1. Introduction to Sociology SOC-101
Unit 3 - Culture

2. What Is Culture? Culture Society
The values, beliefs, behavior, language and material objects that are passed from one generation to the next
Society
People interacting within a limited territory guided by their culture
Neither society nor culture could exist without the other

3. What Is Culture? Two Types of Culture: Material Culture
Tangible creations of a society
There is nothing inherently “natural” about material culture
Examples: art, jewelry, weapons, clothing
Non-Material Culture
Intangible creations of a society
A group’s way of thinking
Examples: religion, beliefs, values

4. What Is Culture? Culture is learned and is not “natural”
We take our culture for granted
It touches every aspect of our lives without us really realizing it
Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us.
What is normal, natural, or usual?
We believe our ways are “Normal”

5. What Is Culture? Ethnocentrism Culture Shock Cultural Relativism
Using your own culture as a yardstick for judging other societies, usually in a negative way
The belief that our culture is the “best”
Culture Shock
The personal disorientation that accompanies exposure to a different culture or way of life
Cultural Relativism
Understanding a culture’s practices from their perspective
Not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own terms

6. What Is Culture? Richard Edgerton’s Sick Societies (1992)
Evaluating cultures on their “quality of life”
Characteristics of a “sick culture”
A culture that fails to survive because its own beliefs or institutions are harmful
Enough people are dissatisfied with their social institutions or cultural beliefs that a society is threatened
A culture that continues unsafe practices that hurt its population either physically or mentally
Examples: cultures that practice female circumcision, sell young girls into prostitution, accept wife beating

7. Symbolic Culture

8. Components of Symbolic Culture
Non-material culture because its central component is the symbols people use
Symbols
This is anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture
They are used to communicate with other people
We are so dependent on them that we take them for granted
Includes: gestures, languages, values, norms, sanctions

9. Components: Gestures and Language
Using one’s body to communicate with others
What a gesture means may vary depending on where you are in the world
It is important to learn the proper gestures when visiting other countries
The “OK” symbol has very different meaning in Italy
Language
A system of symbols that allows people to communicate abstract thoughts with one another
Cultural Transmission: Language also ensures the continuity of culture

10. Components: Language Five purposes of language
Allows human experience to be cumulative
Allows us to move beyond our immediate experiences
We would be limited to understanding only a short time period
Provides a social or shared past
We can easily communicate our past events with others with language
Provides a social or shared future
We can communicate our future plans with other easily with language
Allows shared perspectives
We can communicate abstract ideas
Allows complex, shared, goal-directed behavior
We can share a purpose for getting together

11. Components: Language Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Developed in the 1930s by anthropologists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf
Language creates ways of thinking and perceiving
People perceive the world only in terms of the symbols contained in their language
Each language has its own distinct symbols that serve as building blocks of reality
Instead of objects determining our language, our language determines the way we see objects
Example: perception of such words as negro v. African-American and how Eskimos perceive snow

12. Values, Norms, and Sanctions

13. Components: Values, Norms, Sanctions
Culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and beauty that serve as a broad guideline for social living
Beliefs are specific statements that people hold to be true
Values are the broad principles while beliefs are the specifics
Norms
Socially defined rules of behavior
Serve as guidelines for our behavior and our expectations of the behaviors of others
Informal v. formal norms
Norms will change as cultures change

14. Components: Values, Norms, Sanctions
Reactions people get for either following or breaking norms
Positive Sanction
Approval for following a norm
Negative Sanction
Disapproval for breaking a norm
Folkways
Norms that are not strictly enforced
We are expected to do them but there are no laws that require us to do them
Examples include common courtesy and etiquette

15. Components: Values, Norms, Sanctions
Mores
Norms that have a moral basis
Violation of mores may produce moral indignation, shock, and horror
Taboo
Norms that are so strongly ingrained that violation of them brings revulsion
Examples: Incest and cannibalism
Sanctions for violating them are severe
Laws
These are norms that are formalized and back by political authority

16. Subcultures and Countercultures

17. Subcultures and Countercultures
The values and related behaviors of a group that distinguishes its members from the larger culture
Everybody is a member of numerous subcultures
Examples: Ethnicity, religion, occupations, home region
Counterculture
Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society
Youth Counterculture
Many societies link counterculture with youth
Military Counterculture
During the 1990s, there was a growth of militaristic groups that were highly suspicious of the federal government

18. Values in U.S. Society

19. Values in U.S. Society
Sociologist Robin Williams’ values of American culture:
Achievement and Success
Individualism
Activity and Work
Efficiency and Practicality
Science and Technology
Progress
Material Comfort
Humanitarianism
Freedom
Democracy
Equality
Racism and Group Superiority

20. Values in U.S. Society
Henslin (2011) added three additional American values:
Education
Religiosity
Romantic Love
Value Clusters
Values together that together form a larger whole
Example: hard work, education, and material comfort go together; you need the first two to get the second

21. Values in U.S. Society Value Contradictions
Values that contradict one another
To follow one means to come in conflict with another
Racism contradicts freedom and democracy
This can be a major force for social change
A new group of values is emerging in American culture:
Leisure
Self-fulfillment
Physical Fitness
Youthfulness
Concern for the Environment

22. Values in U.S. Society
These new core values are met with strong resistance to more traditional members of society
Culture Wars – Term used to describe the severe clash in values between the generations
There is a big difference between our beliefs in how we should act and how we actually act
Ideal Culture – Values and norms that describe the way we should behave
Real Culture – The values and norms that people actually follow

23. Technology and Culture
Technology and Culture

24. Technology and Culture
Central to a group’s material culture is its technology
Sets the framework for a groups non-material culture as well
Technology
Tools of a society and the skill and procedures necessary to make and use those tools
New Technology
Emerging technology that has a significant impact on social life
Cultural Lag
Not all parts of a culture changes at the same pace
Some parts may change while others lag behind
New elements of material culture (technology) change faster than non-material
Sometimes, non-material culture never catches up

25. Technology and Culture
Causes of cultural change:
Invention – Creating new cultural elements
Discovery – Recognizing and understanding something that already exists
Diffusion – Spread of objects or ideas from one society to another
Usually societies are eager to adopt more superior tools and weapons
Cultural Leveling
Process in which one culture becomes similar to another

26. Theoretical Analysis of Culture
Functional Analysis
Depicts culture as a complex strategy for meeting human needs
Cultural values give meaning to life and bind people together
Cultural Universals
These are traits that are part of every known culture
Family, funeral rites, and jokes
Social-Conflict Analysis
Draws attention to the link between culture and inequality
Any cultural trait benefits some members of society at the expense of others
Materialism - A society’s system of material production has a strong effect on the rest of a culture
Our competitive values are tied in with our society’s capitalist economy