Culture

 Culture ◦ The beliefs, values, behaviors and material objects that, together, form a people’s way of life  Material Culture ◦ The tangible products of human society.  Homes, neighborhoods, technology  Nonmaterial culture ◦ The intangible world of ideas created by members of a society  Rules, norms, behaviors © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Culture shock ◦ Disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life.  Foreign travel, moving to a new school © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Only humans depend on culture rather than instincts to ensure the survival of their kind. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Symbols ◦ Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture  Societies create new symbols all the time.  Reality for humans is found in the meaning things carry with them ◦ The basis of culture; makes social life possible © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 People must be mindful that meanings vary from culture to culture.  Meanings can even vary greatly within the same groups of people. ◦ Fur coats, Confederate flags, etc. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Language A system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another  Cultural transmission ◦ One generation passes culture to the next. Historically it has been accomplished through oral tradition.  Sapir-Whorf thesis ◦ People perceive the world through the cultural lens of language © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Values ◦ Broad guidelines for social living; values support beliefs; culturally defined standards  Of desirability, goodness, & beauty  Beliefs ◦ Specific statements people hold to be true ◦ Matters individuals consider to be true or false © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Equal opportunity  Achievement and success  Material comfort  Activity and work  Practicality and efficiency © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Progress  Science  Democracy and free enterprise  Freedom  Racism and group superiority © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Williams's list includes examples of value clusters  Sometimes one key cultural value contradicts another  Value conflict causes strain  Values change over time © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Cultures have their own values  Lower-income nations have cultures that value survival  Higher-income countries have cultures that value individualism & self-expression © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Norms ◦ Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members.  Types ◦ Proscriptive  Should-nots, prohibited, Don’t Litter, Don’t Drink and Drive ◦ Prescriptive  Shoulds, prescribed like medicine, Drink your milk, Exercise regularly © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Mores and Folkways ◦ Mores (pronounced "more-rays")  Widely observed and have great moral significance, stealing, public nudity, incest ◦ Folkways  Norms for routine and casual interaction, Holding the door open for someone, saying Bless You after some one sneezes © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Social Control ◦ Attempts by society to regulate people’s thoughts and behavior  Guilt ◦ A negative judgment we make about ourselves  Shame ◦ The painful sense that others disapprove of our actions © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Ideal culture ◦ The way things should be ◦ Social patterns mandated by values & norms  Real culture ◦ Way things actually occur in everyday life ◦ Social patterns that only approximate cultural expectations Example: Declaration of Independence © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Culture includes a wide range of physical human creations or artifacts.  A society's artifacts partly reflect underlying cultural values.  Material culture also reflects a society's technology or knowledge that people use ◦ To make a way of life in their surroundings © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 High culture–Cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite. ◦ Examples include classical music, opera, classical literature (Shakespeare)  Popular culture–Cultural patterns that are widespread among society’s population ◦ Examples include rap music, comic books, reality TV shows © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Subculture–Cultural patterns that set apart some segment of society’s population ◦ Example: Teenagers  Counterculture–Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society ◦ Hippies, KKK, Punk Rockers © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 An educational program recognizing the cultural diversity of the United States ◦ Promoting the equality of all cultural traditions  Eurocentrism–The dominance of European (esp. English) cultural patterns  Afrocentrism–The dominance of African cultural patterns © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Culture lag ◦ Some cultural elements change more quickly than others; might disrupt a cultural system  Example: Medical procedures and ethics © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Invention–Creating new cultural elements ◦ Telephone or airplane  Discovery–Recognizing and better understanding something already existing ◦ X-rays or DNA  Diffusion–Spread of cultural traits ◦ Jazz music or much of the English language © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 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  Example includes muslim women wearing head scarves in secular France © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 The Basic Thesis ◦ The flow of goods–Material product trading has never been as important. ◦ The flow of information–Few places left where worldwide communication isn’t possible ◦ Flow of people–Knowledge means people learn about places where life might be better © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Limitations to the thesis ◦ Global culture is much more advanced in some parts of the world. It is uneven. ◦ 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. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Structural-functional ◦ Culture is a strategy for meeting human needs ◦ Cultural universals–Traits part of every known culture; family, funeral rites, jokes  Evaluate ◦ Ignores cultural diversity; downplays importance of change

 Social-conflict ◦ Cultural traits benefit some members at the expense of others ◦ Rooted in Karl Marx & materialism © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

◦ Society’s system of material production has a powerful effect on the rest of a culture  Critical evaluation ◦ Understates the ways cultural patterns integrate members into society © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Sociobiology ◦ Theoretical approach that explores ways in which human biology affects how we create culture ◦ Approach rooted in Charles Darwin and evolution © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

◦ Living organisms change over long periods of time based on natural selection  Critical evaluation ◦ Might be used to support racism or sexism ◦ Little evidence to support theory; people learn behavior within a cultural system © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Culture as constraint ◦ We know our world in terms of our culture  Culture as freedom ◦ Culture is changing and offers a variety of opportunities ◦ Sociologists share the goal of learning more about cultural diversity © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.