How Beliefs and Values Define a Culture

In a 4-part series entitled How to Study Cultures, junior and senior high school students learn that "culture" is a total way of life, comprising social organizations, geography, economic activities, and beliefs and values. Via live-action global scenes in this fourth video in the set, students are supposed to discover that different cultures assign different values to material objects, social relations, technical ability or skilled craftsmanship, artistic ability, education, and religious beliefs. We see an aboriginal Australian pole-carve, a Native American fix tamales, a Dane sculpt a painting, a Hindu scholar study, and a Peruvian shaman share an offering to spirits of the ancient Inca. The filmed sequences are well done, but because the video does not actually offer a point-by-point comparison among different cultures, the global scenes are not relevantly illustrative of the variations in the world's many cultures. For instance, we see a Balinese elder being revered, but no comparable opposite to that, i.e., an older person in the U.S. being rushed along if he takes too long in a checkout line. Because this set is expensive ($99 per tape; $315 for all four), the filmed sequences are not necessary, and nearly all the material is more completely covered in standard textbooks, it is not recommended. The other titles in the series are: How Geography Defines a Culture, How Economic Activities Define a Culture and How Social Organizations Define a Culture. Aud: J, H. (K. Glaser)