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Chapter 3: Culture
Culture & Society in a Changing
World
Components of Culture
Technology, Cultural Change, &
Diversity
A Global Popular Culture
Sociological Analysis of Culture
Culture in the Future
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.
We ask, therefore:
 What part does culture play in shaping
people and the social relations in which
they participate?
 What are the essential components of
culture?
 To what degree are we shaped by
popular culture?
 How do subcultures and countercultures
reflect diversity within a society?
 How do the various sociological
perspectives view culture?
Culture and Society in a
Changing World
 Travelers are wise to know what
various gestures mean in different
cultures
 Kicking, showing sole of shoe or
throwing a shoe is a great insult in
the Arab world
 “Hook ’em horns” sign means “your
spouse is unfaithful in Italy, or “hang
loose” in Hawaii
Culture is essential:
 For our survival
 For our communication with other
people
 For the survival of societies
 The common denominator that makes
the actions of individuals intelligible to
the group
 The rules and laws, the systems that
make our lives live-able
We don’t act as we do out
of instinct
 Humans don’t have instinct, they have
reflexes (unlearned, biologically
determined involuntary responses to
some physical stimuli) or drives
(unlearned, biologically determined
impulses common to all members of a
species)
 Nature: biological & genetic makeup
 Nurture: our social environment
 Nurture tells us the appropriate way to
satisfy our drives
Material & Nonmaterial
Culture
 Material culture consists of the
physical or tangible creations that
members of a society make, use &
share
(Examples?)
 Nonmaterial culture consists of the
abstract or intangible creations of
society that influence people’s
behavior
(Examples?)
Cultural Universals:
 All humans have the same basic
needs (food, clothing, shelter) thus
we engage in similar activities that
contribute to our survival
 George Murdoch compiled a list of
>70 cultural universals (customs
and practices that occur across all
societies)
Cultural Universals
include:
 Physical appearance (bodily
adornments, etc.)
 Activities (sports, dance, games)
 Social institutions (family, law, religion)
 Customary practices (cooking, folklore,
gift giving, hospitality)
 Present but forms vary from society to
society
 Ensure the smooth and continual
operations of societies
Cultural universals also:
 May be imposed by members of a
society on members of another
 Conquering nations do this to
conquered ones
 Examples?
Components of Culture:
 Symbols: anything that
meaningfully represents something
else
 Shared meanings among people
 Can be used to induce loyalty, as
well as for animosity
 Examples: flags, clothing, cars,
logos
Language:
 A set of symbols that expresses ideas
and enables people to think and
communicate with one another
 Verbal
 Written/visual
 Sapir-Whorf hypothesis says language
shapes the view of reality of its
speakers
 Not necessarily determinate but
certainly influential
Language and Gender:
 English language ignores women--
refers to humans in general in the
masculine
 He/she usage reflects this, especially as
related to occupations
 Descriptive terms for women also
objectify them
 Use of Ms to replace Mrs or Miss is a
way to make language less gender
biased
Language, race, ethnicity:
 Language also can reinforce racial
stereotypes: blackhearted, a black
mark, etc.
 Derogatory racial slurs are often used in
conjunction with physical threats,
“popularized” in movies
 Words are used to create or reinforce
perceptions about a group (natives as
savages or primitives)
 Voice of verbs may minimize or wrongly
identify the achievements of others
More on
ethnicity/language
 Adjectives that typically have positive
connotations can have different
meanings when used in certain contexts
 Dominant language speakers often feel
threatened when they witness others
speaking a different language
 Assimilation and inclusion often depend
upon acquisition of and fluency of
language
Values:
 Collective ideas about what is right
or wrong, good or bad, and
desirable or undesirable in a
particular culture
 Typically, values come in pairs of
positive and negative
 We use values to justify our
behavior and we defend our values
American Values:
 Individualism: people are responsible
for their own success or failure
 Achievement and success: personal
achievement results from successful
competition with others
 Activity & work: we praise those who
achieve by industrious work; we ridicule
those we see as lazy
 Science & technology: faith in advances
 Progress & material comfort: we want
more than the basics, but nicer things
More American values:
 Efficiency & practicality: bigger, better,
faster
 Equality: in the US, this is equality of
opportunity, not outcome
 Morality and humanitarianism: we help
others, particularly after natural
disasters
 Freedom and liberty: basic rights
 Racism and group superiority: we value
our own culture group and nation
Value contradictions:
 Values that conflict with one
another or are mutually exclusive
 Example: morality and
humanitarianism can conflict with
individual achievement and
success
 All countries have these, not only
the US
Ideal Versus Real Culture
 Ideal culture: the values and standards
of behavior that people in a society
profess to hold
 Real culture: the values and standards
of behavior that people actually follow
 The degree of discrepancy between
ideal and real cultures is relevant to
sociologists studying social change
Norms:
 Established rules of behavior or
standards of conduct
 Prescriptive norms state what behavior
is appropriate or acceptable
 Proscriptive norms state what behavior
is inappropriate or unacceptable
 Prescriptive: opening the door for
someone carrying a heavy load
 Proscriptive: texting while driving
Norms, continued:
 Not all norms are of equal importance,
but those most important are
formalized
 Laws are the most common type of
formal norm, enforced by sanctions
 Sanctions are rewards for appropriate
behavior and penalties for inappropriate
behavior
 Informal norms--unwritten standards
 Informal sanctions--less clearly defined
and can be applied by anyone
Norms--Folkways:
 Informal norms or everyday
customs that may be violated
without serious consequences
within a particular culture
 Examples: wearing deodorant,
brushing teeth, dressing
appropriately
 Culture specific, learned
Norms--Mores:
 Particular culture’s strongly held norms
with moral and ethical connotations that
may NOT be violated without serious
consequences
 Based on cultural values, considered to
be crucial for the well-being of the
group, more serious sanctions
 Taboos: mores so strong that their
violation is considered to be extremely
offensive and even unmentionable
Examples of Mores and
Taboos
 Incest taboo--nearly universal
 Sharia law--in Muslim nations that
follow the edicts of the Koran
relating to dominance of men over
women, women may not mix with
men in public, must cover up, may
go only to women’s banks, see
women doctors, etc.
Norms--Laws:
 Formal, standardized norms that have
been enacted by legislatures and are
enforced by formal sanctions
 Civil law deals with disputes among
persons or groups
 Criminal law deals with public safety
and well being
 When criminal law is violated, fines and
prison sentences are the most likely
sanctions
Technology, Cultural
Change, and Diversity