Introduction to Sociology
SOC-101
Unit 3 - Culture
What Is Culture?
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Culture
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Society
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The values, beliefs, behavior, language and material objects that
are passed from one generation to the next
People interacting within a limited territory guided by their
culture
Neither society nor culture could exist without the other
What Is Culture?
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Two Types of Culture:
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Material Culture
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Tangible creations of a society
There is nothing inherently “natural” about material culture
Examples: art, jewelry, weapons, clothing
Non-Material Culture
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Intangible creations of a society
A group’s way of thinking
Examples: religion, beliefs, values
What Is Culture?
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Culture is learned and is not “natural”
We take our culture for granted
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It touches every aspect of our lives without us really realizing it
Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and
evaluate what is going on around us.
What is normal, natural, or usual?
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We believe our ways are “Normal”
What Is Culture?
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Ethnocentrism
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Culture Shock
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Using your own culture as a yardstick for judging other
societies, usually in a negative way
The belief that our culture is the “best”
The personal disorientation that accompanies exposure to a
different culture or way of life
Cultural Relativism
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Understanding a culture’s practices from their perspective
Not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own
terms
What Is Culture?
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Richard Edgerton’s Sick Societies (1992)
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Evaluating cultures on their “quality of life”
Characteristics of a “sick culture”
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A culture that fails to survive because its own beliefs or institutions
are harmful
Enough people are dissatisfied with their social institutions or cultural
beliefs that a society is threatened
A culture that continues unsafe practices that hurt its population
either physically or mentally
Examples: cultures that practice female circumcision, sell young
girls into prostitution, accept wife beating
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Symbolic Culture
Components of Symbolic Culture
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Symbolic Culture
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Non-material culture because its central component is the
symbols people use
Symbols
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This is anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by
people who share a culture
They are used to communicate with other people
We are so dependent on them that we take them for granted
Includes: gestures, languages, values, norms, sanctions
Components: Gestures and Language
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Gestures
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Using one’s body to communicate with others
What a gesture means may vary depending on where you are
in the world
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It is important to learn the proper gestures when visiting other
countries
The “OK” symbol has very different meaning in Italy
Language
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A system of symbols that allows people to communicate
abstract thoughts with one another
Cultural Transmission: Language also ensures the continuity of
culture
Components: Language
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Five purposes of language
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Allows human experience to be cumulative
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Provides a social or shared past
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We can communicate our future plans with other easily with language
Allows shared perspectives
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We can easily communicate our past events with others with language
Provides a social or shared future
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Allows us to move beyond our immediate experiences
We would be limited to understanding only a short time period
We can communicate abstract ideas
Allows complex, shared, goal-directed behavior
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We can share a purpose for getting together
Components: Language
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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
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Developed in the 1930s by anthropologists Edward Sapir and
Benjamin Whorf
Language creates ways of thinking and perceiving
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People perceive the world only in terms of the symbols contained in
their language
Each language has its own distinct symbols that serve as building
blocks of reality
Instead of objects determining our language, our language
determines the way we see objects
Example: perception of such words as negro v. African-American
and how Eskimos perceive snow
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Values, Norms, and Sanctions
Components: Values, Norms, Sanctions
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Values
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Culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and
beauty that serve as a broad guideline for social living
Beliefs are specific statements that people hold to be true
Values are the broad principles while beliefs are the specifics
Norms
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Socially defined rules of behavior
Serve as guidelines for our behavior and our expectations of
the behaviors of others
Informal v. formal norms
Norms will change as cultures change
Components: Values, Norms, Sanctions
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Sanctions
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Reactions people get for either following or breaking norms
Positive Sanction
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Negative Sanction
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Approval for following a norm
Disapproval for breaking a norm
Folkways
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Norms that are not strictly enforced
We are expected to do them but there are no laws that
require us to do them
Examples include common courtesy and etiquette
Components: Values, Norms, Sanctions
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Mores
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Taboo
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Norms that have a moral basis
Violation of mores may produce moral indignation, shock, and
horror
Norms that are so strongly ingrained that violation of them
brings revulsion
Examples: Incest and cannibalism
Sanctions for violating them are severe
Laws
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These are norms that are formalized and back by political
authority
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Subcultures and
Countercultures
Subcultures and Countercultures
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Subculture
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The values and related behaviors of a group that distinguishes
its members from the larger culture
Everybody is a member of numerous subcultures
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Examples: Ethnicity, religion, occupations, home region
Counterculture
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Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted
within a society
Youth Counterculture
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Many societies link counterculture with youth
Military Counterculture
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During the 1990s, there was a growth of militaristic groups that were
highly suspicious of the federal government
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Values in U.S. Society
Values in U.S. Society
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Sociologist Robin Williams’ values of American culture:
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Achievement and Success
Individualism
Activity and Work
Efficiency and Practicality
Science and Technology
Progress
Material Comfort
Humanitarianism
Freedom
Democracy
Equality
Racism and Group Superiority
Values in U.S. Society
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Henslin (2011) added three additional American values:
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Education
Religiosity
Romantic Love
Value Clusters
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Values together that together form a larger whole
Example: hard work, education, and material comfort go
together; you need the first two to get the second
Values in U.S. Society
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Value Contradictions
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Values that contradict one another
To follow one means to come in conflict with another
Racism contradicts freedom and democracy
This can be a major force for social change
A new group of values is emerging in American culture:
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Leisure
Self-fulfillment
Physical Fitness
Youthfulness
Concern for the Environment
Values in U.S. Society
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These new core values are met with strong resistance to
more traditional members of society
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Culture Wars – Term used to describe the severe clash in
values between the generations
There is a big difference between our beliefs in how we
should act and how we actually act
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Ideal Culture – Values and norms that describe the way we
should behave
Real Culture – The values and norms that people actually
follow
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Technology and Culture
Technology and Culture
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Central to a group’s material culture is its technology
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Technology
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Tools of a society and the skill and procedures necessary to
make and use those tools
New Technology
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Sets the framework for a groups non-material culture as well
Emerging technology that has a significant impact on social life
Cultural Lag
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Not all parts of a culture changes at the same pace
Some parts may change while others lag behind
New elements of material culture (technology) change faster
than non-material
Sometimes, non-material culture never catches up
Technology and Culture
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Causes of cultural change:
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Invention – Creating new cultural elements
Discovery – Recognizing and understanding something that
already exists
Diffusion – Spread of objects or ideas from one society to
another
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Usually societies are eager to adopt more superior tools and weapons
Cultural Leveling
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Process in which one culture becomes similar to another
Theoretical Analysis of Culture
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Functional Analysis
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Depicts culture as a complex strategy for meeting human
needs
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Cultural Universals
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Cultural values give meaning to life and bind people together
These are traits that are part of every known culture
Family, funeral rites, and jokes
Social-Conflict Analysis
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Draws attention to the link between culture and inequality
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Any cultural trait benefits some members of society at the expense of
others
Materialism - A society’s system of material production has a
strong effect on the rest of a culture
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Our competitive values are tied in with our society’s capitalist
economy