Sociology 12 Unit 2Culture

1. Culture?

• Culture : • the knowledge language, values, customs,

and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society.

• (a way of life)• Society: is a large social grouping that

occupies the same geographic territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

2. Culture and society?

• While a society is made up of people, culture is made up of ideas, behaviors, and material possessions.

• Society and culture are interdependent

• One cannot exist without the other

3. Universals of culture:

• Universals of culture:• Customs and practices that occur across

all societies• 1. appearance: hairstyles, tattoos,

piercings, scarification• 2. activities: dance, sport, games, jokes,

visiting• 3. social institutions: religion, family,

government (law)• 4. customary practices: cooking,

folklore, gift giving, hospitality

4. Material vs Non-Material Culture?

• Material Culture:• Consists of the physical or tangible

creations that members of a society make, use and share

• Ex. Book, pen, schoolbag• Non-material Culture:• Consists of the abstract or intangible

creations of society that influence peoples behaviour

• Ex. Language, beliefs, values

Components of Culture

• All cultures have four non-material components:

• Symbols• Language• Values• Norms• These components contribute to both

harmony and conflict in society

Symbols

• Symbol: anything that meaningfully represents something else (concrete or abstract)

• Essential to culture- shared meanings• Can be pictures, sounds, gestures,

colours• Flags, gestures, siren, clothing etc.

(p72-73)

Canadian Symbols

Language

• Language: a set of symbols that express ideas and enable people to think and communicate with each other

• Important human attribute: allows us to share our experiences, feelings and knowledge

• Animals also have language (sounds, gestures, touch, smell)

Values

• Values: collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in a particular culture.

• Some argue there is a trend to more diverse Canadian values

• Canadian values? - Functionalists believe that there is a core set of values in a stable society.

Canadians Values (p78)

• Equality and fairness• Consultation and dialogue• Accommodation and tolerance• Support for diversity • Compassion and generosity• Canada’s natural beauty• Canada’s world image ( freedom,

nonviolence, peace)

Norms

• Norms: established rules of behavior or standards of conduct.

• Prescriptive norms state what behavior is appropriate or acceptable.

• Ex. Filing tax returns, holding door• Proscriptive norms state what

behavior is inappropriate or unacceptable.

• Ex. Good manners, speeding laws

Norms continued…

• Formal norms– most important -written down and include punishment (ex: laws)

• enforced by sanctions• Sanctions: the rewards or punishments

given for either appropriate or inappropriate behavior

• Informal norms– unwritten standards of behavior with informal sanctions (ex. Frowning at an inappropriate comment)

Folkways

• Folkways - informal norms or everyday customs that may be violated without serious consequences within a particular culture.

• Provide rules for conduct but aren’t essential

• Ex. Wearing deodorant, brushing your teeth

• Not often enforced or mildly enforced

Mores

• Mores: strongly held norms with ethical connotations that may not be violated without serious consequences in a particular culture.

• Considered crucial to the culture therefore severe negative sanctions

• Taboos: mores so strong that their violation is considered extremely offensive or even unmentionable

• Ex. incest

Laws

• Laws - formal, standardized norms that have been enacted by legislature and are enforced by formal sanctions.

• Civil law: deals with disputes between people and groups

• Criminal law: deals with public safety and well being

• Changes to law often reflect changes in culture

Language and Culture: Social reality

• Does language create reality or does it simply communicate reality?

• Ex. Language in abortion debate: pro-life, pro-choice

• Sapir-Worf hypothesis: language preceeds thought and shapes the reality of its speakers- overstated?

• Language may influence our behaviour and interpretation of social reality but does not determine it

Language and Culture: Gender

• Cultural assumptions about women and men reflected in language: use of masculine form, m/f pronouns, postive/negative connotations gender based, sexualization of women

• Use of Ms versus Miss or Mrs• Change to non-sexist language:• Ex: chairperson, flight attendant

Language and Culture: Race and Ethnicity

• May create and reinforce our perceptions about race and ethnicity by transmitting preconceived ideas about the superiority of one category of people over another

• Double meanings reinforcing negative images ex. blackhearted

• Overtly derogatory terms• Words frequently used to create or reinforce

perceptions about a group ex: savages for aboriginals

• Voice of verbs can minimize the achievements of minority groups

Language and Culture: language diversity

• Linguistically diverse society• Aboriginal Languages• French and English speaking

populations • Officially bilingual country• Keystone to culture: chief vehicle for

understanding and experiencing one’s culture

• Efforts to preserve and protect native languages

Cultural Comparison Chart

• Hutterites:• Distinguishing Values/Beliefs:• Strong faith in God• Reject worldly concerns• Joy of work, primacy of home• Faithfulness, thrift, tradition, humility• Conservative family views-women

subservient• Cherish children

• Distinguishing Behaviours:• Closed social network• Farming community• Community focus not the individual• Communal sharing of meals and property

