Final answer:
The building block approach to culture entails examining what cultures make, do, and think, using concrete artifacts, daily practices, and prevailing ideas and beliefs. It outlines cultural change through various mechanisms and considers sociological perspectives on cultural understanding. This approach helps to dissect the complex whole of culture into understandable components.
Step-by-step explanation:
The building block approach to culture can be understood by examining its fundamental components: the objects and artifacts that cultures make, the activities and behaviors they engage in, and the ideas and thought patterns they hold. Starting with the concrete artifacts, like the vast collections in museums such as the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, we can analyze how these items reflect cultural practices and thoughts. Moving to cultural actions, we observe everyday traditions and rituals, such as those practiced by Turkish carpet merchants or Brazilian Carnival participants. Finally, we contemplate the abstract ideas that permeate different societies, noticing how these influence their norms, values, and symbols.
Cultural understanding also benefits from considering the evolution of art and historical connections, recognizing the influences and transformations within and between different civilizations. Additionally, we must consider the ways people generally adopt the cultural norms and beliefs provided to them by their surroundings without much scrutiny, as these inherited beliefs provide a sense of order in a potentially chaotic world.
Cultural change can occur through invention, discovery, or the influence of technology, leading to the spread of material and non-material culture on a global scale. Sociologists offer theoretical perspectives on culture, identifying it as a means to fulfill societal needs, a reflection of societal values, and a potential agent of inequality, depending on the lens through which it is viewed.