Transcript Cultural Variation

CULTURE
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
When studying culture the
science of sociology focuses on
a number of variables:
Language, art, ceremonies,
rituals, religion, rules of
behavior, social organization,
food, and work to name a few
The Meaning of Culture
Culture: consists of all the shared
products of human groups and
include both physical objects as
well as beliefs, values, and
behaviors.
Each human group (ex:
Americans) have their own
distinct culture
The Meaning of Culture
Before we go any farther consider the
difference:
1. A society is a group of interdependent people
who have organized themselves so that they
all use and share a common culture and
sense of unity. (PEOPLE)
2. Culture are the uniform constructs of material
and nonmaterial products that they share.
(THINGS)
Culture
All of the physical objects the are
created and used by a group
constitute their material culture.
In the U.S. for example there are:
Automobiles, computers, clothing,
jewelry, TV’s, etc.
Culture
Abstract creations by a society form
a category called nonmaterial culture
(intangible concepts and ideas created by a
society)
Examples in the U.S. include:
family patterns, ideas, language,
work practices, educational practices,
etc.
Culture
Culture shock:
Oh my goodness what is
wrong with these people.
No AC!
NO AC!
There Is No
Natural Way
Of Life For
Human
Beings!
Components of Culture
Though differences can be found within
cultures, most cultures share a common
components they are:
1. Technology: physical objects and the
rules for using them.
In the U.S.: the automobile and the
laws needed to drive one.
A computer and skills to use it.
Components of Culture
2. Symbols: any word, gesture,
image, sound, physical object,
event, or element of the natural
world that represents something
else and has a shared meaning
attached to it.
In the U.S.: “hello”, the middle
finger, waving, a flag, stop sign, a
badge, a tie, a baseball hat, etc.
Components of Culture
3. Language: organization of written
and spoken symbols into a
standardized system. When
organized by rules of grammar
words (abstract) can symbolize
anything.
* Imagine your life in a society
where you do not speak the
language.
Sapir-Whorf Thesis
Language shapes
the world we see.
Therefore can we
appreciate or
understand
objects, situations,
occurrences etc.,
that our language
does not identify
as existing?
Consider:
The language of certain
Nomadic Arab tribes
has dozens of words
for sand.
…What do you see?
Traditional Inuit languages have nearly
a hundred words for ice and sea ice.
Components of Culture
4. Values: shared beliefs about what is
good or bad, right or wrong,
desirable or undesirable.
Values effect many things: the character
of a groups people, material/nonmaterial
culture, how young will be raised, etc.
Beliefs : commonly held ideas or
premise as to what is true and
valid.
Real Americans
American Value System
One must first recognize that
studying American culture is
inherently different from that of
any other nation.
Our diverse society creates a
culture that is as different as it is
uniform.
What is often referred to as
American culture is more or less
“Traditional American Culture”
Traditional American Values
Though not complete and easily
disputable most sociologists
studying American society would
agree that U.S. culture contains
most of the following values.
1. Personal Achievement: supported
by long held values such as
individualism and competition.
Evident in regards to the amassing of
wealth and power. Manifest factors>
high-paying/high-power jobs leading
to material gains and status.
Traditional American Values
2. Individualism: individual effort =
personal achievement. Success and all of
its attachments can only come with hard
work and initiative. By and large
individual effort was the cornerstone of
American entrepreneurial ship or the
saying “Pulling yourself up by the
bootstraps”. Downside is that if one does
not succeed they in some manner are to
blame. *Social services v. limited gov’t
intervention
Traditional American Values
3. Work:
Generally speaking
Americans value ideals such as
discipline, dedication, and hard work
and attach them as signs of virtue.
For this reason work is highly
regarded irregardless of rewards.
 Attached to this mindset would be the
viewing of those who choose not to
work as lazy, immoral, or “lacking”.
 Also consider that we as a culture
work more than almost any other
industrialized nation on the planet.
Traditional American Values
4. Morality and Humanitarianism: The
U.S. was founded as a religious
nation, incorporating a strong belief
in justice, equality, and charity to
those less fortunate. Therefore
generally speaking, morality (right
and wrong) factor largely in regards
to personal and societal decisions
and actions.
Traditional American Values
5.
Efficiency and Practicality:
Americans tend to be by nature
pragmatists that is we are pragmatic.
Every issue or challenge has an
efficient/practical solution to solve it.
Therefore Americans judge objects or
actions as useful or not according to
their ability to get things done. In
addition would be the notion that what
solves a problem easier and with less
waste is superior throughout.
Traditional American Values
6. Progress and Material Comfort:
American society has always relied on
technological advances and
inventions to move us forward.
Coupled with this belief, would be the
position that living standards and life
in general will improve.
 This progress has usually relied on
science and technology to make
changes.
 All of this connects with the reliance
on and high value placed on material
comfort.
Traditional American Values
6. Equality and Democracy: Many
Americans feel that to have human
equality there must be equal
opportunity and an equal chance of
success; as outlined in the
Declaration of Independence as, “that
all men are created equal.” Equally as
important to Americans is the
importance placed on our form of
gov’t, Democracy. Americans feel
that they have a right to express
their opinions and complaints in
regards to their representation.
