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CHAPTER 3
Culture
Chapter Outline
Dimensions of Culture
 Language and Culture
 Cultural Diversity and Similarity
 Culture, Society, and Heredity

Culture and Society

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Culture consists of material objects,
patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving
passed from generation to generation.
A people’s way of life that is passed on from
generation to generation.
Culture and Society

A society is a group of people living within
defined territorial borders who share a
culture.

Culture provides the blueprints for guiding
people in their relationships within a society.
Questions for Consideration

What are the dimensions of culture
discussed in this video? Are they similar or
different from what Shepard identifies?

How has change impacted our culture?

How is material culture different than
nonmaterial culture?
Three Dimensions of Culture
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Normative – consists of the standards for
appropriate behavior for a group; composed of
norms, sanctions, and values.
Cognitive – refers to the complex of ideas and
knowledge; includes language, beliefs
Material - consists of the concrete, tangible
aspects of a culture.
Norms

Rules defining appropriate and inappropriate ways
of behaving.

Rules that guide behavior, specify ways of
behaving.

Change throughout time and from culture to
culture.

Help explain why people in a society or group
behave similarly in similar circumstances.
Types of Norms
Folkways – rules that cover customary ways of thinking,
feeling, and behaving.
 Norms that have little or no moral significance.
 If norms are not followed, the sanctions are very
minor (e.g., use of a cell phone in a restaurant).
Types of Norms
Mores (MOR-ays) –
norms/rules with great
moral significance.
 Seen as vital to the
well-being of society.
 Violation will evoke
strong disapproval.
Premarital Sexual Experience
Among Teen Women in the U.S.
Questions for Consideration

The previous slide shows the change in the
reported premarital experience among
teenage women in the U.S. What questions
might you pose as you apply information
from the previous chapter to this table?

From a cultural context, what might explain
the rise and fall of this trend?
Types of Norms – Cont.
 Taboos
are a type of more that is extremely serious:
incest taboo, cannibalism, etc. These are actions
where the mere thought of them disgusts people in
that society.
Laws – norms that are formally defined and enforced
by officials.
 They are consciously created and enforced.
 Mores are an important source of laws.
Enforcement of Norms

Sanctions—rewards and punishments used to
encourage conformity to norms (informal and
formal).
 Formal sanctions – given only by officially
designated persons (e.g., an “A” for academic
performance; time in jail/prison for committing
fraud)
 Informal sanctions – can be applied by most
members of society (e.g., thanking someone
for helping you change a tire)
What are Values?

Values – broad cultural principles that most people in
a society consider desirable.

They do not specify precisely what to think, feel, or
behave. Rather, they are ideas about what a group of
people believe is good/bad, acceptable/unacceptable

They are important because they have a tremendous
influence on social behavior.

Norms are based on a culture’s values.
American Values
Achievement and success
 Activity and work
 Efficiency and practicality
 Equality
 Democracy
 Group Superiority

Cognitive Dimension


The cognitive dimension of culture refers to
a culture’s construction of ideas and
knowledge.
Beliefs – ideas concerning the nature of
reality.


Nonmaterial culture – includes normative and
cognitive parts of culture (norms, values, beliefs).
Material culture – concrete tangible objects within
a culture.
 Artifacts that have no meaning or use apart from
the meanings people give them.
 Physical objects do not have the same
meanings and uses in all societies.
Ideal and Real Culture

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Ideal culture – cultural guidelines publicly
embraced by members of a society (those
we claim to accept).
Real culture – actual behavior patterns
exhibited by members of a society.
Culture as a Tool Kit

Culture should be viewed as a “tool kit” of
symbols, stories, rituals, and worldviews,
which people may use in varying
configurations to solve different kinds of
problems.
Language and Culture

The creation and transmission of culture depends
heavily on the capacity to develop symbols.

Symbols - things that stand for, or represent,
something else. Can also include gestures (e.g., a
hand wave).

Language – a system of interrelated symbols through
which a group of people are able to communicate and
pass down information.
Hypothesis of Linguistic Relativity

Our perception of reality is at the mercy of the
words and grammatical rules of our language.

Language shapes our reality.

Studies demonstrate that language significantly
shapes thought.
Questions for Consideration

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How does learning a new language shape
one’s view of the world?
What is meant by the statement that “people
are forever prisoners of their language”?
What are some ways that you can apply the
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
Cultural Diversity

Because humans are basically the same
biologically, cultural diversity must be explained by
nongenetic factors.

Cultural diversity within societies is promoted by
social categories, subcultures, and
countercultures.

Social category – a group of persons who share
a social characteristic.
Subcultures
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Subcultures – a group that is part of the dominant
culture but differs from it in some important
respects.
By tradition, Americans like to see themselves as
part of a large, single culture. Yet there are many
subgroups with cultural uniqueness.
Multiculturalism – an emphasis on cultural
uniqueness.
Percentage of Immigrant Population
Countercultures

Counterculture - a subculture that is deliberately
and consciously opposed to aspects of the
dominant culture.

Openly defies norms, values, and/or beliefs of the
dominant culture.

Rebelling against the dominant culture is central to
their members.
Examples: militia movement, skinheads, hippies


Terrorism – the illegal use of violence of
threats of violence to intimidate a
government, group, or an individual in
pursuit of a political, religious, economic, or
social goal.
Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism - The tendency to judge other
individuals or cultures based on one’s own cultural
standards.
 Taken to an extreme end, can result in feelings
of superiority of one’s group over others.
 A belief that your group’s way is the best and
“normal” way to do things, see the world, etc.
 Ethnocentrism does have advantages.
Culture Shock

Culture shock - the psychological and social
stress we may experience when confronted with a
radically different cultural environment.
 This can be experienced when going to a
different country that one has never
experienced, but also when moving from one
familiar cultural group (grade school) to an
unfamiliar group (high school).
Questions for Consideration
How does culture shock affect individuals?
 What are some instances where you have
experienced culture shock?
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Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism - evaluating another person’s
or group’s behaviors, thoughts, etc. based on that
culture’s standards, not one’s own.
 This
perspective also states values, norms,
beliefs, and attitudes are not in themselves
correct or incorrect; they simply exist within the
total cultural framework of a people and should
be evaluated in relation to their place within the
larger cultural context of which they are a part.

Ethical relativism – mortality depends on
the norms of the group or society in which
they exist.
Cultural Similarity

Although there are many differences between
groups throughout the world, sociologists and
anthropologists have identified many behaviors
that are shared by all cultures.

All cultures have families, schools, houses of
worship, economies, governments, and systems of
prestige.
Questions for Consideration

Do you think that the data support the
existence of cultural diversity or cultural
similarity? Explain.

Are you surprised by any of these rankings?
Which ones and why?
Cultural Universals
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General cultural traits that exist in all known
societies.
Although found in all societies, their expression
varies among societies.
Reasons for cultural universals:
 Biological similarity of humans
 Common limitations of the physical environment
 Common problems of sustaining social life
Cultural Universals
Culture and Heredity

Instincts are genetically inherited, complex
patterns of behavior that always appear
among members of a particular species
under specific conditions.
 Humans have very few instincts, human
behavior is learned.
Sociobiology
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Sociobiology is the study of the biological
basis of human behavior.

Sociobiologists argue that physical
characteristics, human social behavior is
shaped through the evolutionary process.

The application of Darwinian natural
selection to human social behavior.
Questions for Consideration

How might functionalists and conflict
theorists have different views of
countercultures?
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Which view do you prefer and why?

What can be done to minimize our
tendencies of ethnocentrism?