Unit 2: Culture
SOCIOLOGY
MR. YOUNG
Section 1
DEFINING CULTURE
What is culture?
 Write me a definition for
how you would define
the term or idea known
as culture.
 How did you come up
with this?
 Why did you use this
definition?
Defining Culture
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Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes,
meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe,
and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations
through individual and group striving.
Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people.
Culture is communication, communication is culture.
Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior; that is the totality of a person's learned,
accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social
learning.
A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that
they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication
and imitation from one generation to the next.
Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols include a group's skills, knowledge,
attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately
perpetuated in a society through its institutions.
Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted
by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their
embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially
their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action,
on the other hand, as conditioning influences upon further action.
Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are generally
considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation.
Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or
category of people from another.
Working Definition for class
 Knowledge,
values,
customs, and
physical objects
that are shared
by members of
a society
Section 2
MAKEUP OF CULTURE
What makes up culture
1. What are some things
that you believe
makes up culture
within a society?
2. How is culture passed
from one generation
to the next (or from
native people to
immigrant people, or
vice versa)?
Cultural Makeup
 Values
 Morals
 Beliefs
 Customs
 Society
 Groups
 Norms
American Culture
1. What are some
things that you think
makes up American
culture?
2. What are some
things that make up
culture living in the
“South?”
3. How are they
similar? How are
they different?
Your way of finding culture
1. What would you
say is the #1 way
you find,
understand,
view, or
interpret culture
within your
society?
Social Media
Other Means of Culture
 Magazines
 Newspapers
 Media Sources (CNN,
Fox News, etc)
 Parents
 Government
 Societal Group
 Geographic Area
 Cultural Heritage
 Music
Section 3
MUSIC AND CULTURE
The Impact of Music on Culture
 I am going to let you listen to several songs and I
want you to think about how it has helped to shape
popular culture or how it was used as an outlet for
what was going on in the culture of that time
 During each song, I want you to listen and try to
answer some of the following questions
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What is the song talking about?
How is the song representative of current culture?
How does the song impact or shape culture from its time?
Is the cultural themes in the song still relevant today?
Song #1: 1950’s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw
 Billy Haley and His Comets
 “Rock around the clock”
 Rally cry for teenagers after World War 2
 Moral dilemma sweeping the nation
 Considered to be the song that brought rock n roll
into mainstream culture around the world
Song #2: 1960’s
 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=m
y+generation+the+who+lyrics
 “My Generation”
 Was used by teenagers who felt alienated from
society
 Also used by civil rights, freedom, and anti-war
protest movements (many of them fueled by young
people)
Song #3: late 1960s, Early 1970s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbNnvPBokNs
 CCR
 “Fortunate Son”
 Arguing the Vietnam War and the draft that was
occurring over a very controversial war
Song of the 1970’s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OqwKfgLaeA
 Cats in the Cradle
 Harry Chapin (1974)
 About a father who passes his traits to his son
Song #4: 1980’s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOqk_q4NLLI
 Twisted Sister
 “We’re not Gonna take it”
 New generation is rising up against former
generation, not going to take what has always been,
going to work on changing for the future
Song #5: 1990’s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FbkTX2bnis
 Michael Jackson
 “Black and White”
 Dealing with race relations around the world
Song of the 1990’s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zICb-9m2dGA
 Gagnsta Paradise
 Coolio (1995)
Song #6: 2000’s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FotCW5OIFZc
 Black Eyed Peas (2003)
 “Where is the love?”
 Song about losing the battle of love within the world,
especially for others around us
 Hate= 
 Love= 
Song #7: 2000’s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAyhnyrbCKw
 John Mayer (2006)
 “Waiting on the World to Change”
 Young people want to make changes within society,
but they must unfortunately wait their turn in order
to do so
Song #8: 2000s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-EJSflgRpQ
 John Rich (2009)
 “Shuttin Detroit Down
 Song about the Recession of the Late 2000’s, and
how big business is getting bailed out by government
while small business owners, farmers, and workers
are being shut down
Song #9: 2000’s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZgDiiuEwkM
 Lady Gaga (2008)
 “Paparazzi”
 Song defines the new generation as one who loves
social media and the spotlight
 Wants paparazzi to follow them so everyone can keep
up with their life