* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download CHAPTER 3 Culture
Anti-intellectualism wikipedia , lookup
Body culture studies wikipedia , lookup
Anthropology of development wikipedia , lookup
Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship wikipedia , lookup
Organizational culture wikipedia , lookup
Social Darwinism wikipedia , lookup
Behavioral modernity wikipedia , lookup
Postdevelopment theory wikipedia , lookup
Acculturation wikipedia , lookup
Print culture wikipedia , lookup
Sociocultural evolution wikipedia , lookup
Cultural diplomacy wikipedia , lookup
Social norm wikipedia , lookup
Origins of society wikipedia , lookup
Dual inheritance theory wikipedia , lookup
Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory wikipedia , lookup
Cultural ecology wikipedia , lookup
Unilineal evolution wikipedia , lookup
American anthropology wikipedia , lookup
Cultural anthropology wikipedia , lookup
Cross-cultural differences in decision-making wikipedia , lookup
Sociobiology wikipedia , lookup
Cultural appropriation wikipedia , lookup
Cultural psychology wikipedia , lookup
Intercultural competence wikipedia , lookup
Popular culture studies wikipedia , lookup
CHAPTER 3 Culture Lecture Outline I. The Meaning of Culture A. A society's culture consists of all the modes of thought, behavior, and production that are handed down from one generation to the next by means of communicative interaction rather than by genetic transmission. 1. Dimensions of Culture 2. a. Ideas are ways of thinking that organize human consciousness. b. c. Norms are accepted ways of carrying out ideas. Material culture consists of the patterns of possessing and using the products of culture. Among the most important types of ideas are scientific ideas, values, and folklore. Values are socially shared ideas about what is right and wrong. 3. They are the ideas that support or justify norms. Laws are nornlS that are included in a society's official written codes of behavior. 4. Ideologies are sets or systems of ideas and norms; they combine the values and nornlS that all the members of a society are expected to believe in and act upon without question. 5. B. Technologies are the things (material culture) and the norms for using them that arc found in a given culture. The Nonnative Order 1. Social c011lrolis the set of rules and understandings that control the behavior of individuals and groups in a culture. The wide array of nonllS that permits a socicty to achicve relatively peaceful social control is called its normative order. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. When nonns are followed or violated, people may be rewarded or punished. These rewards and punishments are called sanctions. Mores are strongly sanctioned nornlS. Folkv.'a)'sare less strongly sanctioned norms such as table marmers. Laws, regulations, or rules areformalllorms. Infurmalllorms grow out of everyday behavior. Culture II. Culture, Evolution, and Human Behavior A. The Social Darwinists 1. Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection had a profound effect on 2. sociological thought. The social Darwinists, notably Herbert Spencer, believed that human beings evolved through cultural rather than biological mutation. Spencer used the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe this idea of cultural evolution. 3. William Graham Sumner believed that competition and coercion were the 4. driving forces behind cultural evolution. "The fittest" were those who survived under those conditions. Social Darwinism reached its most extreme form at the end of the nineteenth century. It viewed Western capitalism as the most advanced 5. type of social order. Those who were most successful at competing within that system were viewed as superior human beings. Early twentieth-century sociologists rejected this view in favor of the idea that the concept of cultural evolution was better applied to institutions than to individuals. B. Sociobiology 1. The tendency to explain social phenomena in terms of biological factors is called hiological reductiol1ism. 2. Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard biologist, coined the term sociobiology to describe the study of how genetic factors affect social behavior. Sociobiologists believe that such behaviors as the incest taboo, aggressiveness, homosexuality, and religious feelings are genetically programmed. 3. 4. As yet there is no direct evidence that genes or sets of genes establish complex forms of nonnative behavior, but the sociobiological hypothesis is stiIIbeing investigated. Critics of sociobiology deny that humans are still evolving biologically and argue that natural selection now influences cultural, rather than genetic, evolution. Culture II. Culture, Evolution, and Human Behavior A. The Social Darwinists 1. Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection had a profound effect on 2. sociological thought. The social Darwinists, notably Herbert Spencer, believed that human beings evolved through cultural rather than biological mutation. Spencer used the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe this idea of cultural evolution. 