Part 3: Cultural
Variation
What do we have in Common?
• Cultural Universals: common features found
in all cultures
• 1940’s study results: Body adornment,
cooking, dancing, family, feasting, forms of
greeting, funeral ceremonies, gift giving,
housing, language, medicine, music,
myths/folklore, religion, sports and
toolmaking
Ethnocentrism/Cultural Relativity
• Ethnocentrism:
• The practice of judging another culture by
the standards of one’s own culture
• Culture Shock: Personal disorientation
accompanying exposure to an unfamiliar
way
• Cultural Relativity:
• The practice of evaluating any culture by its
own standards
Subculture
• DEFINITION: cultural
patterns that
differentiate some
segment of a society’s
population
• Can be based on:
• Age, residence, sexual
preference, ethnicity and
occupation
Counterculture
• DEFINITION:
cultural patterns
that strongly
oppose conventional
culture
• Likely to question the morality of the
majority group & to engage in some form of
protest
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Subculture or Counterculture?
Cultural Change
• Cultural change is continuous
• Cultural Lag:
• Cultural elements change at varying rates;
often disrupts a cultural system
Cultural Change
• Causes of cultural
change:
• Social Movements
• Invention/Technological Advances
• Population Changes
• Physical Environments
• Diffusion- Globalization
Part 4: Theoretical
Analysis of Culture
Structural-Functionalism
• A FUNCTIONALIST view of culture:
• Draws on the philosophical doctrine of
idealism; holds that ideas & nonmaterial
elements are the basis of human reality
• Focus on cultural universals
Conflict Theory
• A CONFLICT view of culture:
• Inequality among different groups of people
creates social conflict within a culture
• Leads to social and cultural tensions
Symbolic-Interactionism
• A SYMBOLIC view of culture:
• Humans constantly negotiate their cultural
surroundings, especially with regards to
symbols, values and beliefs
• No two people interpret their culture in the
same way
• Leads to tension and misunderstanding