Cultures, Subcultures, and Countercultures: Crash Course Sociology #11

What is culture? How do we define it and how does it change? We’ll explore different categories of culture, like low culture, high culture, and sub-cultures. We'll also revisit our founding theories to consider both a structural functionalist and a conflict theory perspective on what cultures mean for society.
Crash Course is made with Adobe Creative Cloud. Get a free trial here: www.adobe.com/...
***
Crash Course is on Patreon! You can support us directly by signing up at / crashcourse
Thanks to the following Patrons for their generous monthly contributions that help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever:
Mark, Les Aker, Bob Kunz, Mark Austin, William McGraw, Jeffrey Thompson, Ruth Perez, Jason A Saslow, Eric Prestemon, Malcolm Callis, Steve Marshall, Advait Shinde, Rachel Bright, Ian Dundore, Tim Curwick, Ken Penttinen, Dominic Dos Santos, Caleb Weeks, Frantic Gonzalez, Kathrin Janßen, Nathan Taylor, Yana Leonor, Andrei Krishkevich, Brian Thomas Gossett, Chris Peters, Kathy & Tim Philip, Mayumi Maeda, Eric Kitchen, SR Foxley, Tom Trval, Andrea Bareis, Moritz Schmidt, Jessica Wode, Daniel Baulig, Jirat
--
Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook - / youtubecrashcourse
Twitter - / thecrashcourse
Tumblr - / thecrashcourse
Support Crash Course on Patreon: / crashcourse
CC Kids: / crashcoursekids

[@haygrace1934]

Who else it watching this because their teacher made them?

[@bbynascar]

yea my teacher made me too, are u guys from Canada?

[@twistedgale]

yep

[@alicem4301]

Italy here 👋🏻

[@murderino3746]

Or because your teacher asks you "what drives cultural distinctions" and gives you nothing to learn off of. So you're franticly digging for answers!!!!

[@salehloubani6121]

London here

[@Crasho327]

One of my teachers rejected the "melting pot" concept in favor of a salad bowl, which is similar to what you were suggesting.

[@SweeneySays]

This is actually how I was taught it in my high school sociology class, too. I didn't remember that until we were in the room recording, though, which is after the script had already been through its vetting process, so I was wary of trying to work a new metaphor in there. But yes, same!

[@dekippiesip]

I think an analogy from chemistry can be helpfull here. We should differentiate between emulsions and mixtures. In an emulsion, like oil and water, the 2 substances are seperated while in a mixture the various molecules freely move passed each other in the liquid. Likewise, a multicultural society can either be a mixture where people with different (sub)cultures regularly interact and live in proximity to one another, or an emulsion where they live geographically segregated and don't interact much with one another.

[@scpg142]

This is such a clear and concise explanation of all these terms! This helped me A LOT with my sociology homework

[@allegedpancake2344]

supercrazypurplegurl this was assigned for my sociology homework

[@sararielle]

Fun fact: taking the summer off from school is an urban thing, not a farm thing. Summers in cities would get really hot so the rich would flock to the country or the seaside where it was cooler. In order to prevent rich kids from missing too much school, the schools simply shut down over the summer. (If it were a farm thing kids wouldn't go back to school in September because that's when they'd be most needed for harvest.)

[@RadicalShiba1917]

Serious respect for giving the Iroquois the recognition they deserve for their contributions to liberal democracy

[@RadicalShiba1917]

Very smart!

[@RadicalShiba1917]

You should become a historian :)

[@Zetcaq]

Please Crash course; do a playlist with Archaeology / anthropology. I'm currently studying archaeology at university, that genre applies so many different sciences like Sociology, geography, geology, psychology (in some instances), biology, chemistry, historical analysis, ethnology; basically almost anything that can be applied in order to help analyze history and date sites, artifacts or events properly. It would be very useful and interesting to see and hear it from your perspective, since I really fancy your videos in general.

[@ashleighkennedy7588]

Consider doing an Anthropology series!

[@mariagabrielaseibel5632]

Yes, please 🙏🏼

[@Esgalben]

yes

[@AbhishekKumar-oc9vm]

Yes plz...🙏🙏

[@andarrkor0065]

Im Basque. As part of a minority culture, I wish the world was a multicultural place where all cultures are equally respected. Great video, by the way.

[@blitzwaffe]

Culture is what allows your civ to expand its borders and adopt social policies. It also acts as a barrier against another civ's tourism.

[@bliss2632]

This comment and your profile pic looks like what I'd put on an alt account. You have fine taste in games! Civ V has an Arstotzka mod, you know. Sadly, it doesn't seem to work on my computer.

