Cultural Transmission (Education)

The concept of cultural transmission comes from the social sciences, where its simplest definition is that of transferring a society's cultural norms and knowledge from one generation to the next. Anthropologists have studied cultural transmission among groups of people for decades. Sociologists study how culture is infused in the group and psychologists study how it is internalized by the individual. Parents and family have initial responsibility for cultural transmission, but education theorists have applied the concept to the classroom where a teacher conveys a common body of knowledge and cultural norms to students, either formally or informally. Some critics such as E. D. Hirsh argue that a core knowledge base is being superceded by multiculturalism. Some educational theorists say that cultural transmission goes beyond conveying facts and the focus of education is to prepare its students to adapt to the constantly changing culture and its demands.

Keywords Culture; Cultural Anthropology; Cultural Literacy; Cultural Transmission; Multiculturalism; Psychology; Sociology; Transformative Education

Overview

The National Commission on Excellence in Education presented its report, "A Nation at Risk," to the American people in April 1983. The paper was alarming as it painted a picture of young Americans slipping in educational achievement and lagging behind their counterparts in other industrialized nations. Japan, with its very homogeneous culture, was targeted in particular as a competitor who threatened the United States' dominance in business and industry.

"A Nation at Risk" appeared at a time when the country had shifted into a conservative mode and was still trying to absorb the social upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s. It was primed for E. D. Hirsch's 1987 book, Cultural Literacy, which became a bestseller. Hirsch, a Professor at the University of Virginia, who saw a standard public school curriculum diluted by multiculturalism and irrelevant courses, argued that all American children should be taught common facts in order to be able to engage equitably in the culture (Hirsch, 1987).

Hirsch's critics view his arguments as simplistic or worse. Some vilified him as a racist and sexist as they thought that most of his core knowledge facts were drawn from Eurocentric white male culture. In 2002 he revised his book and also wrote the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy which was more inclusive.

Defining Culture

There are many definitions for the word "culture," but a relevant one is offered by psychologist Jerome Bruner (1996) in his book, The Culture of Education. He says that it is the "… way of life and thought that we construct, negotiate, institutionalize, and finally … end up calling 'reality' to comfort ourselves" (Bruner, 1996, p. 87). But what does Bruner mean by "comfort?" Educator Mary Stone Hanley (2006) interprets it as an important word that means predictability and belonging. "We are comforted by connections to each other because of the strength and control that belonging brings … [We] construct patterns of beliefs and behaviors to control an uncontrollable reality, to make sense of and explain the turmoil of experience" (Hanley, 2006, p. 51-52).

Culture is critical for the survival of a society. How children are brought successfully into zones of comfort is dependent on what they learn and how they internalize it. Those who learn the culture are those who are prepared to function within it. Parents are the first teachers, steering a child through the maneuvers of the culture into adulthood, but the modern American family has stresses that have made this job more difficult. Both parents work in many families, many children grow up in single family homes, and extended families are less present than in the past, all of which work to the transfer of responsibility for cultural transmission to others - outside of the home.

Many public schools and teachers feel their extended responsibilities very acutely. Regardless, the public school and educators do have a major role in the transmission of the culture, but to what extent, what should be transmitted, and how, are debatable. As Hanley (2006) says, the valuation applied to certain knowledge and not to others is cultural. As educators and students teach and learn they are involved in constructing culture (Hanley, 2006, p. 51).

School & the Cultural Transmission Model

Authors Kohlberg and Mayer (1972) say that U.S. public schools in fact employed the cultural-transmission model of education through the twentieth century. Schools have seen their primary purpose as transmitting knowledge, skills and the social and moral rules of the culture (Kohlberg & Mayer, 1972, as cited in Leone & Drakeford, 1999).

In an article directed at social science educators, Rod Janzen (1995) suggests that they utilize new pedagogies to present a more effective and cohesive curriculum. He sees the cultural transmission approach so pervasive that although "… most social studies educators who publish articles and make presentations hesitate to commit themselves publicly to this position, one can find, when one looks behind the closed doors of social science classrooms, teachers adhering to this approach most of the time" (Janzen, 1995, p. 80).

Cultural transmission may be defined simply as "… the process of … passing on from one generation to another the knowledge necessary to maintain cultural identity" (Yoder, 1981, p. 217). An obvious, natural and very important process, it has been the subject of scholarly study and theorizing for many years. It is a concept that originated in the social sciences, has applications in psychology and sociology, and is the primary focus of cultural anthropology.

