Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reservedStrangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE Culture The values, attitudes, customs, beliefs, and habits shared by members of a society Nonmaterial Culture Consists of abstract human creations and their meaning in life Material Culture Consists of all physical objects created by members of a society and the meanings attached to them

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved THE REALITY CONSTRUCT Culture is learned behavior, acquired chiefly through verbal communication, or language Thomas Theorem If people define situations as real, those situations become real in their consequences

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved CULTURAL CHANGE Cultural Diffusion Borrowed elements Any given culture contains about 90 percent borrowed elements Cultural contact Culture also changes through people of different cultures coming into contact Culture shock does not always occur Two groups may peacefully coexist or they may be in a dominant-subordinate relationship

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Convergent Subcultures Ethnic subcultures that tend toward assimilation with the dominant society Members may experience problems of marginality Persistent Subcultures Ethnic subcultures that are not assimilated Some ethnic groups do not desire to do so, and other ethnic groups find assimilation difficult ETHNIC SUBCULTURES

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Structural Conditions Relations between dominant and minority groups are influenced as much by structural conditions as by differences in culture Stratification The hierarchal classification of members of society based on the unequal distribution of resources, power, and prestige ETHNIC SUBCULTURES

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Social Class Social class is one categorization sociologists use to designate people’s place in the stratification hierarchy; people in a particular social class have a similar level of income, amount of property, degree of power, status, and type of lifestyle ETHNIC SUBCULTURES

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved BLAMING THE POOR OR SOCIETY? Family disintegration Perpetuation of poverty Criticism

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved INTERGROUP CONFLICT Is conflict inevitable when culturally distinct groups interact? Robert E. Park argued an evolving cycle of events made conflict and subsequent resolution by assimilation inevitable Four Stages of Park’s “race-relations cycle” Cultural differentiation Structural differentiation

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved ETHNIC STRATIFICATION How does ethnic stratification continue in a democracy where supposedly all have an equal opportunity for upward mobility? Functionalists Suggest that the ethnocentrism of those in the societal mainstream leads to discrimination of those in out-groups, as determined by racial and ethnic differences Conflict theorists Stress the subordination of minorities by the dominant group because that group benefits from such ethnic stratification

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved THE POWER-DIFFERENTIAL THEORY Neither conflict nor assimilation is inevitable The relative power of indigenous and migrant groups determines events If the migrant group is superordinate, early conflict and colonization will occur

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved THE POWER-DIFFERENTIAL THEORY In a paternalistic society, the dominant group has almost absolute power A competitive society is vulnerable to political pressures and economic boycotts

Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved