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Welcome to the Unit 2 Live Seminar.
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Goals
█ Announcements
█ Culture
█ Norms
█ Theories of Self
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Announcements
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Culture
Norms Theories of Self
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Sociological movie of the week
The Blind Side
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Culture and Society
Culture: Totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects,
and behavior
Culture includes ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people
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Culture and Society
Society: Large number of people who live in same territory, who are relatively independent of
people outside that area, and who participate in a common culture
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Common culture simplifies day-to-day interactions
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Adorno: worldwide culture industry limits people choices
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Cultural Universals
All societies develop common practices and beliefs, known as cultural universals
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Athletic sports
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Cooking
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Funeral ceremonies
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Medicine
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Sexual restrictions
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What is one unique cultural practice you have?
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Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology
Diffusion
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Innovation: Introducing new idea or object to a culture
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Discovery: Making known or sharing existence of an aspect of reality
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Invention: Existing cultural items combined into form that did not exist before
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Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology
Diffusion: Process by which cultural item spreads from group to group
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McDonaldization: Process through which principles of fast-food industry
dominate certain sectors of society
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Technology: Information about how to use material resources of the environment
to satisfy human needs and desires (Nolan and Lenski)
McWorld Tour
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McDonald’s hits Africa
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Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology
Material culture: Physical or technological aspects of daily lives
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Food items
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Houses
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Factories
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Raw materials
Nonmaterial culture: Ways of using material objects as well as:
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Customs
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Beliefs
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Philosophies
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Governments
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Patterns
of communication
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Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology
█ Culture lag: Period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture struggles to adapt to new
material conditions
█ Typewriter
█ Computer
█ Airplane
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Biological Basis of Culture
Sociobiology: Systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior
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Founded on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
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Sociobiologists assert that many cultural traits rooted in genetic makeup
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Elements of Culture
Each culture considers its own ways of handling basic societal tasks as “natural”
Culture learned and transmitted through human interaction
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Language
Language: Abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture
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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
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Language precedes thought
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Language is not a given
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Language is culturally determined
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Language may color how we see world
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Language
Nonverbal Communication
Use of gestures, facial expressions, and other visual images to communicate
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Learned
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Different in different cultures
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Norms
Established standards of behavior maintained by a society
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Formal norms: Generally written; specify strict punishments
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Informal norms: Generally understood but not precisely recorded
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Mores: Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society
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Folkways: Norms governing everyday behavior
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Sanctions
Penalties and rewards for conduct concerning social norm
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Positive sanctions: Pay raises, medals, and words of gratitude
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Negative sanctions: Fines, threats, imprisonment, and stares of contempt
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Values
Collective conceptions of what is good, desirable, and proper—or bad, undesirable, and improper
Influence people’s behavior
Criteria for evaluating actions of others
Values may change
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Global Culture War
Culture war: Polarization of society over controversial cultural elements
In 1990s, referred to political debates over abortion, religious expression, gun control, and sexual
orientation
Took on global meaning, especially after 9/11
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Dominant Ideology
Dominant ideology: Set of cultural beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful interests,
including:
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Social interests
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Economic interests
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Political interests
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Cultural Variation within Societies
Subculture: Segment of society that shares distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values
that differs from larger society
Argot: Specialized language that distinguishes a subculture from the wider society
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Aspects of Cultural Variation
Counterculture: Subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the
larger culture
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Do you or anyone you know come from a subculture that rejects mainstream American culture?
If so, describe the community’s norms and values.
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Aspects of Cultural Variation
Culture shock: Feeling disoriented, uncertain, out of place, or fearful when immersed in an
unfamiliar culture
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Attitudes toward Cultural Variation
Ethnocentrism: Tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represents the norm
or is superior to others
█ Cultural relativism: People’s behaviors from the perspective of their own culture
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Using the sociological imagination
You arrive in a developing African country as a Peace Corps volunteer. What aspects of a very
different culture do you think would be the hardest to adjust to? What might the citizens of that
country find shocking about your culture?
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Socialization and the Life Course
Socialization: Lifelong process in which people learn appropriate attitudes, values, and
behaviors
Personality: Person’s typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior
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Social Environment: The Impact of Isolation
Interaction of heredity and environment shape human development
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Cases of Isabelle and Genie
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Importance of earliest socialization experiences for children
Primate Studies
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Harlow showed isolation had damaging effect on monkeys
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Genie’s Sketch.
