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Chapter 3 Culture Terminology • Culture shock – Disorientation due to the inability to make sense out of one’s surroundings • Domestic and foreign travel • Nonmaterial culture – The intangible world of ideas created by members of a society © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Terminology • Material culture – Tangible things created by members of society • Cultural relativism – More accurate understanding © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Symbols • Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture • Societies create new symbols all the time. • Reality for humans is found in the meaning things carry with them – The basis of culture; makes social life possible © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Symbols • People must be mindful that meanings vary from culture to culture. • Meanings can even vary greatly within the same groups of people. – Fur coats, Confederate flags, etc. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Language • A system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another • Cultural transmission – One generation passes culture to the next • Sapir-Whorf thesis – People perceive the world through the cultural lens of language © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Values and Beliefs • Values – Broad guidelines for social living; values support beliefs; culturally defined standards • Of desirability, goodness, & beauty • Beliefs – Specific statements people hold to be true – Matters individuals consider to be true or false © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Sociologist Robin Williams’ Ten Values Central to American Life • • • • • Equal opportunity Achievement and success Material comfort Activity and work Practicality and efficiency © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Sociologist Robin Williams’ Ten Values Central to American Life • • • • • Progress Science Democracy and free enterprise Freedom Racism and group superiority © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Values Sometimes Conflict • Williams's list includes examples of value clusters • Sometimes one key cultural value contradicts another • Value conflict causes strain • Values change over time © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Values Sometimes Conflict • Cultures have their own values • Lower-income nations have cultures that value survival • Higher-income countries have cultures that value individualism & self-expression © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Norms • Types – Proscriptive • Should-nots, prohibited – Prescriptive • Shoulds, prescribed like medicine © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Norms • Mores and Folkways – Mores (pronounced "more-rays") • Widely observed and have great moral significance – Folkways • Norms for routine and casual interaction © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Social Control • Guilt – A negative judgment we make about ourselves • Shame – The painful sense that others disapprove of our actions © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Ideal Versus Real Culture • Ideal culture – The way things should be – Social patterns mandated by values & norms • Real culture – Way things actually occur in everyday life – Social patterns that only approximate cultural expectations © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Material Culture and Technology • Culture includes a wide range of physical human creations or artifacts. • A society's artifacts partly reflect underlying cultural values. • Material culture also reflects a society's technology or knowledge that people use – To make a way of life in their surroundings © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Cultural Diversity • High culture–Cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite • Popular culture–Cultural patterns that are widespread among society’s population © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Cultural Diversity • Subculture–Cultural patterns that set apart some segment of society’s population • Counterculture–Strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Multiculturalism • An educational program recognizing the cultural diversity of the United States – Promoting the equality of all cultural traditions • Eurocentrism–The dominance of European (esp. English) cultural patterns • Afrocentrism–The dominance of African cultural patterns © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Cultural Change • Causes of Cultural Change • Culture lag – Some cultural elements change more quickly than others; might disrupt a cultural system • Example: Medical procedures and ethics © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Culture Changes in Three Ways • Invention–Creating new cultural elements – Telephone or airplane • Discovery–Recognizing and better understanding something already existing – X-rays or DNA • Diffusion–Spread of cultural traits – Jazz music or much of the English language © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism • Ethnocentrism – The practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture • Cultural relativism – The practice of judging a culture by its own standards © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Is There a Global Culture? • The Basic Thesis – The flow of goods–Material product trading has never been as important. – The flow of information–Few places left where worldwide communication isn’t possible – Flow of people–Knowledge means people learn about places where life might be better © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Is There a Global Culture? • Limitations to the thesis – All the flows have been uneven – Assumes affordability of goods – People don’t attach the same meaning to material goods © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Theoretical Analysis of Culture • Structural-functional – Culture is a strategy for meeting human needs – Cultural universals–Traits part of every known culture; family, funeral rites, jokes • Evaluate – Ignores cultural diversity; downplays importance of change Inequality and Culture • Social-conflict – Cultural traits benefit some members at the expense of others – Rooted in Karl Marx & materialism © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Inequality and Culture – Society’s system of material production has a powerful effect on the rest of a culture • Critical evaluation – Understates the ways cultural patterns integrate members into society © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Evolution and Culture • Sociobiology – Theoretical paradigm; explores ways in which human biology affects how we create culture – Approach rooted in Charles Darwin and evolution © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Evolution and Culture – Living organisms change over long periods of time based on natural selection • Critical evaluation – Might be used to support racism or sexism – Little evidence to support theory; people learn behavior within a cultural system © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Culture and Human Freedom • Culture as constraint – We know our world in terms of our culture • Culture as freedom – Culture is changing and offers a variety of opportunities – Sociologists share the goal of learning more about cultural diversity © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.