Sociology SIXTEENTH EDITION Chapter 3 Culture
Learning Objectives (1 of 2) 3.1 Explain the development of culture as a human strategy for survival. 3.2 Identify common elements of culture. 3.3 Discuss dimensions of cultural difference and cultural change.
Learning Objectives (2 of 2) 3.4 Apply sociology's macro-level theories to gain greater understanding of culture. 3.5 Critique culture as limiting or expanding human freedom.
Culture is… (1 of 2) Society's entire way of life
Culture is… (2 of 2) No particular way of life is natural to humanity, even though most people around the world view their own behavior that way. Quote found on page 69
Culture Shock Culture shock Disorientation due to inability to make sense out of unfamiliar way of life Often occurs with domestic and foreign travel Yąnomamὃ live in villages scattered along the border of Venezuela and Brazil. Their way of life could not be more different from our own.
Kinds of Culture: What Is…? Cultural Relativism More accurate understanding
Descriptive Statistics: What Is…? Nonmaterial culture The intangible world of ideas created by members of a society Material culture Tangible things created by members of society
Culture Differences All societies contain cultural differences that can provoke a mild case of culture shock. This woman traveling on a British subway is not sure what to make of the woman sitting next to her, who is wearing the Muslim full-face veil known as the niqab.
Elements of Culture: Symbols Humans transform elements of the world into symbols. Symbols are anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture. Societies create new symbols all the time. Reality for humans is found in the meaning things carry with them. Meanings vary within and between cultures. Reality for humans is found in the meaning things carry with them The basis of culture; makes social life possible People must be mindful that meanings vary from culture to culture. Meanings can even vary greatly within the same groups of people. Fur coats, Confederate flags, etc
Seeing Sociology in Contemporary Everyday Life About 88 percent of U.S. adults own cell phones and three-quarters of them use mobile text- messaging on a regular basis. Cell phone owners between eighteen and twenty- four years of age typically send or receive more than 100 messages a day (Pew Research Center, 2011). What does the creation of symbols such as those listed here suggest about culture? Today, 88 percent of U.S. adults own cell phones and three-quarters of them—especially those who are young—use mobile text-messaging on a regular basis. Researchers report that cell phone owners between eighteen and twenty-four years of age typically send or receive more than 100 messages a day (Pew Research Center, 2011).
Elements of Culture: Language (1 of 2) Language is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another. Cultural transmission Sapir-Whorf thesis Here the English word “read” is written in twelve of the thousands of languages humans use to communicate with one another. Cultural transmission One generation passes culture to the next Sapir-Whorf thesis People perceive the world through the cultural lens of language
Elements of Culture: Language (2 of 2) Chinese (including Mandarin, Cantonese, and dozens of other dialects) is the native tongue of one-fifth of the world's people, almost all of whom live in Asia. Although all Chinese people read and write with the same characters, they use several dozen dialects. The “official” dialect, taught in schools throughout the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Taiwan, is Mandarin (the dialect of Beijing, China's capital). Cantonese, the language of Canton, is the second most common Chinese dialect; it differs in sound from Mandarin roughly the way French differs from Spanish. English is the native tongue or official language in several world regions (spoken by 5 percent of humanity) and has become the preferred second language in the world. The largest concentration of Spanish speakers is in Latin America and, of course, Spain. Spanish is alsothe second most widely spoken language in the United States.
Descriptive Statistics: What Is…? Values Broad guidelines for social living; values support beliefs; culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and beauty Beliefs Specific statements people hold to be true Matters individuals consider to be true or false
Sociologist Robin Williams' Ten Values Central to American Life Equal opportunity Achievement and success Material comfort Activity and work Practicality and efficiency Progress Science Democracy and free enterprise Freedom Racism and group superiority How does the popularity of the television show American Idol illustrate many of the key values of U.S. culture listed here?
Values Sometimes Conflict Sometimes one key cultural value contradicts another. Value conflict causes strain. Values change over time. Cultures have their own values. Lower-income nations have cultures that value survival. Higher-income countries have cultures that value individualism and self-expression. Williams's list includes examples of value clusters
Norms Norms Mores Folkways Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members Mores Widely observed and have great moral significance Folkways Norms for routine and casual interaction Types Proscriptive Should-nots, prohibited Prescriptive Shoulds, prescribed like medicine
Descriptive Statistics: What Is…? Guilt A negative judgment we make about ourselves Shame The painful sense that others disapprove of our actions
Culture: What Is…? deal culture Real culture Way things should be Social patterns mandated by values and norms Real culture Way things actually occur in everyday life Social patterns that only approximate cultural expectations
Material Culture and Technology Includes a wide range of physical human creations or artifacts Contains artifacts that partly reflect underlying cultural values Reflects a society's technology or knowledge used to make a way of life in particular surroundings
Values and Standards of Beauty Standards of beauty—including the color and design of everyday surroundings—vary significantly from one culture to another. This Ndebele couple in South Africa dresses in the same bright colors they use to decorate their home. Members of North American and European societies, by contrast, make far less use of bright colors and intricate detail, so their housing and clothing appear much more subdued.
