1. Unit 2: Culture and Society
Sociology
Unit 2: Culture and Society

2. Unit 2 Overview
Unit EQ:
How are culture and society related to human interaction?
You will need to be able to “Do” the following:
Define the key components of a culture.
Explain the difference between culture and society. 
Generate examples of cultures and societies, and various sub-types of groups and formal organizations.
Know the difference between various types of norms and be able to generate examples.

3. Culture consists of all the shared products of human groups.
You will need to be able to “Understand” the following:
Culture consists of all the shared products of human groups.
All cultures are made up of the same five basics components. (technology, symbols, language, values, and norms) 
There are certain core values that the vast majority of Americans share

4. Culture Vocabulary EQ: 1. What are the basic components of culture?
2. How does cultural change occur?
Vocabulary
Culture
Society
Values
Norms
Folkways
Mores
Laws
Cultural universals
Subculture
Counterculture
Ethnocentrism
Cultural relativism
Cultural diffusion
Lessons

5. Lesson 1: Components of Culture
Activator:
What is culture?
What are the different components of culture?

6. Culture
Society and Culture are NOT interchangeable
Society consists of people
Culture consists of shared products of human groups.
Material Culture: physical objects that a culture creates
Nonmaterial Culture: Abstract human creations.
Assignment: In pairs, come up with 5 examples of each type of culture. Write your responses.

7. Material Culture
Automobiles
Books
Buildings
Clothing

8. Nonmaterial (Symbolic) Culture
Beliefs
Family patterns
Ideas
Language
Political and economic systems

9. The Five Components of Culture
Norms
Technology
Values
The Five Components of Culture
Language
Symbols

10. Assignment: Describe these four components of culture
Assignment: Describe these four components of culture. In addition, relate the term to your own culture through examples.
Technology
Symbols
4 Components of
Culture
Language
Values

11. Language
Symbols combined in infinite ways for the purpose of communicating abstract thought
Language allows culture to exist
Language frees people from immediate experiences
Allows shared past
Allows shared future
Allows shared perspectives
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: language shapes thought

12. International Gestures Quiz
Think you know what it means to give a high five in Honduras or a thumbs-up in Thailand? Test your body language IQ to find out if you’re culturally savvy.
1. How would you let a French person know he’s boring you to tears?
a. pat your mouth and let out a giant yawn
b. mime playing an imaginary flute
c. push your nose with your middle and index fingers
2. Your Puerto Rican friend wiggles her nose at you. What’s she saying?
a. “What’s going on?”
b. “I smell a rat—literally.”
c. “My nose itches!”
3. Which gesture is considered offensive in Egypt?
a. using the right hand for eating
b. showing someone the sole of your shoe
c. walking hand in hand with someone
A NSWERS: 1. b; 2. a; 3. b

13. Norms
Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations.
Groups use Norms to enforce cultural values
Expectations for behavior, not actual behavior
Some norms apply to everyone in society, others to select groups
Assignment:
In groups, come up with 5 examples of a norm. Write your responses on the board.

14. Types of Norms Folkways
Norms that describe socially acceptable behavior but do not have moral significance attached to them.
Failure to follow results in minor punishment or reprimand
Some non-conformity to Folkways is permitted because it does not endanger society.
Mores
Great moral significance is attached to them
Societies establish punishments for violating in order to protect social well-being
Serious mores are formalized as laws
Taboos
The most important norms
Violation brings revulsion
Assignment: Classify your examples as folkways, mores or taboos

15. Sanctions
Expressions of approval or disapproval given to people upholding or violating norms
May be positive or negative
May be formal or informal
Assignment: With a partner, come up with two examples of each kind of sanction

16. Group Assignment
Your group should pick a situation, place, or event and identify the norms.
Create a 1-2 minute skit which shows a violation of norms (both folkways and mores) and its consequences
Perform the skit

17. Lesson 4: Value System
One of the 5 components of culture is values. Values are defined as shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable.
Values that are central to a culture are called core values.
With a partner, brainstorm a list of 10 things you regard as Core American values.

18. American Values: A Pictorial
What values are reflected in these images?

19. The American Value System
Descriptions/Examples
Personal Achievement
Progress and Material Comfort
Work
Individualism
Efficiency and Practicality
Morality and Humanitarianism
Equality and Democracy
Freedom

20. Personal Achievement
Doing Well at school and at work is important. Gaining wealth and prestige is a sign of success.

21. Progress and Material Comfort
History is marked by ongoing progress, and this progress improves people’s lives.

22. Work
Discipline, dedication, and hard work are signs of virtue

23. Individualism
Hard work, initiative, and individual effort are the keys to personal achievement.

24. Efficiency and Practicality
Every problem can be solved through efficiency and practicality. Getting things done well in the shortest time is very important.

25. Morality and Humanitarianism
Judgments should be based on a sense of right and wrong. This sense of morality also involves helping the less fortunate.

26. Equality and Democracy
Everyone should have an equal chance at success and the right to participate freely in government.

27. Freedom
Personal freedoms, such as freedom of religion, speech, and the press, are central to the American way of life

28. American Values: Assignment
Using your notes on the values of American society and a graphic organizer like this one, decide whether each value reflects practical concerns, idealistic goals, or a little of both

29. Value Systems Vocabulary EQ: How have our values changed?
Self-fulfillment
Narcissism
2 Lessons

30. New Values: Narcissism
Narcissism: the feeling of extreme self-centeredness

31. EQ: 1. What are the basic components of cultural variation?
Vocabulary
Cultural universals
Subculture
Counterculture
Ethnocentrism
Cultural relativism
Cultural diffusion
Lessons

32. Cultural Universals
Cultural Universals: features evident in all cultures
What are some features that all cultures have?
(Try and Guess 7)

33. Cultural Universals Cultural Universal Examples Arts and Leisure
Athletic sports, dancing, decorative art, games, music
Basic Needs
Clothing, cooking, housing
Beliefs
Body adornment, folklore, funeral rites, religious ritual
Communication and Education
Education, language, greetings
Family
Courtship, kin groups, marriage
Government and Economy
Calendar, division of labor, government, law, property rights, status differentiation, trade
Technology
Medicine, toolmaking

34. Cultural Variations: Assignment
Read with a Purpose: Using the material on p in your textbook, answer the following question: What is the difference between a subculture and counter culture?
Identify an example of each. (In addition to what can be found in the reading)
Share in cooperative groups

35. Cultural Variations: Subculture
Subculture: Groups that share values, norms, and behaviors that are not shared by the entire population.

36. Cultural Variations: Counterculture
Counterculture: Groups that reject the major values, norms, and behaviors that are practiced by the larger society

37. Response to Variation
Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one's own culture and group as superior to all other cultures and groups
Cultural relativism: a belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards

38. How is this political cartoon a reflection of ethnocentrism?

39. Cultural Change
Cultural diffusion: the process of spreading cultural traits from one society to another
Cultural leveling: the process through which cultures become more and more alike
How does globalization contribute to this trend?

41. Values: Assignment
1. In a written response, explain how YOLO is a reflection of a value system based in narcissism and self fulfillment. 2. When directed, discuss your responses in assigned groups.