CULTURAL DIVERSITY

CULTURE: All the shared products Of human groups MATERIAL CULTURE: Physical objects that People create and use NONMATERIAL CULTURE: Abstract human creations EXAMPLES:

 Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior.  Culture includes the ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people.  Material vs Non-Material Culture

 Material culture: refers to the physical or technological aspects of our daily lives  food, houses, factories, raw materials, tools  Non-Material culture: refers to the ways of using material objects as well as to…  Customs, beliefs, government, patterns of communication, philosophies, laws

 Technology  Symbols  Language  Values  Norms

 Technology : involves the objects AND the acceptable usage.

 Symbols : anything that represents something else.

 Language  Language: the organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system.  It includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols, and gestures and expressions of nonverbal communication.  Language is learned (critical period)

 Language – (gestures)

 Values  Values : our collective conceptions of what is good, desirable, and proper–or bad, undesirable, and improper– in a culture.  Values influence people’s behavior.  Values are criteria for evaluating actions of others.

 Norms  Norms : established standards of behavior maintained by a society.  Types of Norms  Folkways  Mores  Laws

 Imagine what American society would be like if there were no shared culture and the 5 components of culture didn’t exist.  Create a comic strip that illustrates what society would be like without a shared culture. Describe a society without the 5 components of culture.

 Cultural Universals:  Common practices and beliefs that are seen in all societies around the globe.  Cultural universals change over time and from one society to another. Continued...

 Cultural Universals, some examples…  George Murdoch (1945)  Athletic Sports  Cooking  Funeral Ceremonies  Medicine  Dancing among others...

 Role of “ isolation ” Europe vs Africa

 Early explorers vs Native populations  Shy people vs outgoing people  Poor family vs Wealthier family  Early Japan vs Early China  History of Irish Americans  US “Achievement Gap”

 Attitudes Toward Cultural Variation  Ethnocentrism refers to the assumption that one’s own culture represents the norm or is superior to all others.  Cultural relativism views people’s behaviors from the perspective of their own culture.  Xenocentrism opposite of ethnocentrism ; it is the belief that the products, styles, or ideas of another society are better than those from your own society.

 Aspects of Cultural Variation  Subculture: is a segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the larger society.  A subculture is a culture existing within a larger, dominant culture.

 Aspects of Cultural Variation  Counterculture: created when a subculture conspicuously (obviously) and deliberately opposes many or all aspects of the larger culture.

 In your groups, identify examples of the following items that you have seen in popular culture (e.g. tv shows, movies, music, YouTube, etc.):  Cultural universals  Ethnocentrism  Xenocentrism  Subculture  Counterculture  Provide a justification for each example. Be prepared to share your examples with the class!