Culture

What is culture?It consists of all the shared products of human groups

Material Culture physical objects created by human groups, also known as artifacts

Nonmaterial Culture abstract human creations such as language, ideas, beliefs, rules, skills, family patterns, work practices, and political and economic systems

Culture vs. Society

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

Material Culture & Non-material Culture

Society a specific territory inhabited by people who share a common culture

Culture vs. Instinct

Why is culture more important than instinct in determining human behavior?

Instincts innate (unlearned) patterns of behavior

Reflexes automatic reaction to physical stimulus

Drives impulse to reduce discomfort

Sociobiology

The study of the biological basis of human behavior

How do sociobiologists view human behavior?

What might be some criticisms of sociobiology?

Is there a middle ground?

Components of Culture

Symbols

Language

Values

Norms (folkways, mores, taboos, laws)

Cultural Universals

Cultural Universals – general cultural traits that exist in all cultures

Why do cultural universals exists?

Examples?

Breaking it down…

Food

Language

Religion

Entertainment

Clothing

Ethnic

Tradition

Standard of Living

Government

Education

Cultural Universals

Researchers have identified more than 70 traits in all cultures

Economy Clothing, Food, Shelter, Communications,Transportation, Business, Jobs, Services, Goods,

Technology, Tools, Trade

Institutions Economy, Religion, Education, Government, Family

Arts Folk Tales, Crafts, Music, Theater, Dance, Literature,Art

Language Words, Expressions, Pronunciations, Alphabet,Symbols

EnvironmentCommunities, Geography, Geology, Habitat, Wildlife,Climates, Resources

Recreation Games, Toys, Arts, Media, Holidays, Festivals

Beliefs Values, Traditions, Ethnicity, Customs, Religions,Morals

Components of Culture:

Symbols & Language

Symbols

What are symbols?

Symbols are something that stands for or represents something else

Examples?

Language & Culture

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

What can vocabulary tell you about a culture?

Does the hypothesis of linguistic relativity mean we are prisoners of our language?

What other factors help us shape our perception of reality?

Norms: The Rules We Live By

Norms rules defining appropriate and inappropriate behavior

William Graham Sumner stated that anything can be considered appropriate when norms approve of it

Taboo: Tattoo Video

Cultural Universals general cultural traits that exist in all cultures

Cultural Relativism principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture

Taboos A norm that society holds so strongly that violating it results in extreme disgust

Components of Culture:

Values & Beliefs

Values & Beliefs

Beliefs ideas about the nature of reality

Values shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable

Why do beliefs matter in a society? Values?

Values & Beliefs

Do we have a set of values and/or beliefs in America? Examples?

Ideal Culture vs.Real Culture

Ideal Culture Cultural guidelines that group members claim to accept

Real Culture Actual behavior of members of a group

American Values:Sociologist Robin Williams

Achievement and success

Individualism

Activity and work

Practicality and efficiency

Science and rationality

Progress

Material Comfort

Equality

Freedom

Democracy

Humanitarianism

Racism and group superiority

American Values

Added in 1975

Education

Religion

Romantic Love & Monogamy

Recently Added Values

Leisure

Physical Fitness (Health)

Self-Fulfillment

Environment

Safety/Personal Security

Components of Culture:

Norms

Norms Review

Rules defining appropriate and inappropriate behavior

Specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation

They are the agreed-upon expectations and rules by which the members of a culture behave

Norms can be broken down into FOUR categories

Folkways

Often referred to as "customs”

Standards of behavior that are socially approved but not morally significant

They are norms for everyday behavior that people follow for the sake of tradition or convenience

Breaking a folkway does not usually have serious consequences

Mores

Strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior

Mores are norms based on definitions of right and wrong

Unlike folkways, mores are morally significant

People feel strongly about them and violating them typically results in disapproval

Taboos

A norm that society holds so strongly that violating it results in extreme disgust

Often times the violator of the taboo is considered unfit to live in that society

Laws

A law is a norm that is written down and enforced by an official law enforcement agency

Enforcing the Norm: Sanctions

**See Social Control Notes**

Cultural Diversity &

Similarity

Cultural Diversity

Social Categories groupings of persons who share social characteristics

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

Counterculture – a 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

Examples?

Does ethnocentrism help or hurt society?

Cultural Universals

Cultural Universals – general cultural traits that exist in all cultures

How are these cultural universals expressed?

Cultural particulars the ways in which a culture expresses universal traits

Why do cultural universals exists?

Cultural Universals

Researchers have identified more than 70 traits in all cultures

Economy Clothing, Food, Shelter, Communications,Transportation, Business, Jobs, Services, Goods,

Technology, Tools, Trade

Institutions Economy, Religion, Education, Government, Family

Arts Folk Tales, Crafts, Music, Theater, Dance, Literature,Art

Language Words, Expressions, Pronunciations, Alphabet,Symbols

EnvironmentCommunities, Geography, Geology, Habitat, Wildlife,Climates, Resources

Recreation Games, Toys, Arts, Media, Holidays, Festivals

Beliefs Values, Traditions, Ethnicity, Customs, Religions,Morals

Social Change

Social Change

**See Social Change Notes**