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Culture
Chapter 3
Mr. Schoffstall
What is Culture ?
• The beliefs, values, behavior, and material
objects that constitute a people’s way of
life. Culture is everything around us and it
is most likely the biggest influence on us
as humans.
The Components of Culture
A. Symbols
• a symbol is anything that carries a particular
meaning recognized by people who share
culture
• serves as a basis for everyday reality
• Symbols can vary within cultures
American Symbols
Photographs
B. Language
• a system of symbols that allows members of a
society to communicate with each other
• ex. Helen Keller … she acquired language and
symbolic understanding of the world with the
help of her teacher
• cultural transmission is the process by which
one generation passes culture on to the next,
oral cultural tradition has been critical to the
passing of cultural expectations
American Language
• Common popular American Phrases/words:
– Sick, killer, whacked, sweet, like, beast, butter
– “Kiss the baby!”
– “About time!”
– “That’s key!”
– “The funniest thing ever!”
– Text messages/language/social norms
– (GO TO WEBSITE)
Language Symbols
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Language is our key to communication
However what’s lost in translation?
Some ideas cannot be translated
Consider tone, pitch, context, email
Why is language so important?
How is our language changing?
• communication is based on signals that are
primarily instructional
• language shapes reality –
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf
argued language is more than attaching
labels to the “real world.” The SapirWhorf thesis holds that people perceive
the world through the cultural lens of
language
Values
• Culturally defined standards
by which people assess
desirability, goodness, and
beauty and that serve as
broad guidelines for social
living.
• Money could be considered a
major value for the majority of
Americans
Ethnocentrism
• The practice of judging
another culture by
standards of one’s own
culture
• This could be seen by
someone from New York
judging life of people in
Africa
• Inconsistency and conflict –
values that people hold vary to some
degree by age, sex, race, ethnicity, social
class and religion. Individuals will
experience inconsistency and conflict with
personal values
• Games people play such as tag, or king of the
mountain provide experiences for children
that stress basic U.S. values. Lessons are
learned about what our culture finds
important, like competition
D. Norms
• rules and expectations by which a society guides
the behavior of its members
• they may change over time. Ex. Norms regarding
sexual behavior
• Mores are a society’s standards of proper moral
conduct. Folkways are a society’s customs for
routine, casual interaction.
• Social control – norms are reinforced through
sanctions, which take form of either rewards or
punishments. We often experience guilt and
shame
Normative Components of Culture
• Includes rules for behavior
• NORMS: rules, standards that depicts what human
beings should or should not THINK - SAY - ACT under
given situations
• Formal Norms: written down or codified and carry
specific punishments for violators
• Informal Norms: NOT written, but widely accepted
Normative Components Cont…
• NORMS: “ LIVING, CHANGING THINGS”
• SANCTIONS:
– Negative Sanctions: Consist of punishment OR the threat of
punishment to enforce conformity. Examples: towing a vehicle,
frowns, public ridicule, “grounding”, removal of a privilege. (CAN BE
INFORMAL or FORMAL)
– Informal Sanctions: Spontaneous expressions of approval or
disapproval given by an individual or a group.
Normative Components Cont…
• LAWS: formal codes for behavior
• INSTITUTIONS: regulate codes for behavior - socially
reinforced by each individual institution.
• SANCTIONS:
– Positive Sanctions: Used to reward the individual for
desirable behavior ex: a cheer, smile of approval, head
nod, thumbs up, handshake, etc.
– Formal Sanctions: Consists of rewards or punishment
given by some FORMAL organization or regulatory body
ex: government, police, school or organization
Breakdown of Normative Components
• Folkways: Norms that SPECIFY expected
behavior in everyday situations (weakly held
norms)
• Mores: Latin word - plural of “mos” meaning
CUSTOM (strongly held norms - strict
enforcement)
• Taboos: Acts considered extremely repellent
to the social group.
Nonmaterial Culture
• The intangible world of ideas created by
members of society
• Freedom is an example of nonmaterial
culture that we highly value in the U.S.A.
E. “Ideal” and “Real” Culture
• values and norms reflect how we believe
members of a culture should behave
• ideal culture - social patterns mandated by
cultural values and norms
• real culture – actual social patterns that only
approximate cultural expectations
Culture & Society
Sanctions- Considerations,
influences, or principles
that dictate ethical choices.
Ex: If you cheat you will fail a class;
the chance of failing is a
sanction. It shapes your ethical
choice on if cheating is ok or
not.
Mores- The accepted traditional customs and
usages of a particular social group.
Ex: Manners
F. Material Culture and Technology
• artifacts are material objects that society
creates that express the values of culture
• material culture also reflects a cultures
technology, which is knowledge that a society
applies to the task of living in a physical
environment
Material Culture
• The tangible things
created by members of a
society
• An example could be an
iPod because they are
becoming a very
important material in
today’s culture.
