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Sociology 12 Unit 2
Culture
1. Culture?
• Culture :
• the knowledge language, values, customs, and
material objects that are passed from person
to person and from one generation to the
next in a human group or society.
• (a way of life)
• Society: is a large social grouping that
occupies the same geographic territory and is
subject to the same political authority and
dominant cultural expectations.
2. Culture and society?
• While a society is made up of people,
culture is made up of ideas, behaviors,
and material possessions.
• Society and culture are interdependent
• One cannot exist without the other
3. Universals of culture:
• Universals of culture:
• Customs and practices that occur across all
societies
• 1. appearance: hairstyles, tattoos, piercings,
scarification
• 2. activities: dance, sport, games, jokes,
visiting
• 3. social institutions: religion, family,
government (law)
• 4. customary practices: cooking, folklore, gift
giving, hospitality
4. Material vs Non-Material
Culture?
• Material Culture:
• Consists of the physical or tangible creations
that members of a society make, use and
share
• Ex. Book, pen, schoolbag
• Non-material Culture:
• Consists of the abstract or intangible
creations of society that influence peoples
behaviour
• Ex. Language, beliefs, values
Components of Culture
• All cultures have four non-material
components:
• Symbols
• Language
• Values
• Norms
• These components contribute to both
harmony and conflict in society
Symbols
• Symbol: anything that meaningfully
represents something else (concrete or
abstract)
• Essential to culture- shared meanings
• Can be pictures, sounds, gestures,
colours
• Flags, gestures, siren, clothing etc.(p7273)
Canadian Symbols
Language
• Language: a set of symbols that express
ideas and enable people to think and
communicate with each other
• Important human attribute: allows us to
share our experiences, feelings and
knowledge
• Animals also have language (sounds,
gestures, touch, smell)
Values
• Values: collective ideas about what is
right or wrong, good or bad, and
desirable or undesirable in a particular
culture.
• Some argue there is a trend to more
diverse Canadian values
• Canadian values? - Functionalists believe
that there is a core set of values in a
stable society.
Canadians Values
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
(p78)
Equality and fairness
Consultation and dialogue
Accommodation and tolerance
Support for diversity
Compassion and generosity
Canada’s natural beauty
Canada’s world image ( freedom,
nonviolence, peace)
Norms
• Norms: established rules of behavior or
standards of conduct.
• Prescriptive norms state what behavior
is appropriate or acceptable.
• Ex. Filing tax returns, holding door
• Proscriptive norms state what behavior
is inappropriate or unacceptable.
• Ex. Good manners, speeding laws
Norms continued…
• Formal norms– most important -written
down and include punishment (ex: laws)
• enforced by sanctions
• Sanctions: the rewards or punishments
given for either appropriate or
inappropriate behavior
• Informal norms– unwritten standards of
behavior with informal sanctions (ex.
Frowning at an inappropriate comment)
Folkways
• Folkways - informal norms or everyday
customs that may be violated without
serious consequences within a particular
culture.
• Provide rules for conduct but aren’t
essential
• Ex. Wearing deodorant, brushing your
teeth
• Not often enforced or mildly enforced
Mores
• Mores: strongly held norms with ethical
connotations that may not be violated without
serious consequences in a particular culture.
• Considered crucial to the culture therefore
severe negative sanctions
• Taboos: mores so strong that their violation
is considered extremely offensive or even
unmentionable
• Ex. incest
Laws
• Laws - formal, standardized norms that
have been enacted by legislature and
are enforced by formal sanctions.
• Civil law: deals with disputes between
people and groups
• Criminal law: deals with public safety
and well being
• Changes to law often reflect changes in
culture
Language and Culture: Social reality
• Does language create reality or does it simply
communicate reality?
• Ex. Language in abortion debate: pro-life, prochoice
• Sapir-Worf hypothesis: language preceeds
thought and shapes the reality of its
speakers- overstated?
• Language may influence our behaviour and
interpretation of social reality but does not
determine it
Language and Culture: Gender
• Cultural assumptions about women and
men reflected in language: use of
masculine form, m/f pronouns,
postive/negative connotations gender
based, sexualization of women
• Use of Ms versus Miss or Mrs
• Change to non-sexist language:
• Ex: chairperson, flight attendant
Language and Culture:
Race and Ethnicity
• May create and reinforce our perceptions about race
and ethnicity by transmitting preconceived ideas
about the superiority of one category of people over
another
• Double meanings reinforcing negative images ex.
blackhearted
• Overtly derogatory terms
• Words frequently used to create or reinforce
perceptions about a group ex: savages for aboriginals
• Voice of verbs can minimize the achievements of
minority groups
Language and Culture: language diversity
•
•
•
•
•
Linguistically diverse society
Aboriginal Languages
French and English speaking populations
Officially bilingual country
Keystone to culture: chief vehicle for
understanding and experiencing one’s
culture
• Efforts to preserve and protect native
languages
Cultural Comparison Chart
• Hutterites:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Distinguishing Values/Beliefs:
Strong faith in God
Reject worldly concerns
Joy of work, primacy of home
Faithfulness, thrift, tradition, humility
Conservative family views-women subservient
Cherish children
•
•
•
•
•
Distinguishing Behaviours:
Closed social network
Farming community
Community focus not the individual
Communal sharing of meals and property
• Distinguishing Characteristics:
• Distinctive mode of dress: conservative, modest
• Follow centuries old traditions but use 20thc
technology
•
•
•
•
Canadian Society’s Response to Them:
Trade with them
See them as different
Accepting and tolerant towards them
• Skin Heads:
•
•
•
•
•
Distinguishing Beliefs/values:
Racial superiority
Patriotism
Traditional roles for males/females
Justification of physical violence
• Distinguishing Behaviours:
• Highly organized and politically
motivated
• Attend rallies and meetings
• Distribute racist propaganda
• Participate with groups like KKK and
White Arian Resistance
•
•
•
•
•
•
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Young white working class males
Shaved heads
Tattoos, chains, boots (Doc Martins)
Jeans with suspenders
Green flight jackets (army surplus)
•
•
•
•
•
Canadian Society’s response to Them:
Not accepting of them
Seen as a threat
Unacceptable
Undesirable
• Mongolian Skinheads
1. Why would sociologists place SH in a
different category of culture than H?
• EX :
• While both are seen as subcultures,
different from mainstream Canadian
culture, Skin Heads are considered a
counter culture because the actively go
against those values, unlike the
Hutterites who live alongside
mainstream culture.
2. Why does society respond differently
to SH and other racist groups?
• EX:
• We find them offensive and often violent and that is
not considered acceptable in our society and culture.
•
•
•
•
•
•
3. A reflection of mainstream Canadian Values?
Accommodation and tolerance
Support of diversity
Compassion and generosity
Equality and fairness
World image- nonviolence
p78 in text
Theoretical Perspectives and
Culture
•
•
•
•
Functionalist:
Malinowski- idea that culture meets our needs
See popular culture holding society together
Pop culture can undermine core cultural values
too
• Can lead to antisocial behaviour- violence on
TV
• Overemphasis on harmony and cooperation
does not account for class based inequalities
• Conflict:
• Values and norms help to create and sustain the
privileged position of the powerful in society
• Pop culture has been removed from the domain of
everyday people and become nothing more than part
of the capitalist economy: creates new pop culture
and promotes consumption of goods ex. Disney (buy
because you think you need it)
• Popular cultural images often linked to negative
stereotypes ex Aunt Jemima Pancake ads
• Stress how cultural values and norms may perpetuate
social inequalities
• Symbolic Interactionist:
• Sees people creating, maintaining and
modifying culture as they go about their
lives
• Symbols are communication, shared
meanings ex. Money
• Highlights how people maintain and
change culture through their
interactions with others
• Postmodern:
• There is a need to talk about cultures rather
than culture
• Boudrillard- hyperreality when the simulation
of reality is more real than the reality itselfreality coming from media and cyberspace
• Emphasis on the need to deconstruct and
scrutinize existing beliefs and theories about
culture in hopes of gaining new insights
Chapter Questions: part 2
• 1. Three ways we experience change in
culture:
• Discovery: process of learning about
something previously unknown or unrecognized
ex. fire, cure for common cold
• Invention: process of reshaping existing
cultural items into a new form ex. video
games, airplanes
• Diffusion: transmission of cultural items or
social practices from one group or society to
another ex. pinatas (China, Italy, Spain,
Mexico, USA
• 2. Canada is referred to as heterogeneous our society includes people who are dissimilar
in regard to social characteristics such as
nationality, race, ethnicity, class, occupation,
or education.
• Our diversity reflects our history of
immigration.
• Sweden is referred to as homogeneous – its
society includes people who share a common
culture and are typically from similar social,
religious, political, and economic backgrounds.
• 3. Ethnocentrism:
• the tendency to regard one’s culture and
group as the standard and thus superior, all
other groups are therefore inferior
• Cultural Relativism:
• The belief that the behaviours and customs
of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by
the culture’s own standards
• Harris ‘ culture must be viewed from the
standpoint of those who live in a particular
society’ p88
• This is important when studying culture
because it helps us to avoid and recognize
bias in sociological research. Ex India
• Cattle are sacred in their culture
• From ethnocentric viewpoint might see it as
the cause of hunger and poverty
• Actually important to their economy as cattle
provide providing labour and milk at little cost
to the people
Sacred Cattle in India
5. Most important causes of
cultural change in the future?
• 1. Issues of cultural diversity
• Will increase in importance especially in
schools
• Challenge to embrace widespread cultural
diversity and at the same time convey a sense
of community and national identity
• 2. Technology
• Technology will increase the flow of
information and expand cultural diffusion
throughout the world
• a force of integration and fragmentation
Other Key Terms to Consider
• Culture Shock:
• The disorientation that people feel when they
encounter cultures radically different from
their own and believe they cannot depend on
their own taken-for-granted assumptions
about life.
• Immigrants to Canada
• Traveling, working, or studying abroad
• Reverse culture shock when you return to
your original culture/society
Popular and High Culture
• ‘Ideal types of cultural forms differentiated by their
content, style, expressed values, and respective
audiences.’
• High Culture:
• Activities (opera, ballet, classical music) usually
patronized by the elite (upper and middle classes with
time money and knowledge assumed necessary to
appreciate them)
• Popular Culture:
• Activities, products and services that are assumed to
appeal to the middle and working classes ex. Rock
concerts, spectator sports, movies, soaps, reality tv,
internet