Transcript The Renaissance Part II - Churchville Central School District

WHAT IS
CULTURE?
CULTURE

What is Culture?

It is the knowledge,
language, values,
customs, and physical
objects that are passed
on from generation to
generation.
CULTURE

Material Culture

These are the physical
objects that are passed
on from generation to
generation.
CULTURE

Non Material Culture

Beliefs, rules, customs,
family system and
economy
CULTURE

Culture
 Offers
a blueprint for society and a guide for people
in society and the relationships that people carry
out.
 Example
 Girls
might be encouraged to try out for a basketball
team while boys might lift weights to prove their
masculinity
CULTURE

Society
 Is
a group of people who live in a defined area and
practice a common culture

Culture
 Is

societies total way of life
Culture and society can not exist without the
other
CULTURE

For culture to be transmitted there must be
some way of transmission.
 For
that we are dependent on language and
symbols
 Symbols
 Things
that stand for something else
 They may be physical objects, smells and taste

Example what does apple pie mean to you-can you smell it taste
it and know the texture without having it in front of you?
CULTURE

Symbols
 Take
the logo quiz.
CULTURE

Language


Allows human to create
culture and allows us to
understand each other.
Because of language we
are able to pass on
experiences, knowledge.
CULTURE

Sapir-Whorf



Believed that language is
our guide to reality.
How we see things
depends on the words
we can use to describe
an item.
So what can vocabulary
tell use about culture?
CULTURE

Communication activity
 Partner
up with one other person.
 I will give each of you several messages you need to
convey to the other person
 You may not use language and you may not write it
down or mouth the words.
 The person receiving the message must answer
your question
 You have three minutes for each message.
CULTURE

Norms and Values
 Norms
are rules that define appropriate and
inappropriate behavior.
 It
is the way people behave in certain situations
 It is also why some groups or cultures are similar and
some are different
 Once
a norm is learned then it becomes a guide for
society and social behavior
CULTURE

Norms
 In
many cases we do not even realize that we are
following a norm
 Standing
line for a movie ticket
 When some cuts the line they have violated a norm
 Norms
range from minor rules such as saying thank
you to laws.
CULTURE

Three types of norms


Folkways-ways of
thinking, feeling and
behaving that lack moral
overtones.
Usually breaking a
folkway does not disrupt
the flow of society and
those who break
folkways are not
considered immoral
CULTURE

Folkways



Some are more
important than others
Someone wearing a
dress suit with shorts
might considered
strange but not a harm
Obnoxious behavior after
drinking at a party might
bring negative reactions
CULTURE

Mores
 Based
on the word moral and has to do with
conduct that is right and wrong
 Mores often carry a strong moral significance and
vital to the well being of society.
 Conformity
to mores has strong social approval
 Violation of mores has strong disapproval
 Conformity
 While
to mores is a social requirement
folkways is a personal choice.
CULTURE

Taboo
 Is
a social requirement so strong that violation of
the more requires punishment by the group
 India-
Killing cows
 Sexual taboos such as incest
 The mother-in-law taboo-restrict social contact between
the husband and the wife’s mother
CULTURE

Laws
 Norms
that are formally defined and enforced by
society
 Laws are often consciously created and enforced
 Murder
CULTURE

Laws

Sometime folkways can
develop into laws

Up until the 1970’s
smoking was acceptable
behavior
However growing health
concerns convinced
many that laws should
be created to stop
smoking in public places

CULTURE

While laws sometimes start out in society when
the needs of society change then laws and the
enforcement of laws change
Can you name a Law that was once enforced
but is no longer a law because of changes in
society?
 Read the article outdated laws.

CULTURE

Laws and Sanctions
 Sanctions
are rewards and punishments used to
encourage conformity
 Formal
sanctions-those that may be applied only by
official people such as judges and teachers
The President gives out the Congressional Medal of Honor
 A teacher gives out an A for outstanding effort

CULTURE

Formal Sanctions

Formal punishment

These punishments range
widely throughout history




Excommunication
Drawn and quartered
Public humiliation
To NCAA violations
CULTURE

Informal sanctions



Positive or negative
Thanking someone for
pushing a car out of a
snow bank
Staring at someone who
is talking too loud in a
movie theater
CULTURE
By the time we reach a certain age we have
good definition of what folkways, mores and
laws.
 We conform to the norms because we believe
the behavior is expected of us and we wish to
avoid, guilt, or social disapproval
 We sanction ourselves mentally.

CULTURE

Values
 Basically
it is what we as people consider to be
desirable
 Values do not have a precise way of how people
think or feel
 The idea of freedom in one society might be
different in another society
CULTURE

Values
 Why
are values important
 They
form the basis for norms because of the influence
they have on human behavior.
A society who looks out for the welfare of others will provide for
the poor or those in need
 A society that believes in hard work will have norms against
people being lazy

CULTURE








In 1970 Robin Williams came up with the basic
American Values that guide the daily lives of
most people.
Achievement and Success
Activity and work
Efficiency and practicality
Equality
Democracy
Group superiority
Look at the values and determine if they are still the same today
CULTURE
By looking at the following pictures please
describe what each says about the values in
our culture
 Do they have an value to our culture, positive or
negative
 What does it say about American society

CULTURE

The clothing experiment
 What
does the clothing and t-shirt that people wear
say about the person.
 What
symbols does the clothing carry?
 What message is the wearer showing?
 Does the clothing reflex social values?
 Sport, politics, religion, other

We will do this with normal clothing and then
Halloween.
CULTURE

Beliefs



Beliefs are our ideas
about the nature of
reality
Beliefs can be true or
false
Beliefs are important
because people base
their behavior on what
they believe.
CULTURE
Material Culture
These are the concrete
objects that we as a society
say that give us meaning
Not all objects have similar
meanings to people.
A Coke bottle might mean
something to us and
something very different to
someone in another culture
CULTURE

Ideal Culture

Real Culture

Cultural guidelines that a
group claims to accept

Actual behavior patterns
of members of a group

We may see honesty as a
ideal cultural value

However we may cheat on
our tax returns

While not always
followed ideal culture
provides the standards
for society
CULTURE

Cultural Diversity
 Cultural
 It
Diversity exist in all cultures
can be based on race, age, gender, or religion
 Cultural
diversity also comes from groups that differ
from the larger cultural group.
 Subcultures
A group that is part of the larger culture however differs in some
important respects
 Chinese living in Chinatown-they still live in the American culture
but have a smaller culture that they subscribe to.

CULTURE

Counterculture
A
subculture that deliberately and consciously
opposes a certain belief and values of the
dominate culture
 With
a partner list different types of countercultures
CULTURE

Countercultures
 Take
a look at the following pictures and determine
what the counterculture is expressing.
 Who
are they? What do they stand for? What
values does the counterculture have and what
values of the dominate culture are they rebelling
against.
CULTURE
CULTURE
CULTURE
CULTURE
CULTURE
CULTURE
CULTURE
CULTURE
CULTURE

Cultural Universals
 Some
cultural traits exist in all cultures
 Sports
 Cooking
 Courtship
 Division
of labor
 Education
 Funeral rights
 Marriage
 Music
CULTURE

Cultural universals
 Exist
because all societies face the same problems
 Because people need to be taught how to interact
with the culture
 Because life happens
 People
are born, go to school, marry and die