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Culture
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Culture refers to the beliefs, values, behavior andmaterial objects that, together, form a peoples way
of life
Nonmaterial ()culture: the ideas created bymembers of a society (intangible creations)
Material () culture : the physical things createdby members of a society (tangible products)
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Culture shapes not only what we do but also whatwe think and how we feel
Culture shock occurs when an individual suffers
personal disorientationwhen experiencingan unfamiliar way of life.
Domestic and foreign travel
Only humans depend on culture rather than
instinctsto ensure the survival of their kind.
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Human achievements during the Stone Age sethumans off on a distinct evolutionary course, makingculture their primary survival strategy.
The concept of culture (a shared way of life) must bedistinguished from those of nation (a political entity)or society (the organized interaction of people in a
nation or within some other boundary).
Many modern societies are multicultural, meaningthat their people follow various ways of life that blendand sometimes clash.
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1. Symbols
2. Languages
3. Value and Beliefs 4. Norms, sanctions, folkways, mores
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Symbols
A symbol is anything that carries a particular
meaning recognized by people who share aculture
The meaning of the same symbols varies fromsociety to society, within a single society, and overtime.
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Symbols
Reality for humans is found in the meaning things
carry with them. The basis of culture; makes social life possible
People must be mindful thatmeanings
vary from culture to culture.
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Symbols
E.g. word, graffiti, and a flashing red light
What does it mean? :-)
orz
TTYL
LOL
ROTFL
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Gestures
ConveyingMessages without Words
GesturesMeaningDiffer Among Cultures
Can Lead toMisunderstandings
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Language
A system of symbols that allows people to
communicate with one another.
Language is the key to cultural transmission, the
process by which one generation passes culture to the
next.
Through most of human history, cultural transmissionhas been accomplished through oral tradition.
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Language
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Values ()
are culturally defined standards by which people
judge desirability, goodness and beauty, andwhich serve as broad guidelines for social living.
are what people who share a culture use to makechoices about how to live
are broad principles that support beliefs
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Beliefs ()
specific thoughts or ideas that people hold to betrue
Values are abstract standards or goodness, andbeliefs are particular matters that individualsconsider true or false
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Values
Key values of U.S. culture Robin Williams (1970)
1. Equal opportunity2. Achievement and
success
3. Material comfort4. Activity and work5. Practicality and
efficiency
6. Progress7. Science8. Democracy and free
enterprise9. Freedom10.Racism and group
superiority ()
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Values
Values within a society are frequently inconsistent
and even contradicts another.
Value conflict causes strain.
Values change over time.
Values change overtime
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AGlobal Perspective
Cultures have their own values.
In general, the values that are important in higher-income countries differ somewhat from those inlower-income countries.
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Norms ()
rules and expectations by which a society guides
the behavior of its members. They may be eitherproscriptive or prescriptive.
Proscriptive norms: stating what we should not do
Prescriptive norms: stating what we should do
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Norms There are two special types of norms that were
identified by WilliamGraham Sumner (1906):
Mores (pronounced "more-rays")() : norms that are widely observed and have great moral
significance (Core Values)
Draw a line between right and wrong
Folkways (): norms for routine, casual interaction
Draw a line between right and rude
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Norms
Sanctions ( ):
Reaction to Following or Breaking Norms
a central mechanism of social control, attempts bysociety to regulate peoples thoughts and behavior
Doing wrong can cause both shame (the painful sensethat others disapprove of our actions) andguilt(a
negative judgment we make of ourselves)
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Sociologists distinguish between ideal cultureand real culture
ideal culture: social patterns mandated() bycultural values and norms
real culture: actual social patterns that onlyapproximate() cultural expectations.
E.g. faithfulness in marriage
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Artifacts: physical human creations
Material culture reflects a societys values and a
societys technology, the knowledge that peopleapply to the task of living in their surroundings.
E.g. chopsticks, mats, automobile, computer,iphone
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High culture and Popular culture
Cultural diversity () involves not just
immigration but also social class
High culture: cultural patterns that distinguish asocietys elite
Popular culture: cultural patterns that arewidespread among a societys population
High culture is not inherently superior to popular
culture
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Subculture () Cultural patterns that set apart some segment of
a societys population
They involve not only differences but alsohierarchy.
Counterculture () refers to cultural patterns that strongly oppose
those widely accepted within a society.
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Multiculturalism ()
an educational program recognizing the cultural diversity of theUnited States and promoting the equality of all cultural traditions.
Multiculturalism stands in opposition to Eurocentrism () ,the dominance ofEuropean (especially English) cultural patterns.
Supporters of multiculturalism argue that it helps us come to termswith our diverse () present.
Opponents of multiculturalism argue that it encourages divisiveness() rather than unity.
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Cultural change
As cultures change, they strive to maintain
cultural integration, the close relationship amongvarious elements of a cultural system.
WilliamOgburns (1964) concept of cultural lag
refers to the fact that cultural elements change atdifferent rates, which may disrupt a culturalsystem.
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Cultural change
Three phenomena promote cultural change:
Invention (), the process of creating new culturalelements.
Discovery (), recognizing and understanding anidea not fully understood before.
Diffusion (), the spread of cultural traits from onecultural system to another.
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Ethnocentrism ()
the practice of judging another culture by the
standards of ones own culture.
Cultural relativism ()
the practice of judging a culture by its ownstandards.
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Some evidence suggests that a global culture
may be emerging.
Three key factors are promoting this trend:
Global economy: the flow of goods.
Global communications: the flow of information.
Global migration: the flow of people.
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Three limitations with the global culture
thesis:
Global culture is much more advanced in someparts of the world than in others.
Many people cannot afford to participate in thematerial aspects of a global culture.
Different people attribute different meanings tovarious aspects of the global culture.
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Structural-functional approach
The structural-functional approach depicts culture
as a complex strategy for meeting human needs Cultural values direct our lives, give meaning to
what we do, and bind people together
Cultural universals ()
Traits that are part of every know culture
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Structural-functional approach
The strength of the structural-functional analysis
is showing how culture operates to meet humanneeds.
The weakness of the structural-functional
approach is that it ignores cultural diversity anddownplays ( )the importance of change.
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Social-conflict approach The social-conflict approach is rooted in the
philosophical doctrine ( ) of materialism (
)and suggests that many cultural traits function tothe advantage of some and to the disadvantage ofothers
The social-conflict analysis recognizes that many
elements of a culture maintain inequality andpromote the dominance of one group over others
It understates the ways that cultural patternsintegrate members of society
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Sociobiology ()
a theoretical approach that explores ways in
which human biology affects how we createculture. Sociobiology has its roots in the theory ofevolution proposed by CharlesDarwin
Sociobiology may promote racism and sexism
Research support for this paradigm is limited
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Culture as constraint:
Humans cannot live without culture, but the
capacity for culture does have some drawbacks
Culture as freedom:
Culture forces us to choose as we make andremake a world for ourselves
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