1 / 29

SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer

SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer. 3. Culture. 3. Culture. Culture and Society Development of Culture Around the World Elements of Culture Culture and the Dominant Ideology Cultural Variation Social Policy and Socialization. Culture and Society.

philander
Download Presentation

SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. SOCIOLOGYRichard T. Schaefer 3 Culture

  2. 3. Culture • Culture and Society • Development of Culture Around the World • Elements of Culture • Culture and the Dominant Ideology • Cultural Variation • Social Policy and Socialization

  3. Culture and Society • Culture: totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior • Culture includes ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people

  4. Culture and Society • Society is largest form of human group • Society members learn culture and transmit from generation to generation • Common culture simplifies many day-to-day interactions • Language a critical element of culture that sets humans apart from other species

  5. Development of Culture Around the World • Cultural Universals • Societies develop common practices, including: • Athletic sports • Cooking • Funeral ceremonies • Medicine • Sexual restrictions

  6. Development of Culture Around the World • Innovation • Process of introducing new idea or object to a culture • Discovery: making known or sharing existence of an aspect of reality • Invention: when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before

  7. Development of Culture Around the World • Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology • Diffusion: process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society • McDonalization: process through which the principles of the fast-food industry have come to dominate certain sectors of society

  8. Development of Culture Around the World • Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology • Technology: information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires (Nolan and Lenski 2004:37) • Material culture: physical or technological aspects of our daily lives • Food items • Houses • Factories • Raw materials

  9. Development of Culture Around the World • Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology • Nonmaterial Culture: ways of using material objects as well as: • Customs • Customs • Beliefs • Philosophies • Customs • Beliefs • Philosophies • Governments • Customs • Beliefs • Philosophies • Governments • Patterns of communication • Customs • Beliefs • Culture Lag: period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions

  10. Development of Culture Around the World • Sociobiology • Systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior • Founded on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution • Sociobiologists assert that many cultural traits are rooted in our genetic makeup

  11. Development of Culture Around the World Figure 3-1. Languages of the World Source: J. Allen 2005:330

  12. Elements of Culture • Language • Abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture • Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • Language precedes thought • Language is not a given • Language is culturally determined • Language may color how we see world

  13. Elements of Culture • Language • Nonverbal Communication • Use of gestures, facial expressions, and other visual images to communicate • Norms • Established standards of behavior maintained by a society To be significant, norms must be widely shared and understood

  14. Elements of Culture • Norms • Types of Norms • Formal norms • Generally written; specify strict punishments • In U.S., often formalized into laws • Informal norms • Generally understood but not precisely recorded • Mores • Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society • Folkways • Norms governing everyday behavior

  15. Elements of Culture • Norms • Acceptance of Norms • Subject to change as political, economic, and social conditions transform • Sanctions • Penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm

  16. Elements of Culture • Values • Collective conceptions of what is good, desirable, and proper—or bad, undesirable, and improper Influence people’s behavior Criteria for evaluating actions of others Values may change

  17. Elements of Culture Table 3-1. Norms and Sanctions

  18. Elements of Culture Figure 3-2. Life Goals of First-Year College Students in the United States, 1996—2004 Source: UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, as reported in Astin et al. 1994; Sax et al. 2004

  19. Culture and the Dominant Ideology • Dominant Ideology • Describes the set of cultural beliefs and practices that help to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests

  20. Cultural Variation • Aspects of Cultural Variation • Each culture has unique character • Subculture: Segment of society that shares distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the larger society Argot: specialized language that distinguishes a subculture from the wider society

  21. Cultural Variation • Aspects of Cultural Variation • Counterculture: subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture • Hippies • Terrorist cells

  22. Cultural Variation • Aspects of Cultural Variation • Culture shock: Feeling disoriented, uncertain, out of place, or fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture

  23. Cultural Variation • Aspects of Cultural Variation • Ethnocentrism: Tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or is superior to all others • Cultural relativism: people’s behaviors from the perspective of their own culture

  24. Cultural Variation Table 3-2. Major Theoretical Perspectives on Culture

  25. Social Policy and Socialization • Bilingualism • The Issue • Bilingualism refers to use of two or more languages in a particular setting, such as the workplace or schoolroom • Program of bilingual education may instruct children in their native language while gradually introducing the language of the host society

  26. Social Policy and Socialization • Bilingualism • The Setting • Languages know no political boundaries • Minority languages common in many nations • Schools throughout the world deal with incoming students speaking many languages

  27. Social Policy and Socialization • Bilingualism • Sociological Insights • For a long time, people in the United States demanded conformity to a single language • Challenges to this forced obedience to our dominant ideology

  28. Social Policy and Socialization • Bilingualism • Policy Initiatives • Bilingualism has policy implications in efforts to maintain language purity and programs to enhance bilingual education • Nations vary dramatically in tolerance for a variety of languages

  29. Social Policy and Socialization Figure 3-3. States with Official English Laws Source: U.S. English 2005

More Related