Essentials of Sociology
Sixth Edition
Chapter Two:
Culture
This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
• any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;
• preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;
• any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
Culture
Chapter Overview
 What
is Culture?
 Components
of
Symbolic Culture
 Many
Cultural
Worlds: Subcultures
and Countercultures
 Values
in U.S.
Society
 Technology
in the
Global Village
 Cultural
Lag,
Diffusion, and
Labeling
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
2
Culture
What is Culture?
Language,
Beliefs, Values, Norms, Behavior
Passed from One Generation to the Next
Material
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
vs. Nonmaterial Cultures
3
Culture
Culture and Taken-forGranted Orientations
What
Culture Within Us
Culture
as Lens
Culture
Shock
Ethnocentrism
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
Microsoft Image
The
is Normal, Natural, or Usual?
4
Culture
Practicing Cultural Relativism
 Understanding
Cultures
on Their Own Terms
Microsoft Image
 “Sick
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
Cultures”
 Confronting
Contrasting
Views of Reality
5
Culture
Components of
Symbolic Culture
Symbol
is Something to Which People
Attach Meaning
Language
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
Microsoft Image
Gestures
6
Culture
Language and Culture
Allows
Human Experience to Be Cumulative
Provides
a Social or Shared Past
Provides
a Social or Shared Future
Allows
Shared Perspectives
Allows
Complex, Shared, Goal-Directed
Behavior
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
7
Culture
Language and Perception:
Sapir-Whorf
 Language
Has Embedded Within It Ways of
Looking at the World
Reverses Common Sense
Microsoft Image
 Sapir-Whorf
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
8
Culture
Values,Norms,and Sanctions
 Values
- What is Desirable in Life
 Norms
- Expectations or Rules for Behavior
 Sanctions
- Reaction to Following or
Breaking Norms

Positive Sanctions

Negative Sanctions
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
9
Culture
Folkways and Mores
Folkways
Mores
- Norms not Strictly Enforced
- Core Values. We Insist on
Conformity
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
10
Culture
Subcultures &
Countercultures
 Subculture
- A World Within the Dominant
Culture
 Countercultures
- Groups With Norms and
Values at Odds with the Dominant Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
11
Culture
Values in U.S. Society
Achievement and
Success
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
Progress
Equality
Individualism
Material Comfort
Racism and
Group
Superiority
Activity and
Work
Humanitarianism
Education
Efficiency and
Practicality
Freedom
Religiosity
Science and
Technology
Democracy
Romantic Love
12
Culture
Values in U.S. Society
Achievement
and Success
Individualism
and Work
Efficiency
Science
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
and Practicality
and Technology
Microsoft Image
Activity
13
Culture
Values in U.S. Society
Progress
Material
Comfort
Freedom
Microsoft Image
Humanitarianism
Democracy
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
14
Culture
Values in U.S. Society
Equality
Racism
and Group
Superiority
Microsoft Image
Education
Religiosity
Romantic
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
Love
15
Culture
Value Clusters and
Contradictions
 Value
Clusters - Series of
Interrelated Values
 Values
Contradictions - Values that
Contradict One Another
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
16
Culture
Value Contradictions
and Social Change
“It is precisely at the point of value
contradictions, then, that one can see a
major force for social change in a
society”
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
17
Culture
Emerging Values
Leisure
Microsoft Image
Self-fulfillment
Physical
Fitness
Youthfulness
Concern
for the
Environment
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
18
Culture
Values and Culture
Culture
Value
as Blinders
“Ideal”
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
Wars: When Values Clash
vs. “Real” Culture
19
Culture
Technology in the
Global Village
The
New Technology - New Tools
Cultural
Lag and Cultural Change
Technology
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2006
and Cultural Leveling
20