What do the U.S. Air Force, the nation of Thailand, and the state of Illinois have in common? While your initial thought is probably that they are holding some joint military training exercise, that answer isn’t correct. These three groups all highlight one aspect of culture, the socially learned and shared ideas, behaviors, and material components of a society. Society cannot exist without culture, and culture cannot exist without a society to maintain it. Yet, culture is not a monolith. It isn’t a single thing that is unwavering like a giant stone. Culture has different parts and categories that change over time depending on the beliefs and values of those in the society. Culture includes the physical artifacts that represent components of society, also known as material culture, as well as nonmaterial culture, which consists of the ideas and symbols that represent components of society. Often, both the material and nonmaterial aspects of culture are just different sides of the same coin. For example, while the ideal of democracy that governs American society is a nonmaterial culture, the voting machines used in the process of democracy are material culture. With this in mind, let’s take a few moments to consider one aspect of culture associated with the U.S. Air Force, the nation of Thailand, and the state of Illinois.
by Staff Sgt. Clinton
Firstbrook
The U.S. Air Force has changed their long-standing rules about how women can wear their hair. Whereas in the past, women (see photo) were required to wear their hair in ways that were potentially damaging, painful, or resulted in hair loss, now, women are being given more flexibility. Bangs, braids, and ponytails are now acceptable for women in the Air Force. Why is this about culture, you ask? Because there are cultural differences that exist in how people wear their hair. These differences are closely tied to the hair texture of different races and ethnic groups. The Air Force’s previous rules were accommodating to the hair texture of White members and didn’t take into consideration the implications of the rules on Black or Brown members whose hair texture is completely different. Interestingly, this change reflects broader changes to the law, formal and legal rules enforced by the state. Four states have implemented legislation that bans discrimination based on natural hairstyle, and dozens of others are considering taking such action. Culture is not just language, religion, or food preferences. It is also something as personal as how you wear your hair.
by Mattes
Laws fall under the rubric of nonmaterial culture. They are norms, established guidelines, and expectations of behavior, that are formalized in a society. While we often assume that there is universality with norms, one look at the laws around the world indicates otherwise. For example, in Thailand, Anchan Preelert, a 65-year-old woman, has been sentenced to 43 years in jail. Her crime? Insulting the royal family by sharing less-than-flattering comments about them on YouTube and Facebook. Preelert was sentenced under Thailand’s strict “lese majeste” law, which prohibits citizens from insulting the monarchy. This tells us that culture is local. It is specific to a region, state, or country. The lese majeste laws do not exist with the British or Spanish Monarchies. The cultural norms in one part of the world may be very different from those in another part of the world.
Laws can change. They reflect the beliefs and values of the society at the time they were enacted. Historically, in the U.S., the state of Florida had a law against wearing a mask or hood in public. While this 1951 law might have made sense back when terrorist attacks by hood-wearing members of the KKK were commonplace, today, with the specter of COVID-19, mask-wearing is now encouraged, if not required. The change in the law in the state of Illinois illustrates how laws can have sweeping implications for members of society. On December 31, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker expunged the records of nearly 500,000 people who were previously arrested for non-felony marijuana possession. Five hundred thousand people. That is equivalent to the population of Atlanta, Georgia. The governor’s actions were part of the 2019 Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (CRTA) designed to increase equity in cannabis policing because, historically, minorities in the state were disproportionality targeted by law enforcement for marijuana possession. The result was that hundreds of thousands of Black and Brown residents had a criminal record that impeded their full participation in society even though Whites who engaged in the same behavior were not being policed or arrested.
