Chapter 3 CULTURE

Chapter Overview



What is Culture?



Components of Symbolic Culture



Many Cultural Worlds: Subcultures and Countercultures



Values in U.S. Society



Technology in the Global Village



Cultural Lag, Diffusion, and Labeling

 2

Culture

What is Culture?



Culture is

:  The language, beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors passed on from one generation to the next  How is this accomplished?

 Two components  Nonmaterial culture  Material culture  3

Culture

Nonmaterial

 Belief system, values, behavior, social interactions, language, gestures, and assumptions about the world

Material

 Cultural artifacts and objects people create and assign meanings to.

Culture

 Our speech, gestures, beliefs, customs are usually taken for granted  We assume that they are normal and natural  Cultural lens  Perception of reality  Guides our behavior and helps us make decisions

Culture

 Sometimes our assumptions are challenged  Culture Shock  Ethnocentrism  Practicing Cultural Relativism

Culture

Ethnocentrism and Culture Shock

 What is Normal, Natural, or Usual?

 We believe

our

ways are “Normal” 

Culture Shock-

coming into contact with a culture that is different from what we know  Cultures are in conflict 

Ethnocentrism

-the belief that our culture is the “best” or superior to all others  • Tendency to evaluate other groups according to one’s own standards Negative consequences  Positive consequences  7

Culture

Cultural Relativism

 Attempt to understand another culture’s perspective and not based on one’s own perspective  Refocus our lens so we can appreciate other ways of life instead of asserting “our way is right and the only way”  Examples  Hindu diet and US diet   Bull fighting Values

Leisure activity is part of a good life Physical exercise is good for you Develop your mind

 8

Culture

 Cultural values result in exploitation  Involuntary  Inhumane  Oppressive 

Examples

  Honor Killing Female Circumcision

Culture

Components of Symbolic Culture Symbols

 Something people attach meaning and then use to communicate with others.

 Nonmaterial culture  Material culture  10

Culture

Gestures

 Using the body to communicate with others to send messages without using words  Universal, but meaning changes completely from one culture to another   Can lead to misunderstandings, embarrassment, or conflict Some universal gestures

Culture

Language

 System of symbols that can be put together in infinite number of ways to communicate abstract thought.

 Five Purposes of Languages  Allows Human Experience to Be Cumulative     Provides a Social or Shared Past Provides a Social or Shared Future Allows Shared Perspectives Allows Complex, Shared, Goal-Directed Behavior

Culture

Language & Perceptions

  Language has embedded within it ways of looking at the world Part of language is not only to learn it, but also ways of thinking and perceiving. 

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

 The language of each culture does not merely influence how people understand the world it shapes ways of thinking and perceiving  Meaning beyond words  EXAMPLES  Welfare  Stupid  Labeling or Stereotyping  EXAMPLES  Racial profiling  Resumes

Culture

Values

 Standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly.  Guide our choices or preferences in life  In modern pluralistic societies, such as the U.S., value orientations are complex.

Culture

Values in U.S. Society

Achievement and Success Progress Equality Individualism Material Comfort Racism and Group Superiority Activity and Work Humanitarianism Efficiency and Practicality Science and Technology Freedom Democracy Education Religiosity Romantic Love

 15

Culture

Value Cluster

 Values together form a larger whole  Values do not exist alone  Examples

Value Clash

 groups  When core values change causing conflict between social Change is viewed as a threat to their life, an undermining of both their present and their future.

Ideal Culture

 Values that society views as important and worth aspiring up to  What people "should do“ 

Real Culture

 The values and norms and people actually follow  What people "actually do"

Culture

Emerging Values

 A value cluster of 4 interrelated core values  Leisure  self fulfillment  Physical fitness  Youthfulness  Environmental consciousness

Culture

Components of Symbolic Culture



Norms

Norms

- Expectations or rules for behavior   Informal and Formal Norms Norms will change as cultures change 

Sanctions

- Reaction to following or breaking norms  Positive Sanctions  Negative Sanctions  Moral holidays  18

Culture

Components of Symbolic Culture Types of Norms



Folkways

- Norms that are not strictly enforced    Weak social norms Not a threat to society Examples 

Mores

- Norms, when broken, go against a society’s basic core values    Strictly enforced norms Norms are viewed as essential and everyone must follow Examples 

Taboos

- Norms, when broken, are considered

repulsive

  People who violate these norms are viewed as unfit for society Examples  19

Culture

  

Many Cultural Worlds

Subculture:

A world within the dominant culture Groups that share many elements of mainstream culture but maintain their own distinctive customs, values, norms, and lifestyles.

The norms and values do not clash with those of the dominant culture

Countercultures:

  A world within the dominant culture Groups whose values, lifestyles, norms, attitudes, and  other behaviors are in opposition to the broader society The norms and values clash with those of the dominant culture  20

Culture

Cultural Diffusion and Cultural Leveling



Cultural Diffusion

: The

spreading

of cultural characteristics from one culture to another 

Why is this happening so rapidly?



Cultural Leveling

: When cultures start to become

similar

to each other  21

Culture

Functionalist Perspective

 All cultures are in part practical responses to environmental conditions  Cultural ecological approach  Examines the relationship between a culture and its total environment  Example: Hindu culture  Prevents ethnocentrism  Cultural integration approach  Show how the cultural practices of groups tend to “fit together”  Changes in one element may have broad repercussions for the culture of any group.

 Example: Technological changes

Culture

Conflict Perspective

 The values, beliefs, and traditions of a nation or society are not necessarily a product of consensus and “social need”  Culture is highly complex with many strains and contradictions between conflicting group interests and needs.

 Groups with power and wealth have the resources to control and influence national culture  Examples: slave era, corporate capitalism  Cultural hegemony  The domination of cultural industries by elite groups

Culture

Symbolic Interaction Perspective

 Focuses on how individuals and groups use symbols to define and interpret reality.

 People everywhere live in “symbolic worlds” that are created and reproduced by diverse social groups  Our daily lives are structured by the symbols and meanings of many groups  If groups define something as real, whether or not they truly exist, “they are real in their consequences”

Culture