that I nanny for play video and computer games, Pokemon and other card games, and have little desire to ever be outside.  I think that their constant need for stimulation makes it hard for them to just go outside and throw around a ball.  Instead they spend time in their game room which is jammed pack from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, with toys, toys, and more toys.  I think that it is really unfortunate but is not uncommon and is an effect of our media culture on today’s kids.