Culture

1. Culture The totality of learned, socially transmitted behavior, including Ideas Values Customs Artifacts “Culture is the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together form a people’s way of life.”

2. Norms Symbols Language Elements of Culture Material Culture and Technology Values and Beliefs

3. Symbols Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture.

4. A system of symbols and word meanings recognized by people who share a culture Linguistic Relativity (Sapir-Worf) hypothesis – Language actually shapes the reality of our culture. If we do not have a word for something it likely has no meaning for us. Language 朋友 ndugu φίλος друг amie amica vriend friend

5. Formal norms – generally written down and involve strict rules for violations Normsestablished standards of behavior maintained by society Informal norms – generally understood, but not precisely recorded Laws– codified formal norms

6. Normsestablished standards of behavior maintained by society • Mores – norms deemed highly necessary for the welfare of society; embody the most cherished principles of a people • Folkways – norms governing everyday behavior; violation brings little concern

7. Normsestablished standards of behavior maintained by society • Taboos – norms governing what is absolutely unacceptable in a society; though many are universal, some vary from culture to culture

8. Values and Beliefs • Collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper in society • Sometimes a society’s values & beliefs may contradict each other

9. Values and BeliefsTen key values of U.S. cultureidentified by sociologist Robin Williams: 1. Equal opportunity 2. Achievement and success 3. Material comfort 4. Activity and work 5. Practicality and efficiency 6. Progress 7. Science 8. Democracy and free enterprise 9. Freedom 10. Racism and group superiority

10. Material Culture and Technology Artifacts – the tangible items within a culture Clothing Tools Furnishings Technology – knowledge and understanding people use to make a way of life Stick Windmill Computer

11. Cultural Diversity High culture – patterns that identify or are associated with the social elite Popular culture – patterns that are widespread among a culture

12. Cultural Diversity Subculture – cultural patterns that set some groups apart from the rest of society, while they still maintain a general acceptance of the dominant culture Counter culture – cultural patterns that widely oppose those accepted within society

13. Cultural Diversity Ethnocentrism – viewing one’s own culture as the ideal and judging others based on it Xenocentrism – view another culture as more ideal than one’s own

14. Cultural Diversity Multiculturalism – recognizing cultural diversity and promoting equality for all cultural traditions Cultural relativism – judging a culture according to its own standards