Transcript Sociology Unit 1, Ch 2

Sociology
Unit 1, Ch 2:
Cultural Diversity
Section 1:
The Meaning of Culture
• Mind map: what do you think
about when you see “culture”?
• Sociologists consider:
– People’s language, art, ceremonies
and rituals, religion, rules of behavior,
social organization, ways of producing
food, and work roles.
• Distinguishes one human group
from another.
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What is culture to sociologists?
• Humans are not controlled by natural instincts.
– Able to adapt to and change their environment
– How people deal with their environment forms the
foundation of their culture!
• Culture
– All shared products of human groups
– Physical objects and beliefs, values, and behaviors shared
by a group
– Learned and shared
• Society
– Group of interdependent people who have organized in
such a way as to share a common culture and feeling of
unity
– Consists of the material and nonmaterial products that
people create
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Material
Culture
pg. 25
• Physical objects
that people create
and use form a
group’s material
culture
• Ex: automobiles,
books, buildings,
clothing, computers,
and cooking
utensils
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Nonmaterial
Culture
• Formed by abstract
human creations
• Ex: beliefs, family
patterns, ideas,
language, political
and economic
systems, rules,
skills, and work
practices
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Components of Culture
• 1.) Technology
• 2.) Symbols
– Culture consists of not
only physical objects but
also rules for using
those objects … tech!
– Using items of material
culture, particularly tools,
requires knowledge of
various skills, which is a
part of nonmaterial
culture.
– Ex: ability to access and
surf the internet
– Ex: hacking is illegal
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– Through symbols we
create our culture and
communicate it to
groups members and
future generations.
– Anything that represents
something else, has
shared meaning
– Word, gesture, image,
sound, physical object,
event, etc.
– Vary from culture to
culture, but all cultures
communicate
symbolically.
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Components of Culture
• 3.) Language
• 4.) Values
– Organization of written
or spoken symbols into a
standardized system.
– English, principle
language here, used in:
• Books, schools,
magazines, radio and
TV.
– Ever been to a foreign
country and been unable
to speak the language?
• Now you understand
how important the use
of language is in daily
life.
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– Language and symbols
help us communicate our
values.
– Shared beliefs about
what is good or bad, right
or wrong.
– Values held by a group
help determine the
character of its people
and the kinds of material
and nonmaterial culture
they create.
• One society values war,
and one farming, their
cultures will be very
different.
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Components of Culture
• 5.) Norms
– All groups have these to enforce their
cultural values.
• Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to
act in specific situations.
• Ex: US values democratic gov’t
– Reinforced through norms governing political
participation, respect for the flag, & treatment of
political officials
– Norms are expectations for behavior, no
actual behavior!
• We do have rebels…such as?
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Norms continued…
• Manners and laws
• Some apply to all, and others apply to some:
– No one is allowed to marry more than one person
– Some clergy and children are forbidden from
marrying at all!
• Influenced by geography
• Norms vary in the strictness with which they
are enforced:
– Folkways and Mores
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Norms:
Folkways
• Norms that describe socially
acceptable behavior, but don’t
have great moral significance
attached to them.
• Outline the common customs
of everyday life.
• EX:
– Don’t put food in your mouth
with a knife, don’t let flag
touch ground, shake hands
when introduced, etc.
Mores
• Have great moral significance
attached to them.
• Violation of such rules
endangers society’s well-being
and stability.
• Ex:
– Dishonesty, fraud, murder.
• Serious ones are laws.
• Don’t obey – minor
punishment or warning.
• Not following does not
endanger the well-being of
society.
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Examining Culture
• Culture is always changing.
– Dynamic, not static
• New material objects are always being
introduced, as are new words, expressions,
and ideas.
– Such as???
• Sociologist break down culture into levels
and study each level separately.
– 3 levels of complexity:
• Traits, complexes, and patterns.
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Three levels of complexity:
1.) Culture Traits
• An individual tool, act, or belief that is
related to a particular situation or need.
