Chapter 3: Culture
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Nacirema = americaN
How did the text describe it?
How would we describe it?
Directions:
(Small Paper) Draw your own stick
figure - include clothes - the label:
name, age, gender, & grade
2. (Large Paper) Answer - What do we
have in common?
Habits/Music/Holidays/Families/Food/T
echnology/Activities/Traditions
3.Attach the stick figures to the bottom
of the large paper.
1.
Culture Check?
For each scenario, give it a thumbs up, thumbs
down, or “neutral thumb.”
Scenario
A person picks his nose while having a conversation in
public
A guest requests salt and pepper at dinner when it is not
on already on the table
A woman tells her female friend that she has gained
weight since the last time they had seen each other
A guest belches at a dinner party
A wife carries heavy packages while her husband walks
ahead of her carrying nothing
I. Culture & Society
A. Culture: knowledge, values, customs, and
physical objects that are shared by members of a
society
B. Passed from generation to generation
C. Example: United States
1. Material: skyscrapers, fast-food restaurants, cell
phones, cars
2. Nonmaterial: capitalism, single family
households, walking on the right
*Symbols: represent or stand for something else - can be
words, gestures, or even objects and often represent
something abstract or complex such as a wedding band
D. Explains human social
behavior
1. What people do
2. What people don’t do
3. What people like
4. What people don’t like
5. What people believe
6. What people don’t believe

E. Tightly connected to
society (a specific territory
inhabited by people who
share a common culture)
and human behavior
RESTATED:
Human behavior
-- is based on 
culture
-- which is 
society’s way of life.
II. Culture and Heredity
A. Instincts: innate (unlearned) patterns of
behavior
B. Why is culture more important than instinct in
determining behavior?
1. If humans were controlled by instincts alone,
then humans would all behave the same way
2. Ex: All women would want children
3. Humans rely on the culture they have created
for shelter, food, reproduction, etc.
C. How does heredity affect
behavior?
1. Culture is NOT the only influence – genetics does
play a role
2. “Nature vs. Nurture” debate – which is stronger?
3. Reflex: automatic reaction to physical stimulus
a. Simple, biological, automatic
b. Example: Pupils of the eye contract in bright light
4. Drive: impulse to reduce discomfort
a. Biologically inherited impulse
b. Wanting to eat, drink, sleep, socialize
5. Genetically inherited personality traits,
reflexes, and drives do not control human
social behavior
a. Example 1: in some Native American
cultures boys are taught not to cry in
response to pain
b. Example 2: in some Italian cultures boys
are taught to be express themselves more
openly
III. Sociobiology
A. Sociobiology: the study of the biological basis of
human behavior
B. How do sociobiologists view human behavior?
1. Assumption: behaviors that best help people
are biologically based and transmitted in genetic
code
2. Examples: parental affection, friendship,
education of children
3. No firm line between human and nonhuman
animals
4. Claim: nonhuman animals show intelligence
and act on knowledge
C. What are some criticisms of
sociobiology?
1. The importance placed on genetics could be
used as a justification to label specific races as
superior or inferior
2. Too much variation in societies around the
world for human behavior to only be explained
on biological grounds
3. Belief that the capacity for using language is
uniquely human
D. Is there a middle ground?
1. New studies showing that genes work
with culture to shape and limit human
nature and social life
2. Example: women look for one set of
characteristics in men they want to marry
while men value different characteristics
Knowing Your Culture
1.The pen is mightier than the sword.
2. Better safe than sorry.
3. It’s always darkest before the dawn.
4. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
5. No news is good news.
6. If you lie down with dogs you’ll get up with fleas.
7. A penny saved is a penny earned.
8. None are so blind as those who will not see.
9. Children should be seen and not heard.
10. Better late than never.
Section 2:
Language and
Culture
HW: Song that represents American Culture
Listen to 10 American songs (radio, Pandora,
playlist, etc.) Write down the titles, artists, genres,
and any messages/ideas about American culture.
I. Symbols, Language, &
Culture
A. Culture, in order to be passed on from
generation to generation needs to be transmitted.
This is done through symbols.