[@blitzwaffe]

It does? :O

[@bliss2632]

It is the work of the Kolechians, comrade! We must seize West Grestin from their filth!

[@blitzwaffe]

We will replace their rations with Jorji's wife's cooking

[@bliss2632]

*gasp* That would be a war crime! No wonder our army has such problems with desertion!

[@Nakeisyanajwaa]

slow down, its too fast

[@ShahabKhan-wj3gz]

Crash Course is one of the best educational youtube channel and i have recommended it to like a dozen of people so far. I am already done with with John Green at Crash Course US history and will definitely watch another Crash Course Series after this. Thank you Team Crash Course.

[@Manicguy17]

I’m glad this is here. I’m doing a project where I need to find a way without using an essay to answer the question “what is normal?” And this helped me out

[@mo6305]

Drinking game: drink every time she says culture/cultural Please don't actually do this

[@BothHands1]

lol, I'm 21 seconds into the video and she's said culture at least 8 times. You'd have alcohol poisoning in about a minute's time xD

[@captainmasterpiece1814]

I'm fcked up

[@Xilinjsh]

Mayo Colvin gfrasghg hggx gtfxb.h87fģvv vodka

[@o.b.g1090]

음경 Honestly, from looking at forums and alt-right blogs, some like them, but some are disappointed and feel Trump isn't being hard enough (as if he was before). The only thing the alt-right had going for them politically was the travel ban, but that backfired and still allowed Muslim immigration from like 99% of the world. Republicans aren't concerned​ with them, they are only concerned about power and keeping their pockets fat.

[@Lorden1516]

Hirvieläin You would still get wrecked from excessive water, unless you take a small sip everytime.

[@JanPianoMusic]

7:25 This Belgian yelled THANK YOU at his screen

[@antoinefdu]

Same :D

[@Sackofbooks]

Wait, so that gag about fries in the "Asterix in Belgium" comic was referencing an actual thing?

[@amaurykie321]

indeed :)

[@eloisavaladares7138]

:)

[@jackyoh971]

I'm French but I can understand you. Everytime I heard french fries i hate it...

[@FreeTheDonbas]

Every episode of this series helps explain a little bit more why status quo warriors hate every episode of this series.

[@FreeTheDonbas]

Why is the ratio composed of 'norm' & 'sub-culture', instead of 'dominant culture' & 'sub-culture'?

[@projectmalus]

Why is the high culture reserved for elites? I thought high culture was the appreciation of aesthetics, immersion in philosophies, study of mathematics, a life of creativity, lucidity and manners but I guess without the fine clothes and the Beemer I'm just not good enough.

[@matheusd.rodrigues429]

Elites are not that interest in fine clothes and beemer. That's just how most people view them simply because they can afford it

[@projectmalus]

Matheus D. Rodrigues The actual elitist who made it there by hard work probably isn't interested in that stuff but they tend to get surrounded by people that do. In any case, most of the elite got there by a.) Having money in the first place b.) Being in the right place at the right time c.) Taking advantage of other's work or d.) Being not intelligent but clever. I'm just pissed off when she links having elite status with high culture because books and now the internet have leveled that playing field, and she's trying to take that away from us. Shame on her!

[@douglasphillips5870]

I think high brow elite and rich elite are getting muddled together here. We put a lot of stock in money in America, but it's distinct from culture. Just look at 45. I don't think that was the intention from the video.

[@bgiuliano68]

The beauty of the melting pot analogy is not that all of those other cultures are merged into one. Rather it is that you can taste the individual flavors while also still tasting the thing as a whole. If there's more salt in the pot, you're gonna taste more salt, but that doesn't mean that the pepper isn't there and isn't vital to the dish. Contrast this with the salad bowl analogy, where everything is separate and distinct. Sure you get to see and taste each individual thing, but there's no blending or mixing into anything new, just a bunch of separate ingredients that happen to share the same container.

[@charliecastillo2011]

Every time a Crash Course Sociology video comes up I get excited. I love sociology!

[@sarahjkkwon2549]

I have been watching this Crash Course Sociology Series from the beginning and I gotta say I'm loving it!!!! Thanks for great videos

[@kuri7154]

1:24 Whenever someone gives a preemptive warning saying something like: "but the so-called low and high doesn't really mean one is lower and one is higher" I'll know that what she's gonna say will exactly involve lower and higher social classes...

[@GlobeTrotter267]

I love this series and find all of the topics fascinating. I would like if crash course acknowledged the overlap between the fields of sociology and anthropology when discussing culture.

[@ilo2224]

1:00 I’d be in the art gallery sketching the art, listening to the match because I’m kinda introverted and don’t like large crowds but love art.

