What is Culture Culture the language beliefs values

What is Culture? § Culture - the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and material objects that are passed from one generation to the next. § Material culture - the material objects that distinguish a group of people. § Non-material culture - a group’s way of thinking and doing. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 1

DO NOT CONFUSE CULTURE WITH SOCIETY REFERS TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE, INTERACTING WITHIN

CULTURE SURE HAS A WAY OF CHANGING WHAT IS MEANT BY “GOING TO THE

ANYTHING THAT CARRIES A PARTICULAR MEANING RECOGNIZED BY PEOPLE WHO SHARE CULTURE § REALITY FOR HUMANS IS FOUND IN THE MEANING THINGS CARRY WITH THEM l THE BASIS OF CULTURE; MAKES LIFE POSSIBLE § PEOPLE MUST BE MINDFUL THAT MEANINGS VARY FROM CULTURE TO CULTURE § MEANINGS CAN EVEN VARY GREATLY WITHIN THE SAME GROUPS OF PEOPLE l FUR COATS, CONFEDERATE FLAGS, ETC. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 4

A SYSTEM OF SYMBOLS THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER § CULTURAL TRANSMISSION l PASSING ON CULTURE § SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS l WE KNOW THE WORLD ONLY IN TERMS OF OUR LANGUAGE § NON-VERBAL LANGUAGE l BEWARE OF USING GESTURES Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 5

Components of Symbolic Culture § Symbolic culture nonmaterial culture whose central components are symbols. l A symbol - something to which people attach meaning and which they use to communicate. § Gestures - involve using one’s body to communicate. § Language - a system of symbols that can be strung together in an infinite number of ways for the purpose of communicating. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 6

What Language Does § All human groups have a language. § Language allows for experiences to be passed from one generation to the next. § Language allows culture to develop by freeing people to move beyond their immediate experiences. § Language provides us a past and a future, as well as shared understandings. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 7

How Culture Affects Our Lives § The effects of our own culture generally remain imperceptible to us. § These learned and shared ways penetrate our being. § Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 8

Cultural Orientations § Culture Shock - the § Ethnocentrism - the disorientation that tendency to use one’s people experience own culture as a when they come into yardstick for judging the contact with a ways of other societies. different culture. § It can create in group loyalties or lead to harmful discrimination. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 9

Practicing Cultural Relativism § To counter our tendency to use our own culture as a tool for judgment, we can practice cultural relativism. § Practicing cultural relativism allows us to understand another culture on its own terms. (remember Weber’s verstehen page 37) § We can analyze how the elements of culture fit together without judgment. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 10

Words don’t mean; people mean! Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 11

Values, Norms, & Sanctions § Values - ideas of what is desirable in life. § Values are the standards by which people define good and bad. § Norms - describe rules of behavior that develop out of a group’s values. § Sanctions - positive or negative reactions to the ways in which people follow norms, including laws and punishments. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 12

. CULTURALLY DEFINED STANDARDS OF DESIRABILITY, GOODNESS, AND BEAUTY, WHICH SERVE AS BROAD GUIDELINES FOR SOCIAL LIVING § VALUES SUPPORT BELIEFS l SPECIFIC STATEMENTS THAT PEOPLE HOLD TO BE TRUE • CAPITALISM AND ACHIEVEMENT= SUCCESS § CORE AMERICAN VALUES l VALUE INCONSISTENCY AND SOCIAL CHANGE Page 66 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND COMPETITION • HUMANITARIANISM AND “ME FIRST” Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 13

Values in U. S. Society (not necessarily ranked) § (1) Achievement and Success § (2) Individualism § (3) Activity and Work § (4) Efficiency and Practicality § (5) Science and Technology § (6) Progress § § § (7) Material Comfort (8) Humanitarianism (9) Freedom (10) Democracy (11) Equality (12) Racism and Group Superiority § (13) Education § (14) Religiosity § (15) Romantic Love Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 14

