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Sociology Mrs. Chambers
Chapter 2 Culture Sociology Mrs. Chambers
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What is Culture ? Culture is defined as the language, beliefs, values, norms behaviors and even material passed from one generation to another
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Material v Non Material
Material culture includes Jewelry Art Buildings Weapons Machines Clothing hairstyles Non material culture – a group’s way of thinking (beliefs, values and assumptions) Common patterns of behavior (language, gestures, forms of interaction
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Culture Provides a taken for granted orientation to life
Culture becomes our lens Our own culture is normal or natural Implicit instructions, moral imperatives Internalizing culture - ethnocentrism
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Culture Shock Coming into contact with a radically different culture produces “culture shock” challenging our basic assumptions about life
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Culture Shock
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Cultural Relativism Trying to appreciate other groups way of life in the context in which they exist
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Robert Edgerton We should develop a scale to evaluate cultures
Cultural practices that result in exploitation should be judged morally inferior to those that enhance peoples lives
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Components of Symbolic Culture
Symbol – something to which people attach meaning, that people use to communicate Symbols include language, gestures, values, norms, sanctions, folkways and mores
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Definitions related to symbolic culture
Norms expectations or rules of behavior Sanctions positive or negative reactions to how people follow norms Folkways norms not strictly enforced Mores norms that are essential, we insist on compliance
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Folkways and mores are different types of norms
Folkway – holding the door for others Failure to do so results in mild negative sanctions – dirty look, sucking teeth etc Mores are critical to maintaining values of a culture Someone who rapes, murders, steals will meet with formal sanctions
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Norms, folkways and mores vary
What is a folkway to one group is a more to another A man walking around without a shirt may be violating a folkway, a woman doing the same is violating a more Context of the behavior is often critical
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Taboos Norms so strongly ingrained that even the thought of them is greeted with revulsion Cannibalism Incest
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Subcultures Groups whose values and related behaviors set them apart from the dominant culture Members are distinctive but remain compatible with mainstream culture US has thousands Ethnic groups, body builders, occupations, even age groups
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Countercultures Groups whose values set their members in opposition to dominant culture Negative – Satanism other groups that promote cruelty Challenge core values – Mormonism and Islam both challenge the core value of monogamy
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Roman Catholicism Are devout, practicing Roman Catholics members of a subculture or a counterculture ? What subcultures are you a part of ? Are you countercultural ? Would you like to be ?
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Values in U.S. society Identifying core values in the US is difficult because of pluralism Williams identified several core values held by the majority of Americans Achievement and success individualism Activity and work - efficiency Science & tech - progress Material comfort - humanitarianism Freedom, democracy, equality
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Core Values In addition to the values identified by Williams, Henslin added Education Religiosity Romantic love (esp as a basis for marriage) Monogamy
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Value Clusters Values are not independent units
Related core values come together around a larger whole Success
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Values : Conflict and Revision
We cannot hold conflicting values for long Democracy, racism, sexism Values change over time Emergent values today include leisure, physical fitness, self-fulfillment, concern for the environment
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Core Values Core Values do not change without meeting strong resistance Today’s clash of values is so severe it is referred to as a Culture war
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Ideal vs Real Culture Ideal culture refers to the norms and values we would follow in a perfect world or the values we claim to hold Real culture refers how people actually behave, the values we reflect and our actual behavior
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Technology and Culture
Central to material culture is its technology. In its simplest terms this refers to tools. In a broader sense this can refer to skills and procedures to make and use tools
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Cultural Lag William Ogburn first used the term cultural lag to refer to situations where not all parts of the culture changed at the same pace. Material culture generally changes first, non material culture lags behind We hold onto forms that were once needed but are now superfluous Example hand written thank you notes
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Cultural Diffusion Transmission of cultural characteristics
Material culture in more likely to be transmitted and adopted than non material culture Occurs more rapidly today because communication and travel
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wonder girls Korean pop
Cultural Leveling wonder girls Korean pop
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