[@jacobedwinolano431]

You said "culture" 15 times within the first 50 seconds, I think you deserve a cookie lol

[@Garland41]

Little discrepancy: the origin of summer leave for education came up, and it did not originate from kids needing to go home to the harvest for the more agrarian culture; rather, it was because the school rooms became too hot for the students which lead to some parents taking their students out of school. This was seen with the wealthier families where they would go to their cooler summer homes. This can be seen by the other show Adam Ruins Everything on Summer Vacation. And the show does cite their sources if you think I am wrong on this matter.

[@aniini]

This is like Ted Talks without the fluff. Kudos to the creators, and especially to the speaker.

[@everydaygeek8715]

This is actually my favorite episode of the series.

[@kevinhoodward8277]

Thanks for the great video on Culture, i'm currently taking Sociology and this was very informative :)

[@kimm.2794]

Me too 🙄

[@FlorenceFox]

Depending on your culture, 'high culture' can have a very different meaning...

[@swapnils.vkamble3554]

You are simply fantastic. I am a Media Academician from India and i found your video perfect for explaining `Culture` with many interesting terminologies. Keep it up. Thanks!

[@LoftyOasis]

This was a pretty interesting video to go through a bunch of ideas really fast, but I had to change the video speed to 0.75 because normal speed was going too fast for me to be able to actually process what I was hearing. I forgot that youtube videos have that option, so helpful if any of you had the same problem as me. Cheers!

[@zt4064]

Can you add turkish subtitle as well? *Here’s a suggestion, you should talk slowly, there are people who are not native speakers🤦‍♀️* Anyway, thanks for the videos! I like it✨

[@CoalCandyX]

I'm running a youtube channel about a particular subculture and find it quite interesting to see all of this from the bigger perspective. Great work!

[@srpilha]

Whoa, highest word-per-minute count on this episode, I think. That was pretty dense. Still, excellently done. :)

[@jordangreen9201]

I've been wanting to learn more about counter and sub cultures but was having trouble finding books on the topic. Now I know i should have been looking in the sociology section of the library! Something that should have been more obvious to me.

[@Beautifulcoil]

The world would be a much better place if the counterculture of the 1960s continued. It needs to be revived today.

[@Mattdewit]

Love this series.

[@joseotta168]

Please keep producing these videos!

[@DuranmanX]

Also Mexican Vaquero get their origins from Spain which get their origins from Northern Africa

[@DuranmanX]

The Horses came from Northern Africa into Spain

[@saitenotoshuitsnaini]

thumbs up if the video suggest that you should emphasize everything with essentialism

[@cobracommander8133]

Adrian Duran Spain gets their culture from Northern Africa?......what?

[@electrafroot344]

I just have to say, your fashion choices are so interesting. I love your sense of style! Great videos too!

[@ollydavis2495]

Whats the difference between USA and yogurt? If you leave yogurt for 200 years it develops a culture

[@moonlightray8493]

Yogurt can also be fat-free

[@ollydavis2495]

Banana Earth what?

[@ambrebadhippie]

savage

[@Th3CoLoSSuS]

all yogurts are white

[@sciencepower608]

Did you get that from tumblr

[@juliewinther7654]

This saved my life( or my exams at least) ....Phew and I've to hand in my synopsis tomorrow... perfect timing!

[@ShrinkTank]

"Culture isn't just about nationality and the language that you speak." THIS. 👏👏👏

[@sakshisharma3785]

Thanku for giving these all sociology sections...from India

[@steampunkerella]

that's not why americans have summer off. harvesting crops happens in the autumn. the actual reason is before air conditioning it was too damn hot to cram a bunch of children into a building to teach them anything

[@ProfessorSyndicateFranklai]

It. Still. Is. You. Lucky. Rich. Folk. s.

[@steampunkerella]

correct

[@lakrids-pibe]

We don't have that problem in Scandinavia, the summers are not THAT hot, but we still get the school off in june and july. Just in time for the hay harvest. In october we get a week off, that's when the potatoes are ready.

[@SomeoneBeginingWithI]

UK schools also still have August off, which is the time of the grain and hay harvests. The harvest time of many fruit and vegetable crops is later in the autumn, but we don't get time off school for that.

[@Rissy617]

Kat Reynolds we harvest a lot of crops in the US in the summer, believe me, I've picked them in the hot summer in New England! We harvest tomatoes, berries, peas, beans, herbs, greens (lettuce, kale, etc), peppers, corn, and SO much more! Just go to a farmer's market to see! ❤

[@JaSmil82]

It's over a week since last video. I hope this series will be continued, currently it's my favorite Crash Course series.

