Chapter 3: Culture and Society:
Hardware and Software of Our
Social World
Soc 100
Dr. Santos
Culture and Society
►Society
as “hardware”
►Culture as “software”
The Importance of Software
Culture makes societies unique. Culture is the
way of life shared by a group of people.
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Knowledge
Beliefs
Values
Rules or laws
Language
Customs
Symbols
Material products
Culture provides a guideline for carrying out
tasks and giving meaning to human activities
Society: The Hardware
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Societies are composed of structures
 Positions we hold
 Groups we belong to
 Institutions
Society: The Hardware
Society develops in stages depending on
many things
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Availability of resources
Technological/scientific knowledge
Contact with other societies
Cultural beliefs
Political events and changes
Evolution of Societies
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Mechanic societies
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Small, simple, premodern societies
Held together by
common beliefs,
values, and emotional
ties
Labor is divided by
male/female
distinctions and age
groupings, with little
or no status inequality
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Organic societies
 Large, complex societies
 Held together by the
specialization of tasks
 Division of labor that
carry significant status
inequalities
 Efficiency is a key value
 Institutions and ruledriven bureaucratic
organizations begin to
exist.
Types of Societies
Hunting and Gathering (Band) Societies
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99% of human history
Rely on wild vegetation and animals to live (none
domesticated); this includes fishing & scavenging
Organized around kinship --> spousal exchanges
Nomadic, usually in circular seasonal patterns
Small (between 20-50 members)
Gendered division of labor with little status difference
Resources shared fairly: sharing is highest value
No rulers or chiefs - stateless
Actions and behaviors dictated through tradition or
survival in specific ecological niches
Lack material possessions and the desire for them
Types of Societies
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Herding and Horticultural Societies
 Herding (pastoral) societies
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produce small herds of domesticated
animals for food and survival
 Horticultural societies
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maintain small garden plots of
domesticated plants for food and
survival: nomadic, semi-nomadic,
settled village modes
Combined with gathering, hunting &
fishing activities to various degrees
Chiefdoms emerged, from temporary
to hereditary; from one village to many
Types of Societies
► Herding
and Horticultural Societies
 Semi-Nomadic
 Relatively small (50 - 3,000 members) in Old
World; became quite large in New World
 Status differences become important and
produce inequality
 “Traditional” gender roles emerge: patriarchy & matriarchy
 Some material possessions are unequally
distributed, as casts/strata emerge
Types of Societies
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Agricultural Societies
 Rely on raising domesticated crops for food
 Use technological advances for increased
efficiency and higher crop yields
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Plows
Irrigation
Use of animals
Fertilization
Very labor intensive --> peasantization is
accompanied with the rise of the central state
& landlord classes, who exploit and oppress
the peasants & dispossess them of surplus.
Types of Societies
► Agricultural
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Societies
Permanent settlements
Use of advanced technologies
Populations can be large (1,000,000 or more)
Stratification intensifies
► Peasant
classes
► Ruling classes: kings & dynasties, landlord nobilities, priests
 Institutions beyond the family are established
► Religious
► Political
► Military
organizations
Types of Societies
Industrial Societies
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Rely on mechanized production
Pronounced division of labor
Rise in overall standard of living
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Wide gaps between owners and laborers appear and
are the subject of bitter class struggle
State power and coercive apparatus become
consolidated --> bigger wars & revolutions
Population concentrates in cities: urbanization
and de-peasantization
Kinship patterns change: women lose status
Social change becomes ever more rapid
Types of Societies
Postindustrial Societies
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Technology, or scientific knowledge used for utilitarian or
economic purposes, is very important
Majority of labor force in service positions
The division of labor more pronounced & globalized
Technical and professional education increasingly important
► Stratification based on technological knowledge and
education now overlaps wealth & status stratification
Emphasis on science to solve social problems including:
► Creating alternate energy sources
► Finding automated ways of completing tasks
► Using computers and robots to complete tasks formerly
done by individuals
Information Revolution: the internet, cable TV, etc.
Culture: The Software
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Culture is the way of shared life by a
group of people—the knowledge, beliefs,
values, rules or lays, language, customs,
symbols, and material products within a
society that help meet human needs &
give meaning to human activities
Real Versus Ideal Culture
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We teach new
members of our
society the ideal
culture, or the
practices and beliefs
that are most
desirable & avowed
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However, the real
culture of a society
refers to the way
things in society are
actually done,
including those
practices and beliefs
that are unavowed or
deemed undesirable
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity
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Ethnocentrism is the
tendency to view
one’s own group and
its cultural values &
expectations as right,
proper, and superior
to others:
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We’re Number One!
