Synopses & Reviews
Reflecting the dramatic increase in global cultural interaction, Wendy Griswold explores the complex interplay between culture - idea systems, artworks, popular culture, religion beliefs, common sense - and social structure. Within the framework of the cultural diamond this book uses a comparative analysis of cultural objects and practices in Nigeria, China, the United States, and other locations around the world to demonstrate how cultural producers and consumers express a changing world through culture and how culture itself contributes to social changes.
Synopsis
Cultures and Societies in a Changing World provides students with the basic skills necessary to understand the importance of culture and interpret the world in cultural terms. Griswold encourages students to explore the concept of culture and the nature of its relationship to the social world; understand seemingly structural issues like poverty or ethnicity by applying cultural analysis to these issues; broaden their cultural and social horizons so that they may effectively operate in the global economy and international culture of the twenty-first century. The metaphor of a diamond is used to focus on the links between culture and society, and how they can be applied to a study of social problems, to business practice in the global marketplace, and to the media.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-163) and index.