Present-day Culture Research Articles

Introduction to German Culture: An Interdisciplinary Approach

of contemporary culture, politics, and social problems in the Germanspeaking countries. But interest in these topics is by no means limited to language students. Students who have visited or who plan to visit a German-speaking country sometimes look for a culture course which will prepare them to be well-informed, knowledgeable travelers. This article describes a course entitled Introduction to German Culture, designed at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to meet the needs of all these students. Unlike culture courses offered in the past, it draws upon the talents and expertise of the entire German faculty, from teaching assistants to professors, as well as of colleagues in other departments. In these times of low enrollment in German, this course has not only increased enrollment in our elementary language classes but has also brought a number of new majors to the department. Introduction to German Culture is a lower division undergraduate course. Taught in English, its primary purpose is to introduce students who have little or no knowledge of German to essential aspects of presentday culture in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A course of this nature requires an instructor who is knowledgeable in a wide variety of areas. Even though it could be taught by a single instructor, it was decided that in order to provide students with the most in-depth, up-to-date information available and to make the course as lively and interesting as possible, one person would assume the main responsibility of organizing and teaching it while guest speakers would be invited to deliver lectures and lead discussions in their areas pf expertise. As principal instructor and coordinator, I am responsible for inviting and scheduling guest speakers, preparing the syllabus, and advertising the course. Advertisement is important, especially before the course is offered for the first time. In order to reach as many students as possible, I place advertisements in the student newspaper and design and order posters for distribution throughout the campus. I also personally visit each elementary and intermediate language class just prior to pre-registration week to tell students about the course and answer any questions. It is my responsibility to choose textbooks and films, assign homework, grade papers and exams, and assign final course grades. In addition, I teach approximately half the classes, while the remaining ones are taught by guest speakers. The use of guest speakers works extraordinarily well. Students look forward to hearing guest lectures because of the speakers' expertise and

Playfulness and the development of divergent thinking abilities.

The purpose of this paper is to extract from current literature about play those concepts which seem to have most significance in the psychomotor development of the young child. For the purposes of this paper physical education is limited to that physical activity which occurs within the confines of a school. Very brief reference is made to play in relation to sport and the wider context of present-day culture. The concept of mastery play and stimulus seeking are examined as part of the child's growing maturity and the question is posed whether playfulness shown at an early age may be associated with a particular style of thinking in later years.

Historical Awareness of Music and Its Role in Present-Day Musical Culture

Historical Awareness of Music and Its Role in Present-Day Musical Culture

The sociological impact of aging on present-day culture.

The sociological impact of aging on present-day culture.

Gramsci's Presence

1967, ONE MIGHT SAY, HAS BEEN GRAMSCI'S YEAR IN ITALY. In April a conference on the communist thinker was held in Cagliari, the capital city of his native island, Sardinia. A noteworthy book and several important essays dealing with his work, and a new history of the PCI from 1921 to 1926, have considerably enriched the already vast literature on the subject. Impassioned debates over Gramsci's political and intellectual legacy have vivified the usually drowsy atmosphere of the ‘cultural dubs’ in a number of middlesize towns, especially in the South. The time seems therefore appropriate for a reappraisal of Gramsci's role in present-day Italian culture and politics. In other words: how does Gramsci affect the contemporary Italian intellectual? More significantly, what does Gramsci mean to the leaders of the crisis-tom party he contributed to found and controlled before the day of his imprisonment?

“Static” and “Dynamic” as Sociological Categories

The connection between static and dynamic forces in society became, once again, a topic for debate at the sociological congress held in Amsterdam in 1955. The reason for this renewed interest is not far to seek. Dynamic phenomena of great intensity force themselves on the observer of the contemporary scene. Within the Soviet sphere of influence, the structure of society is undergoing radical changes. At the same time, the Orient and all those areas said, not without reason, to be “developing,” are in the throes of modernization. And finally, even in countries ruled by liberalism and marked by stable institutions, the inner structure of such fundamental social concepts as “individual,” “family,” “stratification,” “organization” and “government” is rapidly being transformed. On the other hand, there are many countries in which society appears to be gravitating towards a static condition, characterized by Veblen more than fifty years ago, as a “new feudalism.” When all areas beyond the present-day borders of capitalism will have been industrialized, capitalism will no longer be able to rely on new resources elsewhere, and its economic expansion, which was once thought to be demanded by the very nature of the system, will have come to an end. Capitalism will then have to revert to simply reproducing itself. This prospect is reflected in our present-day culture. Thus, Olivier Messiaen, a composer of the group known as “La Jeune France,” said only recently, that the historical development of music had reached a ceiling beyond which no further development could be imagined; whether he was right or not, is not the point. What should be of most interest in a discussion of the conflict between static and dynamic forces, is the question which of these will prove to be the stronger; whether the trend of development prevailing since the Middle Ages will continue, or whether it will terminate in a state of paralysis of the kind that Himmler prophesied when he said that the Third Reich would last for ten or twenty thousand years, until the “end of modern times.” But before we can speculate about the outcome of the conflict between the static and dynamic, we must reflect on the ideas connected with them; otherwise it would be like trying to settle the course of world history by idly tossing a coin.

