1. CULTURE
The values , beliefs, behavior, and material objects that, together, form a people’s way of life.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

2. What is Culture?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

3. Terminology Nonmaterial culture Material culture
The intangible world of ideas created by members of a society.
Material culture
The tangible things created by members of a society.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

4. Terminology CULTURE SHOCK
DISORIENTATION DUE TO THE INABILITY TO MAKE SENSE OUT OF ONE’S SURROUNDINGS.
ETHNOCENTRISM
A BIASED “CULTURAL YARDSTICK”
JUDGING ANOTHER CULTURE USING THE STANDARDS OF YOUR OWN CULTURE.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
ALTERNATIVE TO ETHNOCENTRISM
JUDGING A CULTURE BY ITS OWN STANDARDS.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

5. Coping with Culture Shock
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

6. Ethnocentrism
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

7. Discussion Question
Culture shock happens even in our own communities as we confront people of other colors, cultures and class positions.
Give me an example of when you (or someone you know) have experienced culture shock.
Have you ever acted in an ethnocentric manner?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

8. Culture & Human Intelligence
Our planet – 4.5 billion years old
Life appeared – 3.5 billion years ago
~65 million years ago primates appeared
250,000 years ago – homo sapiens (Latin – “thinking person”) appeared
40,000 years ago – humans like us roamed Earth
Homo sapiens quickly developed culture.
12,000 years ago – first permanent settlements & specialized occupations appeared in Middle East
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

9. The Elements of Culture
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

10. SYMBOLS
ANYTHING THAT CARRIES A PARTICULAR MEANING RECOGNIZED BY PEOPLE WHO SHARE CULTURE.
REALITY FOR HUMANS IS FOUND IN THE MEANING THINGS CARRY WITH THEM.
THE BASIS OF CULTURE; MAKES LIFE POSSIBLE
PEOPLE MUST BE MINDFUL THAT MEANINGS VARY FROM CULTURE TO CULTURE.
WHY AMERICANS ARE AT TIMES CALLED “UGLY”
MEANINGS CAN EVEN VARY GREATLY WITHIN THE SAME GROUPS OF PEOPLE.
FUR COATS, CONFEDERATE FLAGS, ETC.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

11. LANGUAGE NON-VERBAL LANGUAGE CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
A SYSTEM OF SYMBOLS THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER.
NON-VERBAL LANGUAGE
BEWARE OF USING GESTURES
CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
The process by which one generation passes culture to the next.
Speech, writing, etc.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

12. Discussion Question What does mean? How do you know?
Do you think it means the same thing across the world?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

13. SAPIR-WHORF THESIS
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf argued - People perceive the world through the cultural lens of language.
Argue that language shapes reality.
Each language has words or expressions not found in any other symbolic system.
Think about words that have negative connotations in our language.
Today, scholars argue against this thesis.
Ex. Children understand “family” before learning the word.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

14. Discussion Question
Does the Sapir-Whorf thesis imply that people have the power to change reality by changing their symbols?
Ex. What happened when people in the US started using words like “African American” rather than “Negro”?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

15. Global Map 3-1 (p. 67) Language in Global Perspective Chinese (including Mandarin, Cantonese, and dozens of other dialects) is the native tongue of one-fifth of the world’s people, almost all of whom live in Asia. Although Chinese people read and write with the same characters, they use several dozen dialects. The “official” dialect, taught in schools throughout the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Taiwan, is Mandarin (the dialect of Beijing, China’s historic capital city). Cantonese, the language of Canton, is the second most common Chinese dialect; it differs in sound from Mandarin roughly the way French differs from Spanish.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

16. Global Map 3-1b (p. 67) English Language in Global Perspective English is the native tongue or official language in several world regions (spoken by one-tenth of humanity) and has become the preferred second language in most of the world.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

17. Global Map 3-1c (p. 67) Spanish Language in Global Perspective The largest concentration of Spanish speakers is in Latin America and, of course, Spain. Spanish is also the second most widely spoken language in the United States. Source: Peters Atlas of the World (1990); updated by the author.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

18. VALUES SUPPORT BELIEFS
VALUES & BELIEFS
VALUES
CULTURALLY DEFINED STANDARDS OF DESIRABILITY, GOODNESS, AND BEAUTY, WHICH SERVE AS BROAD GUIDELINES FOR SOCIAL LIVING.
LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES VALUE SURVIVAL.
HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES VALUE INDIVIDUALISM AND SELF-EXPRESSION.
VALUES SUPPORT BELIEFS
BELIEFS
SPECIFIC STATEMENTS THAT PEOPLE HOLD TO BE TRUE.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

19. Robin Williams’ 10 Widespread Values That Are Central to Our American Way of Life
Equal opportunity
Achievement and success
Material comfort
Activity and work
Practicality and efficiency
Progress
Science
Democracy and free enterprise
Freedom
Racism and group superiority
Are some of these values inconsistent with one another?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