Cultural Diversity: Many Ways of Life in One World Many cultural patterns are readily available to only some members of society. High culture: Cultural patterns that distinguish a society's elite Popular culture: Cultural patterns that are widespread among society's population
Cultural Diversity: Subcultures (1 of 3) Subcultures involve difference and hierachy Subculture Cultural patterns that set apart some segment of society's population Counterculture Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society
Cultural Diversity: Subcultures (2 of 3) Reality television is based on popular culture rather than high culture. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo follows seven-year- old Alana Honey Boo Boo Thompson and her parents, who live in rural Georgia. While some critics object to the show as “low-brow,” others applaud the portrayal of a “real” low-income family.
Cultural Diversity: Multiculturalism Recognizes the cultural diversity of the U.S. Promotes the equality of all cultural traditions Eurocentrism: Dominance of European cultural patterns Afrocentrism: Dominance of African cultural patterns
National Map: Language Diversity across the United States Of more than 291 million people age five or older in the United States, the Census Bureau reports that 61 million (21 percent) speak a language other than English at home. Of these, 62 percent speak Spanish and 16 percent speak an Asian language (the Census Bureau lists a total of 37 languages and language categories, each of which is favored by more than 100,000 people). The map shows that non–English speakers are concentrated in certain regions of the country. Which ones? What do you think accounts for this pattern? Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2012).
Cultural Diversity: Subcultures (3 of 3) Perhaps the most basic human truth of this world is that “all things shall pass.” Found on page 84
Cultural Change Cultural integration Culture lag (Ogburn 1964) Close relationships among various elements of a cultural system Culture lag (Ogburn 1964) Uneven change of cultural elements that may disrupt a cultural system
Life Objectives of First-Year College Students, 1969 and 2012 Researchers have surveyed first-year college students every year since 1969. While attitudes about some things such as the importance of family have stayed about the same, attitudes about other life goals have changed dramatically. Sources: Astin et al. (2002) and Pryor et al. (2013).
Culture Changes in Three Ways Invention Creating new cultural elements Telephone or airplane Discovery Recognizing and better understanding something already existing X-rays or DNA Diffusion Spread of cultural traits Jazz music or much of the English language
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism Practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture Cultural relativism Practice of judging a culture by its own standards
Ethnocentric or not? In the world's low-income countries, most children must work to provide their families with needed income. Is it ethnocentric for people living in high-income nations to condemn the practice of child labor? Why or why not? This young boy works long hours carrying firewood in Laos.
Is There a Global Culture? (1 of 2) The Basic Thesis The flow of goods: Material product trading has never been as important. The flow of information: Few places left where worldwide communication is not possible Flow of people: Knowledge means people learn about places where life might be better Global economy -> global communications -> global migration
Is There a Global Culture? (2 of 2) Limitations to the global culture thesis All the flows have been uneven. Premise assumes affordability of goods. People do not attach the same meaning to material goods.
Functions of Culture: Structural-Functional Theory (1 of 2) Culture is a strategy for meeting human needs. Values are core of a culture. Every culture has cultural universals. Cultural universals: Traits part of every known culture; family, funeral rites, jokes
Functions of Culture: Structural-Functional Theory (2 of 2) Evaluation Cultural diversity is ignored. Importance of change is downplayed. From a structural-functional point of view, we might ask if this universal character reflects the fact that families carry out important tasks not easily accomplished in other ways. What tasks do families perform? Cultural universals: Traits part of every known culture; family, funeral rites, jokes All around the world, families are part of a society's way of life.
Inequality and Culture: Social-Conflict Theory Cultural traits benefit some members at the expense of others. Cultural values of competitiveness and material success are tied to our country’s capitalist economy. Evaluation Understates the ways cultural patterns integrate members into society. This theory is rooted in Karl Marx and materialism. Society's system of material production has a powerful effect on the rest of a culture.
Evolution and Culture (1 of 2) Sociobiology Theoretical paradigm Exploration of ways in which human biology affects how we create culture Approach rooted in Charles Darwin and evolution Contends living organisms change over long periods of time based on natural selection
Evolution and Culture (2 of 2) Evaluation Might be used to support racism or sexism Little evidence to support theory People learn behavior within a cultural system While this may be so, many sociologists counter that behavior—such as that shown here—is more correctly understood as resulting from a culture of male domination.
Culture and Human Freedom To what extent are human beings, as cultural creatures, free? Culture as constraint We know our world in terms of our culture. Culture as freedom Culture is changing and offers a variety of opportunities. Sociologists share the goal of learning more about cultural diversity.
Applying Theory Culture Structural-Functional Approach Social-Conflict and Feminist Theories Sociobiology Theory What is the level of analysis? Macro-level Micro-level What is culture? Culture is a system of behavior by which members of societies cooperate to meet their needs. Culture is a system that benefits some people and disadvantages others. Culture is a system of behavior that is partly shaped by human biology. What is the foundation of culture? Cultural patterns are rooted in a society’s core values and beliefs. Marx claimed that cultural patterns are rooted in a society’s system of economic production. Feminist theory says cultural conflict is rooted in gender. Cultural patterns are rooted in humanity’s biological evolution. What core questions does the approach ask? How does a cultural pattern help society operate? What cultural patterns are found in all societies? How does a cultural pattern benefit some people and harm others? How does a cultural pattern support social inequality? How does a cultural pattern help a species adapt to its environment?