ANT E105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Media Culture, Easter Parade, High Culture
Document Summary
High culture is like going to museums and listening to classical music low culture is going to a bar. Anthropologists don"t think of culture like that. People say they don"t have culture that"s not true. It is a major part of the us culture, not unique to it. Having a credit card is very important to being part of our culture. You can have good credit which leads to a good car, house and other shit. What you buy and what you possess is a part of your identity and how you identify. Consumer symbolism: patriotism (ads), sociable (buy things to give to people) which is symbolic of your relationship. There is an altruistic aspect to shopping (certain proceeds go to charity) Our stuff makes us who we are or who we desire to be. Consumer materialism: exchanging stuff when we consume things. We also exchange gifts and our built in environment (cities) promotes consumerism.
