Culture, can it be bought?

[dimreepr]

Whilst reading this, very dubious thread, I was struck by the following question, so rather than hijack it, I’ll start another.

 

Culture, is all encompassing for each and every one of us, our individual culture informs our every thought. Could an industry really be so powerful as to thwart that? Many try, via advertising, PR etc, but by how much do they really impact our lives, other than in a superficial way; do they go deep enough? The media would have us believe companies like Coke and McDonalds do so, on a daily basis, but, as they are a reflection/exaggeration of the existing culture; are they the informed or the informer? Could one company really become so ‘all encompassing’ in any one society as to directly inform the indigenous culture or is this just fodder for science fiction writers?

Edited April 28, 2013 by dimreepr

[krash661]

depending on what definition is used of many,

is it not obvious ?

[dimreepr]

depending on what definition is used of many,

is it not obvious ?

 

No, please explain?

[krash661]

cul·ture

cul·ture [kúlchər]
n (plural cul·tures)
1. arts collectively: art, music, literature, and related intellectual activities, considered collectively
Culture is necessary for a healthy society.
popular culture

2. knowledge and sophistication: enlightenment and sophistication acquired through education and exposure to the arts
They are people of culture.

3. shared beliefs and values of group: the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular nation or people
Southeast Asian culture

4. people with shared beliefs and practices: a group of people whose shared beliefs and practices identify the particular place, class, or time to which they belong
5. shared attitudes: a particular set of attitudes that characterizes a group of people
The company tries hard to avoid a blame culture.

6. growing of biological material: the growing of biological material, especially plants, microorganisms, or animal tissue, in a nutrient substance culture medium in specially controlled conditions for scientific, medical, or commercial purposes
7. biotechnology biological material grown in special conditions: biological material, especially plants, microorganisms, or animal tissue, grown in a nutrient substance culture medium in specially controlled conditions for scientific, medical, or commercial purposes
8. tillage: the cultivation of the land or soil in preparation for growing crops or plants
9. improvement: the development of a skill or expertise through training or education
physical culture

vt (past and past participle cul·tured, present participle cul·tur·ing, 3rd person present singular cul·tures)
1. grow biological material in special conditions: to grow biological material, especially plants, microorganisms, or animal tissue, in a nutrient substance culture medium in specially controlled conditions, for scientific, medical, or commercial purposes
2. agriculture cultivate plants: to cultivate plants or crops
3. nurture somebody or something: to nurture somebody or something, especially in order to advance your own interests
She spent a great deal of time culturing new contacts on Capitol Hill.

[13th century. Via French < Latin cultura "tillage" < cult- , past participle of colere "inhabit, cultivate"]

bought

bought [bawt]
Past participle, past tense of buy


adj
not homemade: commercially made rather than homemade

buy

buy [bī]
v (past and past participle bought [bawt], present participle buy·ing, 3rd person present singular buys)
1. vti acquire something by payment: to pay money for something in order to obtain it
They bought me a bike for my birthday.
People just aren't buying at the moment.

2. vt obtain something from somebody by bribery: to obtain information, help, or loyalty from somebody in exchange for money
3. vt obtain time: to obtain more time to reach a desired end by taking strategic action
a maneuver that should buy us another week

4. vt obtain something by sacrifice: to obtain something by sacrificing something else of equivalent value
buy peace with land

5. vi be buyer for company or person: to purchase goods on behalf of a company or another person
She buys for a large New York store.

6. vt believe something: to accept or believe something proposed as true (informal)
I don't buy the part about an international conspiracy.



n (plural buys)
1. something bought: something that you pay money for, considered relative to its worth
a good buy

2. exchange of money for goods: an exchange of money for goods or services


[ Old English bycgan < Germanic]


-buy·a·ble, , adj

See bi-.

[dimreepr]

 

 

To simply take the literal definition of the words: culture and bought, to extrapolate an answer, is in no way enlightening; have you misunderstood the question perhaps?

 

 

 

[krash661]

i was not able to see the link, it says i do not have permission, so maybe.

 

but for me it's obvious so i do not know what to tell you.

 

or maybe add the meaning of manipulation(in a sense) to the conversation.

 

the manipulation would be the influence aspect of this question i maybe not be understanding.

 

which will lead to a development of a cutler over a period of time.

 

it's what it leads to.

Edited April 28, 2013 by krash661

[dimreepr]

Maybe I should ponder this further and respond tomorrow? But for me; the more obvious the explanation is, the easier it is to explain.
Perhaps a perspective provided by another member would help, who knows at this point?

[EdEarl]

I do not know how much culture can be bought, but our culture is surely changing. The culture I live in today is very different from that of my childhood.

[dimreepr]

A healthy culture is an ever changing visceral process that evolves the same as a biological species. Unfortunately it feels like my culture has eyes only for the past, as a result, the process is heading towards stagnation. So for my culture a healthy dose of thrusting corporate influence would be just the tonic.

[CaptainPanic]

I fear it is a chicken-or-the-egg problem. What came first: the big companies, or the culture of consumerism? I think they developed simultaneously.

