The values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects that together form a

people’s way of life

Sociology Ch. 3Culture

Nonmaterial cultureThe intangible world of ideas created by

members of a society

Material cultureThe tangible things created by members of a

society

Terminology

Culture shockDisorientation due to the inability to make

sense out of one’s surroundingsDomestic and foreign travel

EthnocentrismA biased “cultural yardstick”

Cultural relativismMore accurate understanding

Terminology

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

Societies create new symbols all the time.

Reality for humans is found in the meaning things carry with them.The basis of culture; makes life possible

Symbols

People must be mindful that meanings vary from culture to culture.

Meanings can even vary greatly within the same groups of people.Fur coats, Confederate flags, etc.

Symbols

Figure 3.1Human Languages: A Variety of SymbolsHere the English word “read” is written in twelve of the hundreds of languages humans use to communicate with each other.

A system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another

Cultural transmissionThe process by which one generation

passes culture to the next

Sapir-Whorf thesisPeople perceive the world through the

cultural lens of language

Language

Global Map 3.1 Language in Global PerspectiveDetail on next three slides

Global Map 3.1a Language in Global Perspective–ChineseChinese (including Mandarin, Cantonese, and dozens of other dialects) is the native tongue of one-fifth of the world’s people, almost all of whom live in Asia. Although all Chinese people read and write with the same characters, they use several dozen dialects. The “official” dialect, taught in schools throughout the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Taiwan, is Mandarin (the dialect of Beijing, China’s historical capital city). Cantonese, the language of Canton, is the second most common Chinese dialect.

Global Map 3.1b Language in Global Perspective–EnglishEnglish is the native tongue or official language in several world regions (spoken by one-tenth of humanity) and has become the preferred second language in most of the world.

Global Map 3.1c Language in Global Perspective–Spanish The largest concentration of Spanish speakers is in Latin America and, or course, Spain. Spanish is also the second most widely spoken language in the United States

ValuesCulturally defined standards of desirability,

goodness, and beauty, which serve as broad guidelines for social living. Values support beliefs.

BeliefsSpecific statements that people hold to be

true.Particular matters that individuals consider

to be true or false.

Values and Beliefs

1. Equal opportunity2. Achievement and success3. Material comfort4. Activity and work5. Practicality and efficiency6. Progress7. Science8. Democracy and free enterprise9. Freedom10. Racism and group superiority

Sociologist Robin Williams’ Ten Values That Are Central to American Life

Are some of these values inconsistent with one another?

Williams's list includes examples of value clusters.Sometimes one key cultural value contradicts

another.Value conflict causes strain.Values change over time.

A Global Perspective• Cultures have their own values.• Lower-income nations have cultures that value

survival. • Higher-income countries have cultures that value

individualism and self-expression.

Values Sometimes Conflict

Figure 3.2 Cultural Values ofSelected CountriesHigher-income countries aresecular-rational and favor self-expression. The cultures of lower-income countries are more traditional and concerned with economic survival.Source: Modernization, Cultural Change and Democracy by Ronald Inglehart and Christian Weizel, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

TypesProscriptive

Should-nots, prohibitedPrescriptive

Shoulds, prescribed like medicineMores and Folkways

Mores (pronounced "more-rays")Widely observed and have great moral significance

FolkwaysNorms for routine and causal interaction

NormsRules and expectations by which society

guides its members’ behavior

GuiltA negative judgment we make about ourselves

ShameThe painful sense that others disapprove of our actions

Social ControlVarious means by which members of

society encourage conformity to norms

Ideal cultureThe way things should beSocial patterns mandated by values

and normsReal culture

They way things actually occur in everyday life

Social patterns that only approximate cultural expectations

Ideal Versus Real Culture

Culture includes a wide range of physical human creations or artifacts.

A society's artifacts partly reflect underlying cultural values.

In addition to reflecting values, material culture also reflects a society's technology or knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings.

Material Culture and Technology

High culture–Cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite.

Popular culture–Cultural patterns that are widespread among society’s population.

Subculture–Cultural patterns set apart some segment of society’s population.

Counterculture–Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society.

Cultural Diversity

• Eurocentrism–The dominance of European (especially English) cultural patterns

• Afrocentrism–The dominance of African cultural patterns

MulticulturalismAn educational program recognizing the cultural diversity of the United States and promoting the

equality of all cultural traditions.

National Map 3.1Language Diversity across the United States (detail on next slide)Of more than 268 million people age five or older in the United States, the Census Bureau reports that 52 million (19%) speak a language other than English at home. Of these, 62% speak Spanish, and 15% use an Asian language (the Census Bureau lists 29 languages, each of which is favored by more than 100,000 people). The map shows that non-English speakers are concentrated in certain regions of the country. Which ones? What accounts for this pattern? Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2003, 2006).

Culture integrationThe close relationships among various

elements of a cultural systemExample: Computers and changes in our

languageCulture lag

The fact that some cultural elements change more quickly than others, which might disrupt a cultural systemExample: Medical procedures and ethics

Interdependence

1. Invention–Creating new cultural elements

Telephone or airplane2. Discovery–Recognizing and better understanding of something already in existence

X-rays or DNA3. Diffusion–The spread of cultural traits from one society to another

Jazz music or much of the English language

Culture Changesin Three Ways

Figure 3.3 Life Objectives of First-Year College Students, 1969-2006Researchers have surveyed first year college students every year since 1969. While attitudes about some things such as the importance of family have stayed about the same, attitudes about other life goals have changed dramatically. Sources: Astin et al. (2002) and Sax et al. (2006).

EthnocentrismThe practice of judging another

culture by the standards of one’s own culture

Cultural relativismThe practice of judging a culture

by its own standards

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

Figure 3.4 The View from “Down Under”North America should be “up” and South America “down,” or so we think. But because we live on a globe, “up” and “down” have no meaning at all. The reason this map of the Western Hemisphere looks wrong to us is not that it is geographically inaccurate; it simply violates our ethnocentric assumption that the United States should be “above” the rest of the Americas.

The Basic ThesisThe flow of goods–Material product trading has

never been as important.The flow of information–Few, if any, places are left

where worldwide communication isn’t possible.The flow of people–Knowledge means people learn

about places where they feel life might be better.

Limitations to the thesisAll the flows have been uneven.Assumes affordability of goodsPeople don’t attach the same meaning to material

goods.

Is There a Global Culture?

Structural-functionalCulture is a complex strategy for

meeting human needs.Cultural universals–Traits that are

part of every known culture; includes family, funeral rites, and jokes

Critical evaluationIgnores cultural diversity and

downplays importance of change

Theoretical Analysis of Culture

Social-conflictCultural traits benefit some members at

the expense of others.Approach rooted in Karl Marx and

materialism; society’s system of material production has a powerful effect on the rest of a culture.

Critical evaluationUnderstates the ways cultural patterns

integrate members into society

Inequality and Culture

SociobiologyA theoretical paradigm that explores ways in

which human biology affects how we create culture.

Approach rooted in Charles Darwin and evolution; living organisms change over long periods of time based on natural selection.

Critical evaluationMight be used to support racism or sexismLittle evidence to support theory; people

learn behavior within a cultural system

Evolution and Culture

Culture as constraintWe only know our world in terms

of our culture.

Culture as freedomCulture is changing and offers a

variety of opportunities.Sociologists share the goal of

learning more about cultural diversity.

Culture and Human Freedom

Applying Theory: Culture