Why are cultures different? CULTURAL VARIATIONS Why are cultures different?

Features cultures share CULTURAL UNIVERSALS: Common characteristics shared by all cultures Anthropologist George Murdock identified 60 cultural universals including: cooking, body adornment, sports, forms of greeting, family, language, housing, and so on. These cultural traits can vary however, (for ex. Forms of greeting aren’t the same is all cultures.)

Cultural Variations: All cultures contain diversity. Almost no culture has a single set of norms and values SUBCULTURE: when groups share some broad cultural traditions, but also have values and norms that are unique to their group. Ex: regions in a country: South, West Coast, New England or age groups teenagers, senior citizens Individuals can be part of multiple subcultures.

SUBCULTURES Subcultures can strengthen society and make it more interesting: ex. Police, military, educators all serve functions in society Subcultures that challenge society and often reject the norms and values of other cultures are known as COUNTERCULTURE. (ex: skinheads, hippies, gangs)

ETHNOCENTRISM The assumption that one’s own culture is “normal” and therefore superior to others Our own culture tends to be our defining point of culture

How do sociologist feel? Conflict theorist believe ethnocentrism leads to conflict with groups in society. (for ex. Between black and white Americans, which promotes stereotypes based on prejudice) Functionalist believe ethnocentrism can promote group pride.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM The argument that behavior in one’s own culture should not be judged by the standards of another. The idea that people’s behavior should be judged from the perspective of their own culture. Different perspectives created different norms. For ex. Bullfighting or polygamy can be viewed very differently across cultures.

Scenario In 1989, a Chinese immigrant to the US beat his wife to death with a hammer after discovering she was having an affair. His lawyer argued cultural relativism, that in Chinese culture, it was common for husbands to severely punish their wives for such an offense. The district attorney argued if you come to the US, you must be prepared to follow US law. What do you think?

Outcome The judge sentenced the man to 5 years probation b/c the judge took cultural relativism into consideration. The judge argued the man brought his culture with him when he came from China.