Ch. 3- Culture

Bell Work…

Complete the following activity:

List holidays that are important to you or your family. They can be national, religious, or of any nature. What do you do on these holidays?

What role do holidays play for you and your family?

What role do they play for your community?

Culture- knowledge, values, customs, and physical objects that are shared by the members of a society

Society- group of people who inhabit a specific territory and share a common culture

Instincts- innate (unlearned) patterns of behavior

Reflexes- automatic reactions to physical stimuli

Drives- impulses to reduce discomfort

Your Task…Interactive Whiteboard Activity: Theoretical Perspectives-Explaining the Role of Culture

View this chart on page 69 in the textbook. After we have discussed it as a class, write a one page summary in your own words about the chart’s contents. You will have 15 minutes.

Trade summaries with a partner. Look for similarities or differences between your summary and your partner’s.

Discuss your summaries and work out any differences that you may have had.

Bell Work…

Copy and answer the following question into your notebook:

How does culture explain human behavior?

Your Task…

Interactive Whiteboard Activity:

Cultural Symbols

Hypothesis of Linguistic Relativity- theory stating that our idea of reality depends largely upon language

Your Task…

In groups of 4, read Lesson 2: Language and Culture.

When finished, complete the review questions on page 74. Each person will answer question #5, but you may turn in one sheet of paper with your group’s answers for #1-4.

Bell Work…

Discuss the following question with a partner:

How does culture influence society?

Norms1. Norms- rules defining appropriate and inappropriate behavior

2. Once norms are learned, members of a society use them to guide their social behavior

3. Social norms can change over time based on invention, discovery, and diffusion

4. Violation- breaking of a rule or law

5. Folkways- norms that lack moral significance

6. Mores- norms that have moral dimensions and that should be followed by members of the society

7. Taboo- rule of behavior, the violation of which calls for strong punishment

8. Laws- norm that is formally defined and enforced by officials

Your Task…

Interactive Whiteboard Activity: Do’s and Don’ts

What norm do you find most unusual? Why?

About what norms would you inform a foreign guest to your community?

Enforcing the Rules

1. Norms must be learned and accepted; people do not automatically conform to them

2. Sanctions- rewards and punishments used to encourage people to follow norms

3. Formal Sanctions- sanctions imposed by persons given special authority

4. Informal Sanctions- rewards/punishments that can be applied by most members of a group

Your Task…Interactive Whiteboard Activity: Odd Man Out

What sanction is being applied to the man in the middle? Why?

Is the sanction formal or informal?

What type of informal sanctions have you witnessed over the last month?

Is there pressure to conform in society?

Values- broad ideas about what is good or desirable shared by people in a society

Basic Values in the U.S.

1. Achievement and Success

2. Activity and Work

3. Efficiency and Practicality

4. Equality

5. Democracy

6. Group Superiority

Identifying PerspectivesFor each of the following statements, go to the sign that reflects how you feel about the statement. Shake hands with the other students in their group—you now share a value in common.

Although we should not be cruel to animals, they were put on earth to serve the needs of human beings.

The death penalty should be abolished because it is morally wrong.

Men and women are not politically or intellectually equal because they are biologically different.

There is too much violence and sex in the media, especially on television.

There is too much freedom given to teenage boys and girls today.

Agree

Somewhat Agree

Disagree

Unsure

Your Task…

Interactive Whiteboard Activity: Folkway, Mores, or Law?

Bell Work…

Look at the Dos and Don’ts chart on page 77 in the textbook. Read through each country and it’s custom.

Then, read the Critical Thinking questions towards the bottom of the page- be ready for class discussion.

What norm do you find most unusual? Why?

About what norms would you inform a foreign guest to your community?

Nonmaterial Culture- ideas, knowledge, and beliefs that influence people’s behavior

Material Culture- the concrete, tangible objects of a culture

Beliefs- ideas about the nature of reality

Ideal Culture- cultural guidelines that group members claim to accept

Real Culture- actual behavior patterns of members of a group

Your Assignment…

Complete Ch. 3- Culture Animated Vocab.

Bell Work…

Copy and answer the following question into your notebook:

How is real culture different from ideal culture?

It Matters Because…Perhaps the easiest way to observe cultural change is in our technology. Technology contributes many of our objects of material culture, such as cell phones, computers, etc., and these objects have undergone rapid change in the last 20 years.

Text messaging is now a common form of communication, and yet this did not exist 20 years ago. As with any cultural change, some people oppose it and some embrace it.

Why do you think some people are annoyed with text messaging while others embrace it?

Your Task…For the next 15 minutes, I want you to write a description of new cultural discoveries you have made in the last couple years. You may include new music, art, books, movies, sports, hobbies, etc.

Write as descriptively as possible and use proper grammar and sentence structure.

Trade papers with your partner and edit each other’s papers. Editors- make comments about both content and grammatical matters.

How does culture evolve?

Cultural Change

1. Culture changes for three reasons: discovery, invention, and diffusion

2. Discovery- process of finding something that already exists

3. Invention- creation of something new

4. Diffusion- borrowing of aspects of culture from other cultures

Progress Check…What are three reasons culture changes?

Social Categories- groupings of persons who share a social characteristic

Subculture- group that is part of the dominant culture but that differs from it in some important respects

Counterculture- subculture deliberately and consciously opposed to certain central beliefs or attitudes of the dominant culture

Ethnocentrism- judging others in terms of one’s own cultural standards

Cultural Universals- general cultural traits that exist in all cultures

Cultural Particulars- ways in which a culture expresses universal traits

Your Task…

1. With a partner, list five different social categories (groups that share a social characteristic such as age, gender, or religion). {Examples- senior citizens, teenagers, women, evangelical Christians, Muslims}

2. Read your list to another pair of students and have each of them say five words that come to mind immediately. Write down the words.

Your Task… Continued…As you read through the lists of words, consider these questions:

Do any of the words show stereotyping?

Is the stereotyping positive or negative?

What might be the basis or reason for each word listed?

Write down your answers to these questions and explain why you think that is.

Your Assignment…

Complete the Ch. 3- Culture Reteaching Activity.