CULTURE PART TWO Components of Symbolic Culture Symbol

CULTURE: PART TWO

Components of Symbolic Culture Symbol = something to which people attach meaning and then use to communicate with others Symbolic Culture = nonmaterial culture

Symbols are everywhere! Ted-Ed: “The key to media’s hidden codes” http: //ed. ted. com/lessons/the-key-to-media-shidden-codes

Symbolic Culture includes • Gestures • Language • Values, Norms, and Sanctions • Folkways and Mores

Gestures • Body movements that communicate without using words • Gestures differ from one culture to another

Language is a system of symbols It is the primary way people communicate All human groups have language Like gestures, the meaning of sounds and words differs from one culture to another • Language allows culture to exist – it makes us human! • •

Language • Allows culture to develop • Allows experiences and memories to be recorded and shared • Allows us to plan future social activities • Allows us to arrive at shared understandings • Allows us to establish social purposes

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis The idea that language not only reflects but also determines our perception of objects and event – our way of looking at the world. 1) Some languages have more or fewer ways to describe color, time, weather phenomena, emotions, or objects, or they lack words for certain objects and ideas. This hypothesis suggests that this, in itself, impacts perception and understanding. 2) Words and names themselves do have a positive or negative cultural connotation. • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=125 TBRss. C_E

Sapir-Whorf

To Sum Up: Language makes us human Language allows for cumulative cultural adaptation, or SOCIAL LEARNING and accumulation of knowledge, cooperation, creativity and prosperity http: //www. ted. com/talks/lang/en/mark_pagel _how_language_transformed_humanity. html What are some of the advantages of language? Why did different languages arise?

Values, Norms, Sanctions • Values = standards by which people define what is important, desirable or undesirable, beautiful or ugly • Norms = groups expectations based on values • Sanctions = reactions received for following or not following norms • Positive sanctions = ways of showing approval • Negative sanctions = ways of showing disapproval • Sanctions can by material or symbolic • Laws are ways of formalizing values and sanctions

Moral Holiday • Specified times when people can break norms without facing sanctions • These can serve to relieve pressure = norms can be stifling! Example: Mardi Gras

Folkways and Mores • Folkways = norms that are not strictly enforced (i. e. conventions or customs) • Mores = norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought to reflect core values and are essential to the well-being of the society • Taboo = a norm so strong it brings extreme sanctions and revulsion if violated – taboos are forbidden

Many Cultural Worlds • Subculture – a world within the larger world of the dominant culture distinguished by its values and behaviors • Counterculture – a group whose values, beliefs, and norms place it in opposition to the larger culture • Pluralistic society – a society made up of many different groups with contrasting values

Subcultures

Countercultures Violent criminal gangs, extremist cults, paramilitary or political extremist groups that call for the overthrow of government, etc.

Countercultures The term counterculture is especially associated with the 1960 s and groups like the Black Panthers and hippies. Here is the scene outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1968.

American Values?

Value Clusters • Values are not independent of each other • Related values form interrelated groups, or clusters Sacrifice Kindness Volunteerism Compassion Tolerance

Values Clusters

Value Contradictions =Values that contradict one another; to follow one means to come into conflict with another Examples: Equality – Fairness Wealth – Family Work—Leisure Freedom—Security

Emerging US Values • Values are always changing and tend to emerge in related clusters • These are some emerging US values that form a cluster: leisure, self-fulfillment, physical fitness and youthfulness • Another emerging value is concern for the environment

• Culture wars = the clash in values between traditionalists and those who want change • Values as distorting lens = values that are held so strongly that they cause a strong resistance to change; may cause societal problems to persist • Ideal culture = refers to the values, norms and goals worth striving for • Real culture = refers to the values and norms that people actually follow

Cultural Universals • Values, norms, or other traits that are found in every group • There activities that are present in all cultures • Some of these activities include courtship, marriage, funerals, games, music, myths • The specific customs differ from group to group

Sociology vs. Sociobiology • Sociobiology is a view that because of natural selection, biology is the basic cause of human behavior • Edward Wilson (1975) (an expert on insects) suggested that genetic programming accounts for much of human behavior

According to sociobiology, cooperation, competition, even religion, slavery, genocide, and war and peace can be explained in the same way that physical attributes are – that behaviors evolved because of natural selection This contrasts with the view of sociologists that humans develop and create their own cultures.

Technology and the Global Village • Technology = tools/part of a society’s material culture • New Technology = an emerging technology that has a significant impact on social life • Examples:

Technology and the Global Village • Cultural lag = term coined by William Ogburn in 1915 • The idea that not all parts of culture change at the same place • Material culture/technology changes first • Non material culture has to “catch up” Examples:

Cultural Lag “New technologies must not only be adopted for use, but they must be understood and absorbed into the normal patterns of social life without causing disruptions. For example, Ogburn noted that as cars got faster and more powerful, roads that had been built for earlier cars became inadequate. The surfaces were bad and the curves were not banked, so lots of cars started spinning off the roads. Notice that the lag here is both technological and social. The roads needed improvement, but so did the driving skills of the people. And for more modern examples of cultural lag, think of cell phone use and driving accidents, or of the countless gadgets people buy, but never really master. ” –Sociologist William C. Levin

Cultural Lag Henry Ford reportedly said, “If I asked customers what they wanted, they would have said ‘a faster horse. ’” Society had not yet caught up with the technology….

Cultural Lag

Technology and the Global Village • Cultural diffusion = the spread of cultural traits from one culture to another • People are usually eager to adopt superior weapons and tools • Changes in symbolic/nonmaterial culture lag behind • Cultural diffusion is occurring rapidly today because of new travel and communication technology (It’s a small world, after all!)

Technology and the Global Village • Cultural leveling = cultures around the world are becoming more similar to one another • Explained by the globalization of capitalism • Think of the TED Talk on language = is our destiny to become a one language world?