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Cultural relativism is
setting aside one’s
own personal beliefs
and prejudices to
understand and value
a culture by its own
standards, or as a
member of that
culture would
Culture and Our Social World (at the
National Level)
Geoculture of the
world-system
Micro-level Analysis: Microstructures
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Microcultures – organizations that
influence only a small segment of an
individual’s lives or only affects an
individual’s life for a small period of time
Meso-level Analysis:
Subcultures and Countercultures
A subculture is a social unit smaller than &
embedded in a national state but large enough
to sustain people throughout the life span
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Elements that make them unique
Share conventions and expectations of national
dominant culture
Influence people’s lives in pervasive ways
Not so “Sub:” May actually exist “repeatedly” in
various contiguous or dispersed national states:
oppressed nationalities (Kurds), diasporas
(African, Chinese, Jewish) and culture regions
(Western Hemisphere Indigenous Peoples)
Meso-level Analysis:
Subcultures and Countercultures
A counterculture is a group or movements with
expectations and values that challenge or contrast
sharply with the dominant values of a particular
society
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Values or practices that go against laws and regulations
of the dominant culture
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May wish to replace values of the larger culture
Most often short-lived, but may have lasting impact
Some aspects accepted by the dominant culture
Countercultures can challenge unfair treatment of
powerless groups in society or various shortcomings in
its dominant culture (consumerism, eco-toxic, violent
prone or militaristic, shallow & unenchanted, etc.)
Macro-level Analysis:
National and Global Culture
Natural Culture and Society
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Every culture intricately related to a society
Global Society and Culture
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Globalization is the process where the entire
globe is becoming a “single socio-cultural
place” - each world era has its “geoculture”
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Globalization or Westernization?
Global culture is the behavioral standards,
symbols, values, and material objects that
have become common across the globe
Material Culture: The Artifacts of Life
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Material culture includes all the objects we
can see or touch, all the artifacts of a
group of people
Nonmaterial Culture: Beliefs, Values,
Rules, and Language
Nonmaterial culture is the invisible and
intangible parts of culture
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Beliefs
Values
Norms/Rules
Language
Nonmaterial Culture: Beliefs
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Beliefs are ideas we hold about life, about
the way the society works, and about
where we fit into it
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Based in tradition
Influence choices we make
Nonmaterial Culture: Values
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Values are nonmaterial shared judgments
about what is desirable or undesirable,
right or wrong, good or bad
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So much a part of the way of life that they can
be hard to identify
Groups in society can have different values
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can lead to group conflict
Nonmaterial Culture: Rules
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Norms are rules of behavior shared by
members of a society and rooted in the
value system
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Folkways
Mores
Taboos
Laws
Non-material Culture: Sanctions
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Sanctions are behaviors that reinforce
norms through rewards and penalties
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Formal sanctions
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Positive formal sanctions
Negative formal sanctions
Informal sanctions
Positive informal sanctions
► Negative informal sanctions
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Nonmaterial Culture: Language
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Language is the spoken, written, or
nonverbal use of symbols to convey
meaning, objects, or ideas
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Takes three forms:
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Spoken
Written
Nonverbal
The foundation of every culture
Makes culture possible
Nonmaterial Culture: Language
► Spoken
language
► Written
language
 Uses a set of sounds to symbolize objects or ideas
 Sounds generally hold common meaning to all members
of a culture
 Uses a set of images to symbolize objects or ideas
 Societies tend to store information through written
language
 Makes communication over distances possible
► Nonverbal
language
 Uses gestures, facial expression, and body posture to
symbolize an object or idea
Nonmaterial Culture: Language
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The linguistic relativity theory posits that
people who speak a specific language
make interpretations of their reality based
on their knowledge of that language
Understanding Culture:
Symbolic Interaction Theory
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How we learn to share meanings of symbols
Symbols are the basic element of all cultures
“Humanness” comes from the impact we have
upon each other through shared understandings
of symbols
We learn meanings of symbols through
interaction with others
We define how we should act through our
definition of situations and symbols
Understanding Culture:
Symbolic Interaction Theory
► Three
steps through symbols gain meaning
and importance
 The symbol is created
 The symbol is objectified, assuming a reality
independent of the creator
 The group internalizes the symbol
Understanding Culture:
Structural Functionalism
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Looks for the functions or purposes behind
the actions and practices of a culture
Shared norms, values, and beliefs serve
the function of holding a society or a
subculture together
However sometimes shared norms, values,
and beliefs are dysfunctional for
individuals or groups of individuals within
a society
Understanding Culture:
Conflict Theory
Societies are composed of groups; each of which
protects its own self-interests and struggles to make its
own cultural ways dominant in the society
Dominant groups may impose their cultural beliefs on
minorities and other subcultural groups
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This practice can create conflict
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People with privilege and power in society manipulate
agents of socialization so people learn the values,
beliefs, and norms of the privileged group(s)
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However, conflict theory does not explain stable societies
Policy and Cultural Change
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Technology is bringing change to societies
around the world
Cultural lag occurs when shifts in society
occur unequally between material culture and
nonmaterial culture
New technologies must be used cautiously
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Some can save lives
Others can disrupt and destroy cultures