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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.
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SOCIOLOGYRichard 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 • Culture: totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior • Culture includes ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people
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
Development of Culture Around the World • Cultural Universals • Societies develop common practices, including: • Athletic sports • Cooking • Funeral ceremonies • Medicine • Sexual restrictions
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
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
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
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
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
Development of Culture Around the World Figure 3-1. Languages of the World Source: J. Allen 2005:330
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
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
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
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
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
Elements of Culture Table 3-1. Norms and Sanctions
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
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
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
Cultural Variation • Aspects of Cultural Variation • Counterculture: subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture • Hippies • Terrorist cells
Cultural Variation • Aspects of Cultural Variation • Culture shock: Feeling disoriented, uncertain, out of place, or fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture
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
Cultural Variation Table 3-2. Major Theoretical Perspectives on Culture
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
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
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
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
Social Policy and Socialization Figure 3-3. States with Official English Laws Source: U.S. English 2005