Slide 1

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
CHAPTER 3

Cultural Conformity
and Adaptation
Section 1: The American Values System
Section 2: Social Control
Section 3: Social Change

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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON


Slide 2

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System

Objectives:
 Identify the basic values that form the
foundation of American culture.
 Describe new values that have developed in
the United States since the 1970s.

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Slide 3

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System

Basic Values
of American Culture
 Personal Achievement – built primarily by people
that value individual achievement, as in the area
of employment
 Individualism – success comes through hard work
and initiative
 Work – Americans view discipline, dedication,
and hard work as signs of virtue
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System

Basic Values
of American Culture

(continued)

 Morality and Humanitarianism – Americans place

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a high value on morality and tend to view the
world in terms of right and wrong; quick to help
the unfortunate
 Efficiency and Practicality – practical and
inventive, every problem has a solution; judge
objects on their usefulness and people on their
ability to get things done

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Slide 5

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System

Basic Values
of American Culture

(continued)

 Progress and Material Comfort – Americans
believe that through hard work and determination
living standards will continue to improve
 Equality and Democracy – to have human
equality, there must be an equality of opportunity;
success is a reward that must be earned
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Slide 6

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System

Basic Values
of American Culture

(continued)

 Freedom – freedom of choice such as religion,
speech, and press and protect them from
government interference

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Slide 7

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System

Our Changing Values
 Self-fulfillment – the commitment to the full
development of one’s personality, talents, and
potential; includes leisure, physical fitness and
youthfulness
 Environmental protection
 Education and Religion were deemed
important by students who were polled
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Slide 8

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Social Control

Objectives:
 Identify how the norms of society are
enforced.
 Describe the differences between positive and
negative sanctions and between formal and
informal sanctions.

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Slide 9

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Social Control

Enforcing the Norms of Society
 Internalization – process by which a norm
becomes a part of an individual’s personality
thus conditioning that individual to conform to
society’s expectations
 Sanctions – rewards and punishments used to
enforce conformity to the norms
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Slide 10

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Social Control

Different Types of Sanctions
 Positive Sanction – action that rewards a
particular kind of behavior such as good grades or
a pay raise
 Negative Sanction – punishment or the threat of
punishment to enforce conformity such as frowns,
imprisonment, and even death
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Slide 11

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Social Control

Different Types of Sanctions

(continued)

 Formal Sanction – rewards or punishments by a

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formal organization or regulatory agency such as
the government and includes promotions, awards,
or low grades
 Informal Sanction – spontaneous expression of
approval or disapproval by an individual or group
such as a standing ovation, gifts, gossip, or
ridicule

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Slide 12

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Social Change

Objectives:
 Identify and describe the main sources of
social change.
 Describe the factors that lead people to resist
social change.

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Slide 13

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Social Change

Main Sources of Social Change
 Values and Beliefs – are affected by ideology spread

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through social movements
 Technology – knowledge and tools people use to
manipulate their environment
 Population – change in size of population may bring
about changes in the culture
 Diffusion – the process of spreading culture traits
from one society to another

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Slide 14

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Social Change

Main Sources of Social Change

(continued)

 Physical Environment – the environment may provide
conditions that encourage or discourage cultural
change
 Wars and Conquest – are not common but bring about
the greatest amount of change in the least amount of
time

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Slide 15

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Social Change

Factors Leading to
Resisting Social Change
 Ethnocentrism – can lead to segregation
 Cultural Lag – a delay in cultural change such
as the introduction and use of computers
 Vested Interests – might lead to a focus on
maintaining budgets over a focus on providing a
quality education and instruction
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