5.1: Introduction - Culture in a Global Context

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Understand the various elements of cultural globalization
• Recognize the three basic categories that apply to elements of culture: artifacts, sociofacts, and mentifacts 

Introduction

As presented in this textbook thus far, the process of globalization broadly concerns increasing levels of contact, access, and connectivity among groups of people who were previously separated. As time-space compression continues to occur across the world, flows of information, capital, and ideas have increased. Often, social scientists are inclined to focus on the economic and political aspects of globalization first and foremost, which is a logical approach as these arenas contain numerous motivating factors for brining people into common frameworks that allow for greater access to flows of goods and services with stable systems of governance that encourage collaboration and growth (Sheppard, 2002). This approach is especially valid in the case of ever-expanding global capitalism, multi-national and trans-national corporations, and neoliberal governance agendas. At the heart of these processes though lie the people who participate within them, and therefore a thorough analysis of globalization should include questions concerning how the process impacts people’s daily lives in terms of their own lived experiences. The focus of these questions has been centered on measuring cultural differences and impacts on distinct identities, which are discernable at the group level. In a truly globalized world, the group in question would be the entire human population, therefore suggesting that the process of globalization is leading to the formation of a global culture. While the notion of all people espousing the same cultural beliefs, norms, and customs seems rather unlikely, simply due to the high level of diversity within the human population, some cultural elements are undoubtedly presented to, and accepted by, new populations throughout the process. Thus, the adaptation of new cultural elements, and the incorporation of, or mass participation in, these elements by new populations in new areas encapsulates cultural globalization in a general sense (Crane, 2008).  

Before discussing some of the specific and finer points of cultural globalization, some basic definitions are in order. First, for the purposes of this chapter, culture is defined as set of particular elements, whose application comes to define customs, behaviors, ways of life, and social norms, so as to be understood in terms of cohesive identity. To expand on a discussion first introduced in Chapter 2.2, cultural elements can generally be understood in three categories, artifacts, sociofacts, and mentifacts (Huxley, 1955). Artifacts refer to objects, goods, or traits that function within a technical system (Davis, 2020). For example, books, laptops, exams, presentations and papers are all artifacts of college culture because they represent tools or tasks that students use to complete the college process. Sociofacts are defined as behavioral norms, constructed or accepted by members of a group that are used to guide those people through social interactions and processes in their lives (Sanders, 1958). Examples of sociofacts include greeting customs, like shaking hands, nodding one’s head, or waving one’s hand. Getting married is another example of a sociofact. Looking at marriage in American culture over the last few decades is a good example of how cultural elements can change and adapt over time and place, with accepted definitions shifting from a union between one man and one woman, to allow for individuals of the same sex, or gender, to get married. Therefore, it is important to view sociofacts as contextually specific, although that context can widen or narrow over time and space as a particular sociofact is diffused. Mentifacts are cultural elements that represent values, ideology, belief systems, or ways of thinking that are present in a given society (Posner, 2004).  For example, belief in God constitutes a principal mentifact for many forms of religious identity, as well as for constructing a world view. Behaviors and processes that are considered virtuous in each society are typically supported via menifacts, such as the value of donating to charity or volunteering for a cause. Mentifacts have an impact on social and political institutions as well. For example, the belief in the importance of democratic government tends to be a salient cultural value for most societies in Europe and North America. 

As we saw in Chapter 2.2, social systems that produce and reinforce elements of culture generally have a starting point, known as cultural hearths, from which these elements diffuse outward to new areas when inhabitants started to migrate and interact with people who were previously separated from the hearth (Voigt-Craf, 2004). Though we often focus on the diffusion of sets of technologies, social practices, and belief systems from ancient cultural hearths, such as Meso-America or the Greco-Roman world, this process of cultural hearth formation and the diffusion of artifacts, sociofacts, and mentifacts is still happening in the modern world.