Chapter 3

Cultural

Crossroads

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Overview

What is Culture? Components of Culture

• Exercise Variations in Culture Cultural Change

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What is Culture? The entire way of

life of a group of people or society• Language, ideas,

beliefs, values, norms, behaviors and objects

• Passed from one generation to the next

Fundamental feature of who we are• Why we think and act

the way we do

Culture is internalized• Lens through which we

view the world Effects tend to remain

imperceptible to us

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YouTube Clip

“Borat” movie trailer

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PRACTICING CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Each cultural group as relative to others Seeing differences and distinctions

rather than:• right and wrong• normal and abnormal• good and bad• better and worse

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Suspending ETHNO*CENTRISM:

Use of one’s own culture as a standard to evaluate others, usually leading to a negative

judgment

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“Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”by Horace Miner

Understanding the Nacirema culture• Who are they?

See article on Everyday Sociology Blog

A study of culturally-prescribed rituals • Highly-developed techniques to care for the

body• All members conform to some degree with

these practices They pass these practices along to their children

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Who are the Nacirema?

North American people • Live in a specific geographic territory

They suffer from a negative self-image• They dislike the appearance of unaltered body• They have an aversion to natural bodily functions

Ritual and ceremonial activities• Transform health and appearance

Native cultural aesthetics dictate certain practices• They are obsessed with magic

Every household has one or more shrines devoted to the body ritual• Each has a charm-box or chest built into the

wall with a small holy-water font below Other elements

Members visit medicine men, holy-mouth men and other specialized practitioners• To procure potions and implements to use in

rituals Very afflicted people visit certain temples

• Where more radical procedures are performed

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So …Who are the Nacirema?

How might an understanding of the Nacirema culture help us to better understand ourselves?

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Hint:To understand the Nacirema you must think sociologically:

practice culture shock suspend ethnocentrism practice cultural relativism

N A C I R E M A

=

A M E R I C A N

Components of Culture: Material Culture

Physical objects belonging to a culture• To which we give meaning• Art, artifacts, architecture, clothing, utensils,

tools, machines, technologies, etc.

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Components of Culture: Non-Material or Symbolic Culture

Symbols• Signs • Gestures

• Language Symbols allow for abstract concepts

• Ideas, beliefs, values, norms, rules• Social systems, patterns, ways of thinking

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YouTube Clip

“Hand Gestures Across Cultures”

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LANGUAGE

A human universal• Do animals have language?

A system of communication• Vocal sounds and written symbols

The basis of culture• Knowledge and experience is cumulative

Shared and exchanged

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Language and Perception

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis —• Ways of looking at the world are

embedded in language Language allows us to “see” things

Example of the Inuit or Eskimo

• Language structures thought

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Language and Social Reality

Example of language and culture of high school girls• From the book

“Queen Bees and Wannabes”

• Basis for the movie “Mean Girls”

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Mean Girls

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Can you solve this riddle?

A man and his son are involved in a serious car accident. The man is pronounced dead at the scene, but his son is rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition. A famous surgeon on staff at the hospital is summoned from a golf game to save the boy's life. Arriving at the hospital, the surgeon takes one look at the boy and says, “Oh my God, I can't operate, get someone else. That's my son!"

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

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Symbolic Culture:

VALUES AND NORMS

Values —• What a group values and honors

Standards and ideas about good or bad, right or wrong, normal or abnormal

Norms —• Rules and guidelines for acceptable and

appropriate behavior Based on a group’s values

• We conform so readily that we are not usually aware

Types of Norms Folkways —

• Customs and practices that ensure smooth interaction Loosely enforced

Mores — • Norms that are key to

core values Serious and formal

repercussions

• Taboos — Deeply engrained mores The thought of violating

evokes horror or revulsion

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SANCTIONS and SOCIAL CONTROL

Sanctions — • Positive or negative reactions to people

Reward conformity Punish violation

Social Control —• Means to insure that people behave in

acceptable and expected ways Formal – through outside authorities Informal – through internalization

Social Control — > “Self Control”

Social Control Negative Sanctions Positive Sanctions

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Moral Holidays

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VARIATIONS IN CULTURE:Subcultures and Countercultures

Subculture – • A group within

dominant culture Large or small

• Each has distinctive values, norms and lifestyle

VARIATIONS IN CULTURE:Subcultures and Countercultures

Counterculture –• Openly rejects or

opposes society’s values and norms May actively

challenge dominant culture

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In-Class Exercise

CULTURAL GROUP MEMBERSHIP

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VARIATIONS IN CULTURE:

“Ideal” Versus “Real” Culture

Ideal culture: what a group aspires to• Values, norms

and behaviors that should be followed

Real culture: what a group actually does • Values, norms and

behaviors that are practiced in reality

Contradictions

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VARIATIONS IN CULTURE:

Culture Wars

Controversies within mainstream society• Which values and norms to follow

Often described as clashes between:• right and left

• conservatives and liberals

Resistance to those who want to change values • Struggle over values can lead to social change

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Culture Wars

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Values, Norms and Laws in Flux:The Case of Marijuana

1770: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grow hemp• Used to make paper for the

Declaration of Independence 1937: “Reefer Madness”

leads to the outlaw of marijuana use in U.S.

2002: Some states decriminalize, allow for medical use

CULTURAL CHANGE Cultural Diffusion

• The dissemination of beliefs and practices from one group to another Material Symbolic

• Exposure to new cultural elements may lead to adoption

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CULTURAL LEVELING

Result of widespread cultural diffusion

Cultures may eventually resemble one another • Loss of

distinctiveness Cultural diffusion

tends to come from the West• Process is not

necessarily one-way

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CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

The imposition of one culture’s beliefs, practices and artifacts on another culture• Through mass media and

consumer goods “Invading” and taking

over another country• No longer necessary to

send military May not be welcomed

• Could threaten local, traditional cultures

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More about cultural change

Later in the semester …