1. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Culture 3 2 nd edition Sociology in Modules Richard T. Schaefer

2. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 2 What Is Culture? Culture: Totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior –Includes ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people

3. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 3 Culture and Society Society is the largest form of human group –Common culture simplifies day-to-day interactions –Culture influences human behavior –Adorno: culture industry – force that standardizes the goods and services demanded by consumers—limits people choices

4. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 4 Cultural Universals Cultural universal: certain common practices and beliefs that all societies have developed –Many adaptations to meet essential human needs –Murdoch listed cultural universals but they are expressed differently from culture to culture

5. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 5 Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism: Tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represents the norm or is superior to others –Our view of the world is dramatically influenced by the society in which we were raised

6. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 6 Cultural relativism: People’s behaviors from the perspective of their own culture –Different social contexts give rise to different norms and values

7. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 7 Sociobiology and Culture Sociobiology: Systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior –Founded on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution –most social scientists would agree there is a biological basis for social behavior

8. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 8 Figure 9-1: Countries with High Child Marriage Rates Source: UNICEF 2010.

9. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 9 Sociology in the Global Community 3-1: Life in the Global Village –How are you affected by globalization? Which aspects of globalization do you find advantageous and which objectionable? –How would you feel if the customs and traditions you grew up with were replaced by the culture or values of another country? How might you try to protect your culture?

10. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 10 Development of Culture around the World Innovation: process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture –Discovery: Making known or sharing existence of an aspect of reality –Invention: Existing cultural items combined into form that did not exist before

11. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 11 Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology Diffusion: Process by which cultural item spreads from group to group –McDonaldization: Process through which principles of fast-food industry dominate certain sectors of society –Technology: Information about how to use material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires (Nolan and Lenski)

12. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 12 Material culture: Physical or technological aspects of daily lives Nonmaterial culture: Ways of using material objects Culture lag: Period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture struggles to adapt to new material conditions Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology

13. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 13 Sociology in the Global Community 3-2: Cultural Survival in Brazil –Compare the frontier in Brazil today to the American West in the 1800s. What similarities do you see? –What does society lose when indigenous cultures die?

14. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 14 Innovation Innovation: The process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture Discovery: Involves making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. Invention: Results when existing cultural items are combined intro a form that did not exist before.

15. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 15 Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology Diffusion: Refers to the process by which a cultural item spreads from group or society to society. McDonalization of Society: Term used by George Ritzer to describe how the principles of fast-food restaurants have come to dominate more and more sectors of society throughout the world.

16. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 16 Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology Technology: Defined by Gerhard Lenski as “Cultural information about the ways in which the material resources of the environment may be used to satisfy human needs and desires.”

17. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 17 Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology Material culture: Physical or technological aspects of our daily lives, including food, houses, factories, and raw materials. Nonmaterial culture: Refers to ways of using material objects, as well as to customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication. Culture lag: The period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions.

18. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 18 Global Culture War Culture war: Polarization of society over controversial cultural elements –In 1990s, referred to political debates over abortion, religious expression, gun control, and sexual orientation –After U.S. established military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign opinion of U.S. became quite negative

19. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 19 Sociology on Campus 3-4: A Culture of Cheating? –If you know anyone who has engaged in Internet plagiarism, cheating on tests or falsifying laboratory results, how did the person justify these forms of dishonesty? –What negative effects does cheaters’ academic dishonesty have on them? What effects does it have on students who are honest? Could an entire college or university suffer from students’ dishonesty?

20. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 20 Culture and the Dominant Ideology Dominant ideology: Set of cultural beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful interests, including: –Social interests –Economic interests –Political interests Conflict perspective: dominant ideology has major social significance Growing number of social scientists believe it is not easy to identify a core culture in U.S.

21. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 21 Table 3-2: Sociological Perspectives on Culture

22. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 22 Figure 3-3: Valuing Ethnicity by Country Source: Council on Foreign Relations 2009.

23. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 23 Case Study: Culture at Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is one of the largest corporations in the world –World’s 14th largest economy –Opponents criticize its low pay rates, lack of health care, lack of commitment to equal opportunity South Korea did not like warehouse approach Pulled out of Germany, due in part to its failure to adjust to the national culture

24. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 24 Bilingualism Looking at the Issue –Bilingualism: Use of two or more languages in a particular setting –Bilingual education may instruct children in their native language while gradually introducing the language of the host society

25. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 25 Bilingualism Looking at the Issue –Bureau of the Census: about 20% of population spoke a language other than English as their primary language at home in 2008 –Bilingual programs vary widely so difficult to measure their success

26. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 26 Bilingualism Applying Sociology –For long time, people in U. S. demanded conformity to a single language –Recent decades have seen challenges to pattern of forced obedience to the dominant ideology –Often ignore fact that Bilingual education programs may have beneficial results

27. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 27 Bilingualism Initiating Policy –Bilingualism has policy implications in efforts to maintain language purity and programs to enhance bilingual education –Nations vary dramatically in tolerance –Public concern over potential decline in use of English appears to be overblown

28. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 28 Figure 3-4: Percentage of People Who Speak a Language Other Than English at Home, by State Source: American Community Survey 2010:Table R1601.