© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Sociology Eleventh Edition Richard T. Schaefer Chapter 3: Culture

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 2 Culture  Culture and Society Culture and Society  Development of Culture Around the World Development of Culture Around the World  Elements of Culture Elements of Culture  Culture and the Dominant Ideology Culture and the Dominant Ideology  Cultural Variation Cultural Variation  Social Policy and Socialization: Bilingualism Social Policy and Socialization: Bilingualism

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 3 Culture and Society  Culture: totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior  Society: largest form of human group Society members learn culture and transmit from generation to generation Simplifies day-to-day interactions Language critical element of culture that sets humans apart from other species

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 4 Cultural Universals  Societies develop common practices Athletic sports Cooking Funeral ceremonies Medicine Sexual restrictions

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 5 Innovation  Innovation: process of introducing new idea or object to a culture Discovery: making known or sharing existence of an aspect of reality Invention: when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 6 Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology  Diffusion: process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society McDonaldization: term coined by George Ritzer to describe how the principles of the fast-food industry in the U.S. have come to dominate more sectors throughout the world  Technology: cultural information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires (Nolan and Lenski 2004:37)

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 7 Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology  Material culture: physical or technological aspects of our daily lives Food items Houses Factories Raw materials

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 8 Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology  Nonmaterial culture: ways of using material objects Customs Beliefs Philosophies Governments Patterns of communication  Culture lag: period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture is struggling to adapt to new material conditions

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 9 Biological Bases of Culture  Sociobiology: systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior Founded on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution  Sociobiology suggests that all behavior is the result of genetic or biological factors Most social scientists agree there is biological basis for social behavior, but there is less support for extreme positions

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 10 Sociology in the Global Community  3-1: Life in the Global Village How are you affected by globalization?  Which aspects of globalization do you find advantageous and which objectionable? How would you feel if the customs and traditions you grew up with were replaced by the culture of values of another country?  How might you try to protect your culture?

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 11 Sociology in the Global Community  3-2 Cultural Survival in Brazil Compare what is happening in Brazil today to the development of the North American West in the 19 th century.  What similarities do you see? What does society lose when indigenous cultures die?

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 12 Figure 3-1: Languages of the World: How Many Do You Speak? Notes: Data include many island nations not included in this map. Only countries with at least 1 million speakers are included in the ranking. Countries with the same number of languages are ranked by highest population first. Source: Erard 2005; R. Gordon 2005.

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 13 Language  Language is foundation for every culture Language: abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture  Speech  Written characters  Numerals  Symbols  Nonverbal gestures and expressions

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 14 Language  Sapir-Whorf hypothesis describes the role of language in shaping our interpretation of reality Language precedes thought Language is not a given Language is culturally determined Language may color how we see world

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 15 Language  Nonverbal Communication Use of gestures, facial expressions, and other visual images to communicate Expressions are learned just as we learn other forms of language Nonverbal communication is not the same in all cultures Such gestures as basic emotional expressions – a smile, a look of horror – may be close to universal

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 16 Figure 3-2: A Timeless Alert

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 17 Norms  Established standards of behavior maintained by a society  To be significant, norms must be widely shared and understood

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 18 Types of Norms  Formal norms: generally written; specify strict punishments  Informal norms: generally understood but not precisely recorded  Mores: norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society  Folkways: norms that govern everyday behavior

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 19 Acceptance of Norms  Behavior that violates norms may adhere to the norms of a particular group Some norms violated because one norm conflicts with another  Norms subject to change as political, economic, and social conditions change  When circumstances require sudden violations of long-standing norms, change can upset an entire population

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 20 Sanctions  Sanctions: penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm Sanctions associated with formal norms tend to be formal as well Fabric of norms and sanctions in a culture reflects that culture’s values and priorities

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 21 Table 3-1: Norms and Sanctions

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 22 Values  Collective conceptions of what is good, desirable, and proper – or bad, undesirable, and improper Influence people’s behavior Criteria for evaluating actions of others Values may change

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 23 Figure 3-3: Life Goals of First-Year College Students in the United States, Sources: UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, as reported in Astin et al. 1994; Pryor et al

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 24 Culture and the Dominant Ideology  Dominant ideology: cultural beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests Conflict theorists believe most powerful groups and institutions control the means of producing beliefs through religion, education, and media Those with power control the media, so we can gain insight into their values by studying media content

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 25 Sociology on Campus  3-3: A Culture of Cheating? Do you know anyone who has engaged in Internet plagiarism?  What about cheating on tests or falsifying laboratory results?  If so, how did the person justify these forms of dishonesty? Even if cheaters aren’t caught, what are the negative effects of their academic dishonesty?

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 26 Case Study: Culture at Wal-Mart  Wal-Mart is world’s 14 th largest economy Some question its policies  Pulled out of Germany in 2006 in part because it failed to adjust to the national culture  Earlier sold its facilities in South Korea due to cultural differences  Businesses must consider local cultures as they expand into new countries

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 27 Aspects of Cultural Variation  Each culture has unique character Subculture: Segment of society that shares distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the larger society Argot: specialized language that distinguishes a subculture from the wider society

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 28 Aspects of Cultural Variation  Counterculture: subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture Hippies Terrorist cells  Culture shock: feeling disoriented, uncertain, out of place, or fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 29 Figure 3-4: A Palestinian World View Source: Fellmann et al. 2007:76.

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 30 Attitudes toward Cultural Variation  Ethnocentrism: tendency to assume one’s own culture and way of life represent norm or is superior to all others  Cultural relativism: people’s behaviors from the perspective of their own culture

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 31 Table 3-2: Major Sociological Perspectives on Culture

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 32 Bilingualism  The Issue Bilingualism: use of two or more languages in a particular setting, such as the workplace or schoolroom Program of bilingual education instructs children in native language while gradually introducing the language of the host society To what degree should schools in the U.S. present the curriculum in a language other than English?

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 33 Bilingualism  The Setting Languages know no political boundaries Minority languages common in many nations Schools throughout the world must deal with incoming students speaking many languages Review of research found that students offered lessons in English and their home languages make better progress than similar children only taught in English

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 34 Bilingualism  Sociological Insights For a long time, people in the United States demanded conformity to a single language Seemed to assist non-English speaking people to learn English and function more effectively within the society Many challenges to programs stem from ethnocentric point of view

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 35 Bilingualism  Policy Initiatives Bilingualism has policy implications in efforts to maintain language purity and programs to enhance bilingual education Nations vary dramatically in tolerance for a variety of languages Policymakers in U.S. somewhat ambivalent in issue of bilingualism  As of 2007, 28 states declared English their official language

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Slide 36 Figure 3-5: Non-English Speakers at Home Note: Data are from 2000 Census for people 5 years and over. National average was 17.9 percent. Source: Shin and Bruno 2003:8.