Download NOTES: Culture - Values

Think of three words that were popular during the following decades:
1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and now
Think of two words and write down five words that didn’t exist 10 years ago
Project
• Remember minimum of five (5) slides and
charts/diagrams for DATA!!?
• Due: Presentations begin on Thursday March
8th
How does Sociology play a role in
Communication?
• Speakers of different languages think about
the world in quite different ways.
• This view is sometimes called the WhorfSapir hypothesis, after the linguists who made
it famous - that we know the world only in
terms of our language.
• Language then determines our cultural reality.
Presentations
• Presentations must be complete by Thursday
• Friday: All students will report to computer lab
223 to do their writing initiative.
What is the English Translation for
these words?
• Tartle
Scottish – The act of hesitating while introducing
someone because you’ve forgotten their name
• Prozvonit
Czech – This word means to call a mobile phone
and let it ring once so that the other person will
call back, saving the first caller money.
• Kyoikumama
Japanese – “A mother who relentlessly pushes
her children toward academic achievement”
• Iktsuarpok
Inuit – “To go outside to check if anyone is
coming.”
• Mamihlapinatapei
Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego)
– “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by
two people who both desire to initiate
something but are both reluctant to start”
True Life: Coming to America
• How are Bara from the Czech Republic and Thimothy from
Thailand, (refugee camp from Burma) different in their
reactions to coming to America?
• How are they same?
• What obstacles do they face?
• What changes in attitude occurred in Bara?
• What changes in attitude occurred in Thimothy?
• Where do you think they will be in ten years?
• How many of you are going to college?
• How many of you feel grateful that you can go to college?
• Schadenfreude
German – Quite famous for its meaning that
somehow other languages neglected to
recognize, this refers to the feeling of pleasure
derived by seeing another’s misfortune. I guess
“America’s Funniest Moments of Schadenfreude”
just didn’t have the same ring to it.
• L’appel du vide
French – “The call of the void” is this French
expression’s literal translation, but more
significantly it’s used to describe the instinctive
urge to jump from high places.
Wrap Up
• Where you live, what language
you speak and what time period
you live in determine your
“cultural reality”
• The Whorf-Sapir hypothesis states
that we know the world only in
terms of our language.
• This is why there is often
communication gaps between:
different ethnic groups,
nationalities, age groups, genders.
Values and Beliefs
• Values are defined as the standards by which
people assess desirability, goodness, and
beauty; they are broad principles
• Beliefs - specific statements that people hold
to be true. Beliefs are learned through
socialization and help shape how we perceive
our surroundings and how our personality
develops.
• Culture is defined as the values, beliefs,
behavior, and material objects that constitute a
people's way of life.
• When people travel between societies or even
within their own, they can experience culture
shock, a personal disorientation that can come
from encountering an unfamiliar way of life.
What are the differences between these two holiday celebrations?
Norms, Folkways, Mores, Taboos & Laws
• Norms are defined as rules
that guide behavior.
• Proscriptive Norms:
mandate what we should
not do
• Prescriptive Norms:
stating what we should do.
They can change over time,
as illustrated by norms
regarding sexual behavior.
• Norms vary in their degree of importance.
Mores distinguish between right and wrong
• Folkways distinguish between right and rude.
•When considering non-material culture,
sociologists refer to several processes that a
culture uses to shape its members' thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors, symbols, language,
values, and norms.
Objects we associate with who we are as a person,
family, society, culture: iPods, cars, SUV’s, houses, nice
lawns! ( ha), clothes, etc.
What is Ideal Culture?
• Values and norms are not descriptions of
actual behavior but rather reflect how we
believe members of a culture should behave.
• Give an example of this…for example, smoking
is unhealthy and leads to health problems.
Nobody should smoke.
What are Subcultures?
• Subcultures are groups within a group whose values
and behavior are distinctly differently from the
dominant culture.
• Different way of looking at life, but still compatible
with the main culture
• Occupations, (police, fire, corrections, medical),
Social interests, (Boy Scouts, hunters, fraternities),
Religions,(Catholics, Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses),
Politics, (gun rights, pro-life, environmentalists.
Ethnicities,(Irish, Native American, Latino)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Folkways
distinguish between right and rude
Proscriptive Norms:
mandate what we should not do
Prescriptive Norms:
stating what we should do.
Ideal Culture:
The way things SHOULD be...not how they are
Deviance:
not conforming to the “norm”. Relative to time and
place.
• Subcultures are
• groups within a group whose values and behavior are
distinctly differently from the dominant culture.
Do Now:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What are PROscriptive Norms?
What are PREscriptive Norms?
What are Mores?
What are Folkways?
What is Ideal Culture?
Now…hand in for a quiz grade!
(insert hearty chuckle here)
What is Deviance?