Research from Cultural Anthropology

Cultural anthropologists conduct their research as participant observers; i.e., they enter another culture and experience the difference between it and the culture from which they came. Their products are ethnographies which are written descriptions of a culture or unit of a culture. They are a description of life "viewed as much as possible from the perspective of the other culture … [a] detailed picture of what is happening in a specific instance of the curricular process" (Yoder, 1981, p. 221).

Yoder (1981) recommends that if teachers think of themselves as participant-observers and employ some of the techniques of cultural anthropologists, they can enhance the dynamics of their classroom. She also believes that the same techniques can also help educators decide what to teach. Curriculum content is transmitted consciously (formally) by educators, but there is a second "hidden curriculum" (informal). Together the content and behavior and cultural nuances complete a process through which a public institution prepares its new generation. Teachers, she says, "must know what it is they are teaching. Then they can better determine what they should be teaching, what its people need to know to be citizens of their world" (Yoder, 1981, p. 217).

An article by famed anthropologist, Margaret Mead (1974), originally written in 1940, foreshadowed Yoder's discussion. Entitled "Social Change and Cultural Surrogates," Mead believed that the process of cultural transmission and how a child recapitulates the culture is less important than the homogeneity of the adult culture. As an ethnographer, she saw that regardless of the diversity of cultures, Eskimo children and Hawaiian children inevitably emerged as complete Eskimo and Hawaiian adults. "A group of adults sharing a homogeneous culture [will] always succeed in imparting it to their children" (Mead, 1974, p. 350).

She points from anthropology to the social science of the individual - psychology - to understand the transmission of culture and how a child is socialized. "Superego formation," a term used by Sigmund Freud is, according to Mead, synonymous with cultural transmission. She says that "only as the child took unto itself its conception of the adult behavior as the right behavior did the child undergo socialization" (p. 351). Who then, she asks, serves as the "surrogates of the culture into which the child is being inducted" (p. 351)? Adult participants may include parents, grandparents, elder siblings, masked dancers - or teachers.

Which Culture to Transmit?

If the adults of the society are ultimately responsible for cultural transmission, how it is then that they come to consensus on what is to be taught? That is the key issue that goes back to the core knowledge philosophy of E. D. Hirsch and is counter argued by advocates for multiculturalism. Should the emphasis of education be on a student's primary or ethnic culture, should it celebrate and recognize the diverse cultures that envelop the child, or should it be on the tenets of the dominant culture? Some would argue that the No Child Left Behind Act brought some resolution to the question with its emphasis on standards and testing.

If the question of what is taught to transmit the culture is resolved, the succeeding question is how does it prepare the individual for the future, particularly if the society is constantly changing. When society is changing or expected to change, "educators must choose what to teach not only for a difficult present but also for an uncertain future" (Yoder, 1981, p. 218).

Margaret Mead recognized the challenge of transmitting culture in a changing society where the world of a child is already different from that in which the parent grew up. In that kind of world, because of the cultural dissonance, peers become surrogates which in adolescence, "often results in a crisis in parent-child relations" (Mead, 1974, p. 358). Although this stress is thought of as an inevitable part of the maturation process in American culture, Mead points out that in more stable cultures, as adolescents are given more and more responsibility, there is no period of rebellion.

Modern American culture, however, is not like the heterogeneous cultures that Margaret Mead studied. It is an amalgam and aspects of minority cultures are regularly subsumed by the larger culture. Hanley (2006) concurs with this and offers the example of African-Americans' struggle for freedom and desegregation and "… inclusion in public education has itself become a means for culture transmission" (p. 52). The transmission of the dominant culture is in fact the dissemination of cultural knowledge of diverse peoples. "Without accepted beliefs and behaviors, whether progressive or regressive, we have nothing to talk about, nothing to transform" (p. 53).

Transformative Learning

As culture is transmitted, culture is transformed, but the process is very complicated. Transformative learning is "… the process of effecting change in a frame of reference" (Mezirow, 1997, p. 5). Transformative education is a personal experience and has special applications in adult education. Hanley (2006) admits to being idealistic, but the process of transformation, she says, is that education is a means to learn to think critically, and to partake of a democratic society with "its endless contradictions."

