Culture Chapter 3 Mr. Schoffstall/Sociology A deeper look into culture… What are the elements of Culture? Learning Target: Recognize different elements of Culture.

Culture What is this cartoon saying?

What Is Culture? Culture refers to the beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that forms a persons way of life. For Example: Clothes, Attitudes, Food, Language, and Religion.

Components of Culture Symbols are defined as anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture. The meaning of the same symbols varies from society to society, within a specific culture.

Cultural Symbols Adinkra are visual symbols, originally created by the Akan of Ghana and the Gyaman of Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa, that represent different concepts.

Two Essential Components Non-Material Culture which are abstract intangible creations of human society. Ex. Ideals, Philosophy, Attitudes Material Culture are tangible products of society. Ex. American Culture = Cars, Cell phones, (HD) television, 5 bedroom homes with three baths, and Money.

American Material Culture

American Material Culture

American Material Culture

American Material Culture

The Role Of Culture The Role Of Culture is critical to our overall development as humans. Culture is a learned aspect of our lives. We are not born with culture. Culture plays an important role on shaping the human personality.

Culture is a learned aspect of our lives! Culture is a learned aspect of our lives. We are not born with culture. Culture plays an important role on shaping the human personality. Many parts of society are directly connected to culture.

Have you ever experienced Culture shock? This occurs when an individual suffers from personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life, or culture. Ex: Food portions, Costco and Sam’s Club Ex: Clothing, language (idioms) Ex: Material culture

What is Culture? Only humans depend on culture rather than instincts to ensure the survival of their kind. Culture is very recent and was a long time in the making. What set humans off on a distinct evolutionary course, making culture their primary survival strategy. The concept of culture ( a shared way of life) must be distinguished from those of nation (a political entity) or society ( the organized interaction of people in a nation or within some other boundary). Many modern societies are multicultural meaning that their people follow various ways of life that blend and sometimes clash.

The Components of Culture Symbols are defined as anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture. The meaning of the same symbols varies from society to society, within single society, and over time. Language is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another.

Components of Culture (continued) Cultural Transmission- the process by which one generation passes culture to the next. Through most of human history, cultural transmission has been accomplished through oral tradition.

Components of Culture (continued) WINDOW ON THE WORLD - Language in Global Perspective. Chinese is the native tongue of 1/5 of the world’s people. English has become the second preferred language in most of the world. Spanish is the preferred second language of the United States.

Components of Culture (continued) Only humans can create complex systems of symbols, but many other cultures have the ability to use symbols in communicating.

Components of Culture (continued) The Sapir-Whorf thesis holds that people perceive the world through the cultural lens of language.

Cultural Standards Values are culturally defined standards by which people judge desirability, goodness, and beauty, ad which serve as broad guidelines for social living Values are broad principles that underlie beliefs, specific statements that people hold to be true.

Sociologist Robin Williams identified 10 key values of U.S. Culture: Equal opportunity Achievement and Success Material comfort Activity and work Practicality and efficiency Progress Science Democracy and free enterprise Freedom Racism and group superiority

Values Values within one society are frequently inconsistent and even opposed to one another. Values and Beliefs are many times strongly influenced by culture.

Who is responsible? CRITICAL THINKING BOX Don’t Blame Me! “The new culture of Victimization.” Americans may be becoming increasingly unwilling to accept personal responsibility for their failings and misfortunes.

Norms Norms- rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members, they may be either proscriptive or prescriptive. All cultures have norms.

Two types of Norms 1. Mores- norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance. 2. Folkways- norms for routine, casual interaction

Sanctions are a central mechanism Social control- various means by which members of a society encourage conformity to norms

Sociologists distinguish between ideal culture, social patterns mandated by cultural values and norms, and real culture, actual social patterns, that only approximate cultural expectations. Real Culture verses Ideal Culture.

Technology - the knowledge that people apply to the task of living in their surroundings. We see many material culture items in American society. Technology – can have a huge impact on culture.

CRITICAL THINKING BOX- Virtual Culture: Is it Good For us CRITICAL THINKING BOX- Virtual Culture: Is it Good For us? Today’s children are bombarded with cultural culture, images that spring from the minds of contemporary culture-makers and that reach them via screen. Some of these cultural icons embody values that shape our way of life. But few of them have any historical reality and almost all have come into being to make money.

Cultural Diversity: Many Ways of Life in One World. The U.S. is the most multicultural of all industrial countries. Japan is the most monocultural of all industrial nations.

High Culture- cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite Popular Culture- designates cultural patterns that are widespread among a society’s population. High culture is not inherently superior to popular culture.

SEEING OURSELVES- What will you have? Popular Beverages Across the U.S. What people consume is one mark of their status as a “highbrow” or “lowbrow.”

Subcultures- cultural patterns that distinguish some segments of a society’s population. They involve not only difference but also hierarchy. Subcultures may times have a different set of norms that separate them from main-stream culture.

Multiculturalism- Is a perspective that recognizes the cultural diversity of the U.S. and the promoting the quality of all cultural traditions. SEEING OURSELVES- Language diversity across the US. The 2000 U.S. Census reports that 18% of people over the age of five speak a language other than English in their home.

Afrocentrism- The dominance of African culture patterns in people’s lives. Eurocentrism- the dominance of European cultural patterns.

Counterculture Refers to cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted with a society. In many cases these countercultures can be violent, but not always. Examples: KKK, Nazi Skin-heads, Hells Angels, Black Panthers, Militant groups, Hippies, TEA Party

Cultural Change Cultural integration- the close relationship among various elements of a cultural system. William Ogburn’s concepts of cultural lag refers to the fact that cultural elements change at different rates, which may disrupt a cultural system. Three phenomena: a. Invention, the process of creating new cultural elements. b. Discovery, rec. and understanding an idea not fully understood before. c. Diffusion, the spread of cultural traits from one cultural system to another.

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity Ethnocentrism- The practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture. Cultural relativism- The practice of judging a culture by its own standards. Many cultures share similar aspects.

Global Culture Three key factors a. Global economy: the flow of goods b. Global communications: the flow of information. c. Global migration: the flow of people.

Three Limitations Global culture is much more advanced in some parts of the world than in others. Many people cannot afford to participate in the material aspects of a global culture. Different people attribute different meanings to various aspects of the global culture.

Cultural Universals Traits that are found in every known culture.Critical Evaluation The strength of the structural-functional analysis is showing how culture operates to meet human needs. The weakness of the structural-functional paradigm is that it ignores cultural diversity and downplays the importance of change