20. NORMS
Rules and expectations by which society guides the behavior of its members.
TYPES
PROSCRIPTIVE
Should nots, prohibited
Acts we should avoid.
PRESCRIPTIVE
Shoulds, prescribed like medicine.
Acts we should do.
Sometimes the norm is universal in a culture.
Ex. Children should behave.
Sometimes the situation determines the norm.
Ex. Applauding
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

21. NORMS: FURTHER BREAKDOWN
MORES
Widely observed and have great moral significance.
Right vs. Wrong
Taboos – strictly forbidden mores
Ex. Incest
FOLKWAYS
Norms for routine and causal interaction.
Right vs. Rude
Ex. Appropriate greetings, proper dress, etc.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

22. SOCIAL CONTROL
Various means by which members of society encourage conformity to norms.
GUILT
A negative judgment we make about ourselves.
SHAME
The painful sense that others disapprove of our actions.
SANCTIONS
Including rewards and punishment.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

23. IDEAL VS. REAL CULTURE IDEAL CULTURE REAL CULTURE
THE WAY THINGS SHOULD BE.
SOCIAL PATTERNS MANDATED BY VALUES AND NORMS.
REAL CULTURE
THE WAY THINGS ACTUALLY OCCUR IN EVERYDAY LIFE.
SOCIAL PATTERNS THAT ONLY APPROXIMATE CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

24. Cultural Diversity: Many Ways of Life in One World
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

25. Cultural Diversity High culture Popular culture
Cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite.
Popular culture
Cultural patterns that are widespread among society’s population.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

26. Cultural Diversity Subculture Counterculture
Cultural patterns set apart some segment of society’s population.
Counterculture
Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society.

27. Sociology, Eleventh Edition

28. National Map 3-1 (p. 78) Language Diversity across the United States Of the 262 million people age five or older in the United States, the 2000 census reports that 47 million (18 percent) speak a language other than English at home. Of these, 60 percent speak Spanish and 15 percent use an Asian language (the Census Bureau lists 29 languages, each of which is favored by more than 100,000 people). The map shows that non-English speakers are concentrated in certain regions of the country. Which ones? What do you think accounts for this pattern?

29. Discussion Question
Should Hispanic children be taught in Spanish or English in US schools?
Surveys suggest that 80% of Hispanic parents favor English instruction.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

30. Discussion Question
Is African American vernacular English a language or a dialect?
Some claim it would be considered a language if its speakers had more power. What do you think?
As linguist Max Weinreich says, “A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” What does this statement mean?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

31. Multiculturalism
An educational program recognizing the cultural diversity of the United States and promoting the equality of all cultural traditions.
Eurocentrism – the dominance of European (especially English) cultural patterns.
Afrocentrism – the dominance of African cultural patterns.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

32. INTERDEPENDENCE CULTURAL INTEGRATION CULTURAL LAG
The close relationships among various elements of a cultural system.
EXAMPLE: COMPUTERS AND CHANGES IN OUR LANGUAGE
CULTURAL LAG
The fact that some cultural elements change more quickly than others, which may disrupt a cultural system.
EXAMPLE: MEDICAL PROCEDURES AND ETHICS
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

33. Discussion Question Cultural lag involves folkways as well as mores.
Is it rude to interrupt a lunchtime chat in a restaurant to take a call on a cell phone? Other examples?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

34. CULTURE CHANGES IN THREE WAYS
INVENTION - creating new cultural elements.
Telephone or airplane
DISCOVERY – recognizing and better understanding something already in existence.
X-rays or DNA
CULTURAL DIFFUSION – the spread of cultural traits from one society to another.
Jazz music or much of the English language
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

35. Theoretical Analysis of Culture
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

36. Theoretical Analysis Structural Functional Critical evaluation
Explains culture as a complex strategy for meeting human needs.
The stability of U.S. society rests on core values shared by most people.
Cultural Universals – traits that are part of every known culture and include:
Family, Funeral Rites & Jokes
Critical evaluation
Ignores cultural diversity and downplays importance of change.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

37. Theoretical Analysis Social-Conflict Critical evaluation
Stresses the link between culture and inequality.
Cultural traits benefit some members at the expense of others.
Approach rooted in Karl Marx and materialism – 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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

38. Theoretical Analysis Sociobiology
A theoretical paradigm that explores ways in which human biology affects how we create culture.
Points out that the sexual "double standard" is found around the world.
Why are men typically more promiscuous?
Why are women typically the one who cares for the infant?
Approach rooted in Charles Darwin and evolution – living organisms change over long periods of time based on natural selection .
Critical evaluation
May be used to support racism or sexism.
Little evidence to support theory, people learn behavior within a cultural system.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

39. Culture and Human Freedom
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

40. Freedom vs. Constraint Culture as constraint
We only know our world in terms of our culture.
Our culture creates alienation.
Culture as freedom
Culture is changing and offers a variety of opportunities.
We aren’t limited to biology.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition

41. Discussion Question
In 1997, two Iraqi brothers, ages 34 & 28, were charged under Nebraska law with the statutory rape of their wives, ages 13 & 14, whom they married according to Muslim law and the customs of their native southern Iraq.
Were the charges appropriate or ethnocentric?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition