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Is Culture Thick, Thin, or Both?
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Culture
In this course, Dr Jon Mulholland (University of the West of England) explores culture. In the first lecture, we think about whether culture is thick, thin, or both. In the second lecture, we think about consumer culture and how it is linked to the current sustainability crisis, including the development of resistant consumption. Next, we think about gender in body building, finishing on a question of whether female body builders challenge or reinforce traditional gendered body norms. In the fourth and final lecture, we think about global culture, looking at cultural hybridity and reactive nationalism.
Is Culture Thick, Thin, or Both?
In this lecture, we think about whether culture is thick, thin, or both, focusing in particular on: (i) Auguste Comte and Émile Durkheim as early thinkers in sociology; (ii) the idea of culture as a ‘fuzzy concept’, being one that is contested and without consensus; (iii) Brian Steensland’s definition of culture from his 2011 book, Sociology of Culture; (iv) Mishler and Pollack’s 2003 paper, which introduced the idea of ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ culture; (v) Edward Burnett Tylor’s 1871 definition of culture as that which is acquired by a person as a member of society; (vi) understanding thick culture as a tangible prerequisite for social life; (vii) understanding thick culture as being essential for social life, fundamental to who we are, pre-existing and outliving us, holistic, externally bounded and externally homogenous, a coherent cluster of orientations, and durable; (viii) criticisms of conceptualising culture as ‘thick’, by viewing it as essentialist, reductionist, conservative and empirically unjustified; (ix) understanding thin culture as empirical, constructivist and rational, endogenous, individualist, relatively unbounded and diverse, heterogeneous and ambivalent, as well as being dynamic and in a constant state of flux; (x) Zygmunt Bauman’s proposition that late modernism encourages individuals to believe in their own uniqueness; (xi) Paul Gilroy’s ‘changing same’, used to describe how migrant populations combine past, present and future in a dialogue between what is constant and what is changing; (xii) Andreas Reckwitz’s proposal that there is a conflict between perceptions of thick and thin culture in postmodernism; (xiv) two key questions to consider being whether formulations of culture as thick and think are in contest (with examples) and whether the future of how culture is thought about is promising.
Hello.
00:00:06My name is Doctor Jonathan Mulholland and I'm an associate professor
00:00:07in sociology at the University of the West of England.
00:00:10Bristol.
00:00:13I research and teach across the areas of diversity and the environment.
00:00:14Today I will be talking to you
00:00:19about the sociological conceptualization of culture.
00:00:21Specifically,
00:00:25I will be discussing the nature of culture as a fuzzy concept.
00:00:26And I will try to help you think through this fuzziness
00:00:30through drawing a distinction
00:00:33between conceptualizations of culture as thick
00:00:35and conceptualizations of culture as thin.
00:00:39So from the outset of the sociological discipline in the work of August Comp
00:00:42and Emil Durkheim
00:00:47culture assumed a foundational status.
00:00:48It became a key tool for classical
00:00:51and then modern and late modern sociological investigations
00:00:54To understand all things societal.
00:00:58There is no theoretical framework in the discipline of sociology
00:01:01that does not deploy
00:01:05some conceptualization of culture within its conceptual toolkit.
00:01:06Yet it remains what we call a fuzzy concept.
00:01:11By Fuzzy, we mean to say that it is contested,
00:01:14disputed
00:01:18and subject to a spectrum of interpretations.
00:01:19It might even be said that as the sociology discipline evolves,
00:01:23we see less rather than more consensus as to its meaning
00:01:27across, but also within different theoretical traditions.
00:01:32For instance, within the Marxist tradition,
00:01:37we do see quite divergent formulations of culture being developed and deployed.
00:01:39So how might we define culture in broad terms?
00:01:46Well, Brian Stensland provides an effective,
00:01:50more or less generic concept of culture.
00:01:54Culture is understood as the symbolic,
00:01:57expressive dimension of social life in common usage.
00:02:00The term culture can mean the cultivation
00:02:04associated with civilised habits of mind,
00:02:07the creative products associated with the arts
00:02:10or the entire way of life associated with the group.
00:02:13Among sociologists,
00:02:17culture just as often refers to the beliefs that people hold about reality.
00:02:18The norms that guide their behaviour,
00:02:24the values that orientate their moral commitments
00:02:26and the symbols through which these beliefs,
00:02:29norms and values are communicated.
00:02:31Now, as useful as such general definitions might be,
00:02:35and most sociologists may be able to agree with such a definition
00:02:39framed at this level,
00:02:42from the moment we seek to move beyond this level of general definition,
00:02:44we quickly find ourselves in dispute over all or most of the elements
00:02:49that comprise such a definition.
00:02:54So one way to potentially clarify
00:02:58our sociological thinking on the concept of
00:03:01culture is to ask ourselves the question.
