Transcript C ULTURE Basics, Symbolic Culture, Values, Norms, Mores and Sanctions

CULTURE
Basics, Symbolic Culture, Values, Norms, Mores and
Sanctions
ASSIGNMENT
Definitions- culture, material culture,
nonmaterial culture, culture shock,
ethnocentrism, cultural relativism,
symbol, gesture, language, values, norms,
folkways, mores, sanctions, taboos
Locate in the chapter the following- eight
basics about all culture, how does
language allow culture to exist, explain the
differences between mores, folkways,
norms, values
WHAT IS CULTURE?
Material Culture- things that can be seen or
felt. Examples: buildings, art, machines,
hairstyle, clothes
 Non-material culture- a groups way of thinking,
beliefs, values, language, gestures


Culture is neither right or wrong
HOW CULTURE CHANGES

1.
2.
Two ways:
Internally through invention and adaptation
Externally through borrowing
Does culture invent more than it borrows or does it
borrow more than it invents?
BASIC IDEAS OF CULTURE
 Culture
shock- the disorientation people
experience when they come in contact
with a fundamentally different culture
and can no longer depend on their
assumptions about life
 All culture is learned- culture is within
us. We take culture for granted, we
assume that our culture is normal
behavior
 A consequence of the culture within us is
ethnocentrism- the belief that one
culture is superior to another
CULTURE BASICS
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
There is nothing natural about culture
Culture is the lens which we see the world and
obtain our perception of reality
Culture provides the instruction for dealing with
various situations
Culture provides the right/wrong way of doing
things
Contact with other cultures challenges our basic
assumptions about life
Culture is universal
•
A society cannot exist without developing
shared ways of dealing with the challenges of life
All people are ethnocentric
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
 Culture
Relativismto understand culture
on its own terms
 Seeing how these
elements fit together
without judging them
as superior or inferior
to one’s own way of life
DECIDE IF THE STATEMENT IS AN EXAMPLE
OF
ETHNOCENTRISM OR CULTURAL RELATIVISM
 1.
The British drive on the wrong side of
the road.
 2. The Chinese characters for China mean
“center of the universe”.
 3. Frenchmen use forks with their left
hands.
 4.Americans believe democracy is the only
form of government.
 5.
In some cultures it is a delicacy to eat
dog.
 6. Milk is the only drink to serve children.
 7. It is rude to haggle over the price of an
item.
 8. Looking directly at a person means that
you respect that person.
 9. It is wrong to show up late for an
appointment
 10. Women in India wear red on their
wedding day.
 Make each ethnocentric statement into a
cultural relativism statement.
ANCESTRY IN THE U.S.
CULTURE AREAS OF THE U.S.
SYMBOLIC CULTURE
Symbol- something people attach
meaning and that they use to
communicate
 Gesture- using the body to
communicate with others, a way to
convey a message without words.

Certain gestures accepted in some
cultures are inappropriate or
unintelligible in other cultures.
 Gestures are learned, specific to a
culture.
 There are some gestures that
represent fundamental emotionssadness, anger, fear, joy- inborn, do
not vary from culture to culture

LANGUAGE

Symbols that can be put together in infinite ways for
the purpose of communication, creates language
LANGUAGE ALLOWS HUMAN
EXPERIENCE TO BE CUMULATIVE
 Symbols
that can be put together
in infinite ways for the purpose of
communication, creates language
 Language allows culture to
develop
HOW?
1. allows us to communicate events
2. Pass ideas, knowledge, and
attitudes from generation to
generation
 allows
us to modify behavior with
what previous generations have
learned.
LANGUAGE
3.
4.
provides a social or shared past and future
allows for shared perspectives


5.
talking allows people to reach a shared
understanding
When people do not share a language it invites
miscommunication and suspicion
allows people to set a purpose, place events in
sequence, etc
VALUES AND NORMS
VALUES, NORMS AND SANCTIONS
 All
cultures have values, ideas about
what is important in life.

Values tell us what is good, bad, beautiful,
ugly
 Norms
describe expectations, rules of
behavior that develop out of values
 Sanctions refer to reactions people
receive from following or breaking the
norms
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Positive Sanction- approval for following norms
Negative Sanction- disapproval for breaking the norm
Moral Holidays- specified time when people can break
the cultural norms- Mardi Gras for example
FOLKWAYS AND MORES
Norms that are not strictly
enforced are called
folkways
 Norms that we think of as
essential to our core values
are called mores
 A norm that is so strongly
ingrained in our culture to
break it is greeted with
revulsion is called a taboo

AMERICAN VALUES
The U.S. is made up of many different groups- we are a
pluralistic society.
 Numerous religious, ethnic and specific interest groups
make up our society.

