Chapter Two Culture

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Chapter TwoCulture
Society, The Basics 10th Edition John J. Macionis
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What is Culture?

• Culture the ways of thinking, the ways of
  acting, and the material objects that together
  form a peoples way of life

Only humans rely on culture rather than instinct
to ensure survival.
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What is Culture?

• Nonmaterial culture ideas created by members of
  a society.

• Material culture tangible things created by
  members of a society.

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What is Culture?

• Society refers to people who interact in a
  defined territory and share culture.

• Culture shock refers to personal disorientation
  when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life.

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How Many Cultures?

• One indication of culture is language
• Global estimates document 7,000 languages
• In the USA, there are about 200 languages
• Upcoming decades will show the disappearance of
  hundreds of languages

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The Elements of Culture

• Although cultures vary, they all have five common
  components
• (1) Symbols
• (2) Language
• (3) Values and Beliefs
• (4) Norms
• (5) Ideal and Real
• Culture

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Elements of CultureSymbols

• Symbols anything that carries a particular
  meaning recognized by people who share culture.

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Elements of CultureSymbols

• Symbols collective creations

• General Marketing
• Aimed at a total population
• Segmented (section) Marketing
• Aimed at a specific population

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Elements of CultureLanguage

• Language a system of symbols that allows people
  to communicate with one another.
• Language allows for the continuity of culture.

BBC
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Elements of CultureLanguage

• Cultural transmission (Oral traditions) the
  process by which one generation passes culture to
  the next.
• Every society transmits culture through speech.

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The Sapir-Whorf Thesis

• Languages are not just different sets of labels
  for the same reality.
• All languages fuse symbols with distinctive
  emotions.
• The Sapir-Whorf Thesis people perceive the
  world through the cultural lens of language.

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Dont write

• For example, Margaret Mead pointed out that some
  of the South Pacific people whom she studied did
  not have a word for "war" in their vocabularies.
  Interestingly, these people did not participate
  in war. So, the hypothesis is that we must be
  able to think of some phenomenon before we can
  name it or experience it.

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Elements of CultureValues and Beliefs

• Values culturally defined standards by which
  people assess desirability, goodness, and beauty
  and that serve as broad guidelines for social
  living.

Values are abstract standards of goodness.
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Dont write

• If someone values hard work, that someone will go
  out of their way to shower a hard worker with
  praise, bonuses and other benefits. If someone
  values honesty, they avoid lying and reward
  honesty from those in their lives.

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Elements of CultureValues and Beliefs

• Beliefs specific statements that people hold to
  be true.

• Beliefs are particular matters that individuals
  consider true or false.

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Elements of Culture

• Societies show significant cultural variations in
  their favorite sports.

Canada Ice Hockey Jamaica Cricket
Thailand Kite flying China tai chi chuan
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Key Values of United States Culture
Robin M. Williams, Jr.

• Equal Opportunity
• Achievement and Success
• Material Comfort
• Activity and Work
• Practicality and Efficiency

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Key Values of United States Culture
Robin M. Williams, Jr.

• Progress
• Science
• Democracy and Free Enterprise
• Freedom
• Racism and Group Superiority

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Elements of CultureNorms

• Norms rules and expectations by which a society
  guides the behavior of its members.
• Most important norms in a culture apply
  everywhere and at all times.

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Elements of CultureNorms

• Mores norms that are widely observed and have
  great moral significance. (Ex. Rape)

• Folkways norms for routine, casual interaction.
  (Eating Big Macs, using Deodorant)

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Elements of CultureNorms

• Mores

• Societal taboos such as
• Murder
• Treason
• Child sexual abuse

Inspire intense reactions Punishment inevitably
follows
(Right vs. wrong)
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Elements of CultureNorms

• Folkways (polite vs. rude)
• People chew quietly with mouths closed
• Accepting ones place in line
• People avoid facing each other in elevators

No written rules No one physically harmed
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Technology Culture

• Sociocultural evolution

• Material culture also reflects a societys
  technology knowledge that people use to make a
  way of life in their surroundings.

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Technology and Culture

• hunting and gathering societies
• horticultural pastoralism
• agriculture
• industry
• postindustrial information technology

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Cultural Diversity

• Cultural diversity can involve social class.
• Many cultural patterns are readily accessible to
  only some members of a society.

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Cultural Diversity
High culture cultural patterns that distinguish
a societys elite

• Popular culture cultural patterns that are
  widespread among a population.

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Subcultures

• Subculture cultural patterns that set apart
  some segment of societys population. (Ex Amish
  and Mormons)

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Multiculturalism

• Multiculturalism an educational program
  recognizing the cultural diversity of the United
  States and promoting the equality of all cultural
  traditions.

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Multiculturalism

• Afrocentrism the dominance of African cultural
  patterns.

• Eurocentrism the dominance of European cultural
  patterns.

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Counterculture

• Counterculture cultural patterns that rejects
  and opposes those widely accepted within a
  society.

• Examples
• Hippies of the 60s
• Street Gangs
• Hare Krishna
• Extreme right-wing religious groups

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Cultural Change

• Cultural integration the close relationships
  among various elements of a cultural system.

• Some elements of culture change faster than
  others cultural lag.

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Cultural Change

• Cultural integration
• Examples
• Women in the workforce
• Later first marriages
• Change in family patterns
• Increased use of day care

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Cultural Change

• Cultural lag
• Examples
• Contraception
• Increased availability
• Use by adolescents

• Medical Advances
• Little or no ability to provide higher quality of
  life

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Cultural Change

• Cultural changes
• New cultural elements
• Cell phones
• Blackberry
• iPhones
• Diffusion
• Spread of objects from one society to another

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Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

• Ethnocentrism the practice of judging another
  culture by the standards of ones own culture.

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Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

• Cultural Relativism the practice of evaluating
  a culture by that cultures own standards.

Cultural Universals
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A Global Culture

• Global economy the flow of goods
• Global communication the flow of information
• Global migration the flow of people

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Theoretical Analysis of Culture

• The structuralfunctional paradigm depicts
  culture as a complex strategy for meeting human
  needs.
• The socialconflict paradigm suggests that many
  cultural traits function to the advantage of some
  and the disadvantage of others.
• Sociobiology explores ways in which human biology
  affects how we create culture.