As researchers struggle to understand the concept of cultural transmission, it continues to be a standard educational approach in most classrooms. Modern practitioners seek to employ other methods as well to reach those students whose families are not members of the dominant culture and to ensure that those students whose are have an understanding of the multicultural world in which they are living.

Further Insights

Social Science Theories & the Cultural Transmission Process

In his article, "Theory in the Study of Cultural Transmission," B. Allan Tindall (1976) states that there are no theories of cultural transmission. He says that none have surfaced that explain or describe how "individuals come to full membership in their cultural system" (p. 198). He suggests that they be developed in order to advance education and learning and then, as a start, he attempts to begin to define the two distinct components of the process. The first of these is the "inter-psychic" one that involves interfacing with the external society and culture and the second is "intra-psychic" learning takes place within the individual (p. 198). If information, or what Solon Kimball (1974) calls "cultural transmissive content" is to be absorbed, the process must involve "modes of communications among particular people in social context which contain implicit and explicit messages about simple and complex information" (Kimball, 1974, p. 204).

According to Bailey (2003), cultural learning is also made possible because humans perceive at a very early age that others are "living mental and intentional lives, like their own … This ability …. enables others to see the world through another's eyes … [and moves them towards] … an understanding of the reasons for choosing that action rather than another (p. 182). In other words, this is how humans differ from animals; they learn not just from another's actions, but also through another's actions (p. 182).

Bailey (2003) goes on to define three kinds of cultural learning which are exclusively human:

• Imitative,

• Instructed, and

• Collaborative.

The first, imitative, is basic and it is how infants initiate learning as they frequently reciprocate their parent's behavior. Bailey says this is not the same as mimicking, since the other person's perspective must be taken into account. Instructed learning is possible around the age of four, and according to Bailey, is a mutual process whereby the instructor must know something of the learner's level of knowledge of what is being learned and again, the learner must understand the teacher's perspective. The last, collaborative learning, occurs when neither party in the cultural learning interaction is the authority; i.e., the parties are peers. Bailey says that collaborative learning is possible around age six.

In his monograph, The Culture of Education, Bruner (1996) takes stock of cultural transmission and argues that within the process, educators must help learners construct meaning. As a psychologist, his focus is on the inner "Self" and he defines two aspects of "selfhood" that are regarded as universal. The first is empowerment, or what he calls "agency," which is the ability to "initiate and carry out activities on one's own (p. 37). The second, he says, is evaluation where "we evaluate our efficacy in bringing off what we hoped for or were asked to do" (p. 37). Selfhood evolves into self-esteem which allows one the confidence to function successfully within the culture.

Viewpoints

Cultural Transmission & Multiculturalism

In 1985, after United States citizens read "A Nation at Risk," the British public was presented with the "Swann Report," which was the work of a national board that focused on setting recommendations for a curriculum for a multicultural society. Ten years later, Dr. Nicholas Tare, the Chief Executive of the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) in Great Britain followed up on the report and spoke out to advocate for the necessity of transmitting cultural heritage to students and ensuring that they learn what it means to be British. Like E. D. Hirsh, Tare sensed that multiculturalism did not bode well for a republic that was about to lose a common cultural language (Burtonwood, 1996).

Tare's remarks caused a stir and provoked Neil Burtonwood (1996) to respond in an article entitled "Culture, Identity and Curriculum." Burtonwood says that the tensions in the Swann Report derived "… from trying to balance the requirement of social cohesion with a desire to support as much cultural diversity as the need for cohesion will allow" (Burtonwood, 1996, par. 6). He quotes the report, which says that "the role of education … cannot … reinforce the values, beliefs and cultural identity which each child brings to school …" (Swann Report, 1985, as cited in Burtonwood, 1996, par. 6).

Since the method of cultural transmission has been and continues to be the prevailing pedagogical approach in American education, continual challenges to it raises reactions. E. D. Hirsh (1987), the leader of the Core Knowledge Foundation, responded to this twenty years ago when he saw multiculturalism coming to the fore and his response was supported by many other professional educators and writers, not to mention politicians.

Alternative Approaches

There are, however, alternative conceptual approaches to education, five of which are summarized by Rod Janzen (1995). He suggests that these other approaches be considered in addition to the most common one, cultural transmission:

• Social Action

• Life Adjustment (Character development)

• Discovery

• Multiculturalism

• Inquiry

Although he focuses on social sciences education, his suggestions have implications for all other disciplines.

