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Culture
3
Module 10: Elements of
Culture
Sociology in Modules
Richard T. Schaefer
3rd edition
Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Elements of Culture
• Role of Language
– One of the major elements of culture
– Important component of cultural capital
– Facilitates day-to-day exchanges
– Includes both the written and spoken word
and nonverbal communication
Slide 2
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Language: Written and Spoken
• Language: abstract system of word
meanings and symbols for all aspects of
culture
• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
– Language precedes thought
– Language is not a given
– Language is culturally determined
– Language may color how we see the world
Slide 3
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Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal communication: use of
gestures, facial expressions, and
other visual images to communicate
– Learned
– Differs by culture
– Symbols: gestures, objects, and words
that form basis of human communication
Slide 4
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Norms and Values
• All societies have ways to encourage and
enforce appropriate behavior, and
discourage and punish inappropriate
behavior
– Collective idea of what is good and desirable,
and what is not
Slide 5
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Norms
• Norms: established standards of behavior
maintained by a society
– To be significant, must be widely shared and
understood
– Persistent social norm in contemporary
society: heterosexuality
Slide 6
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Norms
• Types of Norms
– Formal norms: generally written; specify
strict punishments
• Law: governmental social control
– Informal norms: generally understood but
not precisely recorded
– Mores: norms deemed highly necessary to
the welfare of a society
– Folkways: norms governing everyday
behavior
Slide 7
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Norms
• Norms and Sanctions
– Sanctions: penalties and rewards
for conduct concerning social norm
– Positive sanctions: pay raises, medals,
words of gratitude
– Negative sanctions: fines, threats,
imprisonment, and stares of contempt
Slide 8
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Table 10-1: Norms and Sanctions
Slide 9
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Norms
• Acceptance of Norms
– 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
• Sudden change can upset an entire population
Slide 10
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Values
• 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, but most remain
relatively stable during any one person’s
lifetime
Slide 11
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Figure 10-1: Life Goals of First-Year College Students in the
United States, 1966–2012
Slide 12
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Global Culture War
• Culture war: polarization of society
over controversial cultural elements
– In 1990s, referred to political debates
over abortion, religious expression,
gun control, and sexual orientation
– After U.S. established military presence
in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign
opinion of U.S. became quite negative
Slide 13
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Figure 10-2: Valuing Ethnicity by Country
Slide 14
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Sociological Perspectives
on Culture
• Functionalists maintain that social stability
requires a consensus and the support of
society’s members; strong central values
and common norms provide that support
• Conflict theorists argue that common
culture serves to maintain the privileges of
certain groups
Slide 15
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Sociological Perspectives
on Culture
• Dominant ideology: set of cultural
beliefs and practices that help
maintain powerful interests
– Social interests
– Economic interests
– Political interests
• Conflict perspective: dominant
ideology has major social significance
• Growing number of social scientists believe
it is not easy to identify a core culture in U.S.
Slide 16
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Table 10-2: Sociological Perspectives on Culture
Slide 17
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Sociology in the
Global Community
10-1: Symbolizing 9/11
– What does the 9/11 memorial symbolize
to you? Explain the meaning of the
cascading water, the reflecting pools,
and the empty footprints. What does the
placement of the victims’ names suggest?
– If you were designing a 9/11 memorial,
what symbol or symbols would you
incorporate? Use your sociological
imagination to predict how various groups
would respond to your design.
Slide 18
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Sociology on Campus
10-2: A Culture of Cheating?
– Do you know anyone who has engaged in
Internet plagiarism? What about cheating on
tests or falsifying laboratory results?
If so, how did the person justify these forms
of dishonesty?
– Even if cheaters aren’t caught, what negative
effects does their academic dishonesty have on
them? What effects does it have on students
who are honest? Could an entire college or
university suffer from students’ dishonesty?
Slide 19
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