Transcript Source - Cengage Learning

Sociology:
Your Compass for a New World
Robert J. Brym and John Lie
Wadsworth Group/Thomson
Learning
© 2003
Chapter 3
Culture
Sources of Culture
Because They Can Create Culture, Humans
Have Been Able to Adapt to Their
Environments.
In Particular, Humans Have Been Able to
Thrive Because They Can:
Create Symbols
Make Tools
Cooperate
Biology and Culture
Biology Set Human Limits and Potentials.
No Hard Evidence Supports the View That
Specific Human Behavior and Social
Arrangements Are Biologically Determined.
Observing Culture
A Culture Can Be Best Understood If
You Are Neither Too Deeply Immersed in
It nor Too Much Removed From It.
Understanding Culture Requires Refraining
From
Taking Your Culture for Granted and
Judging Other Cultures by the Standards
of Yours.
The Two Faces of Culture
Culture Increases Our Freedom.
Multiculturalism
Globalization
Postmodernism
Culture constrains us.
Rationalization
Consumerism
Multiculturalism I
Advocates Want Curricula
To Reflect Growing Ethnic and Racial
Diversity
To Stress That All Cultures Have Equal Value
To Promote Self-esteem and Economic
Success
Multiculturalism II
 Critics fear that multiculturalism causes
 Declining educational standards
 Political disunity, interethnic/interracial
conflict
 Extreme cultural relativism
The Globalization of Culture
Globalization Results From the Growth of
International Trade and Investment
Ethnic and Racial Migration
Influential “Transnational” Organizations
Inexpensive Travel and Communication
Internet Usage by Language
Group, June 2001
French
3.4%
Italian
3.6%
Korean
4.7%
Other
13.5%
English
45.0%
Spanish
5.4%
German
6.2%
Chinese
8.4%
Source: “Global Reach” (2001)
Japanese
9.8%
Postmodernism
Postmodernism Involves
An Eclectic Mixing of Elements From
Different Times and Places
The Decline of Authority
The Erosion of Consensus Around Core
Values
Unconventional Beliefs, Christian
Fundamentalists, U.S.A., 1989
Percent
60
50
40
30
20
ESP
Spirits
10
0
Belief
Source: National Opinion Research Center (1999).
Visions
Confidence in Washington,
1958-1999 (in percent)
Percent confident “just about always” or “most of the time”
80
60
40
20
Year
Source: U.S. Information Agency (1998-99: Vol. 1, 46; Vol. 2, 42).
1999
1996
1995
1994
1991
1990
1987
1985
1984
1982
1979
1978
1974
1970
1966
1959
1958
0
Does Science Benefit
Humanity? (in percent)
Percent “will help”
70
U.S.A.
60
50
Canada
U.K.
Mexico
40
Norway
30
Japan
20
10
0
Country
Source: World Values Survey (1994).
France
Rationalization
Rationalization Involves
Applying the Most Efficient Means to
Achieve Given Goals
Unintended, Negative Consequences of
Doing So
 Rationalization Is Evident in
 The Growth and Operation of
Bureaucracies
The Increasingly Regulated Use of Time
Consumerism
Consumerism
 The Tendency to Define Our Selves in
Terms of the Goods We Purchase.
Excessive Consumption
Puts Limits on Who We Can Become
Constrains Our Capacity to Dissent From
Mainstream Culture
Degrades the Natural Environment
Advertising as % of GDP, U.S.A.,
1975-98
Percent of GDP
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1
2
1.9
1.8
Year
Source: Television Bureau of Advertising (2000).
1997
1995
1993
1991
1989
1987
1985
1983
1981
1979
1977
1975
1.7