Chapter 3 Cultural Conformity & Adaptation

Section 1: A. The American Values System

1. Personal achievement

2. Rugged Individualism

3. Hard Work

4. Morality / Humanitarianism

5. Efficiency / practicality

6. Progress / Material comfort

7. Equality / Democracy

B. Our Changing Values 1. Self-fulfillment

2. Environmental protection

3. Education and religion

Section 2: Social Control

A. Enforcing norms of society

1. Internalization – becomes part of someone’s personality conditioning them to conform.

2. Sanctions- rewards & punishments to enforce conformity to norms

Types of sanctions

a. Positive sanction – action that rewards behavior

b. Negative sanction – punishment or threat of punishment to enforce conformity

c. Formal sanctions – rewards and/or punishments given by an organization or agency.

d. Informal Sanctions – spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval by a person or group

Section 3: Social Change

A. Main sources of social change

1. Shifts in values and beliefs

2. Technology

3. Population

4. Diffusion, Globalization, & Acculturation

5. Physical environment

6. Wars & conquest

B. Factors that resist change

1. Ethnocentrism

2. Cultural lag - Culture changes faster than our ability to handle it

3. Vested interest When person, people, company, etc. benefit by the status quo When person, people, company, etc. benefit by the status quo

* Multiculturalism & Political Correctness * (Views of The New Right)