Traditional American Values
7. Freedom: Particularly close to the
hearts of Americans are personal
freedoms. Religion, Speech, Press, Right
to Assembly, Right to Arms, Secure in
our Private Effects and others. We place
a much higher value on individual
initiative than the collective best interest.
In addition Americans feel that our
lifestyles as well as business dealings
should be free from the most basic of
government intervention.
Traditional American Values
8. Education: Americans place a high
value on the attainment of education.
From the completion of mandated K-12
schooling to the advancement to Higher
Education, Americans feel that the path
to success, achievement, and material
comfort is through education.
Traditional American Values
9. Honesty/Punctuality: Americans place
great value on the noble act of being
honest in all one’s person and business
affairs. Those who are not are met with
disapproval and sometimes shunned or
stripped of their accolades.
 Another uniquely American/Anglo
concept is that of being on time.
American culture dictates you usually
should not be early but never late, and if
you are call.
Traditional American Values
10.Romantic Love: Concepts such as
dating, marriage based on love, casual
sex, and informal relations between the
sexes in many ways originated in the
U.S. before spreading to other parts of
Western culture.
11.Religious Principles: Though
observation of a specific religion is not
given importance, the living of one’s life
by religious ideals is important to the
majority of Americans.
Traditional American Values
12. Patriotism: Because of our isolated
and individualistic society, Americans
have always gained notoriety in their
sense of both nationalism and patriotism
to the causes and interests of their
nation.
Our Changing Values
Though they would not be considered
widespread and have not endured for a
long enough period of time, many
burgeoning values in the U.S. are
beginning to take hold and affect how
policies and opinions are formed.
Self-fulfillment:leisure, youthfulness,
physical fitness, healthy eating, tanning,
plastic-surgery, etc.> many sociologists are
defining this growing trend as narcissism (or
extreme self-centeredness) and label it as a
personality disorder or at least detrimental
for our society and culture.
Our Changing Values
Environmental Concern: Protecting the
environment even if it means slowing
economic growth is gaining favor amongst
Americans at large. In all Americans are
realizing Industrial growth must be
matched with valuing the environment.
Components of Culture
6. Norms: Shared rules of conduct that tell
people how to act in specific situations.
Keep in mind that norms are
expectations for how to act and not
actual behavior. It is against our society’s
norms to steal but many still do it.
*Norms are however a rather broad category
and to distinguish between the essential and
the desirable, sociologists create (2)
categories
NORMS
6a. Folkways: norms that describe
socially acceptable behavior but do
not have great moral significance
attached to them. They in many ways
outline how we “should” act in everyday
life.
Ex: don’t spit your gum on a sidewalk,
don’t cut someone in line, be quiet in the
movies, don’t keep people waiting
NORMS
6b. Mores: norms that have great
moral significance attached to them.
Rules that when violated endanger
society’s well-being and stability.
Ex: embezzlement, murder, cheating on taxes,
etc.
*Laws: written rules of conduct enacted
and enforced by a government, to stabilize
society in terms of mores and to
discourage against the breaking of less
severe folkways
How Does Culture Get Itself To
work?
Social Control
Every society develops norms to define
its culture and society. Therefore, for
every society to run smoothly, these
norms must be enforced. Enforcement
(arrest, disgrace, embarrassment etc,) comes
in (2) forms:
1. Internalization
2. Sanctions
Social Control
Overview
The enforcing of norms internally or
externally is called Social Control.
The principal means is internalization,
when that fails, external agencies such
as police, courts, religion, family, an
public opinion step up.
Core Concept: All of these components
must work interchangeably. When or if
they fail social order is jeopardized. When
social order is lost social stability cannot
prevail, and in the end no society can
survive without a system of social control.
What Do We REALLY Learn?
“IDEAL” v. “REAL” Culture
Identify a society's cultural components
and we now know what is important to its
people. Yet…
… it does little to predict what people
will do.
We value free enterprise yet
700 Billion?
Cultural Variation
How are we as a culture similar to
these three countries?
Subcultures
Within every culture exists subcultures.
Subcultures develop from different age
groups, genders, ethnicities, geographic
areas, religions, social-classes,
occupations etc.
What are some subcultures you belong
to?
Subcultures
Subcultures (e.g.: Little Moscow) do not
reject all of the values and practices of a
larger society. They however have traits
that are not shared by the larger society.
 Most do not threaten the larger society
 Modern society needs subcultures to perform
various roles
 Allow society to be diverse and over time
change
Countercultures
Countercultures (e.g.: Anarchists) a
sub cultural group that rejects the
major values, norms, and practices
or a larger society and replaces them
with their own. (directly challenging the
dominant society)
Countercultures
When a subculture rejects a larger
societies values, norms, practices and
replaces them with their own they
become a _ _ _ n _ e _ culture.
Social Change
Key Concept:
All cultures change over
time. Some change faster than others
depending on their complexity and structure,
yet in the end either in small or large steps
change comes.
What the is important for sociologists is
to identify and analyze the Sources of
Social Change.
Let’s Look At a Few!
