Culture as comfort : many things you know about culture (but might not realize)

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Presents culture and identities as continual processes of doing, rather than as things people possess. This text encourages readers to understand how we learn culture so early in life that we come to view it as a possession more than as our groups particular ways of thinking and doing. We do the same for identities such as gender, race, nationality, and religion because these are also learned. Moreover, as we become culturally competent as children, we do not see what we do as cultural but as natural, as normal. Therefore our ways become comforting to us yet often discomforting to others and vice-versa. The authors goals are to encourage readers to understand how we acquire our cultural comfort zones so that we can expand them throughout life and to appreciate cultural diversity and similarity. Culture as Comfort is a unique learning tool that is written broadly to appeal to a wide, cross-disciplinary audience. It is not a typical textbook, nor is it a classic supplemental text. Instead, it addresses a critical scholarly conceptcultureusing the latest multidisciplinary scholarship. It renders the information in nontechnical language, adding in the authors own insights and stories to make the information enjoyable and easy for readers to comprehend and remember. Learning Goals Upon completing this book readers will be able to: Understand culture and identities as ongoing processes of learning patterns of thinking and doing, rather than as things we possess Comprehend how learning to be culturally competent involves feeling culturally comfortable among people with whom we share culture and discomforted with those different from ourselves Recognize that we can expand our cultural comfort zones if we embrace cultural discomforts as opportunities to continue to learn culture Apply the books ideas to creatively solve cultural problems in their home, school, and work lives Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit: www.mysearchlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab (at no additional cost): ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205895336 / ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205895335. Content: Chapter 1: What Is Culture? What Is Culture to You? Planned Pause 1-1 What I think of When I Hear the Word "Culture" Do We Inherit Culture? What Role Does Biology Play, if Any? Rediscovering Culture for the Very First Time Taking Stock What Have You Learned So Far? Planned Pause 1-2 How I View "Culture" Now -- Chapter 2: We Weren't Born to Be Random: Culture as Comfort. Seeing Culture through a Different Lens Planned Pause 2-1 Checking In with My Cultural Discomforts Seeing Culture through an Infant's Eyes From Newborn Novice to Trained Toddler: Acquiring Cultural Comfort Constructing the Puzzle of How Babies Learn Culture Brain Activity: Converting the New into the Known Learning Culture Is Not Memorization: Culture Is Creative but also Orderly Conclusion Planned Pause 2-2 Applying Culture as Comfort to Real Life -- Chapter 3: Culture as Comfort Is the Way Our Brains Develop Too. Planned Pause 3-1 "The Ways I Do My Social Status" Building Our Brains' Cultural Circuitry Cutting Pathways through the (Brain's) Forest of Experience Planned Pause 3-2 My Cultural Ruts--and How to Break Out of Them From Life's Routines to Norms to Normal: Culture, Tradition, and Institutionalization Conclusion -- Chapter 4: To Be Human Is To Integrate Socially. Learning Culture is About Socially Integrating New People into Groups Integrating People into Families Integrating People into (Face-to-Face) Institutional Groups Becoming Soldiers in Real Life and Online Integrating into Schools, Universities and Jobs as Cultural Contexts Beyond Face-to-Face: Integrating into Imagined Communities Conclusion Planned Pause 4-1 Helping Bridge Cultural Discomforts -- Chapter 5: Encountering "Others". How Social Distinctions Arise The Internal Lines that Divide All Human Groups From Social Category to Categorically Unequal Gender Planned Pause 5-1 Doing Gender in My Society Race Learning Social Statuses Ethnographies of Learning Race Conclusion Planned Pause 5-2 My Ideas for Raising Children to Create a Better Future for All -- Chapter 6: Doing Culture More Mindfully. Culture as Comfort's Main Points Revealing and Analyzing Your Cultural Comforts Planned Pause 6-1 Analyzing My Cultural Comforts Focusing on the Immigrant Experience Embracing Your Cultural Discomforts Applying Culture As Comfort Planned Pause 6-2 "How I Will Expand My Cultural Comforts" Conclusion.

Presents culture and identities as continual processes of doing, rather than as things people possess.

This text encourages readers to understand how we learn culture so early in life that we come to view “it” as a possession more than as our groups’ particular ways of thinking and doing. We do the same for “identities” such as gender, race, nationality, and religion because these are also learned. Moreover, as we become culturally competent as children, we do not see what we do as cultural but as natural, as normal. Therefore our ways become comforting to us yet often discomforting to others and vice-versa. The author’s goals are to encourage readers to understand how we acquire our cultural comfort zones so that we can expand them throughout life and to appreciate cultural diversity and similarity.

Culture as Comfort is a unique learning tool that is written broadly to appeal to a wide, cross-disciplinary audience. It is not a typical textbook, nor is it a classic supplemental text. Instead, it addresses a critical scholarly concept—culture—using the latest multidisciplinary scholarship. It renders the information in nontechnical language, adding in the author’s own insights and stories to make the information enjoyable and easy for readers to comprehend and remember.

Learning Goals

Upon completing this book readers will be able to:

• Understand culture and identities as ongoing processes of learning patterns of thinking and doing, rather than as things we possess
• Comprehend how learning to be culturally competent involves feeling culturally comfortable among people with whom we share culture and discomforted with those different from ourselves
• Recognize that we can expand our cultural comfort zones if we embrace cultural discomforts as opportunities to continue to learn culture
• Apply the book’s ideas to creatively solve cultural problems in their home, school, and work lives

Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit: www.mysearchlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab (at no additional cost): ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205895336 / ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205895335.