Values in More Traditional Societies (not necessarily ranked) § (1) Embrace fate as a key value § (2) Spiritual Comfort § (3) Greater reflectiveness § (4) Not overly optimistic § (5) Religion more important than science § (6) Group-oriented § (7) Collective sentiment promotes compliance to authority § (8) Formal education is often suspect § (9) Tolerance for inequality Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 15

RULES BY WHICH SOCIETY GUIDES THE BEHAVIOR OF ITS MEMBERS § TYPES l l PROSCRIPTIVE- acts of commission PRESCRIPTIVE- acts of omission § FURTHER BREAKDOWN l FOLKWAYS • LESS SERIOUS OFFENSES l MORES • MORALLY SIGNIFICANT l TABOOS Copyright (c) 2003 by. SIGNIFICANT Allyn & Bacon • EXTREMELY 16

Folkways, Mores, and Taboos § Folkways - norms that are not strictly enforced. § If someone does not follow a folkway, we may stare or shrug our shoulders. § Mores - norms that are considered essential to our core values. § Taboos - norms so strongly ingrained that even the thought of its violation is greeted with revulsion. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 17

§ SOCIAL CONTROL l MEANS BY WHICH MEMBERS OF SOCIETY OFTEN ENCOURAGE CONFORMITY • DIRECT AND INDIRECT PRESSURES § POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SANCTIONS l l CONFORMITY OFTEN BRINGS REWARDS AND PRAISE NONCONFORMITY CAN BRING ABOUT PAIN • GUILT: JUDGING OURSELVES • SHAME: PUBLIC DISAPPROVAL Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 18

Subcultures and Countercultures § Subculture - a world § Counterculture - a within the larger world subculture whose of the dominant values place its culture. members in opposition to the values of the § A subculture has a broader culture. distinctive way of looking at life. § An assault on core values is always met § The values and norms with resistance. tend to be compatible with the larger Copyright society. (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 19

Value Clusters and Contradictions § Value clusters - a series of interrelated values that together form a larger whole. § Values are not independent units. § Value contradiction values that contradict one another § To follow one means you will come into conflict with another. § It is at the point of value contradictions that one can see a force for social change. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 21

Ideal versus Real Culture § Ideal culture - the values, norms, and goals that a group considers ideal, worth aspiring to. § Success. § Real culture - the norms and values that people actually follow. § What people do usually falls short of the cultural ideal. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 22

Cultural Universals § Cultural universals - values, norms, or other cultural traits that are found everywhere. § Although there are universal human activities, there is no universally accepted way of doing any of them. § Humans have no biological imperative that results in one particular form of behavior Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 23 throughout the world.

TRAITS COMMON TO EVERY KNOWN CULTURE § THE FAMILY l ASSIGNMENT OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR YOUNG AND THE CONTROL OF SEXUAL REPRODUCTION § FUNERAL RITES l COMMUNITY BONDING WITH CLOSURE, COMFORT, AND CONTINUITY FOR THE LIVING § SMILING AND HUMOR l OUTWARD SIGNS OF FRIENDSHIP AND SAFETY VALVE FOR SOCIAL TENSIONS § DEVIANCE l A CONSTANT REMINDER OF THE BEHAVIORAL LIMITS FOUND IN A GIVEN SOCIETY WITH RESPECT TO INDIVIDUALITY AND 24 NONCOMFORMITYCopyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon

Technology § Technology - skills or procedures necessary to make or use tools. § New technologies - emerging technologies that have a significant impact on social life. § Technology sets a framework for a group’s nonmaterial culture. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 25

Cultural Lag, Diffusion, and Leveling § Cultural lag - not all parts of a culture change at the same pace. § Material culture usually changes before nonmaterial culture. § Cultural diffusion – the spread of cultural characteristics from one group to another. § Travel and communication unite us. l Cultural leveling - a process in which cultures become similar to one another. Copyright (c) 2003 by Allyn & Bacon 26