SociologyUnit 2: Culture and Society

Components of Culture

Cultural Variation

Vocabulary

• Cultural universals• Subculture• Counterculture• Ethnocentrism• Cultural relativism• Cultural diffusion

Cultural Universals

•Cultural Universals: features evident in all cultures

•What are some features that all cultures have? •(Try and Guess 7)

Cultural UniversalsCultural

UniversalExamples

Arts and Leisure Athletic sports, dancing, decorative art, games, music

Basic Needs Clothing, cooking, housing

Beliefs Body adornment, folklore, funeral rites, religious ritual

Communication and Education

Education, language, greetings

Family Courtship, kin groups, marriage

Government and Economy

Calendar, division of labor, government, law, property rights, status differentiation, trade

Technology Medicine, toolmaking

Response to Variation• Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one's own culture

and group as superior to all other cultures and groups • Cultural relativism: a belief that cultures should be

judged by their own standards

How is this political cartoon a reflection of ethnocentrism?

Cultural Change• Cultural diffusion: the process of spreading

cultural traits from one society to another • Cultural leveling: the process through which

cultures become more and more alike

Value Systems

Vocabulary

• Self-fulfillment• Narcissism

The American Value SystemAmerican Values Descriptions/Examples

Personal Achievement

Progress and Material Comfort

Work

Individualism

Efficiency and Practicality

Morality and Humanitarianism

Equality and Democracy

Freedom

Personal Achievement

Doing Well at school and at work is important. Gaining wealth and prestige is a sign of success.

Progress and Material Comfort

History is marked by ongoing progress, and this progress improves people’s lives.

Work

• Discipline, dedication, and hard work are signs of virtue

Individualism

Hard work, initiative, and individual effort are the keys to personal achievement.

Efficiency and Practicality

Every problem can be solved through efficiency and practicality. Getting things done well in the shortest time is very important.

Morality and Humanitarianism

Judgments should be based on a sense of right and wrong. This sense of morality also involves helping the less fortunate.

Equality and Democracy

Everyone should have an equal chance at success and the right to participate freely in government.

Freedom

Personal freedoms, such as freedom of religion, speech, and the press, are central to the American way of life

New Values: Narcissism

Narcissism: the feeling of extreme self-centeredness

Social Structures

Vocabulary

• Social structure• Status• Role• Ascribed status• Achieved status

• Master status• Role conflict• Social institutions

Status: a socially defined position in a group or in a society.

Achieved Status: a status acquired through their own direct efforts.

Master Status: The status that plays the greatest role in shaping a person’s life and determining his or her social identity.

Ascribed Status: a status assigned according to qualities beyond a person’s control.

Status: Ascribed and Achieved

Status: Activity

Brainstorm: Your ascribed and achieved statuses

Identify your master status. Write a paragraph that explains why this status is characterized as a master status in your life.

Roles

• Statuses serve simply as social categories. Roles are the components of social structure that bring statuses to life.• Most of the roles that you perform have reciprocal roles.

These are corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses.• EX. doctor-patient, teacher-student, or coach-athlete

Role Play Activity: Obtain an index card with a role. Without speaking, act out the interaction between you and your reciprocal role.

Role Conflict, Strain, and Exit

• Role Conflict: a situation that occurs when fulfilling the expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the expectations of another status

• Role Strain: a situation that occurs when a person has difficulty meeting the expectations of a single status

• Role Exit: the process that people go through to detach from a role that has been central to their self-identity

Social Interaction

• Exchange• Reciprocity• Exchange theory• Competition

Vocabulary

• Conflict• Cooperation• Accommodation

Exchange• Most basic and common form of social

interaction. • Dating, family life, friendship, and politics all

involve exchanges.• Reciprocity is the basis for exchange• the idea that if you do something for someone,

that person owes you something in return.

Exchange Theory

• Definition: a theory that holds that people are motivated by self-interests in their interactions with others .• People do things primarily for rewards. Behavior that is

rewarded tends to be repeated. exchange theory appears to run counter to some social norms such as altruism.

Competition

• Definition: an interaction that occurs when two or more people or groups oppose each other to achieve a goal that only one can attain.• A common feature in Western society.• Basis behind capitalism and democracy• If it follows accepted rules of conduct, most sociologists

view it as a positive means of motivating people to perform the roles society asks of them. • Negatively, competition can lead to psychological stress,

a lack of cooperation in social relationships, inequality, and even conflict.

Conflict• Definition: The deliberate attempt to control a person by

force, to oppose someone, or to harm another person.• Few rules of accepted conduct, and even these often are

ignored.• May range from the deliberate snubbing of a classmate

to the killing of an enemy.• Four sources of conflict: wars, disagreements within

groups, legal disputes, and clashes over ideology (religion or politics)• Can be useful• Reinforces group boundaries• Strengthen group loyalty• Bring about social change

Cooperation

• Definition: interaction that occurs when two or more persons or groups work together to achieve a goal that will benefit many people • No group can complete its tasks or achieve its goals

without cooperation from its members. • Competition may be used along with cooperation to

motivate members to work harder for the group.

ASSIGNMENT: Think of groups with which you have been involved. Have they ever used competition along with cooperation? What are some examples?

Accommodation

• Definition: a state of balance between cooperation and conflict • Accommodation helps to ensure social stability. • It can take a number of different forms• Compromise• Truce• Mediation• Arbitration