Culture

The values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects that together form a peoples way of life

Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Terminology
Nonmaterial culture
The intangible world of ideas created by members of a society

Material culture
The tangible things created by members of a society

Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Terminology
Culture shock
Disorientation due to the inability to make sense out of ones surroundings
Domestic and foreign travel

Ethnocentrism
A biased cultural yardstick

Cultural relativism
More accurate understanding

Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Symbols
Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture Societies create new symbols all the time. Reality for humans is found in the meaning things carry with them.
The basis of culture; makes life possible
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Symbols
People must be mindful that meanings vary from culture to culture. Meanings can even vary greatly within the same groups of people.
Fur coats, Confederate flags, etc.

Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Language
A system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another Cultural transmission
The process by which one generation passes culture to the next

Sapir-Whorf thesis
People perceive the world through the cultural lens of language.
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Values and Beliefs

Values
Culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and beauty, which serve as broad guidelines for social living. Values support beliefs.

Beliefs
Specific statements that people hold to be true. Particular matters that individuals consider to be true or false.
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Sociologist Robin Williams Ten Values That Are Central to American Life
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Equal opportunity Achievement and success Material comfort Activity and work Practicality and efficiency Progress Science Democracy and free enterprise 9. Freedom 10. Racism and group superiority Are some of these values inconsistent with one another?
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Values Sometimes Conflict

Williams's list includes examples of value clusters. Sometimes one key cultural value contradicts another. Value conflict causes strain. Values change over time.

A Global Perspective
Cultures have their own values. Lower-income nations have cultures that value survival. Higher-income countries have cultures that value individualism and self-expression.
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Norms
Rules and expectations by which society guides its members behavior

Types
Proscriptive Should-nots, prohibited Prescriptive Shoulds, prescribed like medicine

Mores and Folkways

Mores (pronounced "more-rays") Widely observed and have great moral significance Folkways Norms for routine and causal interaction
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Social Control
Various means by which members of society encourage conformity to norms

Guilt
A negative judgment we make about ourselves

Shame
The painful sense that others disapprove of our actions

Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Ideal Versus Real Culture

Ideal culture
The way things should be Social patterns mandated by values and norms

Real culture
They way things actually occur in everyday life Social patterns that only approximate cultural expectations
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Material Culture and Technology

Culture includes a wide range of physical human creations or artifacts. A society's artifacts partly reflect underlying cultural values. In addition to reflecting values, material culture also reflects a society's technology or knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings.
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Cultural Diversity
High cultureCultural patterns that distinguish a societys elite. Popular cultureCultural patterns that are widespread among societys population. SubcultureCultural patterns set apart some segment of societys population. CountercultureCultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society.
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Multiculturalism
An educational program recognizing the cultural diversity of the United States and promoting the equality of all cultural traditions.

EurocentrismThe dominance of European (especially English) cultural patterns AfrocentrismThe dominance of African cultural patterns

Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Interdependence
Culture integration
The close relationships among various elements of a cultural system
Example: Computers and changes in our language

Culture lag
The fact that some cultural elements change more quickly than others, which might disrupt a cultural system
Example: Medical procedures and ethics
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Culture Changes in Three Ways

InventionCreating new cultural elements
Telephone or airplane

DiscoveryRecognizing and better understanding of something already in existence

X-rays or DNA

DiffusionThe spread of cultural traits from one society to another

Jazz music or much of the English language
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

Ethnocentrism
The practice of judging another culture by the standards of ones own culture

Cultural relativism
The practice of judging a culture by its own standards

Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Is There a Global Culture?

The Basic Thesis The flow of goodsMaterial product trading has never been as important. The flow of informationFew, if any, places are left where worldwide communication isnt possible. The flow of peopleKnowledge means people learn about places where they feel life might be better. Limitations to the thesis All the flows have been uneven. Assumes affordability of goods People dont attach the same meaning to material goods.
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Theoretical Analysis of Culture

Structural-functional
Culture is a complex strategy for meeting human needs. Cultural universalsTraits that are part of every known culture; includes family, funeral rites, and jokes

Critical evaluation
Ignores cultural diversity and downplays importance of change
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Inequality and Culture

Social-conflict
Cultural traits benefit some members at the expense of others. Approach rooted in Karl Marx and materialism; societys system of material production has a powerful effect on the rest of a culture.

Critical evaluation
Understates the ways cultural patterns integrate members into society
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Evolution and Culture

Sociobiology
A theoretical paradigm that explores ways in which human biology affects how we create culture. Approach rooted in Charles Darwin and evolution; living organisms change over long periods of time based on natural selection.

Critical evaluation
Might be used to support racism or sexism Little evidence to support theory; people learn behavior within a cultural system
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Culture and Human Freedom

Culture as constraint
We only know our world in terms of our culture.

Culture as freedom
Culture is changing and offers a variety of opportunities. Sociologists share the goal of learning more about cultural diversity.
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.