CULTURAL DIVERSITY

1. 2 CULTURAL DIVERSITY

2. Culture and Society Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. Culture includes the ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people. Material vs Non-Material Culture

3. Meaning of Culture Material culture: refers to the physical or technological aspects of our daily lives food, houses, factories, raw materials, tools Non-Material culture: refers to the ways of using material objects as well as to� Customs, beliefs, government, patterns of communication, philosophies, laws

5. Components of Culture Technology Symbols Language Values Norms

6. Components of Culture Technology: involves the objects AND the acceptable usage.

7. Components of Culture Symbols: anything that represents something else.

8. Components of Culture Language Language: the organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system. It includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols, and gestures and expressions of nonverbal communication. Language is learned (critical period)

9. Components of Culture Language � (gestures)

10. Components of Culture Values Values: our collective conceptions of what is good, desirable, and proper�or bad, undesirable, and improper�in a culture. Values influence people�s behavior. Values are criteria for evaluating actions of others.

11. Components of Culture Norms Norms: established standards of behavior maintained by a society. Types of Norms Folkways Mores Formal Informal

12. Sec. 2: Cultural Variations Cultural Universals: Common practices and beliefs that are seen in all societies around the globe. Cultural universals change over time and from one society to another.

13. Cultural Variations Cultural Universals, some examples� George Murdoch (1945) Athletic Sports Cooking Funeral Ceremonies Medicine Dancing among others...

14. Cultural Variations Role of �isolation� Europe vs Africa

15. Other examples: (macro & micro) Early explorers vs Native populations Shy people vs outgoing people Poor family vs Wealthier family Early Japan vs Early China History of Irish Americans US �Achievement Gap�

16. Cultural Variation Attitudes Toward Cultural Variation Ethnocentrism refers to the assumption that one�s own culture represents the norm or is superior to all others. Cultural relativism views people�s behaviors from the perspective of their own culture. Xenocentrism opposite of ethnocentrism; it is the belief that the products, styles, or ideas of another society are better than those from your own society.

17. Cultural Variation Aspects of Cultural Variation Subculture: is a segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the larger society. A subculture is a culture existing within a larger, dominant culture.

18. Cultural Variations

19. Cultural Variations

20. Cultural Variation Aspects of Cultural Variation Counterculture: created when a subculture conspicuously (obviously) and deliberately opposes many or all aspects of the larger culture.

21. Cultural Variation

22. Current Controversies What is the responsibility of a subculture to conform to the �dominant culture?� Are all cultural norms valid? Should we tolerate intolerance? Bilingual Education Illegal immigration