SOC101YSOC101Y

Introduction to SociologyIntroduction to SociologyProfessor Robert BrymProfessor Robert Brym

Lecture #2Lecture #2CultureCulture

19 Sep 1219 Sep 12Course WebsiteCourse Website

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/soc101y/brym

Another Brick in the WallPink Floyd (1979)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvPpAPIIZyo

LYRICS: We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teachers leave them kids alone. Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone! All in all it’s just another brick in the wall. All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.

Culture is the sum of socially transmitted ideas, practices, and material objects that people create to overcome real-life problems. Culture gives us guidelines for how to act.

Hero’s Aeolopile, ~100 c.e.Hero’s Aeolopile, ~100 c.e.

The Atanasoff-Berry The Atanasoff-Berry Digital Computer, circa Digital Computer, circa

19391939

Ethnocentrism involves judging another culture exclusively by the standards of one’s own.

Cultural relativism is the belief that all elements of all cultures should be respected as equally valid.

Prevalence of Prevalence of Cliterectomy in AfricaCliterectomy in Africa

Prevalence over 90% in: Egypt Guinea Eritrea Djibouti Mali Somalia Sierra Leone

Rationalization is the application of the most efficient means to achieve given goals and the often unintended, negative consequences of doing so.

A bureaucracy is a large, impersonal organization composed of many clearly defined positions arranged in a hierarchy. It has a permanent, salaried staff of qualified experts and written goals, rules and procedures. Staff members strive to achieve goals more efficiently.

Approximate Income, Cost and Approximate Income, Cost and Profit per SOC101 Student, U Profit per SOC101 Student, U of T, 1993 and 2010of T, 1993 and 2010Year 1993 2010

Classes 4 1

Students 1,000 1,400

TAs 12 7

A. Tuition income per student $415 $1,250

B. Personnel cost per student* $265 $165

Net income per student (A-B) $150 $1,085

Net income per student, 2010 $

$200 $1,085

* Excludes overhead

Consumerism is a lifestyle that involves defining one’s self in terms of the goods one purchases.

Negative Consequences of Consumerism

By encouraging people to shop till they drop, it increases consumer debt, which is at record levels, and it forces people to work more than they need to, adding to stress and depression.

It encourages environmentally dangerous levels of consumption.

It stifles dissent and draws attention from pressing social issues.

GLAM NEO-GRUNGE

Colors selected by “The Color Colors selected by “The Color Mafia” Mafia”

in 1998 for wide appeal in 2001in 1998 for wide appeal in 2001

Van Gold: a burnished, opulent, malleable metallic

Wasabi: a nonacidic, minimalistic, muted green, similar to an Asian green

Aquarelle: a clear, refreshing water-influenced green/blue

Royal Plum: an icon of royalty and wealth; spirituality and ceremonial ritual inspire this hue

Tradition Focus Main Question Fashion InterpretationFunctionalist Values How do the institutions of

society contribute to social stability?

Fashion cycles help to preserve the class system by allowing people of different rank to evaluate and distinguish themselves.

Conflict Inequality How do privileged groups maintain advantages and subordinate groups seek to increase theirs, often causing social change in the process?

Fashion cycles exist so the fashion industry can earn profits; fashion distracts consumers from social problems but the resulting equilibrium is precarious.

Symbolic interactionist

Meaning How do individuals communicate to make their social settings meaningful?

Because fashions are meaningful, fashion cycles allow people to communicate their identity, which is always in flux.

Feminist Patriarchy Which social structures and interaction processes maintain male dominance and female subordination?

Fashion cycles often “imprison” women and diminish them by turning them into sexual objects; but they can also empower them.

Theoretical Traditions in SociologyTheoretical Traditions in Sociology

Hampton marriage rate: 6/2,000 = m/100,0006 x 100,000 = 2,000 x m600,000 = 2,000mm=300

Sussex marriage rate:12/3,000 = m/100,00012 x 100,000 = 3,000 x m1,200,000 = 3,000mm=400

We want to compare marriage inthe two towns but the frequency ofmarriages is influenced by the size of the town. We must therefore“standardize” or “control for” size . We do this by calculating rates –the number of marriages for every 100,000 residents.

When we solve for m, we arrive atthe marriage rate, that is, the the number of marriages per100,000 residents. This allows us to compare marriage in the two townsas if they were the same size. Here we see that the marriage rate in Sussex is 400/100,000 while the marriage rate in Hampton is 300/100,000.

In Hampton, a village of 2,000, 6 marriages took place last year. In Sussex, a village of 3,000, 12 marriages took place last year. In which village is the marriage rate higher?

After completing today’s readings and lecture you

should be able to:D

efine culture sociologicallyU

nderstand the twin dangers of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in understanding culture sociologically.

Appreciate the ways in which culture constrains people and frees them.

Analyze cultural phenomena from functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionist and feminist perspectives.