B. Review of symbols
1. Def: a thing that stands for or represents
something else
2. Can be physical objects, sounds, smells, and
words
During the 2008 presidential campaign, a metal lapel pin in
the shape of a U.S. flag took on a surprising amount of
symbolism – or rather, its absence did. Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama at times chose not to
wear a flag pin, and for some Americans, his empty lapel
symbolized a lack of patriotism. This pin’s occasional
absence became a source of irritation for many people, and
Obama was forced to publicly address the issue.
Souce: Carl, John D. Think Sociology. Prentice Hall. 2010. p.49
2008 vs. 2012 - Stressed
much?
C. Language and Culture Related?
1. Language: a system of speech and/or written
symbols use to convey meaning and
communicate
2. Because of language humans pass on
experiences, ideas, and knowledge to other
humans
3. Can be academic, practical, or social
a. Academic: y=mx+b
b. Practical: stop, drop, and roll
c. Social: patriotism
4. Cultural transmission: culture passing from one
generation to the next through language – use
information others have learned to improve your
own life
II. The Sapir-Whorf
Hypothesis
A. Researchers: Edward Sapir (1929) and
Benjamin Whorf (1956)
1. Language is the guide to our reality
2. Perceptions depend on the language
known to describe them
3. Hypothesis of linguistic relativity: theory
stating that our idea of reality depends
largely on language
PERCEPTION
LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCE
B. What can vocabulary tell
you about a culture?
1. When something is important to a culture, its
language will have many words to describe it –
example: money = benjamins, bread, buck,
capital, cash, gold, gwap
2. When something is unimportant to a culture
there may not even be one word for it –
example: when Christian missionaries first went
to China they struggled because the language
had no word for the concept of sin
C. Does the hypothesis of
linguistic relativity mean we
are prisoners of our
language?
1. NO, because exposure to a new
language or new words can alter a
person’s perception
2. BUT, you can either expand or limit your
outlook depending on how you use
language
D. What other factors help to
shape our perceptions of
reality?
1. Influence of culture, aka conditioning
2. Experiencing cultures other than the
one(s) you were born into
III. Gestures
A. Gestures: symbols we make using our
bodies, such as facial expression, hand
movements, eye contact, and other types
of body language
International Gestures Quiz
1. How would you let a French person know he’s boring you to
tears?
a. pat your mouth and let out a giant yawn
b. mime playing an imaginary flute
c. push your nose with your middle and index fingers
2. Your Puerto Rican friend wiggles her nose at you. What’s she
saying?
a. “What’s going on?”
b. “I smell a rat.”
c. “My nose itches.?
3. Which gesture is considered offensive in Egypt?
a. using the right hand for eating
b. showing someone the sole of your shoe
c. walking hand in hand with someone
Source: Carl, John D. Think Sociology. Prentice Hall. 2010. p.51
Section 3: Norms
and Values
I. The Rules We Live By
A. Norms: rules defining appropriate and
inappropriate behavior
B. Explain why people in a society or group behave
similarly
C. Ingrained – guide behavior without our
awareness
D. Examples
1.Walking on the right side of the hall
2. Waiting in line
II. Folkways, Mores, and Laws
– Basic Types of Norms
A. Folkways: norms that lack moral significance
1. Example: sleeping on a bed versus sleeping
on the floor
2. Not considered vital to group welfare so
disapproval of those who break them is not very
great
[*this is type of norm you will break in the
experiment*]
3. Some folkways are more important than others
B. Mores (pronounced “MOR-ays”): norms that
have moral dimensions and that should be followed
by the members of the society
1. Based on the word moral
2. Violation of this type of norm brings strong
disapproval
3. Example: Americans believe that able-bodied
men should work for a living  able-bodied men
who do not work are scorned (not “manly”)
4. Some mores are more vital than others – not
standing for the national anthem vs. loud cursing
in the middle of a church service
5. Taboos: rules of behavior, the violation of
which calls for strong punishment by the
group (or, some people think even the
supernatural)
a. Global example: incest taboo –
forbids sexual contact with close relatives
b. Hindu Indian example: taboo
forbidding the killing of cows
C. Laws: norms that are formally
defined and enforced by officials
1. Consciously created and enforced
2. Mores are an important source for laws
3. Example: smoking
4. Not all mores become laws – like cheating
on homework or exams
5. Not all laws start out as mores – like
parking fines
6. Laws sometimes stay on the books
