Culture as Comfort

by Sarah J. Mahler

Presents culture and identities as continual processes of doing, rather than as things people possess. This text encourages readers to understand how we learn culture so early in life that we come to view “it” as a possession more than as our groups’ particular ways of thinking and doing. We do the same for “identities” such as gender, race, nationality, and religion because these are also learned. Moreover, as we become culturally competent as children, we do not see what we do as cultural but as natural, as normal. Therefore our ways become comforting to us yet often discomforting to others and vice-versa. The author’s goals are to encourage readers to understand how we acquire our cultural comfort zones so that we can expand them throughout life and to appreciate cultural diversity and similarity. Culture as Comfort is a unique learning tool that is written broadly to appeal to a wide, cross-disciplinary audience. It is not a typical textbook, nor is it a classic supplemental text. Instead, it addresses a critical scholarly concept–culture–using the latest multidisciplinary scholarship. It renders the information in nontechnical language, adding in the author’s own insights and stories to make the information enjoyable and easy for readers to comprehend and remember. Learning Goals Upon completing this book readers will be able

Genres: Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2012

Reviews

[Abbey Edgar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. The author could have summed up the entirety of this book in 1 maybe 2 chapters. All she did was ramble on and talk in circles.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about cultural anthropology that is academically sound and still accessible to the lay reader.