Transcript Chapter 2. Culture and Social Structure

Strangers
Strangers
to These
to These
Shores,
Shores,
Tenth
Tenth
Edition
Edition
by Vincent
by Vincent
N. Parrillo
N. Parrillo
©2011
©2011
Pearson
Pearson
Education,
Education,
Inc.Inc.
All All
rights
rights
reserved
reserved
THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE
Culture
The values, attitudes, customs, beliefs, and habits
shared by members of a society
Nonmaterial
Culture
Consists of
abstract human
creations and their
meaning in life
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
Material Culture
Consists of all
physical objects
created by members of a
society and the
meanings
attached to them
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
THE REALITY CONSTRUCT
Culture is learned behavior, acquired chiefly
through verbal communication, or
language
Thomas Theorem
If people define situations as real, those situations
become real in their consequences
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
CULTURAL CHANGE
Cultural Diffusion
Borrowed elements
 Any given culture contains about 90 percent borrowed
elements
Cultural contact
 Culture also changes through people of different cultures
coming into contact
 Culture shock does not always occur
 Two groups may peacefully coexist or they may be in a
dominant-subordinate relationship
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
ETHNIC SUBCULTURES
Convergent Subcultures
Ethnic subcultures that
tend toward
assimilation with the
dominant society
Members may
experience problems
of marginality
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
Persistent Subcultures
Ethnic subcultures that
are not assimilated
Some ethnic groups do
not desire to do so,
and other ethnic
groups find
assimilation difficult
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ETHNIC SUBCULTURES
Structural Conditions
Relations between dominant and minority groups
are influenced as much by structural conditions
as by differences in culture
Stratification
The hierarchal classification of members of society
based on the unequal distribution of resources,
power, and prestige
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
ETHNIC SUBCULTURES
Social Class
Social class is one categorization sociologists use
to designate people’s place in the stratification
hierarchy; people in a particular social class have
a similar level of income, amount of property,
degree of power, status, and type of lifestyle
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
BLAMING THE POOR OR
SOCIETY?
Family disintegration
Perpetuation of poverty
Criticism
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
INTERGROUP CONFLICT
Is conflict inevitable when culturally distinct
groups interact?
Robert E. Park argued an evolving cycle of events
made conflict and subsequent resolution by
assimilation inevitable
Four Stages of Park’s “race-relations cycle”
Cultural differentiation
Structural differentiation
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
ETHNIC STRATIFICATION
How does ethnic stratification continue in a
democracy where supposedly all have an
equal opportunity for upward mobility?
Functionalists
 Suggest that the ethnocentrism of those in the societal
mainstream leads to discrimination of those in out-groups, as
determined by racial and ethnic differences
Conflict theorists
 Stress the subordination of minorities by the dominant group
because that group benefits from such ethnic stratification
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
THE POWER-DIFFERENTIAL
THEORY
Neither conflict nor assimilation is inevitable
The relative power of indigenous and
migrant groups determines events
If the migrant group is superordinate, early
conflict and colonization will occur
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
THE POWER-DIFFERENTIAL
THEORY
In a paternalistic society, the dominant
group has almost absolute power
A competitive society is vulnerable to
political pressures and economic boycotts
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved
Strangers to These Shores, Tenth Edition by Vincent N. Parrillo
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved