Title: Culture
1Culture
- What do people mean when they say
- You are cultured?
2Culture
- All the shared products of a human group.
- Includes physical objects, beliefs, values, and
behaviors. - Methods by which collections of people deal with
their environment.
- Material Culture the physical objects that
people create. - Nonmaterial Culture abstract human creations.
- Society group of mutually interdependent people
who have organized in a way to share a common
culture.
3Components of Culture
- Culture is learned and shared.
- Specific components vary among societies and
changes occur over time. - Culture Lag when nonmaterial culture cant keep
up with material culture.
- Symbols stands for something else - shared
meaning attached to it. - Language organization of written or spoken
symbols into a standardized system.
4Components continued
- Values shared beliefs about what is good or bad,
right or wrong, desirable or undesirable,
beautiful or ugly. - Norms the shared rules of conduct that tell
people how to act in specific situations
(expectations) based on a communitys shared
values. - Based on who and where the individual is.
5American Value System
- Certain values are shared by the majority of
Americans. - Value systems change due to various social
factors, which leads to value conflicts as some
values change over time.
Value Cluster values that fit together to form a
larger whole. Value Contradiction to follow one,
means you must given up another
6Some American Values
- Certain values are shared by the majority of
Americans - Personal Achievement/Success
- Work
- Morality
- Humanitarianism
- Efficiency
- Practicality
- Material Comfort
- Equity
- Democracy
- Freedom
- Self-Fulfillment
- Leisure
- Physical Fitness
- Youthfulness
- Environmental Concerns
- Individualism
- Science/Technology
- Education
7Norms more in depth
- One who breaks the norms deviant.
- Some people are expected to behave in certain
ways based on their specific role.
- Folkways norms that do not have great moral
significance attached to them (the etiquette and
customs of a people that are not of critical
importance to the society).
- Mores have great moral significance attached to
them (violation of them endangers the well-being
and stability of society).
- Taboo a norm so strong that it often brings
revulsion if violated.
8What makes people in society conform to norms?
- Social Control means by which social norms are
upheld and enforced. - Internalization belief that the norm is good,
useful or appropriate - becomes part of an
individuals personality. - Sanctions rewards or punishments that a society
sets up to enforce the norms.
9Sanctions continued
- Positive reward or positive reaction
- Negative expression of disapproval for breaking
a norm - Physical or Psychological
- Formal vs. Informal
- Psychological address the feelings and emotions
of a person. - Informal unwritten and based on personal
relations and public opinion.
Moral Holiday specified times when people are
allowed to break a norm Moral Holiday Place
locations where norms are expected to be broken
10Urinal Behavior Quiz
Number the Urinals from left to right
1-5. Following the scenario given, describe the
proper etiquette and why boys only on this
one. Girls, think about our bathrooms
1
2
3
4
5
11Elevator Rules
- List the expected etiquette/rules you have
learned/follow when using an elevator. - Be sure to explain why that is proper behvior
12Variation among and within Society
- Culture Shock disorientation experienced when we
cannot make sense of the world when our
nonmaterial culture fails us. - Ethnocentrism the tendency to view ones own
culture and group as superior to others. - Cultural Relativism cultures should be judged by
their own standards of their own culture - viewed
from the point of view of the members of that
society. - Is there such thing as normal and abnormal
when looking at differences in culture?
- Subculture a group in society that shares
values, norms, and behaviors that are not shared
by the entire population. - Contra culture subcultures whose values (outlaw
motorcyclists) or activities and goals
(terrorists) conflict with mainstream culture. - Counterculture a group that rejects the values,
norms, and practices of the larger society and
replaces them with a new set of cultural
patterns/practices.
13Cultural Diversity and Universals
- If humans all have the same basic needs, how can
cultures be so different? - Cultural Diffusion the spread of cultural
characteristics from one group to another. - Cultural Leveling process by which cultures
become similar to one another.
- Some needs are so basic that all societies must
develop ways to ensure their fulfillment. - However human beings have the ability to meet
these needs in a vast number of ways. - Example - survival gt need to care for young gt
families. - But are all families the same?
14Symbolic Culture
- Things people attach meaning to (usually
nonmaterial) that they use to communicate. - Gestures using ones body to communicate
(meanings might change from one culture to the
other) - Some gestures are biological.
- Language organization of written or spoken
symbols into a standardized system. - Provide deeper understanding of what we are
communicating - Represents objects and abstract thought.
- Emoticons written gestures for expressing
yourself online - http//pc.net/emoticons/
15Language Continued
- Allows culture to develop move beyond immediate
experiences. - Provides a social or shared past and future
understand past events (times, dates, places). - Allows for shared perspectives form a shared
understanding that forms the basis of social life - Not sharing a language while living alongside one
another, invites miscommunication and suspicion. - Allows complex, shared, and goal-directed
behaviors establish purpose.
16Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
- Language creates ways of thinking and perceiving
(rather than objects) - In the United States we have learned to classify
people (with given titles) jocks, goths,
stoners, skaters, preps, etc. - Because of that we will perceive people in an
entirely different way from someone who does not
know these classifications.
17Gesture Quiz