1. Slides Created and Designed by Apple Mountain Software, Inc.
Sociology In Our Times
Diana Kendall
Chapter 3:
Culture
Slides Created and Designed by
Apple Mountain Software, Inc.

2. DEFINITION OF CULTURE
Culture is the Knowledge, Language, Values, Customs, and Material Objects That Are Passed From Person to Person and From One Generation To The Next In a Human Group or Society.

3. THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE
CULTURE SIMPLIFIES OUR DAY-TO-DAY INTERACTIONS
CULTURE MEETS OUR NEEDS
CULTURE DETERMINS HOW WE THINK AND ACT
CULTURE IS LEARNED
CULTURE IS THE “TAKEN FOR GRANTED”

4. MATERIAL AND NON-MATERIAL CULTURE
PHYSICAL OR TANGIBLE CREATIONS
NON-MATERIAL CULTURE:
ABSTRACT OR INTANGIBLE CREATIONS

5. COMPONENTS of CULTURE
SYMBOLS
FOUR
COMMON
NON-MATERIAL
Cultural
Components
LANGUAGE
VALUES
NORMS

6. Progress and Material Comfort
CORE AMERICAN VALUES
Progress and Material Comfort
Science and
Technology
Activity and
Work
Achievement
and Success
INDIVIDUALISM
Racism and Group
Superiority
Freedom
and Liberty
Morality and
Humanitarianism
Equality
Efficiency and
Practicality 10
Core
American
Values

7. NORMS CIVIL LAW FORMAL NORMS CRIMINAL LAW FOLKWAYS INFORMAL NORMS
Prescriptive
and
Proscriptive
Norms
CRIMINAL LAW
FOLKWAYS
INFORMAL
NORMS
MORES
TABOOS

8. POPULAR CULTURE
Popular Culture Consists of Activities, Products, and Services That Are Assumed To Appeal Primarily To Members of the Middle and Working Classes.

9. POPULAR CULTURE 1. DIFFERENT FROM “HIGH CULTURE” 2. PIERRE BOURDIEU’S
“CULTURAL CAPITAL”
3. FUNCTIONALIST VIEW:
POPULAR CULTURE IS GLUE THAT
HOLDS SOCIETY TOGETHER
4. CONFLICT VIEW: POPULAR CULTURE IS
CREATED BY CORPORATIONS

10. The Process of Reshaping Existing Cultural Items Into A New Form
Cultural Change
CONCEPT
DEFINITION
Discovery
The Process of Learning About Something Previously Unknown or Unrecognized
Invention
The Process of Reshaping Existing Cultural Items Into A New Form
Diffusion
The Transmission of Cultural Items or Social Practices From One Group or Society to Another
Cultural Lag
A GAP BETWEEN THE TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT OF A SOCIETY AND ITS MORAL AND LEGAL INSTITUTIONS

11. ISSUES IN CULTURE 1. CULTURAL DIVERSITY RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES
SUBCULTURES
COUNTER CULTURES
2. ETHNOCENTRISM
3. CULTURAL RELATIVISM

14. RACE AND ETHNIC DISTRIBUTION IN THE U.S.
74.80%
White
African
American
11.88%
9.50%
Latino
3.09%
ASIAN/PACIFIC
ISLANDERS
American
Indian
0.73%

15. SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW OF CULTURE
1. FUNCTIONALIST
COMMON LANGUAGE & VALUES
NEEDED FOR STABLE SOCIETY
2. CONFLICT
VALUES AND NORMS IMPOSED BY
DOMINANT GROUP
3. INTERACTIONIST
NORMS & VALUES NEGOTIATED

16. Sociological Analysis of Culture
Analysis Level
Nature of Culture
Functionalist
Macro
Helps Meet Biological, Instrumental, and Integrative Needs
Conflict
Macro
Values and Norms Create False Consciousness to Dominate Masses and Maintain Privileges for Few
Interactionist
Micro
Continually Negotiated Through Symbolic Communication and Definition of Situations