Transcript Chapter 2 Culture What is Culture? • Language, Beliefs, Values, Norms – Behavior Passed from One Generation to the Next • Material vs.

Chapter 2
Culture
What is Culture?
• Language, Beliefs, Values, Norms
– Behavior Passed from One Generation to the
Next
• Material vs. Nonmaterial Cultures
• Patterns of behavior
– Language, gestures, and other forms of
interaction
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Module 9
Culture and Society
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Society: Large number of people who live
in same territory, who are relatively
independent of people outside that area,
and who participate in a common culture
– Common culture simplifies
day-to-day interactions
– Adorno: worldwide culture
industry limits people choices
Module 9
Cultural Universals
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Cultural Universal: certain
common practices and beliefs
that all societies have developed
– Many are adaptations to
meet essential human needs
– Murdoch compiled list of cultural
universals but they are expressed
differently from culture to culture
Cultural Universals
• Examples:
– Appearance (bodily adornment, hairstyles)
– Activities (sports, dancing, games, joking)
– Social institutions (family, law, religion)
– Practices (cooking, folklore, gift giving)
Culture and Taken-for-Granted
Orientations
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What is Normal, Natural, or Usual?
The Culture Within Us
Culture as Lens
Culture Shock
Ethnocentrism
The many ways in which culture affects
our lives fascinate sociologists
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Elements of Culture
• Though cultures vary greatly, they have
common elements
– Symbols
– Language
– Values
– Norms
Practicing Cultural Relativism
• Understanding Cultures on Their Own
Terms
• “Sick Cultures” - Robert Edgerton
• Confronting Contrasting Views of Reality
• None of us can be entirely successful at
practicing cultural relativism
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Components of Symbolic Culture
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Gestures
Conveying Messages without Words
Gestures’ Meaning Differ Among Cultures
Can Lead to Misunderstandings
Is it really true that there are no universal
gestures?
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Symbols
• Humans sense the surrounding world
and give it meaning
• Symbols
– Anything that carries a particular meaning
recognized by people who share a culture
• Human capacity to create and
manipulate symbols is almost limitless
Gestures with Different Meanings in
Other Societies
“Hook ‘em Horns”
or
“Your spouse is unfaithful”
Gestures with Different Meanings in
Other Societies
“He’s crazy”
or
“You have a
telephone call”
Gestures with Different Meanings in
Other Societies
“Okay”
Or
“I’ll kill you”
Components of Symbolic Culture
• Language
– Allows Cumulative Human Experience
– Provides Social or Shared Past
– Provides Social or Shared Future
– Allows Shared Perspective
– Allows Complex, Shared, Goal-Directed
Behavior
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Language and Perception:
Sapir-Whorf
• Language Has Embedded Within It Ways
of Looking at the World
• Sapir-Whorf Reverses Common Sense
– Rather than objects and events forcing
themselves onto our consciousness, it is our
– Language that determines our consciousness,
& hence our perception of objects and events
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Module 12
Values
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Cultural values: Collective conceptions
of what is good, desirable, and proper –
or bad, undesirable, and improper
Influence people’s behavior
Criteria for evaluating actions of others
Values may change
Values in U.S. Society
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Achievement and Success
Individualism
Hard Work
Efficiency and Practicality
Science and Technology
Material Comfort
Freedom
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Values in U.S. Society
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Democracy
Equality
Group Superiority
Education
Religiosity
Romantic Love
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Emerging Values
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Leisure
Self-fulfillment
Physical Fitness
Youthfulness
Concern for the Environment
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Values and Culture
• Culture Wars: When Values Clash
• Value and Distorting Lenses
• “Ideal” vs. “Real” Culture
– The values, norms, and goals that a group
considers ideal, worth aiming for
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Norms
• Norms are established rules of behavior or
standards of conduct.
– Prescriptive norms state what behavior is
appropriate or acceptable.
– Proscriptive norms state what behavior is
inappropriate or unacceptable.
Folkways
• Everyday customs that may be violated
without serious consequences within a
particular culture.
• In the United States, folkways include:
– using deodorant
– brushing our teeth
– wearing appropriate clothing for a specific
occasion
Mores
• Strongly held norms with moral and ethical
connotations that may not be violated
without serious consequences.
– Taboos are mores so strong that violation is
considered extremely offensive and even
unmentionable.
– The incest taboo, which prohibits sexual
relations between certain kin, is an example
of a nearly universal taboo.
Laws
• Formal, standardized norms that have
been enacted by legislatures and are
enforced by formal sanctions.
– Civil law deals with disputes among persons
or groups.
– Criminal law deals with public safety and
well-being.
Situational
• Norms that change according to the
situation
– As an example: Normative behavior at a
sporting event would not be appropriate within
the context of the normal classroom
Module 12
Acceptance of Norms
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People do not follow
norms in all situations
– Behavior that appears to violate
society’s norms may represent
adherence to a particular group’s norms
– Norms may be violated because
they conflict with other norms
– Acceptance of norms is subject to change
Module 12
Sanctions
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Sanctions: Penalties and rewards for
conduct concerning social norm
– Positive sanctions: Pay raises,
medals, and words of gratitude
– Negative sanctions: Fines, threats,
imprisonment, and stares of contempt
Module 9
Ethnocentrism and
Cultural Relativism
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Ethnocentrism: Tendency to
assume that one’s own culture
and way of life represents the
norm or is superior to others
– Conflict theorists: ethnocentric value
judgments serve to devalue groups
and to deny equal opportunities
– Functionalists: ethnocentrism
maintains sense of solidarity
Module 9
Cultural Relativism
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Cultural relativism:
People’s behaviors
from the perspective
of their own culture
– Different social
contexts give
rise to different
norms and values
Popular Culture
• Activities, products, and services that are
assumed to appeal primarily to the middle
and working classes.
• These include rock concerts, spectator
sports, movies, and television.
Subcultures and Countercultures
• Groups of people in a small corner in life,
(occupation) tend to develop specialized
– Ways to communicate with one another
• Subculture - A World Within the Dominant
Culture
• Countercultures - Groups With Norms and
Values at Odds With the Dominant Culture
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The Old Order Amish Subculture
• Strong faith in God.
• Rejection of worldly concerns.
• Rely on horse and buggy for
transportation.
Amish Subculture
Examples of Countercultures
• Beatniks of the 1950’s
• Flower Children of the 1960’s
• Drug Enthusiasts of the 1970’s
Beatniks of the 1950’s
Flower Children of the 1960’s
Module 9
Sociobiology and Culture
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Sociobiology: Systematic study of how
biology affects human social behavior
– Founded on
Darwin’s Theory
of Evolution
– Sociobiologists
assert that many
cultural traits rooted
in genetic makeup
Technology in the Global Village
• The New Technology - New Tools
– The long-accepted idea that it is proper to
• Withhold rights on the basis of someone’s sex can
no longer be sustained
• Cultural Lag and Cultural Change
• Technology and Cultural Leveling
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