On Being Different: Diversity and Multiculturalism in the North American Mainstream / Edition 4

by Kathryn A. Kozaitis, Conrad Phillip Kottak

Overview

Understanding of cultural diversity is essential to a healthy multicultural society. Fundamental to this book’s approach is the belief that a comparative, cross-cultural view of human differences and similarities enhances understanding of diversity and multiculturalism within contemporary North America.

On Being Different provides an up-to-date, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary account of diversity and multiculturalism in the United States and Canada. Conrad Kottak and Kathryn Kozaitis clarify essential issues, themes, and topics in the study of diversity, including ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. The book also presents an original theory of multiculturalism, showing how human agency and culture work to organize and change society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780078117015
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	06/14/2011
Edition description:	List
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	583,316
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Kathryn A. Kozaitis is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Georgia State University, and holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University. She received her Ph.D. in Social Work and Anthropology at the University of Michigan in 1993. Her key interestsare in the relationship between global transformations and local adaptations, particularly in the processes by which economically, politically, and socially subordinated collectivities in a postcolonialworld use culture to construct community, identity, and meaning. Professor Kozaitis has conducted ethnographic research on sociocultural change and adaptation among Gypsies in Athens, Greece, and on ethnicity and aging among Greek immigrants in Chicago, Illinois.

Conrad Phillip Kottak (A.B. Columbia, 1963; Ph.D. Columbia, 1966) is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, where he has taught since 1968. In 1991 he was honored for his teaching by the University and the state of Michigan. In 1992 he received an excellence in teaching award from the College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts of the University of Michigan. Professor Kottak has done fieldwork in cultural anthropology in Brazil (since 1962), Madagascar (since 1966), and the United States. In current research projects, Kottak and his colleagues have investigated the emergence of ecological awareness in Brazil, the social context of deforestation in Madagascar, and popular participation in economic development planning in northeastern Brazil.