3. William Graham Sumner believed that competition and coercion were the 4. driving forces behind cultural evolution. "The fittest" were those who survived under those conditions. Social Darwinism reached its most extreme fonn at the end of the nineteenth century. It viewed Western capitalism as the most advanced type of social order. Those who were most successful at competing within s. that system were viewed as superior human beings. Early twentieth-century sociologists rejected this view in favor of the idea that the concept of cultural evolution was better applied to institutions than to individuals. B. Sociobiology 1. The tendency to explain social phenomena in tenns of biological factors is called biological reductionism. 2. Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard biologist, coined the tenn sociobiology to describe the study of how genetic factors affect social behavior. Sociobiologists believe that such behaviors as the incest taboo, aggressiveness, homosexuality, and religious feelings are genetically programmed. 3. As yet there is no direct evidence that genes or sets of genes establish complex fonns of nonnative behavior, but the sociobiological hypothesis is still being investigated. 4. Critics of sociobiology deny that humans are still evolving biologically and argue that natural selection now influences cultural, rather than genetic, evolution. Chapter 3 III. Language and Culture A. Myths, fables, sayings, poems, and other forms of speech or writing are examples of how language preserves our collective memory. Language is the most universal dimension of human cultures. B. Language permits people to interact with and understand one another. It is an c. important tool in overcoming cultural barriers. Research with Other Primates 1. D. Speech is unique to the human species, although primatologists have shown that apes also may use language. However, only humans pass thoughts and ideas from one generation to the next by means of language. Does Language Determine Thought? 1. 2. In the 1930s Sapir and Whorf developed the linguistic-relativity hypothesis, which asserted that a person's thoughts and actions are controlled by the nature of his or her language. The linguistic-relativity hypothesis has been modified to reflect the fact that culture and language influence rather than limit each other. IV. Crossing Cultural Lines A. B. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity 1. A cross-cultural perspective encourages objectivity and allows people to avoid ethnocentrism, the tendency to assume that one's own culture is superior to all others. 2. The recognition that all cultures develop their own ways of dealing with the demands of their environment is termed cultural relativity. 3. There are limits to cultural relativity, as can be seen in the example of patriarchy, a set of values that support male dominance and the subordination of women. Cultural Hegemony 1. When one culture's values, norms, and products become dominant and diminish the strength of another existing culture, the stronger culture is said to exert hegemony over the weaker one. 2. Critics fear that regional differences are decreasing and being replaced by a homogeneous culture that lacks diversity. 3. In many regions of the world there are societies with extremely strong and distinct cultures that are able to produce their own adaptations of American commercial culture. Culture v. A. Civilizations and Cultural Change A civilization is an advanced and extensive culture that encompasses many societies, all of which share specific forms of science, technology, religion, art, and so on. B. Effects of Cultural Contact 1. 2. Acculturation occurs when people from one culture incorporate norms and values from other cultures into their own. 'When acculturation results in a situation in which members of a less dominant culture are able to assume equal statuses with members of the larger culture, we say that assimilation has taken place. 3. When a culturally distinct people does not become fully assimilated into a larger culture, we say that they form a subculture within it. 4. When a subculture that challenges the accepted norms and values of the larger society establishes an alternative lifestyle, it is called a counterculture. 5. A small society may resist total assimilation and preserve the major features of its culture. When such resistance is successful, even after prolonged contact with a larger society, we say that accommodation has occurred. Culture v. A. Civilizations and Cultural Change A civilization is an advanced and extensive culture that encompasses many societies, all of which share specific forms of science, technology, religion, art, and so on. B. Effects of Cultural Contact 1. 2. Acculturation occurs when people trom one culture incorporate norms and values trom other cultures into their own. When acculturation results in a situation in which members of a less dominant culture are able to assume equal statuses with members of the 3. larger culture, we say that assimilation has taken place. When a culturally distinct people does not become fully assimilated into a 4. larger culture, we say that they form a subculture within it. When a subculture that challenges the accepted norms and values of the larger society establishes an alternative lifestyle, it is called a counterculture. 5. A small society may resist total assimilation and preserve the major features of its culture. When such resistance is successful, even after prolonged contact with a larger society, we say that accommodation has occurred.