Oct 1, 2013

 Ideas and things passed down in society  Knowledge, beliefs, values, rules, language, customs, music, symbols, and material products  Rules to live by– shape how we understand and interact in society: rules, patterns, expectations  Constantly being reshaped, created, and transmitted

 Tendency to view one’s own group’s culture as right or correct, superior to other cultures.  re=endscreen re=endscreen

 Values  Shared judgments about what is good/bad -- morals  Environment is worth preserving  Beliefs  Specific ideas we hold about life, about the way society works, and how we fit in the world  Often based on values  Humans have caused global warming  Norms  Rules of behavior shared by members of society  Don’t litter

 What characteristics define American Culture?  Values that define American culture  Norms and behaviors that support the value  Material goods (or symbols) culture creates to reinforce norms and values

 Groups  Tell a story about an important event in your life  Norms  Values  Beliefs

 Dominant groups decide what is “right”  Get others to go along with status quo because it seems like the natural order of things  Taken for granted truths that go unquestioned  In the US, individualism is hegamonic  Media has a big impact

 Belief system that privileges the individual over the group, private life over public, and personal expression over social experience  Autonomy, independence, and self reliance are highly valued  Free actors are in control of their own destiny

 Ignores social forces  Supports capitalist economic system  Suggests patterns of inequality are result of psychological dispositions and biology  Supported by media and key figures  Success and salvation through acts of individuals (usually men)

 Media and culture mutually reinforce one another  Who decides what we see on TV, radio, news, etc?  What counts as “news”?  Typical girls/womens magazines  6 major companies in US own more than 90% of media  Advertisements and consumerism

 Allison Pugh interview

 ologysounds/ ologysounds/  Cultural ideals celebrate women’s beauty and sexuality  Ideals of masculinity associated with dominating women (rape culture)  Women as innocent, naïve, and in need of protection  Both ideas reinforce male dominance

 Reverses gender  Uncomfortable  Desensitized to objectified women

 Paradox video  Activity Posting 3 for Thursday  Book club discussion Thursday– Chapt 2

“Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines elements of both.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

 Daddy’s Hands  Combats stereotypes  working class men as inept fathers, husbands and workers  supposed stupidity, drunkenness, violent temper, and inability to express emotion  Supports myth of individualism  Unsuccessful because so inept  Can ignore systematic inequalities & lack of opportunity