Sociology
Unit 2: Culture and Society
Components of Culture
Cultural Variation
Vocabulary
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Cultural universals
Subculture
Counterculture
Ethnocentrism
Cultural relativism
Cultural diffusion
Cultural Universals
•Cultural Universals: features
evident in all cultures
•What are some features that
all cultures have?
•(Try and Guess 7)
Cultural Universals
Cultural
Universal
Examples
Arts and Leisure
Athletic sports, dancing, decorative art, games, music
Basic Needs
Clothing, cooking, housing
Beliefs
Body adornment, folklore, funeral rites, religious ritual
Communication
and Education
Education, language, greetings
Family
Courtship, kin groups, marriage
Government and
Economy
Calendar, division of labor, government, law, property
rights, status differentiation, trade
Technology
Medicine, toolmaking
Response to Variation
• Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one's own culture
and group as superior to all other cultures and groups
• Cultural relativism: a belief that cultures should be
judged by their own standards
How is this political
cartoon a reflection of
ethnocentrism?
Cultural Change
• Cultural diffusion: the process of spreading
cultural traits from one society to another
• Cultural leveling: the process through which
cultures become more and more alike
Value Systems
Vocabulary
• Self-fulfillment
• Narcissism
The American Value System
American Values
Personal Achievement
Progress and Material
Comfort
Work
Individualism
Efficiency and Practicality
Morality and
Humanitarianism
Equality and Democracy
Freedom
Descriptions/Examples
Personal Achievement
Doing Well at school and at work is important.
Gaining wealth and prestige is a sign of success.
Progress and Material Comfort
History is marked by ongoing progress, and this
progress improves people’s lives.
Work
• Discipline, dedication, and hard work are signs of
virtue
Individualism
Hard work, initiative, and individual effort are the
keys to personal achievement.
Efficiency and Practicality
Every problem can be solved through efficiency
and practicality. Getting things done well in the
shortest time is very important.
Morality and Humanitarianism
Judgments should be based on a sense of right
and wrong. This sense of morality also involves
helping the less fortunate.
Equality and Democracy
Everyone should have an equal chance at success
and the right to participate freely in government.
Freedom
Personal freedoms, such as freedom of religion,
speech, and the press, are central to the American
way of life
New Values: Narcissism
Narcissism: the feeling of
extreme self-centeredness
Social Structures
Vocabulary
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Social structure
Status
Role
Ascribed status
Achieved status
• Master status
• Role conflict
• Social institutions
Status: a socially defined
position in a group or in a
society.
Ascribed Status: a status assigned according to
qualities beyond a person’s control.
Achieved Status: a status acquired through their own
direct efforts.
Master Status: The status that plays the greatest role
in shaping a person’s life and determining his or her
social identity.
Status: Ascribed and Achieved
Status: Activity
Brainstorm: Your ascribed and achieved statuses
Identify your master status. Write a paragraph that
explains why this status is characterized as a
master status in your life.
Roles
• Statuses serve simply as social categories. Roles are the
components of social structure that bring statuses to life.
• Most of the roles that you perform have reciprocal roles.
These are corresponding roles that define the patterns of
interaction between related statuses.
• EX. doctor-patient, teacher-student, or coach-athlete
Role Play Activity: Obtain an index card with a
role. Without speaking, act out the interaction
between you and your reciprocal role.
Role Conflict, Strain, and Exit
• Role Conflict: a situation that occurs when fulfilling
the expectations of one status makes it difficult to
fulfill the expectations of another status
• Role Strain: a situation that occurs when a person
has difficulty meeting the expectations of a single
status
• Role Exit: the process that people go through to
detach from a role that has been central to their
self-identity
Social Interaction
Vocabulary
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Exchange
• Conflict
Reciprocity
• Cooperation
Exchange theory • Accommodation
Competition
Exchange
• Most basic and common form of social
interaction.
• Dating, family life, friendship, and politics all
involve exchanges.
• Reciprocity is the basis for exchange
• the idea that if you do something for
someone, that person owes you something in
return.
Exchange Theory
• Definition: a theory that holds that people are motivated
by self-interests in their interactions with others .
• People do things primarily for rewards. Behavior that is
rewarded tends to be repeated. exchange theory
appears to run counter to some social norms such as
altruism.
Competition
• Definition: an interaction that occurs when two or more
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people or groups oppose each other to achieve a goal
that only one can attain.
A common feature in Western society.
Basis behind capitalism and democracy
If it follows accepted rules of conduct, most sociologists
view it as a positive means of motivating people to
perform the roles society asks of them.
Negatively, competition can lead to psychological stress,
a lack of cooperation in social relationships, inequality,
and even conflict.
Conflict
• Definition: The deliberate attempt to control a person by
force, to oppose someone, or to harm another person.
• Few rules of accepted conduct, and even these often are
ignored.
• May range from the deliberate snubbing of a classmate
to the killing of an enemy.
• Four sources of conflict: wars, disagreements within
groups, legal disputes, and clashes over ideology (religion
or politics)
• Can be useful
• Reinforces group boundaries
• Strengthen group loyalty
• Bring about social change
Cooperation
• Definition: interaction that occurs when two or more
persons or groups work together to achieve a goal that
will benefit many people
• No group can complete its tasks or achieve its goals
without cooperation from its members.
• Competition may be used along with cooperation to
motivate members to work harder for the group.
ASSIGNMENT: Think of groups with which you
have been involved. Have they ever used
competition along with cooperation? What are
some examples?
Accommodation
• Definition: a state of balance between
cooperation and conflict
• Accommodation helps to ensure social stability.
• It can take a number of different forms
• Compromise
• Truce
• Mediation
• Arbitration