• Distinguishing Characteristics:• Distinctive mode of dress: conservative, modest• Follow centuries old traditions but use 20thc

technology

• Canadian Society’s Response to Them:

• Trade with them• See them as different• Accepting and tolerant towards them

•Skin Heads:• Distinguishing Beliefs/values:• Racial superiority• Patriotism• Traditional roles for males/females• Justification of physical violence

• Distinguishing Behaviours:• Highly organized and politically

motivated• Attend rallies and meetings• Distribute racist propaganda• Participate with groups like KKK and

White Arian Resistance

• Distinguishing Characteristics:• Young white working class males• Shaved heads• Tattoos, chains, boots (Doc Martins)• Jeans with suspenders• Green flight jackets (army surplus)

• Canadian Society’s response to Them:

• Not accepting of them• Seen as a threat• Unacceptable• Undesirable• Mongolian Skinheads

1. Why would sociologists place SH in a different category of culture than H?

• EX : • While both are seen as subcultures,

different from mainstream Canadian culture, Skin Heads are considered a counter culture because the actively go against those values, unlike the Hutterites who live alongside mainstream culture.

2. Why does society respond differently to SH and other racist

groups?• EX:• We find them offensive and often violent and

that is not considered acceptable in our society and culture.

• 3. A reflection of mainstream Canadian Values?

• Accommodation and tolerance• Support of diversity• Compassion and generosity• Equality and fairness• World image- nonviolence p78 in text

Theoretical Perspectives and Culture

• Functionalist:• Malinowski- idea that culture meets our needs• See popular culture holding society together• Pop culture can undermine core cultural values

too• Can lead to antisocial behaviour- violence on TV• Overemphasis on harmony and cooperation

does not account for class based inequalities

• Conflict:• Values and norms help to create and sustain the

privileged position of the powerful in society• Pop culture has been removed from the domain

of everyday people and become nothing more than part of the capitalist economy: creates new pop culture and promotes consumption of goods ex. Disney (buy because you think you need it)

• Popular cultural images often linked to negative stereotypes ex Aunt Jemima Pancake ads

• Stress how cultural values and norms may perpetuate social inequalities

• Symbolic Interactionist:• Sees people creating, maintaining

and modifying culture as they go about their lives

• Symbols are communication, shared meanings ex. Money

• Highlights how people maintain and change culture through their interactions with others

• Postmodern:• There is a need to talk about cultures rather

than culture• Boudrillard- hyperreality when the simulation

of reality is more real than the reality itself-reality coming from media and cyberspace

• Emphasis on the need to deconstruct and scrutinize existing beliefs and theories about culture in hopes of gaining new insights

Chapter Questions: part 2

• 1. Three ways we experience change in culture:

• Discovery: process of learning about something previously unknown or unrecognized ex. fire, cure for common cold

• Invention: process of reshaping existing cultural items into a new form ex. video games, airplanes

• Diffusion: transmission of cultural items or social practices from one group or society to another ex. pinatas (China, Italy, Spain, Mexico, USA

• 2. Canada is referred to as heterogeneous - our society includes people who are dissimilar in regard to social characteristics such as nationality, race, ethnicity, class, occupation, or education.

• Our diversity reflects our history of immigration.

• Sweden is referred to as homogeneous – its society includes people who share a common culture and are typically from similar social, religious, political, and economic backgrounds.

• 3. Ethnocentrism: • the tendency to regard one’s culture and

group as the standard and thus superior, all other groups are therefore inferior

• Cultural Relativism:• The belief that the behaviours and

customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture’s own standards

• Harris ‘ culture must be viewed from the standpoint of those who live in a particular society’ p88

• This is important when studying culture because it helps us to avoid and recognize bias in sociological research. Ex India

• Cattle are sacred in their culture• From ethnocentric viewpoint might see it

as the cause of hunger and poverty• Actually important to their economy as

cattle provide providing labour and milk at little cost to the people

Sacred Cattle in India

5. Most important causes of cultural change in the future?

• 1. Issues of cultural diversity • Will increase in importance especially in

schools• Challenge to embrace widespread cultural

diversity and at the same time convey a sense of community and national identity

• 2. Technology• Technology will increase the flow of

information and expand cultural diffusion throughout the world

• a force of integration and fragmentation

Other Key Terms to Consider

• Culture Shock:• The disorientation that people feel when

they encounter cultures radically different from their own and believe they cannot depend on their own taken-for-granted assumptions about life.

• Immigrants to Canada• Traveling, working, or studying abroad• Reverse culture shock when you return to

your original culture/society

Popular and High Culture

• ‘Ideal types of cultural forms differentiated by their content, style, expressed values, and respective audiences.’

• High Culture:• Activities (opera, ballet, classical music) usually

patronized by the elite (upper and middle classes with time money and knowledge assumed necessary to appreciate them)

• Popular Culture:• Activities, products and services that are

assumed to appeal to the middle and working classes ex. Rock concerts, spectator sports, movies, soaps, reality tv, internet