The first of the approaches offered by Janzen is "social action," which involves students in community service. The second, "life adjustment" or "character development"; and the third, is the "discovery" approach where students read source documents and conduct research to get to the core concepts of the discipline. The fourth approach, "multiculturalism," says that every ethnic group should retain its uniqueness rather than melding culture or being subsumed by the dominant culture.

"Inquiry," is espoused by American philosopher and educator, John Dewey. Writers and critics of cultural transmission point to John Dewey's theories most frequently as the most attractive alternative approach to education. Inquiry, is the "hands-on," "learn-it-by-doing," or "problem-solving" educational strategy. The difference between it and discovery "is that the inquiry-learning process is generative. It emanates from the motivations and curiosity of the students themselves …" This method of education requires a lot of trust and students are also given a lot of freedom as they "conduct investigations themselves with teachers acting only as facilitators" (Janzen, 1995, "Inquiry").

Why Doesn't It Always Work?

The cultural transmission approach has worked for millions over decades; however, what happens when the pedagogy is not effective? Those who are receptive and capable of receiving the culture do not have problems, but what about those who are not college bound or who struggle in the traditional educational culture? Leone and Drakeford (1999) asked that question and attempted to provide an answer.

Students who are alienated and have trouble "fitting in" require alternative approaches. Leone and Drakeford (1999), say that rather than simply providing "last chance" options for students, schools need to offer proactive choices before problems develop in middle school or high school. Too many students, they say, have faced a crisis or expulsion from their home school before they are allowed to enter an alternative program. Earlier intervention and proactive application of different educational approaches would alleviate crises.

Leone and Drakeford also advocate application of the progressive education approach that is based in the ideas of John Dewey. Their model recommends employing the problem solving approach, which can be used in the social sciences, but in all of the other disciplines including reading, mathematics and other core subjects. They also believe that alternative programs that are successful create a strong sense of community in which students and teachers share the same goals. In other words, a common culture has developed, and students are encouraged to take a variety of courses and participate in a variety of activities that enable them to pursue their interests and aspirations.

Although these alternative approaches, particularly Dewey's progressive education theories, have much appeal to those who see the limits of cultural transmission, researchers such as Dekker (2001) argue that cultural transmission as a concept is central to the relationship of children and their teachers. "Through the transmission of cultural and social capital, the next generation acquires the capacity to build its own identity. Education is considered as a reciprocal process between children and educators, initiating children into the codes of a given culture. Central to this process is the pedagogical relationship" (Dekker, 2001, p. 78). Dekker views the process as fundamental and uses a proverb to encapsulate it - "As the Old sing, so Pipe the Young," - a fitting definition of cultural literacy.

Terms & Concepts

Cultural Anthropology: The social science that studies humans in terms of behavior, culture and society. Cultural anthropology studies the culture of a single group (ethnography) or makes comparisons between two or more groups (ethnology). It also overlaps with archaeology as it studies the cultures of the past and with sociology (social anthropology) as it studies social relationships.

Cultural Literacy: Cultural literacy is the ability to converse within the core knowledge and idioms of a dominant culture. Those who possess the knowledge, or cultural literacy, can presumably participate fully in society. Cultural Literacy was also the title of the 1987 book by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., which included dates and terms that he thought that all educated Americans should recognize. Hirsch's approach was criticized for being too simplistic and his list too Eurocentric, but he later expanded his to be more encompassing and wrote the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy.

Culture: There are, of course, many definitions of the word culture. One of the Webster Dictionary definitions relevant to cultural transmission is: "the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations." Source: http://www.webster.com/dictionary/culture.

Cultural Transmission: Cultural transmission is the process of passing on from one generation to another the knowledge necessary to maintain cultural identity (Yoder, 1981, p. 217).

Multiculturalism: Educators who espouse multiculturalism teach aspects of the many cultures in United States society rather than emphasizing just the dominant culture.

Psychology: Psychology is the social science that studies the individual and his/her mental processes and behavior. In order for the cultural transmission to be fully complete, an individual must organize and internalize behaviors, beliefs, values, etc. of a culture in order to become a mature member of it.

Sociology: Sociology studies human social behavior. The focus may be on a single group, such as a family, or on larger groups, organizations, schools, societies, etc. and their interaction within society as a whole. In the study of cultural transmission, sociology overlaps considerably with the other social sciences.

