Sociology
Chapter 2
Cultural Diversity
Preview
Section 1: The Meaning of Culture
Section 2: Cultural Variation
Chapter Wrap-Up
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 1: The Meaning of Culture
Read to Discover
• What is the meaning of the term
culture, and how do material culture
and nonmaterial culture differ?
• What are the basic components of
culture?
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 1: The Meaning of Culture
Culture consists of all the shared products
of human groups which include physical
objects, beliefs, values, and behaviors
shared by a group.
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 1: The Meaning of Culture
Question
How do material culture and
nonmaterial culture differ?
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 1: The Meaning of Culture
CULTURE
All the shared products of
human groups
MATERIAL CULTURE
NONMATERIAL
CULTURE
Physical objects that
people create and use
Abstract human creations
Examples
Examples
Automobiles, books, buildings,
clothing, computers
Beliefs, family patterns, ideas,
language, political and
economic systems, rules
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 1: The Meaning of Culture
Question
What are the basic components of
culture?
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 1: The Meaning of Culture
Basic Components of Culture
• Technology—physical objects and rules for using them
• Symbols—anything that represents something else and
has a shared meaning
• Language—the organization of written or spoken
symbols into a standardized system
• Values—shared beliefs about what is good or bad,
right or wrong
• Norms—shared rules of conduct
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 1: The Meaning of Culture
Levels of Culture
• Culture trait—individual tool, act, or belief that
is related to a particular situation or need
• Culture complex—cluster of interrelated traits
• Culture pattern—combination of a number of
culture complexes into an interrelated whole
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 2: Cultural Variation
Read to Discover
• What are cultural universals, and why do
they exist?
• What do the terms ethnocentrism and
cultural relativism mean?
• What factors account for variations among
and within cultures?
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 2: Cultural Variation
• Cultural universals—general features
common to all cultures, such as cooking,
dancing, and medicine
• Exist because some needs are so basic
that all societies must develop certain
features to ensure their fulfillment
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 2: Cultural Variation
Question
What do the terms ethnocentrism and
cultural relativism mean?
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 2: Cultural Variation
• Ethnocentrism—tendency to view one’s
own culture and group as superior
to other different cultures
• Cultural Relativism—belief that a culture
should be judged by its own standards
rather than by those of another culture
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 2: Cultural Variation
Question
What factors account for variations
among and within cultures?
Sociology
Chapter 2
Section 2: Cultural Variation
• Subculture—group within a society which
shares values, norms, and behaviors that are
not shared by the entire population
• Counterculture—subculture which rejects the
major values, norms, and practices of the larger
society and replaces them with a new set of
cultural values
Sociology
Chapter 2
Chapter Wrap-Up Understanding Main Ideas
1. List five examples of material culture and five examples of
nonmaterial culture.
2. What is language, and why is it such an important part of culture?
3. How do folkways, mores, and laws differ? List three examples of
each type of norm.
4. How do cultural traits, cultural complexes, and cultural patterns
differ?
5. How did Margaret Mead contribute to the study of cultures?
6. What is ethnocentrism? How does it differ from cultural relativism?
7. How are subcultures and countercultures related?