 

Culture is commercialized, that much is certain. Can an industry influence our culture? Certainly. Industries have commercialized the modern computers as well as the internet. Those have influenced culture a lot. That's just one example. A single marketing campaign may not have a very large influence, and a single company may not have a large influence. But together, companies have a huge influence on our lives. They are one of the main actors that determine our mobility, our communication, our diet and our entertainment (to name a few influential industries).

 

However, please note that there is a second underlying question (the conspiracy-type question) which may ask whether companies can deliberately steer a culture in a certain direction? And again, marketing campaigns can influence what we think about something, so yes, to a certain extent people can be manipulated. But they always seem to have profit in mind. They don't seem to have a second agenda. The only ‘all encompassing’ factor that I could blame on industry and marketing is that they've turned our culture into a consumer-culture. But the desire to own many goods may have existed in our culture already for a long time before fossil fuels kicked off the industrial revolution.

 

Can companies / industries influence culture? Yes.

Can culture influence companies / industries? Yes.

 

I am not sure that the question itself is a good one. Aren't the industries just a part of our culture, as much as the songs we like, the food we eat and the habits we have?

[EdEarl]

I read somewhere (or maybe dreamed) a long time ago that shopping is a modern analog to gathering (hunter-gatherer). In other words, the activities are similar. One leaves their home and roams among nearby fields (stores) looking here-and-there for a reward (food or whatever) that one may take home to share with family or consume immediately.

 

Thus, some parts of life remain unchanged while others do change.

[arc]

Whilst reading this, very dubious thread, I was struck by the following question, so rather than hijack it, I’ll start another.

 

Culture, is all encompassing for each and every one of us, our individual culture informs our every thought. Could an industry really be so powerful as to thwart that? Many try, via advertising, PR etc, but by how much do they really impact our lives, other than in a superficial way; do they go deep enough? The media would have us believe companies like Coke and McDonalds do so, on a daily basis, but, as they are a reflection/exaggeration of the existing culture; are they the informed or the informer? Could one company really become so ‘all encompassing’ in any one society as to directly inform the indigenous culture or is this just fodder for science fiction writers?

I believe the answer lies not in the motivations of industries or companies but those of the individuals that buy from them. To think back to the formation of the first cultural units, humans were motivated to develop there society by the personal desire for convenience. It is easier to hunt as a group. When you sleep in the cold a group maintains a higher core temperature. Prospective mates are more readily available in a group. Convenience then was closely related to surviving and successful reproduction.

 

So convenience first drove behavior and then innovation. Pointed sticks gave way to cutting implements which lead to spears, I'm sure a sandal shoe was an early hit in hot rocky habitats. Move to colder climates and add sides and wear an animal hide. Convenience lead to raiding other groups and conflict. In this, they steal another groups culture by taking their women, children, tools, pottery, clothing and adornments as their own.

 

The early civilizations were convenience on mass scale. The cultivation of grain and other cereal crops along with livestock showed what the desire for convenience can lead to. If you could not or would not bake a loaf of bread you could buy one because of the societies need for that convenience. Money to simplify equity within the convenience marketplace was itself the greatest convenience. To convert ones assets of cattle or wine to easily transported and hidden gold coins allowed convenience to grow into multinational military empires that levied taxes and built roads that made trade and travel convenient. And as a convenience, Inns and the towns that grew up around them were established along the roads based on a days travel.

 

So people are the creator and driver of this convenience culture we now live in. It has been in continuous development since the first stone tool and cave drawings. The corporations that provide us with the conveniences of food and drink or anything else that has a measure of convenience are the product of our cultures desire to save time and money. That some within our society would desire a simpler life is understandable. But that ideal is based on a retracted form of convenience. One that fits their idea of lesser convenience, one that resembles fifty or a hundred years ago. The corner grocer or farmers market. Some chose to live that way as best they can within our society. But some have the desire to impose this simplistic life on the rest of society by claiming these companies are equivalents to organized crime syndicates. This is a worn out method to dissuade people from patronizing them. This has been used against one corporation after another.

 

Think of everything that is a convenience of time and money and its manifestation in our culture, the car makers, oil producers, fast food, agra-businesses and big box stores have been the target of the anti-convenience movement. They fail to realize that these companies have developed to their present form due to the public response through patronage. If they were not meeting the public's expectations they would go somewhere else. The anti-convenience movement would say they drive the small businesses out by under cutting their prices. Yes that is true, because of their scale they have lower prices. That is the reality of free markets, one person's convenience is another's lost customer. This is not unlike in nature when plants and insects develop in response to each others biologic evolution. Have we all been so easily duped by corporate marketing? Or has the anti-convenience movement by their own dogma? I think a trip back to a crowded open air market in the 1880's would change some minds. Meat and produce exposed to the flies and the livestock used to transport it. Meat butchered in the street and sold, wrapped in old newspapers for transportation home. No refrigeration, no sanitary styrofoam trays or disposable plastic wrap. Those who offered these improvements gained the market advantage and grew, some became cultural icons.

 

Can culture be bought? It is made with one satisfied customer at a time. arc