AMERICAN VALUES
Salad Bowl Theoryimmigrants keep their
own basic beliefs and
ways of life while
adapting to the general
characteristics of the
culture
 Melting Pot Theoryimmigrants groups blend
into the culture adding
items to the culture but
not keeping strong ties to
their cultural ties and
background

AMERICAN VALUES

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
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12)
13)
14)
15)
Sociologist Robin Williams (1965) identified fifteen traits
of American Culture
Achievement and Success
Individualism
Activity and Work
Efficiency and Partiality
Science and Technology
Progress
Material Comfort
Humanitarianism
Freedom
Democracy
Equality
Racism and Group Superiority
Education
Religiosity
Romantic Love
VALUE CLUSTERS, CONTRADICTIONS
AND SOCIAL CHANGE
 Values
are not
independent units,
some cluster together
to form part of a
larger whole.
 Some values
contradict each other.
 Value contradictions
can be powerful
forces for social
change.
EMERGING VALUES
 Leisure-
reflected in a huge recreation
industry
 Self-fulfillment- the “self help” movement
 Physical Fitness- organic foods,
obsessive concern weight weight and diet
 Youthfulness- attributed to the baby
boomers. Reflected in increase of plastic
surgery
 Concern for the environment -despite
a history of exploitation of the
environment, today Americans have a
concern and commitment for the
environment.
VALUES, CULTURAL CHANGE
AND GLOBALIZATION OF
CULTURE
CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

Culture war, cultural lag, cultural diffusion,
cultural leveling, ideal vs. real culture
Provide an example of a culture war.
 Provide an example of cultural lag.
 How does technology change culture?
 Is cultural leveling and the loss of cultural
diversity a good or bad thing?

REVIEW
 Culture
is learned and universal
 Two parts of culture-material and non
material
 Cultural views can be ethnocentric,
culture can also be viewed through a lens
of cultural relativism
 Language and gestures are two symbols of
nonmaterial culture
 Language allows us to share our
perceptions, future and past
 Language shapes our perception of objects
and events
CULTURE WARS

Cultural change is met with strong resistance.
People hold their core values dear and see the
changes as a threat to their way of life. This
creates what is known as a “culture war”
IDEAL VS. REAL
What we see as ideal sometimes
is in conflict with reality.
 Norms, values and goals that a
group considers worth aspiring
to is “ideal culture”.
 What we actually do is known
as “real culture”

TECHNOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL WORLD
Culture also has a material side- its things, houses,
clothes toys and technology
 Central to a groups culture is technology or tools.

includes the skills and procedures used to make these tools
 invisible factor in cultural change
 sets the framework for a groups nonmaterial culture
 if technology changes it changes the way people think and
relate to each other

CULTURAL LAG AND CULTURAL CHANGE
 Cultural
Lag occurs
when not all parts of
culture change at the
same pace.
 A groups material
culture usually
changes first , with
the non-material
culture playing
catch-up
CULTURAL DIFFUSION AND
CULTURAL LEVELING
 For
most of human history people lived in
relative isolation.
 Cultures developed unique characteristics
that responded to the situations they
faced.
 These characteristics changed little over
time
 Cultures have usually had at least some
contact with other groups.
 During contact people learn from each
other and adopt parts of each others way
of life.
 cultural diffusion- the spread of cultural
characteristics from one group to another
CULTURAL DIFFUSION AND
CULTURAL LEVELING
 Changes
in communication, travel have
sped up the process of cultural diffusion.
 Much of the world, for better or worse has
adopted Western culture in place of their
own culture
 Travel and communication unite us in a
way that there is almost no part of the
world not effected by this.
 The result of these new technologies is a
process called cultural leveling
 Cultural leveling is the process by which
cultures become similar to one another.
SUBCULTURE AND COUNTERCULTURE
WORLD WITHIN A WORLD
 Subculture-
the values and other related
behaviors, for example language, that
distinguish its members from the larger
culture.
 Many subcultures exist within a culture.
Their experiences have led them to have a
distinctive way of looking at life or some
part of it
 Ethnic, religious and occupational groups
form many different subcultures within
our own
COUNTERCULTURE
Values and norms of most subcultures blend with
society.
 In a subculture values and norms place these groups at
odds with general society
 Members of a mainstream culture will often isolate,
attack or ridicule the counterculture
