1. Cultural Diversity and Similarity
Sociology: Chapter 3, Section 5

2. Section Preview Cultures change according to three major processes
Cultures have groups within them called subcultures and countercultures that differ in important ways from the main culture
People tend to make judgments based on the values from their own culture
While they may be different on the surface, all cultures have common traits called cultural universals

3. Cultural Change
While cultures are relatively stable, they do experience change
Your grandparents probably remember life before there was TV, your parents never ed friends or used cell phones when they were teens, women didn’t work outside the home, interracial dating was rare

4. Cultural change can be uncomfortable for those who are used to living life a certain way

5. Why does Culture Change?
Culture changes for three reasons:
Discovery– finding something that already existed
The United States is discovering the previously unrecognized athletic ability of females
Invention– the creation of something new
Science has created the automobile and the iPod
Diffusion– the borrowing of aspects of culture from other cultures
Food is rapidly spread throughout many cultures– tacos, pizza, and hamburgers are popular in many cultures
Japan adopted democracy and capitalism after World War II

6. Culture has changed from simple to more complex ideas
(Acephalous means lacking a head, or a chief)

7. Cultural Diversity
Diversity in a culture comes from social categories, groups within a culture that share a particular characteristic like age, gender or religion
All males between the ages of forms a social category within a culture

8. This group is culturally diverse, because they share a particular characteristic (the same age), but they come from various social categories regarding gender and ethnicity

9. Subcultures and Countercultures
Cultural diversity also comes from groups that differ from the main culture.
People in these groups may eat, work and dress like others in the main culture, but they differ in some key ways that sets them apart from that culture.
These groups are known as subcultures and countercultures

10. Subculture Subcultures are mini-cultures within the larger culture
Chinatowns have developed in several bigger cities. These areas resemble Chinese traditional ways of life, while still being in the United States
Other nationalities are represented by ghettos in larger cities
Other examples of subcultures could be youth, circus performers, musicians, or mental patients

11. Chinatown in New York City

12. Counterculture
A counterculture is a subculture deliberately and conspicuously opposed to certain aspects of the larger culture
The counterculture can only be understood within the context of that opposition
Hippie, punk and Goth movements among teens were fairly prominent countercultures from the 1960s- 1990s

13. Youth have always provided some of our counterculture
Hippies 1960s
Greasers 1950s
Flappers 1920s
Punk 1970s
Goth 1990s
Gangsta 2000s

14. Ethnocentrism
Once people learn their culture, they tend to become strongly committed to it, even to the point of not being able to imagine another way of life
They may judge others in terms of their own cultural standards. This is known as ethnocentrism.

15. Many cultures, including Americans, can be ethnocentric and believe the world revolves around them
wimps
communists
kangaroos

16. It can even come from a sub-culture to the larger culture

17. Examples of Ethnocentrism
The Olympics is more than an athletic contest. It’s a chance to prove that your country/ way of life is the best
Regional rivalries occur within the United States
Texans think that everything there is the biggest and best
University Prep fights Riverside Prep in every sport every year

18. When Regional Rivalries Get Out of Hand
In the 1990’s, the argument about which coast had the better rap music got out of hand when Tupac Shakur from the West Coast and then Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G.) from the East Coast were gunned down by their rivals.
When Regional Rivalries Get Out of Hand

19. Does Ethnocentrism Help or Hurt?
Advantages
Disadvantages
People feel good about themselves and others in their group when what they are doing is superior
Stability is promoted, as traditions are highly valued
Could prevent change for the better
Chinese built a wall to keep invaders and ideas out
Racial ethnocentrism has led to violence; the most extreme example being Hitler’s Final Solution

20. Cultural Universals
It may seem that different cultures have little in common, the fact is that there are many common cultural traits
Researchers have identified over seventy cultural universals
Some of these are religions, holidays, families, governments, alphabets, music, words, education, dancing, food, and shelter

21. While the particulars may vary from culture to culture, there are many basic customs important to all cultures

22. Cultural Universals
Cultural universals may be expressed differently between cultures
These different ways are called cultural particulars
One cultural universal is caring for children
In the United States, women have traditionally cared for the children while men have worked outside the home (although this is changing)
While in New Guinea, the men are completely in charge of taking care of children.
Other cultures share these duties equally (i.e. Pygmies, Navajo, etc.)

23. Cultural Universals
Cultural universals exist because we are all human and we need to survive
Children must be born and cared for, and some sort of family structure must exist
People die, so there must be funeral rites, mourning, and inheritance
Because we eat, there must be cooking
But we may just go about these universals in our own particular way

24. Assessment
Complete the five questions on page 102