• Deviance: deviating from the norm
• Deviance is relative to time and place because
what is considered deviant in one social
context may be non-deviant in another (e.g.,
•
fighting during a hockey game vs. fighting in a nursing home).
Killing another human is considered wrong except when governments permit it
during warfare or self-defense
.
Sociological Reasons for Deviance
Deviance Contributes to Social Change (Durkheim)
• Deviance is an important element of social change
because it offers alternative definitions to what is
right.
• Sometimes the alternative becomes acceptable and
it may even become the dominant view. (Same Sex
Marriage, Civil Rights, etc.) Today's crime may be
tomorrow's accepted behavior.
Deviance Contributes to Social Order
• Durkheim emphasized the importance of
deviance in society as a tool for boundary
maintenance.
• The media, who reports on deviance and the
accompanying punishment, educates the
public by restating society's rules.
What are the costs of deviance?
• It calls into question our basic beliefs and ideas: It
threatens us.
• At a social level it challenges the social order: the
existing web of relationships, values, reality and
meaning
• Some form of Control is necessary to help maintain
Order:
• Internal/socialization.
• External: a system of norms, sanctions
• and enforcement
Social Control
You’re
• Rewards conformity and punishes
deviance.
• Through socialization we
internalize cultural norms and
impose constraints on our own
behavior.
• The "breaking" of an internalized
norm results in guilt and shame.
Deviance is relative to place
Asian
United States
Canada
United States
United States
Avoiding eye
contact is
considered
polite
The O.K. signal
expresses
approval
Thumbs upused for hitch
hiking, or
approving of
something
Someone may
whistle when
happy.
Whistling can
express
approval, as in
cheering at a
public event.
United States
Japan
United States
Nigeria
Europe
When saying
hello or talking
to someone it
is impolite to
not look
directly at the
person.
Using your
middle finger is
The O.K. signal
very offensive. This is a rude
means that you
Used in place
gesture in
are asking for
of
Nigeria.
money.
inappropriate
language.
Whistling may
be a sign of
disapproval at
public events.
• What is Deviance?
• deviating from the norm
• Is the process of being “deviant” mean the same
thing everywhere and in every situation?
• No...it varies due to situations and places. Killing is
wrong, but in war it’s a soldier’s job. Fighting in
hockey is a norm, fighting in Shoprite…not so
much
• What was one reason Emile Durkheim thought
deviance was necessary in society?
• It would trigger needed changes, or serve to warn
others through media.
• What are some forms of control necessary to
help maintain social order?
• Internal: values, beliefs, socialization –
family/friends
• External: rules, sanctions and enforcements
• Social control rewards________________ and
____________ deviance.
What was in your box of Deviance?
• What did you steal?
• Does the value of the item
have anything to do with
how “wrong” it is?
• Does the reason the
person gave change
anything in reference to
how deviant it was?
• What type of controls
prevented you from doing
this again…internal or
external?
An analysis of Deviance:
Merton’s Typology
Read and answer questions
Subcultures
Subcultures
What are Countercultures?
• Countercultures include groups of people
whose values and norms are in opposition to
the dominant culture.
• Challenge the dominant culture – often
confrontational. Some are negative:
• Satanists, Skinheads, Hell’s Angels, KKK
• Some are positive: Hippies contributed to civil
rights, environmental reforms while being
criticized by the dominant culture by their
“deviant” appearance.
Countercultures
Can you think of any counter
cultures you’ve come in contact
with?
What is a Cult
• Studies performed by those who believe that some religious
groups do practice mind control have identified a number of
key steps in coercive persuasion
• People are put in physical or emotionally distressing
situations;
• Their problems are reduced to one simple explanation, which
is repeatedly emphasized; (mantras)
• They receive what seems to be unconditional love, “Love
Bombing”, acceptance, and attention from a charismatic
leader or group;
• They get a new identity based on the group;
• They are subject to isolation from friends, relatives and the
mainstream culture and their access to information is
severely controlled
• Subcultures are
• groups within a group whose values and behavior are
distinctly differently from the dominant culture.
• Different way of looking at life, but
• Blend in Conflict with ? with the main culture –
• Blend In
• Countercultures
• include groups of people whose values and norms are in
opposition to the dominant culture. Challenge the dominant
culture – often confrontational. Some are negative a few are
positive.
• Cults
• are organizations that are camouflaged as legitimate groups
but slowly isolate members by coercion.
• Reading:
Cultures, Subcultures and Countercultures
1. What would you consider the
dominant culture in your
community?
2. What subculture do you feel
you fit into?
3. Think about and try to identify
three (3) counter cultures:
locally, regionally and
worldwide.
• List three (3) recreational activities/hobbies you
participate in now
• List three (3) recreational activities/hobbies your
parents participate in
• Are there any rules for these activities/hobbies?