Now that you've had a couple of examples of
little cultural differences that could potentially matter to people,
let's take a step back and ask,
what are boundaries anyway?
If you've traveled between countries,
you might think of it in terms of lines and
physical space that are guarded on either side by people,
border guards, and these are indeed boundaries, typically cultural boundaries.
Their purpose is to control the movement of people in and out of a space.
In this course, when we're talking about
control of movement across physical boundaries in space,
we will call them social boundaries.
We'll see that social boundaries are a special case of cultural boundaries.
National boundaries aren't the only place where this kind
of overt social control of movement takes place.
Many and perhaps most business enterprises have a boundary that
someone who is not in a play or invited visitor is not permitted to cross.
This is true for example of the Boeing manufacturing facility,
not too far from where I live.
There is a guard booth and a gate.
You have to have the proper credentials in order for the guard to let you through.
We'll want to think more about why they exist.
But, one more example of a somewhat guarded boundary will help to shed light on this.
Think about a sports team.
One where maximal cooperation and coordination
among the team players is necessary for success,
like a soccer team or a basketball team.
Before the game starts,
it is typical for the team to meet and review
the strategy and tactics they have planned to win the game.
An important meeting usually also takes place at
the half time the halftime meeting is especially
important because the coaches and players have
the opportunity to assess how the strategies and tactics have been working.
Is the team winning or losing?
Do they need to change the strategy and tactics or to carry on as they have been?
Are there adjustments that need to be made?
Notice that the team has an interest in
the other team not knowing what their strategy will be.
They want to keep the other team guessing as much as possible.
They want their strategy and tactics not to
become freely floating culture accessible to everyone.
This might undercut their chances for success.
How do they prevent the other team from gaining access to their culture?
This socially transmitted set of strategies and tactics for the game.
They do it by guarding the boundary.
By for example, assembling in a locker room to which the other team has no direct access.
Imagine what it be like,
what it would be like were the coach to be giving instructions to the team members
while the other team's coaches and players were standing around listening in?
The other team could prepare themselves for whatever was being planned.
So a boundary in this last case is
necessary for keeping this aspect of the team internal culture,
the strategies and tactics for the game that day,
away from the other team.
This attempt to prevent the outward flow of culture
is also going on in the case of business enterprises.
Boeing for example, will have ways of doing things,
trade secrets they would prefer that other companies not know about.
Sometimes, of course, patrol boundaries are constructed to keep culture in.
Think for example of a museum or a movie theater that charges admissions.
They want people to come in and have access
to the culture whose flow they are controlling,
the museum objects or the movies,
but they want to be able to charge a fee for getting access to that culture.
A college or university that charges students tuition operates similarly.
So, we can think of a social boundary as one that controls the movement
of people since the movement of people affects who can interact with whom,
and since culture is transmitted through interaction,
social boundaries also affect the movement of culture.
In the next video,
we'll take a closer look at cultural motion.
Though that will really be the focus in Unit 4 of this class,
when we'll study cultural continuity and cultural change.
Greg Urban, Ph.D.Professor
