ABSTRACT
The objective of this chapter is to provide a theoretical and practical orientation to teaching about culture in today’s complex cultural organizations. The study of organizations as cultural phenomena derives from a long tradition in the social sciences. In sociology, Durkheim (1933), Harris (1979), and Weber (1947) provided important analyses of the relationship between culture and industrialization. In anthropology, researchers in a specialization called “urban anthropology” focus on organizational sites. Many studies are comparative, in which national systems of work organization and philosophy are contrasted (for example, Dore 1973; Nakane 1967; Ong 1987; and Sahlins 1985). In addition, within the last few decades there has been a return to sites that are decidedly urban and multicultural (for example, Appadurai 1998; Douglas and Wildavsky 1982; Harris 1979; Lamphere 1987; and Willis 1977). The more recent research is changing the way culture is seen in anthropology by breaking down the boundaries between ourselves and our cultural “others.” Culture is being viewed as permeable with ample variation within as well as between cultures.
