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What is Culture?
• __________ - Rules that
guide our behavior.
• Includes a society’s
____________, history,
knowledge, ____________,
customs, moral principles,
and _________.
• Culture is not
______________ - for
example, all people in all
societies use fire, but no
one argues that the
knowledge of how to use
fire is inherited.
Culture and Society
• True or False - Culture = Society
• Society – large number of __________
who:
1. Live in the same _________.
2. See themselves as separate and
different
from people outside their
______________.
3. Participate in a common
culture.
• A society consists of social
interactions among people who
think of themselves as ___________.
Cultural Traits
• Smallest unit of a culture.
• Cultural Trait – single object,
action, or belief.
• Examples: Wedding Ring,
handshake, the belief that
washing one’s hands helps
prevent the spread of germs.
• Cultural traits usually
combine to form culture
__________________.
• Culture Complex – set of
interrelated traits.
• Example: All people eat, and
may cultural traits surround
this action.
Material & Nonmaterial Cultures
• Material Culture – refers
to the set of concrete
___________ created or used
by the people of a culture.
• Single objects of the
material culture are called
____________.
• Nonmaterial Culture – is
composed of abstract
human ______________.
• The two categories are
intertwined.
• Example: Car
• Real versus Ideal Culture:
Real = ___________ and
Ideal = what we _________
do.
Key Elements of Culture
•
All cultures consist of the
same key elements:
1. Values – collection of what is
considered good, desirable,
and proper in a culture.
2. Norms – are the guidelines
people follow in their relation
with one another.
• Norms are divided into ____
categories according to
strictness of enforcement.
• i. Folkways – everyday habits
and conventions that people
obey without giving them
much thought. Ex. Replying to
invitations.
• ii. Mores – norms that have
powerful moral significance
attached to them. Ex. Incest,
murder, stealing.
Key Elements of Culture
•
•
•
•
•
A society enforces norms with laws
and sanctions.
Laws – written __________ of
conduct that are enacted and
enforced by __________________. May
formalize folkways (no littering) or
may relate to major mores (against
murder).
Sanctions – _____________ or
punishments. Two types: Informal
and Formal.
Informal sanctions – given by
individuals or groups. Examples:
Employee of the week (positive),
being grounded by a parent
(negative).
Formal sanctions – given by
organizations or bodies, such as
governments, police, schools.
Examples: fines for traffic
violations (negative), medals for
athletic performance (positive).
Key Elements of Culture
3. Symbols – are commonly
understood gestures, _________,
sounds, _____________, colors, or
designs that have come to stand for
something else.
• Can be divided into two categories:
1. Language – organization of
written or
spoken _______________ into a
standardized system with rules
for
putting symbols together.
2. Signs – are _____________. Can
communicate across languages.
4. Knowledge – attempts to define
what exists, or the reality of the
world.
5. Beliefs – theories and ideas about
the nature of the physical and
social world.
• Not all beliefs can be proven.
• Sociologists are interested in how
people decide what to count as
knowledge and what to count as
beliefs.