even after the mores of a society have
changed
a. Minnesota: illegal to hang male and female undergarments
on the same clothesline
b. Natchez, Mississippi: elephants cannot legally drink beer
c. Portland, Oregon: against the law to wear roller skates in
public bathrooms
d. Los Angeles, California: illegal to bath two babies in the
same bathtub
e. Zion, Illinois: illegal for anyone to give cats, dogs, or
domesticated animals a lighted cigar
f. Youngstown, Ohio: not allowed to run out of gas
III. Enforcing the Rules
A. People do not automatically conform to
norms
1. Norms have to learned and accepted
2. Sanctions: rewards and punishments
used to encourage people to follow norms
B. Formal Sanctions
1. Sanctions imposed by persons given special
authority (judges, teachers, principals, parents)
2. Range in severity
a. Protestant Reformation: unpardonable sin
of charging interest on a loan (known as usury)
punished on the third offense with public
humiliation and social and economic ruin
b. Northern High School: against the rules to
wear a skirt that is shorter than three inches
above the knee and first offense is wearing
whatever random sweatpants are in the office
C. Informal Sanctions
1. Rewards or punishments that can be
applied by most members of the group
2. Positive: thanking someone for helping
pick up papers
3. Negative: Staring at someone who is
talking loudly
IV. Values – The Basis for Norms
A. Broad ideas about what is good or
desirable shared by people in a society
1. So general that they do not dictate
precise ways of thinking, feeling, and
behaving
A. Different societies or different groups within the
same society can have different norms based
on the same value
1. Freedom: Soviets were free because
leaders claimed to provide full employment,
medical care, and education
2. Freedom: Americans are free because
they have the right to free speech and
assembly, the right to engage in private
enterprise, and the right to a representative
government
B. Values influence human social behavior
because they form the basis for norms.
1. Value democracy  norms ensuring
personal freedom
2. Values human welfare  norms
providing for its most unfortunate
members
3. Values hard work  norms against
laziness
V. Basic Values in the United States
A. Robin Williams (not the comedian, but a sociologist by
the same name)
Equal Opportunity
Material Comfort
Practicality and Efficiency
Science
Freedom
Humanitarianism
Nationalism and Patriotism
Racism/Group related superiority
Achievement and Success
Activity and Work
Progress
Democracy
Moral Orientation
External comfort
Individual personality
B. John Carl (sociology professor, also not a
comedian)
･ Physical fitness and youthfulness
･ Romance and physical connection
C. James Henslin (sociologist, still not a comedian)
･ Education
･ Religiosity
Cove Values Chart

Directions: Complete the chart below by
choosing FIVE of the Core Values listed
above. Describe what each value means in
your own words and then provide an
example of how you see this value in your
society.
Section 4: Beliefs
and Material
Culture
I. Beliefs and Physical Objects
A. Nonmaterial culture: ideas, knowledge, and beliefs that
influence people’s behavior
1. Beliefs: ideas about the nature of reality
2. Beliefs can be true or false
a. Romans believed Caesar Augustus to be a god
b. Tanalans (tribe of Madagascar) believed the souls
of their kings passed into snakes
c. Americans believe no intelligent life exists on Mars
3. Beliefs are important because people base their
behavior on what they believe, regardless of how true or
false the beliefs are
B. Material culture: the concrete, tangible
objects of a culture
1. Physical objects have no meaning
apart from the meanings people give
them
2. Example: newspaper and pepper 
“nettling”
The ink of my medical license was hardly dry, and as I was soon to find
out, my ears would not be dry from some time. I had never delivered
a baby on my own and faced my maiden voyage with some fear.
Upon entering Mrs. Williamson’s house, I found a local midwife and
several neighbors busily at work preparing for the delivery. My fear
caused me to move rather slowly and my happiness over my reprieve
prompted me to tell the women that they were doing just fin and to
proceed without my services. Having gotten myself off the hook, I
watched the ladies with a fascination that soon turned to horror.
At the height of Mrs. Williamson’s labor pains, one of the neighbors
rolled a piece of newspaper into a funnel shape. Holding the bottom
end of the cone she poured a liberal amount of pepper into it. Her
next move was to insert the sharp end of the cone into Mrs.
Williamson’s nose. With the cone in its “proper” place, the neighbor
inhaled deeply and blew the pepper from the cone into the inner
recesses of Mrs. Williamson’s nose – if not her mind.