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The Influence of Heredity
Minnesota Twin Family Study
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Twins have similar intelligence test scores when reared apart in roughly similar
social settings
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Different scores when reared in different social settings
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The Self and Socialization
Self: Distinct identity that sets us apart from others
The self is not a static phenomenon
It continues to develop and change
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Cooley: Looking-Glass Self
View of ourselves comes from contemplation of personal qualities and impressions of how
others perceive us
Looking-glass self: The self is product of social interactions with other people
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Cooley: Looking-Glass Self
The process of self-identity development
█ We imagine how we present ourselves to others.
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To family, friends, strangers, etc.
█ We imagine how others evaluate us.
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Are we attractive, intelligent, shy, odd, etc.
█ We develop a feeling about who we are as a result of these feelings.
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“I am respected”, “I am a fool”, “Shame on me”, etc.
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Mead: Stages of the Self
Preparatory Stage: Children imitate people around them
Symbols: Gestures, objects, and words that form basis of human communication
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Mead: Stages of the Self
Play Stage: Children develop skill in communicating through symbols and role taking occurs
Role taking: Process of mentally assuming perspective of another and responding from that
imagined viewpoint
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Mead: Stages of the Self
Game Stage: Children of about 8 or 9 consider several actual tasks and relationships
simultaneously
Generalized others: Attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child
takes into account
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So what about J.Crew? Discussion on J. Crew story. Interesting point. Good topic to discuss. Get
background article.
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Mead: Theory of the Self
Self begins as privileged, central position in a person’s world
As the person matures, the self changes and begins to reflect greater concern about reactions of
others
Significant others: Individuals most important in the development of the self
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Mead’s Stages of the Self
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Goffman: Presentation of Self
Impression management: Individual learns to slant presentation of self to create distinctive
appearances and satisfy particular audiences
Also known as dramaturgical approach
Face-work: Need to maintain proper image of self to continue social interaction
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Psychological Approaches to the Self
Freud
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Self is a social product
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Natural impulsive instincts in constant conflict with societal constraints
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Personality influenced by others (especially one’s parents)
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Self has components that work in opposition to each other
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Psychological Approaches to the Self
Piaget
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Emphasized stages that humans progress through as the self develops
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Cognitive theory of development: 4 stages in development of children’s thought
processes
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Sensorimotor (birth-2 years old): Young children use their senses to make
discoveries. Through touching, they discover that their hands are actually
a part of themselves.
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Preoperational (2-7 years old): Children begin to use words and symbols
to distinguish objects and ideas.
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Concrete Operational (7-11 years old): Children engage in critical
thinking. They learn that even when a formless lump of clay is shaped into
a snake, it is still the same clay.
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Formal Operational (adolescence-adulthood): adolescents become capable
of sophisticated abstract though and can deal with ideas and values in a
logical manner.
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Agents of Socialization
Family
█ Cultural Influences
█ The Impact of Race and Gender
█ Gender roles: Expectations regarding proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males
and females
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Agents of Socialization
School
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Teaches values and customs of larger society
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Traditionally socialized children into conventional gender roles
█ Peer Group
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As children grow older, peer groups increasingly assume role of Mead’s
significant others
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Agents of Socialization
Mass Media and Technology
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Technology socializes families into multitasking as social norm
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68% of U.S. children have television in their bedrooms
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Nearly half of youths ages 8 to 18 use the Internet every day
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Agents of Socialization
Workplace
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Learning to behave appropriately within occupational setting is a fundamental
aspect of human socialization
█ Religion and State
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Government and organized religion impact life course by reinstituting some rites
of passage
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How young people use the media on a typical day
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The Life Course
Rites of Passage: Means of dramatizing and validating changes in a person’s status
Life Course Approach: Looking closely at social factors that influence people throughout their
lives
Most difficult socialization challenges occur in later years
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Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization
Anticipatory socialization: Person “rehearses” future occupations and social relationships
Resocialization: Discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones during transitions
in one’s life
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Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization
Total institution: Regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority
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Anticipatory Socialization and ReSocialization
Degradation ceremony: Ritual where individual becomes secondary and rather invisible in
overbearing social environment
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Role Transitions During the Life Course
How we move through the life course varies dramatically
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Mid-life crises: When people realize they have not achieved basic goals and
ambitions and have little time left
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Sandwich generation: Adults who simultaneously try to meet competing needs
of parents and children
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Adjusting to Retirement
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Coming soon
Social interaction
Mass media