Parental Roles in Courtship

B ECAUSE the relative decline of primary group controls over individual behavior is such a marked feature of present-day culture, it is probable that students of society have sometimes overlooked or under-emphasized the significance which such controls still have in many important life situations. Parental influence in courtship is a case in point. The findings of the study reported here indicate quite definitely that parents, by and large, still play highly significant roles in the courtships of their children. They are important in that they have much to do with the kind of person the child will chose as a mate, and perhaps also with his adjustment in marriage. They are also significant in that a large percentage of cases shows emotional involvement of the parent in the child's courtship. Perhaps one reason that the importance of the behavior of parents in the courtship of their offspring is sometimes overlooked is that such behavior is not characterized by the rigid authoritatianism which has prevailed in other times and places. The main body of data for this investigation was obtained through the cooperation of 136 young married persons who submitted to extensive interviews, and filled out a schedule designed to serve as a check upon the interviews and to give standardized information on certain points. Among the secondary sources of data was a group of some 75 documents written by unmarried college students concerning their courtship experiences in relation to their parents. Virtually the entire body of data tended to support the hypothesis that parents still play roles in courtship which affect the behavior and decisions of the child. For example, one of the schedule questions sought to find the general kinds and degrees of intensity of behavior exhibited by parents. Of the males answering this question, 49.1 percent admitted that their fathers had sought in one way to another to influence their courtship. 79.4 percent admitted that their mothers had attempted to influence them. Of the females answering, 68.7 percent said that their fathers had attempted to influence courtship, and 97.1 percent said that their mothers had attempted to influence them. The type of behavior exhibited by the parents ranged from the occasional giving of advice to extreme attempts at domination. There is a clear indication in these acknowledgments by the offspring that overt parental roles prevail in a majority of cases. Two other points are indicated by these percentages and supported by the rest of the data as well. Both parents play more positive roles in the courtships of daughters than of sons. This is not unexpected, since it is customary to assume a more protective attitude toward the young female than the young male. The second point is that mothers take more part in the courtships of both sons and daughters than do fathers. As to the nature of the actual roles played by parents in courtship, a broad distinction wasmade between and roles. The word refers to parental behavior and influence which is exerted through the general processes of family interaction, rather than through a set of clearly defined behavior patterns limited to the courtship situation. What is meant is that the standards and values of the parents which have significance for the child's courtship are established through the interaction of parents and child over a long period of years, so that to a large extent, and perhaps quite unwittingly, the child reflects the attitudes of his parents in this area of action. He may be trusted to select a mate who will be satisfactory to the parents in most respects. Thus defined, this indirect behavior perhaps should not be considered to constitute true role patterns. But its importance should not be overlooked, for the child cannot escape its power to condition his tastes and choices. He may rebel from a parent who attempts to dominate his courtship behavior, and do so successfully, but in a subtler sense he cannot rebel successfully from the numberless small ways in which the total history of his relationship with his parents has conditioned his behavior in the courtship situation. This kind of indirect parental influence operates in all cases. With regard to the degree of direct participation in the child's courtship, a continuous variation of parental role-patterns was found, ranging from little or none on the one hand to the most extreme domination on the other. By cutting across this continuous range, one may arbitrarily establish three groups of cases, one of which is characterized

Field Methods in the Study of Modern Culture Contacts

Opening ParagraphPrevious contributors to this symposium have described in some detail the problem of culture contact as it appeared to them in their own fields, and the methods they employed in studying it there. I do not propose here to cover similar ground, particularly as I have already published a short statement of the lines along which I have been attempting during the last five years to inquire into the presentday culture of the Kxatla in Bechuanaland Protectorate. My purpose is rather to set down briefly what appear to me as the essential elements to be considered in any field study of modern culture contacts, as reflected, shall we say, in the relations between the European and Native inhabitants of South Africa.

Greek Archæology

THE archaeologist justly ranks himself as a contributor to the world's knowledge on the same level as those who discover previously unknown forces in nature or new facts in the life-history of animals, extinct or living. Archaeology, which is a branch of the great science of anthropology, discovers and correlates new facts in the early history of civilisation. Greek archaeological discovery must always be of most especial interest, since it tells us of the origins of that early civilisation of the Mediterranean basin from which our present-day culture is derived. One of the most welcome yearly publications dealing with the subject is the “Annual of the British School at Athens,” the tenth volume of which lies before us. It deals with the British work of 1903-4, besides containing independent articles on matters of archaeological interest.