Transcript Culture - Cengage Learning

Chapter 3
Culture
Chapter Outline
Using the Sociological Imagination
 Dimensions of Culture
 Language and Culture
 Cultural Diversity and Similarity
 Culture, Society, and Heredity

Premarital Sexual Experience
Among Teen Women in the U.S.
Culture and Society
Culture consists of material objects
and patterns of thinking, feeling,
and behaving passed from
generation to generation.
 A society is a group of people living
within defined territorial borders
who share a culture.

Categories of Culture
Normative - composed of norms,
sanctions, and values.
 Cognitive - language, beliefs
 Material - concrete, tangible
aspects of a culture

Norms
Rules defining appropriate and
inappropriate ways of behaving.
 Sanctions—positive and negative,
formal and informal— are used to
encourage conformity to norms.

Do’s and Taboos Around the
World
Bulgaria
Great
Britain
Germany
A nod means no, and a shake of
the head from side to side
means yes.
Never touch the Queen and
don’t offer to shake her hand
unless she extends her hand to
you first
Shaking hands while your other
hand is in your pocket is
considered impolite.
Do’s and Taboos Around the
World
Greece
Italy
Russia
The Greeks do not respect lines,
or queues, in public places.
Italians consider it unfeminine
for a woman to pour wine.
Whistling at public gatherings is
a sign of disagreement and
disapproval.
American Values
Achievement and success
 Activity and work
 Efficiency and practicality
 Equality
 Democracy
 Group (racial, ethnic, religious)
Superiority

Theoretical Perspectives:
Culture
Theoretical
Perspective
Aspect of Culture
The norm requiring
Functionalism students to listen to their
teachers on request.
Drug use by a member of a
Conflict theory
drug subculture
Symbolic
Confederate flag on the
interactionism back window of a truck
Symbols Created for
Internet Communication
:-)
Happy
:-P
Tongue in cheek
;-)
Winking
UOK?
Are you OK?
:-(
Sad
B
Be
:-D
Laughing
B4
Before
:-O
Surprised
BBL
Be back later
:-@
Screaming BRB
Be right back
Symbols Created for
Internet Communication
BTW By the way
LUV
Love
XLNT Excellent
NO1
No on
4
For, Four
OIC
Oh, I see
GR8
Great
PLS
Please
L8R
Later
PCM
Please call me
LOL
Laughing
out loud
C
See
Symbols Created for
Internet Communication
THX
Thanks
WAN2
Want to
TTUL
?
What
U
You
2DAY
Talk to
you later
Too, to,
two
Today
YR
Your
2MORO
Tomorrow
2
Gun Control
Subcultures:
Southern Appalachia

According to sociologists in the 1960s:
 Southern Appalachians are fatalistic,
present oriented, unambitious, and
nonparticipative.
 The subculture is a cultural adaptation
to living a long-standing deprived and
frustrating existence.
Countercultures




A subculture that is deliberately opposed
to aspects of the dominant culture.
Openly defy norms, values, and beliefs of
the dominant culture.
Rebelling against the dominant culture is
central to their members.
Examples:
 militia movement, skinheads
Patterns of Tourism
A Comparison of Values
Among Arabs and Americans
Value
Self-respect
Good health and
hygiene
Responsibility
Respect for elders
Achieve a better life
Self-reliance
Arab
Rank
1
American
Rank
2
2
3
4
5
6
3
1
5
8
4
A Comparison of Values
Among Arabs and Americans
Value
Religion faith
Arab
Rank
7
American
Rank
12
Serious work habits
8
6
Obedience
Creativity
Tolerance of others
Respect for authority
9
10
11
12
11
9
10
7
Cultural Diversity
Because humans are basically the
same biologically, cultural diversity
must be explained by nongenetic
factors.
 Cultural diversity within societies is
promoted by social categories,
subcultures, and countercultures.

Cultural Universals
Found in all societies but their
expression varies among societies.
 Reasons for cultural universals:
 Biological similarity of humans
 Common limitations of the
physical environment
 Common problems of sustaining
social life

Cultural Universals
Human Instincts
Humans do not have instincts,
human behavior is learned.
 Genetically inherited drives do not
determine how humans behave,
because people are heavily
influenced by culture.
