ISS 210 1st Edition Lecture 17 Outline of Last Lecture I A Zande Youth II Zande Granary III Chinese Funeral Ritual IV Chinese Funerals Xi Bo V Chinese funeral 3rd year VI Clothing and Conformity VII Nature Culture Contrast VIII Research Orientation IX Cross Culture Studies of Alcohol X A natural experiment XI Drunken Comportment XII Cross Culture Variation XIII Horgarth s Gin Lane XIV Normative Behaviors XV Gender Differences Outline of Current Lecture I Ritual Functions II Situation Definitions III Social control IV Key terms V Cultural Remission Time Out VI Ethanol Equivalents VII Blood Alcohol Level BAL VIII Calculating BAC IX Stages of Intoxication X Harris and the sacred cows XI Materialist interpretation XII Why sacred XIII Criticism of Harris XIV Cows gif XV Stuarts theory of cultural change XVI The concept of integration XVII Limitations of prior structure Current Lecture I Ritual Functions In societies with an ambivalent morally charged relationship with alcohol US UK where alcohol marks the transition from work to play UK US Drinking is associated with recreation and irresponsibility and a higher incidence of alcohol abuse In cultures with a tradition of casual everyday drinking where alcohol is part of the normal working day France Spain Peru Drinking may mark the transition to work II Situation Definitions In Austria the drink defines the social relationship of between drinkers Sekt is drunk on formal occasions while schnapps is drunk for more intimate convivial gatherings Switching to schnapps triggers shif from the polite sie to the highly intimate tu In France liquid punctuation aperitif white wine red wine and digestifs III Social control Bolivian Camba drink excessively yet anti social or violent behavior are completely unknown Irish fishermen demonstrate their ability to hold their liquor in the company of their peers In integrative drinking cultures drinking is a morally neutral element of normal life and requires no justification there is no need to find excuses for drinking Djibwa at Grassy narrows engaged in binge drinking characterized by anti social violent behavior IV Key terms Alcoholism a physiological or psychological dependency on ethanol which may or may not be socially disruptive an individual affliction Drunkenness a temporary loss of control over ones reaction and behavior while drinking alcohol Anyone who drinks immoderately can become drunk Alcohol Abuse socially disruptive behaviors associated with the consumption of beverage alcohol a society affliction V Cultural Remission Time Out A conventional relaxation of social controls over behavior Carnival traditions involve role reversals men dress in women s clothes and prance about in an exaggerated caricature of famine behavior Football weekends VI Ethanol Equivalents Proof is the twice the percentage of alcohol in a beverage Alcohol is absorbed via the stomach and small intestine Continue to absorb alcohol 60 to 90 minutes afer your last drink The faster alcohol is ingested the higher the peak concentration When you realize you ve had too much the worse is yet to come VII Blood Alcohol Level BAL Stages of intoxication determined my volume of alcohol to body muscle mass and liver function Liver oxidizes alcohol at once per hour The remaining alcohol continues to effect behavior Coffee and cold showers may stimulate but will not sober you up VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV Calculating BAC The 0 008law in MI a person has an alcohol content of 0 08 per 100 milliliters of blood per 210 liters of breath or per 67 milliliters of urine Stages of Intoxication Alcohol as it affects our sensory motor capabilities pharmacological dimensions impairs the performance of sundry motor skills and our social conduct The performance decrements are due to alcohol toxic assault upon the operation of one or more functionally relevant internal bodily mechanisms Ethye alcohol is a depressant that puts the central nervous system to sleep There are five discernible levels Harris and the sacred cows Harris reflects the Western preoccupation with cow love in Indians Competing symbolic and functional explanations Harris is a material determinist and provides an interesting functional analysis He claims a positive functioned interpretation that demonstrates the rationality interpretations that demonstrates the rationality of the practice but not of the system itself Materialist interpretation Bulls and oxen pull plows and carts Most farm households have a cow to provide milk panceer and ghee for food dung for fuel and urine for multiple purpose India experiences cyclical droughts during which people ofen go hungry Most farm households own a cow and if they slaughtered the cow for food during times of economic stress there would be no more animals born to pull plows when the rains return With no way to play their fields people would truly starve Ergo you must prevent people from slaughtering cows for short term gain against long term needs Why sacred Cows figure prominently in the Hindu world view From Nepeuli friends perspective Criticism of Harris His positive functioned argument is quite convincing as he shows how cows fit into a long term weather cycle As with most functional analysis he identifies the rationality of the element while ignoring the rationality of the system Would a system of production based small tractors be just as rational and better alternative Cows gif Cow dung and urine are ofen consumed in rituals to purify the lower castes thus making their use authentically Hindu Peasants are constrained by poverty and by concepts of rituals purity and cast they cannot change without penalty makeshif expediency makes the system work Functional analysis Western researchers found it makes a useful disinfectant XV Stuarts theory of cultural change Applies a natural selection model to society Social institutions arise out of a practical adjustment of individuals and groups to external circumstances Goal is to optimize material and economical conditions Environment negatively determines choices allowing a range of responses but maladaptive traits either disappear or negatively affect the viability of the population What prevents individuals from making optimal choices XVI The concept of integration Once a set of sociocultural relationships become integrated into a structure it is difficult to modify elements without effecting parts of the whole Elements borrowed from other cultures are recast and reinterpreted according to