culture Chapter 3

The Basis of Culture Culture: knowledge, values, customs, and physical objects that are shared by members of a society Society: specific territory inhabited by people who share a common territory

Culture and Heredity Instincts: innate (unlearned) patterns of behavior humans cannot go far on instinct alone humans face more complex issues

Is culture more important than instinct for people? If all women had an instinct for mothering… all women would want children all women would love and protect their children

How does heredity affect behavior? Nature v. Nurture Personality Traits: ½ determined by genetics ½ determined by environmental factors

Reflexes and Drives

Sociobiology Sociobiology: the study of the biological basis of human behavior believe the behaviors that best help people are biologically based and transmitted in the genetic code Criticism:

Language and Culture Symbols, Language & Culture The most powerful symbols are those that make up language

The pen is mightier than ________________. Better safe than _______________. It’s always darkest before _______________. Don’t bite the hand __________________. No news is ________________________. If you lie down with dogs, you’ll __________________. A penny saved is a penny _________________. Children should be seen and not ____________. Better late than ______________. Common Proverbs

Are Language and Culture Related? Language frees us from the limits of time and space!

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Hypothesis of linguistic relativity: our idea of reality depends largely upon language Since languages differ, perceptions differ

What can vocabulary tell you about a culture? When something is important to a society, there are lots of words to describe it

Norms and Values Norms: rules defining appropriate and inappropriate behavior

Folkways Folkways: norms that lack moral significance

Mores Mores: norms that have moral dimensions that should be followed by members of the society

Taboo Taboo: a norm so strong that when violated it calls for strong punishment

Laws Law: a norm that is formally defined and enforced by authorities

Enforcing the Rules Sanctions: rewards and punishment used to encourage people to follow norms

Formal Sanctions Formal Sanctions: sanctions imposed by people given special authority

Informal Sanctions Informal Sanctions: rewards or punishments that can be applied by most members of a group

Values - The Basis of Norms Values: broad ideas about what is good or desirable shared by people in a society

Basic Values of the United States achievement and success activity and work efficiency and practicality equality democracy group superiority

Beliefs and Physical Objects Nonmaterial Culture: ideas, knowledge, and beliefs that influence a people’s behavior

Material Culture: the concrete, tangible objects of a culture

Ideal Culture: cultural guidelines that group members claim to accept

Real Culture: actual behavior patterns of members of a group

Cultural Change discovery Diffusion invention

Cultural Diversity Subculture: group that is part of the dominant culture but that differs from it in some important aspect

Counterculture: a subculture deliberately and consciously opposed to certain central beliefs or attitudes of the dominant culture

Ethnocentrism: judging others in terms of one’s own cultural standards

Cultural Universals: general cultural traits that exist in all cultures

Cultural Particulars: the ways in which a culture expresses universal traits

Why do Cultural Universals exist?