[@Ngamotu83]

5:51 This Beatlesmaniac says "Not true." While Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds has been interpreted by listeners as a reference to LSD, it actually is not. The song was inspired by a picture Sean Lennon drew of Lucy, a friend he had at school.

[@griffonos0987]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, but I do think you gave the melting pot idea a perfunctory and dismissive treatment. A melting pot need not give equal weight to other cultures, and the fact that cultural differences still exist does not mean that the melting pot does not or did not exist. If you look at contemporary American culture groups like German Americans in Wisconsin, Southerners in Georgia, and Italians in New Jersey all live, work, talk, eat, and worship in ways that while still distinct are much more uniform than they were when their respective ancestors first came to America. The melting pot represents the continuing process of assimilation in America, it is not a perfect process by any means. But assimilation is vital to maintaining a coherent identity and shared value system, which is in turn vital to maintaining a functioning society.

[@ssj-rinne47_]

I feel special

[@cicadafun]

chumzswag you are special.

[@leninolivas9364]

The best video i'll watch this year! thanks a lot for the clear explanation. keep on doing your valuable work!

[@nerdcity]

Did you just RECOGNIZE my CULTURE?

[@unSeife]

hi baby

[@TheAdventuresofRussell]

I am loving this series so much! I have so many arguments and these videos just help them so much! Please keep making them!

[@hafizusmantariq5160]

BEST EXPLANATIONS OF CULTURE !!! VERY GOOD, KEEP IT UP !

[@qtds49]

Spectacular Class...I wish the people in my city could watch this...

[@user-pr3jm9jx1f]

is mayonnaise a culture?

[@norbertnagy4908]

Nope, yoghurt is a culture, mayonnaise is what a melting pot produces. When mayo becomes a culture (of bacteria), then comes explosive diarrhoea.

[@booboobunny5655]

No, mayonnaise is not a culture. Horse radish is not a culture either.

[@moecitydon713]

I love this series so much

[@GregTom2]

2:55 I was drinking milk, but I spilled it everywhere when I shouted "IMPEACH THE ORANGE" to no one in particular.

[@PierreThierryKPH]

Very clear! People need to come out from the "my culture is norm/basis" point of view.

[@makouras]

The idea that children take the summer off from school because in the old days they needed to work in farms is a common misconception. Most of farming takes place in spring and autumn. The Today I Found Out channel has done a great video on this subject. Check it out.

[@Asgard314]

The melding of cultures into ideas about what seems "American" is how I've taken calling us the Melting Pot. There's so many separate cultures and ideas floating around our nation that the general idea of what makes our country stand out ends up being a hodge podge of different things.

[@maxybaer123]

why do you have any proof its for the anglos? thats just someone expressing his views i dont care if hes Ben Frank

[@Asgard314]

Okay? Not sure how that applies, because no matter what the founders intended it isn't that way in practice.

[@cadethumann8605]

GreenFellow What do you suggest? That we not have a variety of lifestyles and beliefs? That sounds awfully boring if you ask me.

[@khendreamckenzie1049]

i really like crash course and i gather a lot of information but you guys need to slow down a bit in speech

[@HistoriaEn10]

Es un gran trabajo de síntesis lo que están haciendo con estos videos de sociología, es muy difícil explicar sencillamente estos conceptos.

[@evilfoxdemon1]

I don't know if anyone else has said this but harvest and farming has nothing to do with summer vacation. It's actually because rich kids would leave for cooler weather with their family. farming's main seasons are planting in the spring and harvest in the fall.

[@FR-yr2lo]

The 60s counterculture is now the dominant one but is still playing the rebel.

[@mikejohnstonbob935]

Last time I was this early, these types of comments were the norm.

[@justarandomgirl7994]

Watching crash course is so helpful

[@Ronenlahat]

She's the best CC host

[@sisyphyus]

ERROR ERROR @ around 6:37!!! NOOOOO!!! We don't have the summer off because of agriculture, so WRONG!!!! Please fix the culture reference! It was because the schools didn't have Air Conditioning and the Rich kids didn't want to be in school so their parents pulled them out! I love CC, please fix this error!!! PLEASE!

[@sisyphyus]

Still not fixed. :-(

[@akiohiro7112]

poor you

[@bbynascar]

wouldn't be the same for winter, like they don't have heaters and stuff

[@GMRTranscriptionServicesInc]

It's of interest to note that majoritarianism and cultural protectionism is gaining currency in both the developed, as well as developing countries right now.

