Transcript Culture
Culture
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What do people mean when they say:
“You are so cultured”?
Material Culture: the
physical objects that
people create.
All the shared products of
a human group.
Jewelry, art,
architecture, weapons
Past down from one
generation to the next.
Methods by which
collections of people deal
with their environment.
We assume ours is
“normal” or “natural”
Culture
Nonmaterial Culture:
abstract human creations.
Ways of thinking and
doing (interaction)
Society: group of
mutually interdependent
people who have
organized in a way to
share a common culture.
Culture is learned and
shared.
Specific components vary
among societies and changes
occur over time.
Emerging technology has
impacted our social life:
Culture Lag: when
nonmaterial culture can’t
keep up with material
culture.
Cultural Diffusion: the
spread of cultural
characteristics from
one group to another.
EX: adoption of
superior weapons
Cultural Leveling:
process by which
cultures become
similar
EX: texting and driving
Components of Culture
Things people attach
meaning to (usually
nonmaterial) that they use
to communicate.
Gestures: using one’s
body to communicate
(meanings might change
from one culture to the
other)
Some gestures are
biological.
Language: organization of
written or spoken symbols into a
standardized system.
Provide deeper understanding
of what we are communicating
Represents objects and abstract
thought.
Emoticons: “written gestures”
for expressing yourself online
http://pc.net/emoticons/
Symbolic Culture
Gestures Quiz
Allows culture to develop – move beyond immediate
experiences.
Provides a social or shared past and future – understand
past events (times, dates, places).
Allows for shared perspectives – form a shared
understanding that forms the basis of social life
Not sharing a language while living alongside one another,
invites miscommunication and suspicion.
Allows complex, shared, and goal-directed behaviors –
establish purpose.
Language Continued
Language creates ways of thinking and perceiving (rather
than objects)
In the United States we have learned to classify people (with
given titles) – jocks, goths, stoners, skaters, preps, etc. –
because of that we will perceive people in an entirely different
way from someone who does not know these classifications.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Values: shared beliefs about what
is good or bad, right or wrong,
desirable or undesirable.
Value Cluster: values that fit
together to form a larger whole.
Value Contradiction: to follow
one, means you must given up
another
American Value System
Certain values are shared by the
majority of Americans.
Value systems change due to
various social factors, which
leads to value conflicts as some
values change over time.
Values
Personal Achievement
Work
Morality
Humanitarianism
Efficiency
Practicality
Material Comfort
Equity
Democracy
Freedom
Self-Fulfillment
Norms: the shared rules of
conduct that tell people how to
act in specific situations
(expectations) based on a
community’s shared values.
One who breaks the norms =
deviant.
Some people are expected to
behave in certain ways based on
their specific role in society
EX: profession, age, gender
Folkways: norms that do not
have great moral significance
attached to them (the
etiquette and customs of a
people that are not of critical
importance to the society).
Mores: have great moral
significance attached to them
(violation of them endangers
the well-being and stability of
society).
Norms
EX: Walking in the wrong
direction at the mall.
EX: man walking down the
street with nothing covering
his lower half
EX: Stealing, rape, and
murder
Some group’s folkways are
another group’s mores.
Law: written rule of conduct that is
enforced by the government.
What is the difference between laws and
mores?
Taboo: a norm so strong that it often
brings revulsion if violated
EX: eating human flesh, having sex with
one’s parents
Norms Continued
Expressions of approval or
disapproval for upholding or
violating norms.
Positive: reward or positive
reaction (prize, trophy, hug,
smile, “high-five”)
Negative: expression of
disapproval for breaking a
norm (frown, look of disgust,
prison sentence)
Physical or Psychological
Formal vs. Informal
Sanctions
Moral Holiday: specified
times when people are
allowed to break a norm
EX: Mardi Gras (public
drunkenness and nudity)
Moral Holiday Place:
locations where norms are
expected to be broken
EX: Red Light District,
nude beaches
Number the Urinals
from left to right, 1-5.
Following the scenario
given, describe the
proper etiquette… girls
imagine this with the
stales.
Be able to explain your
response
Urinal Behavior Quiz
List the expected
etiquette/rules you
have learned/follow
when using an
elevator.
Be sure to explain
why that is proper
behavior.
Elevator Rules
Cultural Diversity
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If humans all have the same basic needs, how can
cultures be so different?
Some needs are so basic that all
societies must develop ways to
ensure their fulfillment.
However human beings have the
ability to meet these needs in a vast
number of ways.
Example - survival => need to care
for young => families.
But are all families the same?
Cultural Universals
Ethnocentrism: the tendency
to view one’s own culture and
group as superior to others.
Culture Shock: disorientation
experienced when we cannot
make sense of the world
when our nonmaterial culture
“fails” us.
Cultural Relativism: cultures
should be judged by their
own standards of their own
culture - viewed from the
point of view of the members
of that society.
Is there such thing as “normal”
and “abnormal” when looking
at differences in culture?
Subculture: a group in
society that shares values,
norms, and behaviors that
are not shared by the entire
population.
EX: Motorcycle enthusiasts,
ICP followers
Counterculture: a group
that rejects the values,
norms, and practices of the
larger society and replaces
them with a new set of
cultural patterns/practices.
EX: Mormons – value
polygamy over monogamy
Cultural Variation