Transformative Education: When the cultural transmission is complete, a transformation in the individual may occur, which implies a change from one viewpoint to another that is more compatible with that of the transmitting culture. Transformation is thought to process of moving from the state of being a tabla rasa to even an adult (whose cultural perceptions or viewpoints need to be shifted to the dominant culture), to learning the behaviors and knowledge base of the culture, to finally to be able to think critically and thoughtfully as a contributing member of a culture.

Bibliography

Bailey, R. (2003). Learning to be human: teaching, culture and human cognitive evolution. London Review of Education, 1 , 177-190. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=11939519&site=ehost-live

Beyer, C. (2013). The stuff of legend, or unpacking cultural baggage? Introducing first-year English literature and humanities students to foundational literary texts. Changing English: Studies in Culture & Education, 20, 395-403. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=92886080&site=ehost-live

Bruner, J. (1996). The culture of education. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Burtonwood, N. (1996). Culture, identity and the curriculum. Educational Review, 48 , 227. Retrieved December 4, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9612200889&site=ehost-live

Dekker, J. (2001). Cultural Transmission and inter-Generational interaction. International Review of Education, 47 , 77. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4761743&site=ehost-live

Griffiths, T.L., Lewandowsky, S., & Kalish, M.L. (2013). The effects of cultural transmission are modulated by the amount of information transmitted. Cognitive Science, 37, 953-967. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=88824077&site=ehost-live

Hanley, M. (2006). Education: transmission and tranformation. Journal of Thought, 41 , 51-55. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=23660280&site=ehost-live

Hirsch, E. D. (1987). Cultural literacy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Hirsch, E. D. (2002). Dictionary of cultural literacy. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin; New York: Bartleby.com. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.bartleby.com/59/.

Huang, J. (2013). Intergenerational transmission of educational attainment: The role of household assets. Economics of Education Review, 33112-123. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=86419755&site=ehost-live

Janzen, R. (1995). The social studies conceptual dilemma: six contemporary approaches. Social Studies, 86 , 134. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9507263244&site=ehost-live

Karabel, J. (1979). The sociology of education; perils and possibilities. American Sociologist, 14 , 85-91. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4944949&site=ehost-live

Keller, A. (1990). Cultural policy and educational change in the 1990s. Education & Urban Society, 22 , 413. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9703201290&site=ehost-live

Kimball, S. T. (1974). Culture and the educative process. New York: Teachers College Press.

Leone, P., & Drakeford, W. (1999). Alternative education: from a `last chance' to a proactive model. Clearing House, 73 , 86. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2502625&site=ehost-live

Mead, M. (1974). Social change and cultural surrogates. Education, 94 , 350. Reprint of 1940 article published in Journal of Educational Sociology. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4720906&site=ehost-live

Mezirow, J. (1997, Summer). Transformative learning: Theory to practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 72 p. 5-12. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Education Research Complete, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=9712154860&site=ehost-live

National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A nation at risk; An imperative for educational reform. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from U.S. Department of Education, http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html

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Yoder, N. (1981). Curriculum study through teachers as participant-observers. Education, 101 , 217. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4718755&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Bernstein, B. (1974). Primary socialization, language and education. 2nd rev. ed. London: Routledge and K. Paul

Daniels, H. (1995). Pedagogic practices, tacit knowledge and discursive discrimination: Bernstein and post-Vygotskian research. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 16 , 517-533. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9602262076&site=ehost-live

Delpit, L. (1995). Other people's children. New York: W. W. Norton, 1995.

Dobbert, M., & Others, A. (1984). Cultural Transmission in three societies: testing a systems-based field guide. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 15 , 275.

Gearing, F. (1984). Toward a general theory of cultural transmission. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 15 , 29.

Kohlberg, L., & Mayer, R. (1972). Development as the aim of education. Harvard Educational Review, 42 , 449-496.

Lubeck, S. (1984). Kinship and classrooms: an ethnographic perspective on education and cultural transmission. Sociology of Education, 57 , 219-232.

O'Connor, T. (1989). Cultural voice and strategies for multicultural education. Journal of Education, 171 , 57. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9317782&site=ehost-live

Roth, R. (1984). Schooling, literacy acquisition and cultural transmission. Journal of Education, 166 , 291. Retrieved November 21, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5667138&site=ehost-live

Spindler, G. D. (1963). Education and culture;anthropological approaches. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Whiting, B. (1984). An alternative strategy for studying the transmission of culture. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 15 , 334.