– Ex: using knives, forks, and spoons when
eating is a culture trait.
– Ex: a specific greeting when meeting a
person.
• How can these be different?
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Three levels of complexity:
2.) Culture Complexes
• Individual culture traits combine to form this
level.
• Cluster of interrelated traits.
– Ex: football game
• Material traits: football, measuring chain, cleated shoes,
helmets, pads, etc.
• Specific acts: kicking, passing, catching, running,
tackling, etc.
• Specific beliefs: certain rules followed, penalties for rule
violations
• Other parts of the culture: financing, marketing, and
advertising for the game
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Three levels of complexity:
3.) Culture Patterns
• Culture complexes combine to form the
largest level.
• The combination of a number of culture
complexes into an interrelated whole.
• Ex:
– Separate complexes of baseball, basketball,
football, etc. combine to form an American
athletic pattern.
• Other patterns relate to other aspects of
society like: agriculture, education, family
life, manufacturing, and religion.
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Activity
• Using a blank sheet of paper:
• Let’s see what type of culture you have =) Illustrate it!
• Include:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
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Your name…easy
Language
Art
Ceremonies and rituals (traditions)
Religion
Rules of behavior
Social organization
Ways of producing food
Work roles
Elements of material and nonmaterial culture
Etc.
• Add anything else you feel explains your culture.
• You have twenty minutes!
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Section Two:
Cultural Variation
• Just how much do cultures vary?
• What is your family’s dining ritual?
• Let’s look at the Japanese dining ritual.
– Pg. 30
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Sooo….what do we
have in common?
• We all have the same basic needs, right?
– Like what?
– We can meet those needs in different ways.
• Cultural universals:
– Features common to all cultures
– 65 according to George Murdock, such as:
• Body adornment, cooking, dancing, family, feasting,
forms of greeting, funeral ceremonies, gift giving,
housing, language, medicine, music, myths and
folklore, religion, sports, and tool-making.
• The nature of these can vary widely.
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Margaret Mead’s
Cultural Variation Study
• 1930’s study on whether
differences in basic temperament result
mainly from inherited characteristics or
from cultural influences.
– Nature (genetic) vs. Nurture (environment)
• Observed shared/learned behaviors in
New Guinea of the Arapesh and
Mundugumor people.
– 100 miles apart
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Results:
• Found that temperament is mostly a
result of culture rather than biology
• Differences were greater b/t the 2
societies than b/t males and females in
the same society
– Arapesh:
• Men and women both gentle and cooperative
– Mundugumore:
• Everyone hostile and competitive
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Studying Variation
• Ethnocentrism:
– Tendency to view one’s own culture and
group as superior
• Helps bring groups together
• Can result from technological advances
– Think back to the Japanese dining
example… did it sound odd?
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Cultural Relativism
• The belief that cultures should be judged
by their own standards rather than by
applying the standards of another culture
• These researchers try to understand
cultural practices from the points of view
of the members of society being studied
• Helps us understand practices that might
seem strange
– Ex: Indians laws against killing cows, even in
4/7/2016a food shortage
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Variations within Societies
• Americans share a common culture…
– What is that?
• Some groups in American society share
values, norms, and behaviors that are not
shared by the entire population.
– Forms a subculture
• Edwin Sutherland developed the idea of
subculture in the 1920’s by working with
crime and juvenile detention centers
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• Today sociologists recognize the following
subcultures:
– Deviant, age, gender, ethnic, religious, political,
geographic, social-class, and occupation
• What are some famous subcultures in the
united States?
• What is your youth’s subculture?
• Subcultures are needed (military, physicians,
teachers) and add diversity (ethnic, etc).
– May prompt society to change
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Counterculture
• Some subcultures are created to rebel
from the larger society
• When a group rejects major values,
norms, and practices of larger society,
and replaces them with a new set of
cultural patterns… you get a
counterculture!
– Ex: anarchists, organized crime families,
hippies in the 1960’s, etc.
– Try not to let ethnocentrism take over!
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