Sources of Social Change
1. Values and Beliefs:
People in any
society interact and influence each other.
With that said, it is then usually quite
clear how the introduction of
transformed values and beliefs can have
far-reaching and noticeable
consequences on the society as a whole.
A. Ideologies: are systems of beliefs that
support the social, moral, religious,
political, or economic interests held by a
group.
B. Ideologies often spread through Social
Movements which are lasting efforts to
promote or prevent social change.
Sources of Social Change
Continued……..Ideologies and Social
movements
B. Social Movements: Ex. Prohibition,
women’s rights mov’t, peace mov’t, gay
right’s mov’t, civil right’s mov’t, gay
marriage mov’t
Using the example of gay marriage, one
could analyze how the social mov’t
surrounding gay marriage could in time
change the ideology of the larger group
(in this case the U.S.)
Sources of Social Change
2. Technology: the knowledge and tools
people use to manipulate their
environment .
Inventions such as automobiles, atomic
fission, penicillin
but also as ideas (such as the assembly
line)
or as patterns of behavior (religious
movements, increase in healthy
lifestyles)
Sources of Social Change
3. Population: the change in the size of a
population may also bring about changes in a
culture.
A rapid increase or an increase of people with
different traits and values can sponsor and
change a culture. Ex: immigrants to the U.S.
and their influences
Pop. increases and decreases can change
culture through a number of diff. avenues.
1. Increased demand on services and goods,
increase or decrease in employment
2. Increase = less space (overcrowding),
demand on schools, transportation, crime
rates, sickness, traffic etc.
3. Changes in the age of a population
Sources of Social Change
4. Diffusion:
the process of spreading
traits(ideas, beliefs, material objects) from one
society to another. (In today's global society
w/travel and communication almost instant,
diffusion happens constantly)
Material goods are usually accepted easier and
quicker than values and beliefs.
When a culture accepts some traits of another
(think of political systems)and adapt them to
suit their needs it is called Reformulation.
Sources of Social Change
5.Physical Environment: the natural
environment can provide conditions
that encourage or discourage cultural
change.
What foods can or cannot be grown effects
culture and lifestyle.
Natural Disasters: (floods, hurricanes,
tsunamis) cause destruction which can cause
change or force people to adapt (which
causes change)
Natural Resources: (lack of, or the
destruction of) examples such as oil
shortages, or embargos, destruction of
forests, polluting of lakes, and oceans all
have profound effects on culture and change
Sources of Social Change
6. Wars and Conquest:
not as
common, but bring about the greatest
change in the least amount of time.
War causes loss of life and destruction
as well as the rise/rebuilding of new
cities towns.
War causes changes in economic
conditions as well as advancements in
technology and medicine that transfer
over to civilian life.
Wars also causes changes in political
leadership as well as economic policies
and rights.
Resistance to Change
Key Concept:
Cultural change rarely if
never happens without opposition. There
are always those on the personal or
societal level who reject or resist change.
For that reason some ideologies slowly or
never take hold in a specific society.
1. Ethnocentrism: Remember! The
tendency to view one’s own culture
or group as superior to others.
Americans ignoring the culture or laws of a
foreign country for the reason that they
feel they are inferior would be an example.
Resistance to Change
2. Cultural Lag: Some traits change
rapidly, but on the flipside the
transformation of others may take a
long period of time.
-the long summer break observed by most
states. It was needed in the late 1800s but is
obsolete in our present-day modern nation
-the lagging of some schools to prepare
students for the advanced technological world
because of cost and importance
-the inability of the government to adequately
keep up with predators who surf the
burgeoning and uncharted world of cyberspace
Resistance to Change
3. Vested Interests: some people
because of their ideologies or selfinterest are resistant to change for the
reason that it will affect them.
-the oil industry has a vested interest to exhaust
all oil supplies before the modern world relies on
alternative fuels
-land developers have a vested interest to
dissuade or challenge acts that preserve or
conserve natural places
-many subcultures, special interest groups (the
elderly in AARP/Firearm Owners w/the NRA) or
even industries lobby the government to protect
their personal interests from being infringed upon.
Ethnocentrism and Cultural
relativism
Ethnocentrism: tendency to view
one’s own culture or group as
superior.
Pros: can help give
a society a sense of group
Unity.
Cons: can narrow
and stagnate a group
to its own harm.
Ethnocentrism
How might an ethnocentric mindset
label a person as ignorant?
Cultural Relativism
Cultural Relativism: the belief that
cultures should be judged by their
own standards rather than by
applying the standards of another
culture.
All cultural practices need to be studied or
looked at from the point of view of the
society being studied.
Cultural Relativism
Would it be useful to the American
public if they were aware of some of
the differences between Middle
Eastern countries and our own and
reasons behind these differences?
Cultural Universals
*As different as a culture may be
from another, all cultures/societies
created by humans share universal
traits.
Some universal traits include.
Body adornment, cooking, forms of
greeting, funeral ceremonies, housing,
medicine, sports, family, to name a few
Culture and these intelligent life
forms we call humans (sarcasm)
Does it put us all in
bondage?
Is culture
something to be
grasped and
venerated as being
uniquely human?