Download Culture

Culture
…It is interesting…
Definition of Culture
• Culture is…
– A learned set of beliefs, values, norms, and
material goods shared by group members.
– Please add traditions to the definition.
– Different between societies:
• Differences in what they believe
• Tools they use
• Technology they use
Parts of Culture
• Norms– Expectations and rules for proper conduct that
guide the behavior of group members.
– Socially constructed and enforced.
– Easiest way to think about it? What is considered
normal.
– Enforced by rewards and sanctions to encourage
conformity.
Parts of Culture 2
– Norms include:
• Folkways (informal rules)
– Rules and expectations that guide daily life for group members
• Mores (most noticeable and important)
– What people consider essential for the general welfare of
society.
– Have great moral significance.
• Taboos (prohibited behaviors)
– Behaviors that are not considered acceptable or repugnant to a
group.
• Laws
– Formal rules enacted and enforced by the state where the
culture is developed.
Question
• What would we do to or think about a parent
who puts their six-week-old into a lake when
the temperature is 17 degrees F?
• What if I told you that in Russia, this is
common practice, based on something like a
national pastime.
What is Culture?
• Culture is the values, beliefs, behavior, and
material objects, that, together, form a
people’s way of life.
– Nonmaterial culture – is the intangible world of
ideas created by members of a society.
– Material culture – tangible things created by
society.
– What does tangible mean?
Components of Culture
• Symbols
• Language
• Values and beliefs
• Norms
• Material culture
Symbols
• Symbol – anything that carries a particular
meaning recognized by people who share
culture.
– A word, a whistle, a wall of graffiti, all serve as
symbols.
– How is the U.S. flag a symbol?
– Think of other symbols that might have dual
meanings
Symbols gone wrong
Language
• Language is a system of symbols that allows people
to communicate with one another.
• Does language shape our reality?
• Sapir-Whorf thesis states that people perceive the
world through the cultural lens of language.
– We emphasize certain words because of their importance
in our culture.
– How many words do we have for snow?
– One Eskimo language has twenty.
Values and Beliefs
• Values – culturally defined standards by which
people assess desirability, goodness, and
beauty and that serves as broad guidelines for
social living.
– Values are statements, from the standpoint of
culture, of what ought to be.
• Beliefs – specific statements that people hold
to be true. Based on social agreement, many
contradictions usually.
Robin Williams (1970)
• NOT Him 
• Let’s read through his
values of American
society that he
developed… 45 years
ago: not so great… but
applicable
• PS- This Robin Williams
to the right was NOT a
sociologist, but instead
was an actor and
comedian.
Key Values of U.S. Culture
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#1 Equal opportunity
#2 Achievement and success
#3 Material Comfort
#4 Activity and work
#5 Practicality and efficiency – doing over dreaming
#6 Progress
#7 Science
#8 Democracy and Free Enterprise
#9 Freedom
# 10 Racism and group superiority
Notice any contradictions?
Robin Williams, 1970
Culture, Nation, Society
• Culture: a shared way of life by a particular group
– Each Culture has norms which are standards of society of
desirability, goodness, and beauty.
– Norms are components of all cultures and guides behavior.
Norms can change over place and time. (KNOW THAT)
• Nation: a political entity; a territory with designated
borders (also called a state or nation-there are
currently 196.)
• Society: The organized interaction of people in a
nation or within some other boundary.
• The United States is both a nation & society, with
many cultures.
Norms and Range of Tolerance
• Prescriptive Norms
– Tell us what we
should do.
• Using Manners
• Saying Excuse Me
when bumping into
people
• Taxes
– Think… Prescriptions
from the DR.
• Seen as “good” things
• Proscriptive Norms
– Tell us what we should
not do, more informal
rules
• Feet on dinner table
• Wearing shoes when
we go outside and not
taking off shoes when
entering the house
– Think… Opposite of a
pro, more like a con
when people look at
your behavior
Let’s Try This… Social Norms
Regarding Personal Behavior
Prescriptive/Proscriptive and Folkway, Taboo, Law, or More?
1. When guests come to
your house, you should
offer drinks or food.
2. Pay for groceries after
you shop.