00:03:03Is culture thick
00:03:06or thin?
00:03:08Or both?
00:03:09By asking ourselves this question
00:03:10in application both to sociological accounts of culture
00:03:13but also to real world understandings and performances of culture,
00:03:16we might clarify our sociological thinking at least a little.
00:03:21But first, it is important to state that these categories of thick and thin culture
00:03:25are what Max
00:03:30Weber would have called ideal types
00:03:31devices for clarifying a more complex empirical reality
00:03:34by imposing a more simple conceptual typology
00:03:38or categorization
00:03:43onto that reality
00:03:45to bring into clearer view the key features of that empirical reality.
00:03:46We will now review what we mean by thick culture and thin culture
00:03:52and our will.
00:03:57We useful try to provide empirical and sociological examples as illustrations.
00:03:58In accounting for these ideas,
00:04:05I will draw broadly on a framework developed by William
00:04:06Mishler and
00:04:10left Pollock. But I will make links to a broader sociology.
00:04:11So as for thick culture,
00:04:16a classic definition of culture that fits the bill
00:04:18as an example of a conceptualization of culture as thick
00:04:21was provided by Edward Tyler as far back as 18 71
00:04:25he defined culture
00:04:30as that complex whole,
00:04:31which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals,
00:04:34custom
00:04:38and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man
00:04:39as a member of society.
00:04:44So, as part of our ideal type of a conceptualization of culture as thick,
00:04:46we might draw out some key features.
00:04:51Firstly, thick culture is essential.
00:04:54It is real and it matters.
00:04:58By essential, we mean to say that it is a tangible prerequisite
00:05:01for social life and the possibility of such
00:05:06we might think about culture as providing, for instance, a guide to life itself.
00:05:10Secondly,
00:05:17thick culture is fundamental, if not primordial,
00:05:18but this will mean to say that it is foundational. It is the very basis of who we are
00:05:22collectively and therefore individually.
00:05:29It is, in fact, what we are comprised of. So if we think in terms of ethnic culture
00:05:32and the idea that ethnic culture
00:05:39is in some way a foundation
00:05:41for who an individual and a community actually are
00:05:44in terms of beliefs, norms and values and so on, we're on the right track.
00:05:48Thirdly, thick culture is exogenous.
00:05:54What we mean by this is to say that culture preexists us.
00:05:57It was here before we arrived.
00:06:02It surrounds us, it socialises us. It becomes internalised within us
00:06:05and of course it will outlive us.
00:06:11Furthermore, thick culture is holistic.
00:06:14By this, we mean to say it spans all dimensions of life, both public and private.
00:06:17Thick culture is externally bounded and internally homogenous.
00:06:24We can map cultures
00:06:29as having an inside
00:06:32and a boundary
00:06:35and an outside.
00:06:36We might think about national cultures
00:06:38as being like this. At least from this perspective,
00:06:40we might think about the way that
00:06:44nationalist groups or parties
00:06:46have sought to reassert or reestablish
00:06:50national cultures in the face of social change.
00:06:54We might think about the way that far
00:06:58right organisations such as the British National Party
00:07:00have deployed concepts of Britishness
00:07:03to reassert this
00:07:06externally bounded
00:07:08and internally homogenous character of the UK.
00:07:10Thick culture is also a coherent cluster of orientations.
00:07:15Culture produces connected patterns of effects.
00:07:19These include beliefs and values and norms,
00:07:23but also behaviours and ways of relating
00:07:27and finally thick culture is durable.
00:07:30It is reproduced.
00:07:34We can think about the importance of heritage, of tradition,
00:07:36of nostalgia.
00:07:41We can think about television programmes such as the repair shop
00:07:42and how individuals are invited to bring in objects
00:07:46that have not just personal familial significance
00:07:50as objects of sentiment
00:07:55but carry nostalgia, tradition and heritage.
00:07:57We can think of the crafts deployed by those
00:08:01who repair these objects as being heritage crafts.
00:08:04Now, such accounts of culture as thick
00:08:09have been subjected to extensive critique within sociology.
00:08:12The social constructionist orientations of the bulk of sociologists
00:08:16would take exception to such accounts of culture.
00:08:20Even if such accounts might be commonly reflected in the
00:08:24cultural models adopted by sections of the general public,
00:08:27many sociologists would consider such accounts
00:08:31to be essential
00:08:34reductionist, conservative
00:08:36and empirically unjustified.
00:08:39In fact, the bulk of sociologists would probably subscribe to some elements
00:08:42of a conceptualization of culture is thin.
00:08:46So let's explore the features of a conceptualization of culture as thin.
00:08:51Firstly, thin culture is empirical. It may,
00:08:55or it may not matter.
00:09:00Culture has here no essential, determined,
00:09:02consistent character or role or effect.
