Symbolic Culture Components

Symbols Sociologists: refer to nonmaterial culture as symbolic culture; component of nonmaterial culture is the symbols that people use. Symbols –Gestures, languages, values, norms, sanctions, folkways, and mores.

Gestures Involve the ways in which people use their bodies to communicate with one another. May include everything from hand movements to facial expressions. Different from culture to culture. –Raising middle finger different meaning through out the world. –Facilitates communication but can lead to embarrassment and misunderstanding if used inappropriately. Figure 2.1 Gestures to Indicate Height, Southern Mexico

Language Primary way people communicate: system of symbols that can be strung together in an infinite number of ways. As with gestures, meaning varies from one culture to another. Language is the basis of culture!

Sanctions Sanctions: expressions of approval or disapproval given to people for upholding or violating norms. –Positive or negative –Positive: approving looks and gestures to material rewards –Negative: disapproval looks and gestures to fines, imprisonment, and extreme cases execution. Intensity or severity depends on how crucial or not so crucial the group views the norm

Cultural Universals Cultural Universal: a value, norm, or other cultural trait that is found in every group Sociologists have determined that although such activities (marriage, funerals, music, etc.) are present in all cultures, the specific customs differ from one group to another. No universal form of the family etc.

Cultural Variations What cultural variations (differences) exist in our American culture? Subcultures: a goup with its own unique values, norms and behaviors. –Teenagers, ethnic groups, motorcycle enthusiasts Countercultures: A subculture who rejects values, norms, and practices of the larger society and replaces it with a new set of cultural patterns. –Satanists, motorcycle gangs and the mafia.