[@xRS23x]

I'd appreciate if these videos included some authors that contributed to the definition of the concepts and theories

[@HardStickman]

Bourdieu's "Habitus" would have been a good way to look at the cultural elements and their link with social class.

[@GetInTheRing777]

Thankful for people like you!!! Thank you!

[@sakuradeva555]

Wonderful episode as usual!!!

[@alexanderasadullah5253]

your video made is so professional with high quality. Good job and stay awesome.

[@amna8875]

I love how she always say thanks thought bubble... Maybe she's trying to integrate the value of thanking and norms and values expected of us

[@KrishnaCalling]

you teaches best....thanks for the hardwork ...love from India

[@Phoenix-pb4sm]

As an anti-religious atheist, I don't have a problem with not having school for Christmas breakThen again I still celebrate Christmas for fun anyway

[@lancylan5387]

the teacher is excellent! who knows who she is ?

[@nicholasruff8354]

I like your glasses. That's my intellectual contribution for the day.

[@ChrisEakins]

Hi Crash Course... I'm missing my weekly dose of Sociology. ??

[@raoke69]

The structural functionalist or conflict theorist perspectives are both right; which one will hold more resonance is not a matter of truth, but a matter of power.

[@yaumelepire6310]

Canada is a good exemple of Culture Conflict Theory at work. For a long time, Franco-Canadians and Amerindians were marginalised. Although a lot of Canadian Prime Ministers were francophones... Quebec has even been the site of a few "Rebellions" due to this and a lot of our History books are framed as the conflict between anglophones and francophones. We can see an exemple of counterculture changing Mainstream culture in Quebec too. The transition from Franco-Canadians to Quebecers was in part caused by the abandonment of the Catholic Faith as a main cultural norm and was encouraged by Anticlericals, who opposed the church's influence over the state, a thing that most others, and Mainstream Culture, supported or didn't mind or care about.

[@alexiaxra]

love love loooove sociology its so interesting

[@danielzsombor4698]

im pretty sure its the force that binds us together

[@Jezy258]

comment to help your channel. thank you for your service

[@raphlvlogs271]

Cultures around the world are always changing.

[@elsa9532]

I can't help but feel that even though the clarification has been made to say that there are many, many cultures - still, discussion of 'membership' still makes it sounds very cohesive and internally defined, rather than recognition of partial membership or motivations for membership- i.e. not all membership of cultures are equally enthusiastic and signifiant to the individual. It still sounds like a lot of pigeonholing people into different categories to over-simplify things which are very complicated broad historical processes.

[@BELIEVE_O.O_IT]

i would love to see more videos about culture and culture studies snd philosophers like william raymond.. l s eliot.. marx.. hegel.. eagleton.. gramsci......etc 's views and definition of it

[@SunjayVideos]

& also low culture is often transformed into high culture as its fans gain power. Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature and Lady Gaga is singing in all sorts of award shows.

[@sriharsha9286]

Thank you Crash course, for the high quality knowledge videos. Thanks alot.

[@adnaneelalam3888]

Great concise lecture. Thank you, please keep it up.

[@janice9752]

This 9 minute video saved me from failing my sociology exam.

[@samuelpark5679]

CRASHCOURSE PLEASE DO A VIDEO ABOUT UNIT 731 PLEASEEEEEEE BTW I love your videos

[@vibelucid]

Can anyone recommend other sociology-based videos or channels that would be good follow-ups to introductory stuff like this?

[@cjhernandez1198]

There is a subculture I am a part of that doesn't exactly take place in the U.S.A., and also isn't really political. What might you know about the MOD subculture of the 60s? how exactly might they fit in socially for subculture? From what I know, mod basically makes up people who are incredibly self aware of their looks, dance to 50s and 60s American soul and jazz, while mixing in Italian Scooters and clothing. I know it really doesn't have any political significance, but I'm still curious!

[@geniebelleatacador4124]

I really love crash course!! Thanks for giving us free infos :)

[@Gina-vr6ym]

Could you please explain more about hybrid culture and Canclini's work?

[@eliel14ful]

Interesting, I think that the eurocentrism is a given of the cultural development of the West, that doest mean that other information is not useful, but generally is necessary,it is a description but some attach a negative connotation to it.

[@lydiameriana3154]

I love this!!! thanks so much - it gave me so much clarity within myself :) thanks!

[@manolinrojer9245]

is there any video about impact of subculture over mainstreamculture ?

[@peaceoutshadia997]

Thank you, for the enlightenment.

[@qingye8547]

The world is not as complicated as you are saying it is in your video. It is actually a very, very simple place 😉. African, Middle Eastern, Asian, Hispanic, and White people ALL make sense in everything they do 😉. (Using friend's account)