SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
CHAPTER 3
Cultural Conformity
and Adaptation
Section 1: The American Values System
Section 2: Social Control
Section 3: Social Change
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System
Objectives:
 Identify the basic values that form the
foundation of American culture.
 Describe new values that have developed in
the United States since the 1970s.
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
American Subcultures worksheet:
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
American Values in Film:
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Values, Heroes, and Heroines worksheet …
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System
(Eight) Basic Values
of American Culture
 Personal Achievement – built primarily by people
that value individual achievement, as in the area
of employment
 Individualism – success comes through hard work
and initiative
 Work – Americans view discipline, dedication,
and hard work as signs of virtue
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System
Basic Values
of American Culture
(continued)
 Morality and Humanitarianism – Americans place
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a high value on morality and tend to view the
world in terms of right and wrong; quick to help
the unfortunate
 Efficiency and Practicality – practical and
inventive, every problem has a solution; judge
objects on their usefulness and people on their
ability to get things done
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System
Basic Values
of American Culture
(continued)
 Progress and Material Comfort – Americans
believe that through hard work and determination
living standards will continue to improve
 Equality and Democracy – to have human
equality, there must be an equality of opportunity;
success is a reward that must be earned
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System
Basic Values
of American Culture
(continued)
 Freedom – freedom of choice such as religion,
speech, and press and protect them from
government interference
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 1: The American Values System
Our Changing Values
 Self-fulfillment – the commitment to the full
development of one’s personality, talents, and
potential; includes leisure, physical fitness and
youthfulness
 Environmental protection
 Education and Religion were deemed
important by students who were polled
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
American Values:
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Bumper Stickers:
 1. Red, White, and
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Blue; These Colors
Don’t Run
2. Polish and Proud of it
3. Child of Board
4. Go for the Gold
5.
6.
…..
 Discuss the values that each
of these messages
represents.
 Ex: #1 represents the value
of patriotism #2 represents
ethnic pride, and so on…
 Choose an American value
and write your own message
reflecting that value.
 Design your own bumper
sticker to communicate that
message
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Activity :
 You are a committee given the task of choosing the contents of
the cornerstone of a new high school in your community. The
cornerstone is a 3ft cube slightly smaller than a washing
machine
 Only 10 items can be placed in the cornerstone, and each must
represent the culture of the people who placed it there.
 Work in your groups to decide on the 10 items.
 Based on what you have learned about culture, you must be
able to explain your reasoning for choosing each one of the
items
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Fiddler on the Roof
 Tevye, the main
character, explains that
the men in his town of
Annatevka always wear
prayer shawls. “you may
ask why,” he says. With
a shrug he explains, “I’ll
tell you. I don’t know.
But its tradition.”
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 Think of examples of practices in American
society that cannot be explained yet are
“traditions”
 These traditions are termed cultural traits,
cultural items and folkways of American
society
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
American Culture…how strange…
 To demonstrate how strange American customs may
seem to persons from another culture…break into
groups.
 Write a scenario of one of the following American
celebrations : Thanksgiving day, a football game, a
wedding, Halloween, Easter, Christmas, 4th of July, a
religious service, or birthday party. (you may want to
add some of your own)
 Write the scenarios as if you are people from another
culture and have no understanding of the meaning of
what they are describing.
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 Each group will read their scenario to the class
without identifying the celebration.
 The rest of class can try to guess what event is
being described
 Discuss: the way people often misunderstand
and misjudge the customs and rituals of other
cultures
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Analyzing Cultural Clues worksheet:
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Social Control
Objectives:
 Identify how the norms of society are
enforced.
 Describe the differences between positive and
negative sanctions and between formal and
informal sanctions.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Social control:
 The enforcement of conformity by society
upon its members, either by law or by social
pressure.
 The influence of any element in social life
working to maintain the pattern of such life.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Norms and informal social controls that
exist in your own lives…
 Pretend your family will be hosting an exchange student.
 They speak English but have little to no prior knowledge of
American norms and especially of the norms in American high
schools.
 Compile a list of norms that you believe the exchange student
must follow in order to adjust to the new school and to be
accepted by the other students
 Explain that the violation of most of these norms would result
in only mild consequences, yet the student who does not
follow them may find him/herself alienated from others.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Social Control
Enforcing the Norms of Society
 Internalization – process by which a norm
becomes a part of an individual’s personality
thus conditioning that individual to conform to
society’s expectations
 Sanctions – rewards and punishments used to
enforce conformity to the norms
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Social Control
Different Types of Sanctions
 Positive Sanction – action that rewards a
particular kind of behavior such as good grades or
a pay raise
 Negative Sanction – punishment or the threat of
punishment to enforce conformity such as frowns,
imprisonment, and even death
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 2: Social Control
Different Types of Sanctions
(continued)
 Formal Sanction – rewards or punishments by a
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formal organization or regulatory agency such as
the government and includes promotions, awards,
or low grades
 Informal Sanction – spontaneous expression of
approval or disapproval by an individual or group
such as a standing ovation, gifts, gossip, or
ridicule
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Social Change
Objectives:
 Identify and describe the main sources of
social change.
 Describe the factors that lead people to resist
social change.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Social Change
Source of
Social Change
values and beliefs
technology
population
diffusion
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Social Consequence
Example
Women vote helped
political decisions (social)
Right to Vote
IPOD Factory
Child Labor
Increase Population
Increase in Cultural Traits and
values. Decrease in open land
Instant communications, TV,
Radio, and Satellite
physical environment
Floods, Drought, Fire
wars and conquests
September (9/11/01)
Pollution
Spread of Cultural Traits
Ruined homes and landscape
Loss of lives, Depression,
and possibly War
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Social Change
Main Sources of Social Change
 Values and Beliefs – are affected by ideology spread
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through social movements
 Technology – knowledge and tools people use to
manipulate their environment
 Population – change in size of population may bring
about changes in the culture
 Diffusion – the process of spreading culture traits
from one society to another
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Social Change
Main Sources of Social Change
(continued)
 Physical Environment – the environment may provide
conditions that encourage or discourage cultural
change
 Wars and Conquest – are not common but bring
about the greatest amount of change in the least
amount of time
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HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON
SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Section 3: Social Change
Factors Leading to
Resisting Social Change
 Ethnocentrism – can lead to segregation
 Cultural Lag – a delay in cultural change such
as the introduction and use of computers
 Vested Interests – might lead to a focus on
maintaining budgets over a focus on providing a
quality education and instruction
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Homework Options:
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
1. American Holidays…
 Choose a holiday observed in American Culture
(Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving,
Passover, Valentine’s Day, Easter, the 4th of
July, and Memorial Day)
 Do research on the origins of this holiday. What
values inspired the development of this holiday?
Does the holiday reflect the same values today?
 Be prepared to report your findings to the class.
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
2. Watch TV quiz shows, situation comedies, dramas,
and talk shows…
 Watch TV quiz shows, situation comedies, dramas, and talk
shows…
while watching write down a list of values being projected.
Ex: you might see such values as competition, materialism,
family, and power…
do these actually reflect real American values?
Speculate on what people in other countries who see our
American TV might think about our culture
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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
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3. Sociologists disagree on what are the truly
“American” values, but high school students can
begin to examine American Values and the part
they play in our culture. For the next 2 days, examine the
Power
Punctuality
Education
Honesty
Freedom
Romantic Love
Material Comfort
Efficiency
Patriotism
Achievement
media for examples of these
values.
 Look at newspapers, magazines,
TV, advertisements, and advice
columns such as “dear Abby”
 Write a list of these examples of
values and include for each one
where you found them
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON