CULTURAL DIVERSITY
CULTURE:
All the shared products
Of human groups
MATERIAL CULTURE:
Physical objects that
People create and use
EXAMPLES:
NONMATERIAL CULTURE:
Abstract human creations
EXAMPLES:
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Culture is the totality of learned, socially
transmitted customs, knowledge, material
objects, and behavior.
Culture includes the ideas, values, customs,
and artifacts of groups of people.
Material vs Non-Material Culture

Material culture: refers to the physical or
technological aspects of our daily lives


food, houses, factories, raw materials, tools
Non-Material culture: refers to the ways of using
material objects as well as to…

Customs, beliefs, government, patterns of
communication, philosophies, laws
 Technology
 Symbols
 Language
 Values
 Norms

Technology: involves the objects AND the
acceptable usage.

Symbols: anything that represents something else.

Language

Language: the organization of written or spoken symbols
into a standardized system.

It includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols,
and gestures and expressions of nonverbal
communication.
Language is learned (critical period)


Language – (gestures)
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Values

Values: our collective conceptions of what is good,
desirable, and proper–or bad, undesirable, and improper–
in a culture.
 Values influence people’s behavior.
 Values are criteria for evaluating actions of others.

Norms

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Norms: established standards of behavior maintained by a
society.
Types of Norms
 Folkways
 Mores
 Laws

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Imagine what American society would be like
if there were no shared culture and the 5
components of culture didn’t exist.
Create a comic strip that illustrates what
society would be like without a shared culture.
Describe a society without the 5 components of
culture.

Cultural Universals:
 Common
practices and beliefs that are
seen in all societies around the globe.
 Cultural
universals change over time
and from one society to another.
Continued...

Cultural Universals, some examples…

George Murdoch (1945)
 Athletic Sports
 Cooking
 Funeral Ceremonies
 Medicine
 Dancing
among others...

Role of “isolation”
Europe
vs
Africa

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Early explorers vs Native populations
Shy people vs outgoing people
Poor family vs Wealthier family
Early Japan vs Early China
History of Irish Americans
US “Achievement Gap”

Attitudes Toward Cultural Variation
Ethnocentrism refers to the assumption that
one’s own culture represents the norm or is
superior to all others.
 Cultural relativism views people’s behaviors
from the perspective of their own culture.
 Xenocentrism opposite of ethnocentrism; it is
the belief that the products, styles, or ideas of
another society are better than those from
your own society.


Aspects of Cultural Variation

Subculture: is a segment of society that shares a
distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that
differs from the larger society.

A subculture is a culture existing within a larger,
dominant culture.

Aspects of Cultural Variation
 Counterculture:
created when a
subculture conspicuously
(obviously) and deliberately
opposes many or all aspects of the
larger culture.
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In your groups, identify examples of the
following items that you have seen in popular
culture (e.g. tv shows, movies, music,
YouTube, etc.):
Cultural universals
Ethnocentrism
Xenocentrism
Subculture
Counterculture
Provide a justification for each example. Be
prepared to share your examples with the
class!