3. Mow your lawn.
4. Apply sun screen at the
beach.
5. Brush your teeth.
6. Do not shower or bathe.
1.
Prescriptive: Folkway
2.
Prescriptive: Law
3.
4.
Prescriptive: Law and Folkway
Prescriptive: Folkway
5.
6.
Prescriptive: Folkway
Proscriptive: Taboo
Culture Shock
• Most of us feel uneasy when we enter a
different culture.
• Questions we usually ask ourselves in a new
situation:
– How do we act? Are going to do anything that can
be seen as rude? Etc.
• This uneasiness is known as culture shock –
personal disorientation when experiencing an
unfamiliar way of life.
Ethnocentrism
• The belief that one’s own culture is superior to
all others and therefore the most “civilized” way
to live.
• Leads us to judge people before getting to know
them and their way of life/culture.
• Ethnocentric individuals believe that
they are better than other
individuals for reasons based solely
on their heritage. Clearly, this
practice is related to problems of
both racism and prejudice.
• It is a matter of perspective 
Ethnocentric Examples
• European Imperialism
– Taking over other’s lands
• Nazi Germany
• Saying that someone’s
practices are wrong
and yours are right.
– Americans drive on the
correct side of the road and
our steering wheels are
located in the right position.
• American Wedding (it is a movie)
– Jim’s grandmother believes
he should only marry a
Jewish girl
• Leave a tip for the waiter or waitress. Prescriptive: More, Folkway
• Chew with your mouth closed. Prescriptive: Folkway (Pro do not chew)
• Chew food without making sounds. Prescriptive: Folkway (Pro do not
chew)
• Men usually pay for dinner, unless invited by the woman. Prescriptive:
Folkway Is that even true?
• Do not talk with food in your mouth. Proscriptive: Folkway
• Do not wear casual clothes in a fine dining restaurant. Proscriptive:
Folkway
• Do not eat soup with a fork. Proscriptive: Folkway
• Do not belch. Proscriptive: Taboo
• Do not eat sloppily or fast. Proscriptive: Folkway
• Do not eat with your hands, except for certain foods. Proscriptive: Taboo
• Do not eat off another person’s plate or use another person's utensils.
Proscriptive: Folkway or Taboo
• Do not walk through a drive through. Proscriptive: Folkway, Law
• Do not order something that is not on the menu. Proscriptive: Folkway
• Do not ask for substitutions if "no substitutions" is listed. Proscriptive:
Folkway
SANCTIONS
Used to Enforce:
Folkways
Mores
Laws
Which are types of:
NORMS
Which are based on:
VALUES
 Culture
Sociologists consider sanctions as external mechanisms of social control. (Internal control, like
cultural norms and values) Sanctions can either be positive (rewards) or negative (punishment),
and can arise from either formal or informal control.
Cultural Relativism
• Learning to look at
things from a point of
view different from your
own, and not making
value judgments based
on your beliefs and
norms.
Culture and Heredity
• Nature v. Nurture argument/debate. Which
one do you think has more influence on our
development?
• Instincts, reflexes, and drives, all affect us, but
nothing is as important as culture when
looking at how a society develops.
Like father, like son?
Folkway, More or Law?
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Incest
Appropriate dress
Bigamy
Correct manners
Speeding
Cheating on Income Tax
Murder
Cannibalism
Proper eating behavior
Ideal and Real Culture
• Ideal culture – cultural guidelines that group
members claim to accept.
• Real culture – actual behavior patterns, which
often conflict with ideal culture.
• Example – Most men and women would agree
that you should not cheat on your husband or
wife.
– Almost 25% of men and 10% of women cheat on
their spouses. 17% of divorces are due to
infidelity.
Cultural Diversity
• Popular culture – cultural patterns that are
widespread among a society’s population.
• Subculture – cultural patterns that are selfdefined within society that hold different
values and norms than the majority.
– People who like rap music
– Italian Americans
– NASCAR fans
– Star Wars Fans
– Polygamists
Cultural Diversity (cont.)
• Counterculture – cultural patterns that
strongly oppose those widely accepted within
a society.
• This is usually associated with a culture’s
youth.