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Folk Cultures

A folk culture is a small isolated, cohesive, conservative, nearly self-sufficient group that is homogeneous in custom and race with a strong family or clan structure and highly developed rituals. Order is maintained through sanctions based in the religion or family and interpersonal relationships are strong. Tradition is paramount, and change comes infrequently and slowly. There is relatively little division of labor into specialized duties. Rather, each person is expected to perform a great variety of tasks, though duties may differ between the sexes. Most goods are handmade and subsistence economy prevails. Individualism is weakly developed in folk cultures as are social classes. Unaltered folk cultures no longer exist in industrialized countries such as the United States and Canada. Perhaps the nearest modern equivalent in Anglo America is the Amish, a German American farming sect that largely renounces the products and labor saving devices of the industrial age. In Amish areas, horse drawn buggies still serve as a local transportation device and the faithful are not permitted to own automobiles. The Amish‘s central religious concept of Demut “humility“, clearly reflects the weakness of individualism and social class so typical of folk cultures and there is a corresponding strength of Amish group identity. Rarely do the Amish marry outside their sect. The religion, a variety of the Mennonite faith, provides the principal mechanism for maintaining orders.

By contrast a popular culture is a large heterogeneous group often highly individualistic and constantly changing. Relationships tend to be impersonal and a pronounced division of labor exists, leading to the establishment of many specialized professions. Secular institutions of control such as the police and army take the place of religion and family in maintaining order, and a money-based economy prevails. Because of these contrasts, “popular“ may be viewed as clearly different from “folk“. The popular is replacing the folk in industrialized countries and in many developing nations. Folk-made objects give way to their popular equivalent, usually because the popular item is more quickly or cheaply produced, is easier or time saving to use or leads more prestige to the owner.

全文翻譯：民間文化

民間文化是小型的、孤立的、緊密的、保守的、近乎自給自足的群體，具有同 樣的習俗、同樣的人種和強有力的家庭或部族結構以及高度發展的宗教儀式。 秩序由宗教 或家庭的約束來維持，成員間的關系非常緊密，傳統至高無上，很少有變動且變動緩慢。 勞動專業分工相對較少。每個人都要做各類活計，盡管男女兩性分工不同。 絕大多數物品是 手工制造的，經濟一般為自給自足型。 個人主義和社會階層在民間文化群體中的發展十分薄弱。在象美國和加拿大這樣的工業化國家里，一成不變的民間文化群體已不復存在了。在 當代美洲的英語區，與民間文化最相似的群體也許算是 Amish。 Amish 是美國的德裔農耕 部落，他們基本上拒絕接受工業時代的大多數產品和節省勞力的設施。在 Amish 地區，輕便馬車仍是當地的交通工具，信徒們不允許擁有汽車。 Amish 宗教中的核心觀念 Demut 即 謙卑典型地反映了在民間文化群中個人主義和階級的不發達。而與此同時，Amish 對群體 的認同性卻十分強。 Amish 人很少和他們宗派以外的人通婚。 其宗教，作為 Mennonite 信 仰的一種，提供了維護秩序的主要機制。 相反，大眾文化是包含不同種族的大群體，通常 高度個性化而且不斷在變化。人際關系冷漠，勞動分工明確，由此產生了許多專門的職業。 世俗的控制機構，比如警察和軍隊，取代了宗教和家庭來維持秩序，而且實行的是貨幣經濟。由于存在著這些差異，“大眾的“與“民間的“可謂大相徑庭。 在工業化國家以及許多發展中 國家里，大眾文化正在取代民間文化。民間制造的物品正讓位于大眾化產品，這通常是因 為大眾化的物品制造起來更快、更便宜，用起來更容易、更方便或者是能給其所有者帶來更 多的威望。