G. New Information Technology and
Culture
• The U.S. along with other societies, have
entered a postindustrial phase of economic
development .
• information the economy created changes
the skills that dominate our way of life
Cultural Diversity
A. High culture and Popular culture
•
High culture refers to cultural patterns that
distinguish a society’s elite
• Popular culture designates cultural patterns
widespread among a society’s people
B. Subculture
• cultural patterns that set apart some segment
of a society’s population
• based on age, ethnicity, residence, sexual
preference, occupation, and many other
factors
• U.S. is considered the melting pot, but great
diversity still exists and possibly increasing
C. Multiculturalism
• an educational program recognizing the
cultural diversity of the United States and
promoting equality of all cultural traditions.
• ‘singular pattern’ of our culture is
Eurocentrism, which is English culture
patterns
• alternative would be Afrocentrism, which is
African culture patterns
D. Counterculture
• cultural patterns that strongly oppose
conventional culture
• members are likely to question the morality
of the majority group and engage in protest
activities
E. Cultural Change
1. Cultural Lag
-cultural elements change at different rates,
which may disrupt a cultural system
2. Causes of Cultural Change
- invention, discovery, and diffusion
F. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity
• the practice of judging another culture by the
standards of one’s own culture
• cultural relativity refers to the practice of
evaluating any culture by it’s own standards
When certain cultures change faster than others causing
a disruption to the cultural system.
Ex: New music and clothes
Human creation to help society’s way of life.
Ex: Cell Phones.
G. A Global Culture ?
• Global connections involve the flow of goods,
information, and people
• BUT … they are all uneven, it can’t be
assumed that people everywhere want and
afford various goods and services
Popular Culture
• Cultural patterns that are widespread
among a society’s population.
• Elvis could be an example of popular
culture because back in the 50’s he
brought about new cultural patterns in
music, dancing, and clothes
Theoretical Analysis of Culture
A. Structural-Functional Analysis
•
idealism holds the ideas are the basis of
human reality
• Cultural universals are traits found in every
culture of the world – they should be
understood in terms of how they function to
maintain overall cultural system
Critical evaluation: underestimates the extent to
which societies change
B. Social-Conflict Analysis
• social conflict is generated by inequality among
different categories of people in a culture
• Karl Marx using materialism argued that the way
we deal with the material world powerfully
effects other dimensions of our culture
Critical evaluation: minimizes a sense about the
integrative properties found within these same
systems
C. Sociobiology
• explores ways in which human biology affects
how we create culture
• Sociologists argue that the theory of natural
selection applies to human evolution as it does to
all other species
• 4 stages include reproduction within the natural
environment, random variability in genes,
different survival odds, and changes in
frequencies of particular genes within a species
Critical evaluation: there is lack of scientific proof of
their assertions
Culture and Human Freedom
A. Culture As Constraint
•
capacity for creating change, and reshaping
our existence appears limitless
•
culture is a liberating force to the extent we
develop an understanding of its complexity
and the opportunities available
B. Culture as Freedom
• burden of our culture is freedom
• culture has become our means of survival
• diversity is significant, and ever-changing
• cultural conflict – political opposition, often
accompanied by social hostility, rooted in
different cultural values
An educational program recognizing the cultural
diversity of the US and promoting the equality of
all cultural traditions
Humans way of expressing what they feel is fair
to them.
Ex: Protesting
Culture patterns that separate parts of
society’s population.
Ex: Different beliefs - Hippies
Cultural patterns that disagree with the accepted
society.
Ex: smoking
Humans realizing or finding new
information about the world and
society.
Ex: Finding Gold
Traits that are seen in every culture
Ex: Music
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
•
FOLKWAYS-Norms of the everyday
life, like HI, BYE, and THANK YOU.
•
MULTICULTURALISM-A program
recognizing the diversity of culture
in the United States promoting
equality of all cultural traditions.
• Personal disorientation when experiencing
another way of life, such as when a person
moves from a rural community to a large
metropolitan area.
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
NONMATERIAL CULTURE- Culture that
involve rules, regulations,
behaviors, feelings and manners.
POPULAR CULTURE- Cultural patterns
that are widespread among a
society’s population.
Nonverbal Communications
• Communication using body movements,
gestures, and facial expressions rather than
speech. A good example is a mime, who only
uses body language to express himself.
Subculture
Subculture is a part of a culture that (i.e. a different ethnic
background) that functions as a part of a greater culture, while still
keeping their own.
Laughter
• The manifestation of joy or mirth of scorn,
such as a persons reaction to something
funny.
Multiculturalism
An educational program recognizing the cultural diversity of the
United States and promoting the equality of all cultural traditions.
Human Rights
Human rights are rights that are natural, everyone should
have the opportunities and equalities that everyone else
has.
Gender Differences
Separation of roles and manners of two genders in a social
system
Language
Set of symbols that serve as a medium for communication.
Counterculture
Counterculture is a
part or a group of
society that does not
follow the norm or
structure of society.