Download Ch. 2 - Yesenia King

Ch. 3
Culture
What is Culture?
 Culture consists of material objects, patterns of
thinking, feeling, language, beliefs, values, norms, and
behaviors passed from one generation to the next
 Material Culture
 Nonmaterial Cultures
Three Dimensions of Culture
 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.
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.
Culture and Taken-for-Granted Orientations
 What is Normal, Natural, or Usual?
 Learned
 Culture as Lens: through which we perceive and evaluate things
 Provides implicit instructions and a moral imperative that defines
what we think is right and wrong
 Culture Shock
 Ethnocentrism
Practicing Cultural Relativism
 Consists of trying to appreciate other group’s ways of like in
the context in which they exist, w/out judging them as
superior or inferior to our own.
 Understanding Cultures on Their Own Terms
 “Sick Cultures” based on “quality of life - Robert Edgerton
Components of Symbolic Culture
Gestures
 Conveying Messages without Words
 Gestures’ Meaning Differ Among Cultures
 Can Lead to Misunderstandings
Components of Symbolic 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.
Components of Symbolic Culture
Language
1. Allows Human Experience to be Cumulative
2. Provides Social or Shared Past
3. Provides Social or Shared Future
4. Allows Shared Perspective
5. Allows Complex, Shared, Goal-Directed Behavior
Language and Perception:
Sapir-Whorf
 Language Has Embedded Within It Ways of Looking at the World
 Language shapes our reality.
 Our perception of reality is at the mercy of the words and grammatical
rules of our language.
 Studies demonstrate that language significantly shapes thought.
Questions for Consideration
 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?
Values, Norms, and Sanctions
 Values – Standards by which we define good/bad, desirable
 Norms - Expectations or rules for behavior
 Sanctions - Reaction to following or breaking norms; used to
encourage conformity to norms
 Positive sanctions
 Negative sanctions
 Formal sanctions – given only by officially designated persons (an “A” for
academic performance; time in jail/prison for committing fraud)
 Informal sanctions – can be applied by most members of society (thanking
someone for helping you change a tire)
 Taboos – Norms so strongly ingrained that eve the thought of them is
greeted with revulsion
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
 Subculture - A world within the dominant culture; 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.
Countercultures
 Countercultures - Groups with norms and values at odds with the
dominant culture; 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
Values in U.S. Society
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.
•Handout: 15 USValues…
Cultural Universals
 Universal Human Activites?
 Although there are many differences between groups throughout the
world, sociologists and anthropologists have identified many behaviors
that are shared by all cultures.
 Some Activities are Universal - Courtship, Marriage, Funerals,
Games
 All cultures have families, schools, houses of worship, economies, governments, and
systems of prestige.
Cultural Universals
Technology in the Global Village
 The New Technology - New Tools
 Cultural Lag and Cultural Change
 Technology and Cultural Leveling
Questions for Consideration
 How might functionalists and conflict theorists
have different views of countercultures?
 Which view do you prefer and why?
 What can be done to minimize our tendencies of
ethnocentrism?
Activity:
Scavenger Hunt! !!