Suddenly alert, Mrs. Williamson’s eyes widened as her senses rebelled
against the pepper. With a mighty sneeze, I was introduced to
nettling. The violence of that sneeze reverberated through her body
to force the baby from her womb in a skittering flight across the bed.
An appropriately positioned assistant fielded the baby in midflight and
only minor details of Orville’s rite of birth remained.
C. Cultural meaning of physical objects is not
determined by the physical characteristics
of the objects
II. Ideal and Real Culture
A. A gap sometimes exists between cultural
guidelines and actual behavior.
1. Ideal culture: cultural guidelines that group
members claim to accept
2. Real culture: actual behavior patterns of
members of a group
B. Example: America’s ideal culture include honesty
but in real culture honesty is not always
practiced – tax evasion, cheating on tests, etc.
Graphic Organizer
Directions:
1. Write a definition in the pie-piece shaped
space for each component of culture.
2. Write a personal example of each in the
outer circle.
(the glossary or pages 81-91 in the textbook
will help too)

Section 5: Cultural
Diversity and
Similarity
I. Cultural Change
A. All cultures change.
B. Norms, values, and beliefs are relatively
stable but do change over time.
1. Discovery
a. process of finding something that already exists
b. Example: US discovering the generally
unrecognized athletic abilities of females –
changing the perception of women
2. Invention
a. the creation of something new
b. Examples: printing press, steam engine, cell
phone
3. Diffusion
a. borrowing of aspects of culture from other
cultures
b. Examples: tacos, pizza, Christmas trees, sushi,
capitalism
II. Cultural Diversity
A. Social categories: grouplings of persons who
share a social characteristics – such as age,
gender, religion, etc.
B. Subculture: a group that is part of the dominant
culture but that differs from it in some important
respects
C. Counterculture: a subculture deliberately and
consciously opposed to certain central beliefs or
attitudes of the dominant culture
D. Multiculturalism: is a concept that supports the
inherent value of different cultures in society.
E. Culture shock: occurs when a person encounters a
culture foreign to his or her own and has an
emotional response to the differences between
cultures
F. Assimilation: the process by which minority groups
adopt the patterns of the dominant culture
G. Global Village: refers to the “shrinking” of the
world through immediate electronic
communications

The Subculture of Facebook
Are you a member of a Facebook subculture? Considering that Facebook
has more than [1 BILLION] users worldwide, you probably are.
Facebook, an online social networking site, helps connect people
through mutual interests. When you use this site, your friends are always
at your fingertips.
When you join Facebook, you create a profile that includes personal
information, interests, beliefs, or hobbies. The more information you
include, the larger your world can become, because Facebook connects
you to others in the system who have similar characteristics. For
example, you can connect to people who have the same class schedule
[in college] or belong to the safe [college] fraternity and/or sorority. You’re
linked to people who have similar values, or your subculture of friends.
Like any culture or subculture, Facebook has norms and sanctions. Many
Facebook users believe that the more friends you have the more popular
you are. One norm for interacting with friends on the site is to “poke” a
person. The person you poke may poke you back or ignore your poke.
An informal sanction might occur if you poke goes unanswered. A formal
sanction can occur if a friend deletes you from his or her friend list.
Though nontraditional, Facebook creates a virtual community in which
people interact with others who share norms and values.
Activity
Log on to a social networking site, like Facebook,
and identify a culture on a separate page.
1. Make a list of the values of that culture.
2. How are these values different to Williams’
Core Values?
3. How are these values similar to William’s Core
Values?
III. Ethnocentrism
A. Once people learn their culture, they tend to become
strongly committed to it.
B. Judging others in terms of one’s own cultural
standards
1. Olympic Games – along with athletics, political and
nationalistic under currents run through the events
2. Regional rivalries in the U.S.
C. Help or hurt society?
1. Advantages: stability, people feel good about
themselves
2. Disadvantages: difficult to improve, force beliefs on
others
IV. Cultural Universals
A. General cultural traits that exist in all cultures
B. Includes but is not limited to:
Sports
Cooking
Division of labor
Education
Family
Government
Housing
Joking
Language
Medicine
Marriage
Mourning
Music
Religious rituals
Status differences
Tool making
C. Cultural particulars: the ways in which culture
expresses universal traits
Cultural Universals Activity

Directions: Place the words in the bank at
the bottom (of the page) into the correct
categories.