Table of Contents

Reflections xi

Preface xii

About the Authors xvii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

American Culture and Cultures 5

Studying Diversity and Multiculturalism 6

Chapter 2 Culture 9

Culture and Its Aspects 11

Culture Is Learned 12

Culture, Space, and Scale 13

Culture Is Shared 14

Culture Is Symbolic 15

Culture and Nature 15

Culture Is All-Encompassing 16

Culture Is Integrated 16

Culture and the Individual: Agency and Practice 16

Culture Is Instrumental, Adaptive, and Maladaptive 18

There Are Levels of Culture 18

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism 19

Universality, Generality, and Particularity 20

Particularity: Patterns of Culture 20

Unifying Factors in Contemporary North American Culture 21

American Pop, Civic, and Public Culture 24

Mechanisms of Cultural Change 25

The Uses of Culture 26

Chapter 3 Globalization and Identity 29

Globalization and Identity Politics 32

Trade and Finance 33

Neoliberalism and Antiglobalization 33

Multilocality and the Media 35

Civil Society, NGOs, and Rights Movements 37

Indigenous Peoples 39

Identity in Indigenous Politics 41

Diasporas and Postmodernity 42

Agency 42

Chapter 4 The Multicultural Society 45

The Power of Culture 47

Conceptualizing Cultural Diversity 48

Assimilation 49

Pluralism 51

Multiculturalism 51

Theory of Multiculturalism 53

Sociocultural Transformation 53

Multiculturalism in the North American Mainstream 54

The Centers of Cultural Production 57

Agency and Resistance 58

Identity Politics 60

The Multicultural Paradox 60

Multiculturalism: The Master Movement 61

Critical Multiculturalism 64

Chapter 5 Ethnicity 66

Ethnicity and Social Statuses 69

Status Shifting 71

Ethnic Groups, Nations, and Nationalities 72

Nationalities and Imagined Communities 73

Ethnic Tolerance and Accommodation 73

Cultural Assimilation 74

The Plural Society 74

Multiculturalism and Ethnic Identity 75

Roots of Ethnic Conflict 80

Prejudice and Discrimination 80

Chips in the Mosaic 82

Aftermaths of Oppression 83

Chapter 6 Religion 86

Church and State 88

Politics and Religion 90

Religion and Solidarity 90

Ritualized Changes in Status and Identity 92

Religious Diversity 94

The World's Major Religions 97

Protestant Values and the Rise of Capitalism 99

Social Control 101

Religion and Change 102

New and Alternative Religious Movements 104

Secular Religion 106

Chapter 7 Race: Its Biological Dimensions 108

Race: A Discredited Concept in Biology 111

Races Are Not Biologically Distinct 112

Genetic Markers Don't Correlate with Phenotype 113

Explanatory Approaches to Human Biological Diversity 114

Explaining Skin Color 115

Lactose Intolerance 118

The Case for Cultural versus Biological Determination of Physical Attractiveness and Sports Abilities 119

The Case for Cultural versus Biological Determination of Intelligence 121

Testing and Affirmative Action 123

Chapter 8 Race: Its Social Construction 126

Race and Racism 129

Race, Ethnicity, and Culture 131

The Cultural Construction of Race 132

Hypodescent: Race in the United States 132

Race in the Census 133

Not Us: Race in Japan 136

Phenotype and Fluidity: Race in Brazil 138

Chapter 9 Gender 142

Sex and Gender 144

Recurrent Gender Patterns 145

Gender Roles and Gender Stratification 151

Reduced Gender Stratification-Matrilineal, Matrilocal Societies 152

Matriarchy 152

Reduced Gender Stratification-Matrifocal Societies 153

Increased Gender Stratification-Patrilineal-Patrilocal Societies 153

Patriarchy and Violence 154

Gender in Industrial Societies 155

The Feminization of Poverty 158

Work and Happiness 160

Beyond Male and Female 161

Chapter 10 Sexual Orientation 165

The Nature and Culture of Sexual Orientation 167

Changing Patterns and Views of Sexual Orientation 171

Varieties of Human Sexuality 173

The Social Construction of Sexual Orientation 175

Cross-Cultural Variation 176

Bisexuality 177

The Political Organization of Sexual Orientation 178

Legal Protection of LGBT 180

Gay Culture 181

Chapter 11 Age and Cohort 184

Ages and Cohorts 187

The Generation Gap 190

An Aging Population 191

The Aging Process 195

Intergenerational Conflict 196

The Gray and the Brown 198

The Tea Party Movement 200

The Social Construction of Childhood 202

The Politics of Age and Aging 203

Chapter 12 Bodies, Fitness, and Health 206

Culture and the Body 208

Well and Sick Bodies 213

People with Disabilities 215

The ADA and Employment Rates 218

Mental Health 219

Diversity in Sickness and in Health 222

Chapter 13 Class 225

Class in America 227

Forms of Socioeconomic Stratification 229

Industrial Stratification 229

Poverty and Homelessness 231

Closed Class Systems 234

Domination, Hegemony, and Resistance 235

Class and Values across Cultures 237

Diversity within Social Categories 239

Social Movements 241

Chapter 14 Places and Spaces 243

Regional Diversity 245

Geographic Mobility 248

Cyberspace 250

Cities and Urbanites 251

Lifestyles and Small Towns 254

The American Periphery 257

The Income Gap by State 259

Chapter 15 Linguistic Diversity 261

Linguistic Relativism 263

Sociolinguistics: The Study of Linguistic Diversity 264

Gender Speech Contrasts 266

Stratification and Symbolic Domination 267

Black English Vernacular (BEV), aka Ebonics 270

Linguistic Diversity and Inequality 272

Nativists and Relativists 273

The Language of Power 274

Chapter 16 Families 277

Changing North American Families 280

All Sorts of Families 280

Family and Work 286

Media and the Family 287

The Cult of Childhood "Success" 289

Kinship and Class 292

Family Diversity 293

Chapter 17 Conclusion 295

Human Diversity, Culture, and Multiculturalism 297

Using Culture to Build Humanity 299

From Civil Rights to Human Rights 302

Human Agency as a Prime Mover of Social Reform 304

Glossary G-1

Bibliography B-1

Photo Credits C-1

Index I-1