00:09:06It might matter more
00:09:10or less.
00:09:12Secondly, thin culture is constructivist and rational.
00:09:14We actively produce culture ourselves and often on the basis of
00:09:19what rationally works for us in pursuing our respective goals.
00:09:24If we take as an example,
00:09:29Russia's invasion of Ukraine
00:09:31before the invasion of Ukraine took place,
00:09:34Vladimir Putin wrote an article
00:09:37in that article.
00:09:41He rejected
00:09:42the existence of Ukraine
00:09:44as a nation with a historic culture of its own.
00:09:46And he rejected
00:09:50what it meant to be Ukrainian
00:09:52as being grounded upon a distinct culture and asserted that in fact Ukraine
00:09:55was Russia
00:10:01and Ukrainians
00:10:02were Russian.
00:10:03In reality, Putin was actively constructing
00:10:06a certain account of what Ukraine
00:10:10and Ukrainian means
00:10:12as a specific justification
00:10:15for a future invasion.
00:10:18Thirdly, thin culture is endogenous
00:10:21by this.
00:10:23We mean to say that we create culture within the context of our own social lives,
00:10:24through our relationships and through our institutions.
00:10:29We might think about how queer or trans cultures are being actively produced
00:10:33within the current context to challenge conventional
00:10:39hegemonic notions of gender and sexuality.
00:10:43Fin culture is also individualist, at least up to a point.
00:10:47Culture is actually a collection or an aggregation of beliefs and values and
00:10:52norms of individuals or at least
00:10:57individuals in interaction with other individuals.
00:10:59In fact,
00:11:03Sigmund Bauman would argue that we are encouraged in this late modern period
00:11:03to believe in our own uniqueness and to commit to a project of self definition
00:11:08and of constant self reproduction
00:11:14through our
00:11:17production of culture
00:11:19through, amongst other things, the act of consumption
00:11:21think culture is relatively unbounded and diverse.
00:11:25In fact, culture is not easily mapped.
00:11:29It is too complex and too variable if we think about the role of globalisation,
00:11:32and we think about how cultural products,
00:11:37material or immaterial products cross boundaries constantly
00:11:40and how that might produce a level
00:11:45of complexity that makes cultural diversity really quite a difficult thing to map.
00:11:47Thin culture is also generally speaking,
00:11:53heterogenous and ambivalent.
00:11:56We see enormous complexity and nuance within all cultural entities.
00:11:59If we think about ethnicity
00:12:05and post migration
00:12:07ethnic groups within a country such as the UK,
00:12:09we've seen significant complexity and and
00:12:12evolution and diversity evolve within these communities
00:12:15over time, across generations.
00:12:19And finally, I think culture is dynamic. Culture is constantly in a state of flux.
00:12:22They again think of the changes experienced by the migrant groups we've just
00:12:28referenced.
00:12:32Paul Gilroy, the famous sociologist of Race,
00:12:33refers to the concept of the changing same
00:12:36to describe how migrant populations combine. Both combine both the past,
00:12:39uh, and the present and the future
00:12:45in a dialogue between what is constant but what is also changing.
00:12:47So we've provided here up to this point
00:12:54an ideal, typical account of thick and thin culture.
00:12:56One interesting example of this typology in practise can
00:13:00be found in the recent work of Professor Andreas
00:13:03Retz, professor of comparative sociology.
00:13:06He argues that in the late modern world,
00:13:09we see a struggle taking place between those
00:13:11who approach or advocate for culture in essentially terms
00:13:13i e. Thick culture
00:13:18and those who approach culture in
00:13:19hypert
00:13:21terms, as he describes it, which effectively is akin to thin culture
00:13:22in the real empirical world, Culture may take the form of a spectrum,
00:13:27or of a complex and contradictory coexistence of different
00:13:32cultural forms in a state of constant instability.
00:13:36But such ideal types undoubtedly help us
00:13:40to see through the complexity and instability and essentially the fuzziness
00:13:44of culture in the empirical world and therefore remain valuable.
00:13:50And I will finish, perhaps by asking a couple of questions for you to consider.
00:13:56Firstly,
00:14:00do you see the contemporary era as one in which formulations of culture as thick
00:14:01and thin
00:14:07are in some form of struggle with one another
00:14:08And what examples of each of these approaches can you identify?
00:14:11And secondly,
00:14:16what do you see? The future as promising
00:14:17in terms of how culture might be thought about and practised going forward.
00:14:20Thank you.
00:14:26
Cite this Lecture
APA style
Mulholland, J. (2023, May 26). Culture - Is Culture Thick, Thin, or Both? [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/culture
MLA style
Mulholland, J. "Culture – Is Culture Thick, Thin, or Both?." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 26 May 2023, https://massolit.io/courses/culture