Chapter 3 Culture

Chapter Outline Culture and Society in a Changing World Components of Culture Technology, Cultural Change, and Diversity Sociological Analysis of Culture Culture in the Future

Sharpening Your Focus What are the essential components of culture? To what degree are we shaped by popular culture? How do subcultures and countercultures refl ect diversity within a society? How do the various sociological perspectives view culture?

CIRCLE: “OK (absolutely fi ne)” or “I’ll kill you”

THUMBS UP: “Great,” or an obscenity

Culture is the knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society. Society and culture are interdependent; neither could exist without the other.

Sociology and Everyday Life How Much Do You Know About Global Food and Culture? 1. Cheese is a universal food enjoyed by people of all nations and cultures. T/ F 2. Giving round-shaped foods to the parents of new babies is considered to be lucky in some cultures. T/ F 3. Wedding cakes are made of similar ingredients in all countries, regardless of culture or religion. T/ F 4. Food is an important part of religious observance for many different faiths. T/ F

5. In authentic Chinese cuisine, cooking methods are divided into “yin” and “yang” qualities. 6. Because of the fast pace of life in the United States, virtually everyone relies on mixes and instant foods at home and fast foods when eating out. 7. Potatoes are the most popular mainstay in the diet of first- and second-generation immigrants who have arrived in the United States over the past forty years. 8. According to sociologists, individuals may be offended when a person from another culture does not understand local food preferences or the cultural traditions associated with eating, even if the person is obviously an “outsider” or a “tourist.”

Culture and Society in a Changing World Culture is essential Culture is learned

Discussion What are some ways that members of our society pass on culture to their children?

Material culture consists of the physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use, and share. Ex: raw materials, tools, technology, clothing Nonmaterial culture consists of the abstract or intangible human creations of society that influence people’s behavior. Ex: language, values, beliefs, political systems

Cultural universals are customs and practices that occur across all societies. Ex: appearance, activities, social institutions, customary practices

Food is a universal type of material culture

Components of Culture Symbols are anything that meaningfully represents something else. Language is a set of symbols that expresses ideas and enables people to think and communicate with one another. Sapir-Wharf hypothesis: language shapes the view of reality of its speakers

Values are collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in a particular culture. Core American Values: individualism achievement and success activity and work science and technology progress and material comfort efficiency and practicality equality morality and humanitarianism freedom and liberty ethnocentrism and group superiority

Value contradictions are values that conflict with one another or are mutually exclusive. Ideal culture refers to the values and standards of behavior that people in a society profess to hold. Real culture refers to the values and standards of behavior that people actually follow.

Norms are established rules of behavior or standards of conduct. Prescriptive norms are norms that dictate what behavior is appropriate or acceptable. Proscriptive norms are those norms that state what behavior is inappropriate or unacceptable.

Formal norms are norms that are written and involve specific punishments for violator (ex: laws). Sanctions are rewards for appropriate behavior and penalties for inappropriate behavior. Positive sanctions Negative sanctions Informal norms are those that are unwritten standards of behavior that are understood by people who share a common identity.

Folkways are informal norms or everyday customs that may be violated without serious consequences within a particular culture. Mores are strongly held norms with moral and ethical considerations that may not be violated without serious consequences in a particular culture. Taboos are mores so strong that their violation is considered to be extremely offensive and even unmentionable.

Laws are formal, standardized norms that have been enacted by legislatures and are enforced by formal sanctions.

Discussion What are some examples of norms, mores, taboos, and laws? How do norms, mores, taboos, and laws change over time?

Technology, Cultural Change, and Diversity Cultural lag a gap between the technical development of a society and its moral and legal institutions. Cultural lag occurs when material culture changes faster than nonmaterial culture. Discovery is the process of learning about something previously unknown or unrecognized. Invention is the process of reshaping existing cultural items into a new form. Diffusion is the transmission of cultural items or social practices from one group or society to another.

Cultural diversity between countries may be the result of natural circumstances or social circumstances. Subcultures are a category of people who share distinguishing attributes, beliefs, values, and/or norms that set them apart in some significant manner from the dominant culture. Countercultures are groups that strongly reject dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternative lifestyles.

Culture shock is the disorientation that people feel when they encounter cultures radically different from their own and believe they cannot depend on their own taken-for-granted assumptions about life.

Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging all other culture by one’s own culture. Cultural relativism is the belief that the behaviors and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture’s own standards.

Discussion What are the advantages of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism? What are the disadvantages of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism?

A Global Popular Culture? High culture consists of classical music, opera, ballet, live theater, and other activities usually patronized by elite audiences. Popular culture consists of activities, products, and services that are assumed to appeal primarily to members of the working and middle classes. Ex: fads, fashions

Sociological Analysis of Culture Functionalist Perspective Culture helps people meet their biological, instrumental, and integrative needs. Popular culture is the “glue” that holds society together.

Conflict Perspective Values and norms help create and sustain the privileged position of the powerful in society. Popular culture is part of the capitalist economy.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective People create, maintain, and modify culture as they go about their daily activities.

Postmodernist Perspectives Cultures are based on simulation, and not on reality.

Culture in the Future increased cultural diversity impact of technology