Download CHAPTER 3 Culture

CHAPTER
3 Culture
Lecture Outline
I.
The Meaning of Culture
A.
A society's culture consists of all the modes of thought, behavior, and production
that are handed down from one generation to the next by means of communicative
interaction rather than by genetic transmission.
1.
Dimensions of Culture
2.
a.
Ideas are ways of thinking that organize human consciousness.
b.
c.
Norms are accepted ways of carrying out ideas.
Material culture consists of the patterns of possessing and using
the products of culture.
Among the most important types of ideas are scientific ideas, values, and
folklore. Values are socially shared ideas about what is right and wrong.
3.
They are the ideas that support or justify norms.
Laws are nornlS that are included in a society's official written codes of
behavior.
4.
Ideologies are sets or systems of ideas and norms; they combine the values
and nornlS that all the members of a society are expected to believe in and
act upon without question.
5.
B.
Technologies are the things (material culture) and the norms for using
them that arc found in a given culture.
The Nonnative Order
1.
Social c011lrolis the set of rules and understandings that control the
behavior of individuals and groups in a culture. The wide array of nonllS
that permits a socicty to achicve relatively peaceful social control is called
its normative order.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
When nonns are followed or violated, people may be rewarded or
punished. These rewards and punishments are called sanctions.
Mores are strongly sanctioned nornlS.
Folkv.'a)'sare less strongly sanctioned norms such as table marmers.
Laws, regulations, or rules areformalllorms.
Infurmalllorms grow out of everyday behavior.
Culture
II.
Culture, Evolution, and Human Behavior
A.
The Social Darwinists
1.
Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection had a profound effect on
2.
sociological thought.
The social Darwinists, notably Herbert Spencer, believed that human
beings evolved through cultural rather than biological mutation. Spencer
used the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe this idea of cultural
evolution.
3.
William Graham Sumner believed that competition and coercion were the
4.
driving forces behind cultural evolution. "The fittest" were those who
survived under those conditions.
Social Darwinism reached its most extreme form at the end of the
nineteenth century. It viewed Western capitalism as the most advanced
5.
type of social order. Those who were most successful at competing within
that system were viewed as superior human beings.
Early twentieth-century sociologists rejected this view in favor of the idea
that the concept of cultural evolution was better applied to institutions than
to individuals.
B.
Sociobiology
1.
The tendency to explain social phenomena in terms of biological factors is
called hiological reductiol1ism.
2.
Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard biologist, coined the term sociobiology to
describe the study of how genetic factors affect social behavior.
Sociobiologists believe that such behaviors as the incest taboo,
aggressiveness, homosexuality, and religious feelings are genetically
programmed.
3.
4.
As yet there is no direct evidence that genes or sets of genes establish
complex forms of nonnative behavior, but the sociobiological hypothesis
is stiIIbeing investigated.
Critics of sociobiology deny that humans are still evolving biologically
and argue that natural selection now influences cultural, rather than
genetic, evolution.
Culture
II.
Culture, Evolution, and Human Behavior
A.
The Social Darwinists
1.
Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection had a profound effect on
2.
sociological thought.
The social Darwinists, notably Herbert Spencer, believed that human
beings evolved through cultural rather than biological mutation. Spencer
used the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe this idea of cultural
evolution.
3.
William Graham Sumner believed that competition and coercion were the
4.
driving forces behind cultural evolution. "The fittest" were those who
survived under those conditions.
Social Darwinism reached its most extreme fonn at the end of the
nineteenth century. It viewed Western capitalism as the most advanced
type of social order. Those who were most successful at competing within
s.
that system were viewed as superior human beings.
Early twentieth-century sociologists rejected this view in favor of the idea
that the concept of cultural evolution was better applied to institutions than
to individuals.
B.
Sociobiology
1.
The tendency to explain social phenomena in tenns of biological factors is
called biological reductionism.
2.
Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard biologist, coined the tenn sociobiology to
describe the study of how genetic factors affect social behavior.
Sociobiologists believe that such behaviors as the incest taboo,
aggressiveness, homosexuality, and religious feelings are genetically
programmed.
3.
As yet there is no direct evidence that genes or sets of genes establish
complex fonns of nonnative behavior, but the sociobiological hypothesis
is still being investigated.
4.
Critics of sociobiology deny that humans are still evolving biologically
and argue that natural selection now influences cultural, rather than
genetic, evolution.
Chapter 3
III.
Language and Culture
A.
Myths, fables, sayings, poems, and other forms of speech or writing are examples
of how language preserves our collective memory. Language is the most universal
dimension of human cultures.
B.
Language permits people to interact with and understand one another. It is an
c.
important tool in overcoming cultural barriers.
Research with Other Primates
1.
D.
Speech is unique to the human species, although primatologists have
shown that apes also may use language. However, only humans pass
thoughts and ideas from one generation to the next by means of language.
Does Language Determine Thought?
1.
2.
In the 1930s Sapir and Whorf developed the linguistic-relativity
hypothesis, which asserted that a person's thoughts and actions are
controlled by the nature of his or her language.
The linguistic-relativity hypothesis has been modified to reflect the fact
that culture and language influence rather than limit each other.
IV.
Crossing Cultural Lines
A.
B.
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity
1.
A cross-cultural perspective encourages objectivity and allows people to
avoid ethnocentrism, the tendency to assume that one's own culture is
superior to all others.
2.
The recognition that all cultures develop their own ways of dealing with
the demands of their environment is termed cultural relativity.
3.
There are limits to cultural relativity, as can be seen in the example of
patriarchy, a set of values that support male dominance and the
subordination of women.
Cultural Hegemony
1.
When one culture's values, norms, and products become dominant and
diminish the strength of another existing culture, the stronger culture is
said to exert hegemony over the weaker one.
2.
Critics fear that regional differences are decreasing and being replaced by
a homogeneous culture that lacks diversity.
3.
In many regions of the world there are societies with extremely strong and
distinct cultures that are able to produce their own adaptations of
American commercial culture.
Culture
v.
A.
Civilizations and Cultural Change
A civilization is an advanced and extensive culture that encompasses many
societies, all of which share specific forms of science, technology, religion, art,
and so on.
B.
Effects of Cultural Contact
1.
2.
Acculturation occurs when people from one culture incorporate norms and
values from other cultures into their own.
'When acculturation results in a situation in which members of a less
dominant culture are able to assume equal statuses with members of the
larger culture, we say that assimilation has taken place.
3.
When a culturally distinct people does not become fully assimilated into a
larger culture, we say that they form a subculture within it.
4.
When a subculture that challenges the accepted norms and values of the
larger society establishes an alternative lifestyle, it is called a
counterculture.
5.
A small society may resist total assimilation and preserve the major
features of its culture. When such resistance is successful, even after
prolonged contact with a larger society, we say that accommodation has
occurred.
Culture
v.
A.
Civilizations and Cultural Change
A civilization is an advanced and extensive culture that encompasses many
societies, all of which share specific forms of science, technology, religion, art,
and so on.
B.
Effects of Cultural Contact
1.
2.
Acculturation occurs when people trom one culture incorporate norms and
values trom other cultures into their own.
When acculturation results in a situation in which members of a less
dominant culture are able to assume equal statuses with members of the
3.
larger culture, we say that assimilation has taken place.
When a culturally distinct people does not become fully assimilated into a
4.
larger culture, we say that they form a subculture within it.
When a subculture that challenges the accepted norms and values of the
larger society establishes an alternative lifestyle, it is called a
counterculture.
5.
A small society may resist total assimilation and preserve the major
features of its culture. When such resistance is successful, even after
prolonged contact with a larger society, we say that accommodation has
occurred.