Chapter 3.1
Culture
 Knowledge, language, values, customs & physical
objects that are passed from generation to generation
among members of a group
 Material: physical objects
 Nonmaterial: beliefs, rules, customs, family systems,
economies…
Importance of Culture
 1) help explain human social behavior
 2)provide the blueprint that people use to guide their
relationships with others
 *MUST BE LEARNED*
Society
 Group of people who live in a defined territory and
participate in a common culture
 Culture and society cannot exist without the other
Heredity
 Instincts: inherited patterns of behavior
 they provide us with a little of a base, but culture
expands it
 Ex: we want shelter (instinct), but the type of shelter we
choose (culture)
 Genetic factors play a role in general intelligence & in
personality traits; sets broad parameters for the
development of some behaviors and traits (nature vs
nurture)
Heredity con’t
 Reflexes: simple, biologically inherited automatic
reactions to physical stimuli
 Drives: impulses to reduce discomfort

Ex: eat when hungry
Heredity con’t
 Inherited personality traits, reflexes & drives do not
control human social behavior, it channels the
expression of those characteristics
 Ex: genes influence intelligence, but intelligent parents
often provided an intellectually stimulating
environment, helping the children excel academically
Sociobiology
 They system of how biology influences human
behavior
 Sociobiologists assume the behaviors that best help
people are biologically based
 Ex: behaviors that would contribute to human survival
include parental affection, friendship, sexual
reproduction, & education
CAUTION
 Could be used as a justification to label specific races
as superior or inferior
 Where we typically get our stereotypes from
 Too much variation in societies for human behavior to
be explained on strictly biological grounds
Chapter 3.2
Symbols
 Cultural transmission depends heavily on the use of
symbols
 *most powerful symbol is language
 Range from objects to sounds, smells & tastes
 Allows humans to pass their experiences, ideas and
knowledge to others
 Can you think of a symbol that could have different
meanings based on the culture?
Sapir-Worf Hypothesis/Hypothesis
of Linguistic Relativity
 Language is our guide to reality
 How we think about a thing relates to the number &
complexity of words available to describe it
 Our perceptions depend in part on the language we
learn
 *since language differs, so does perception
 Exposure to other languages or words can alter our
perception
 *Nonverbal language is just as important
Chapter 3.3
Norms
 Rules that define behavior
 Anything can be considered appropriate if norms
approve of it
 Ones norms are learned, members of a society use them
to guide their behavior
 Ex: standing in line
Norms con’t
 3 factors that cause change in social norms:
 1)invention: new cultural elements
 2)discovery: better understanding of something already
known
 3)diffusion: spread of cultural elements from one culture
to another
3 Types of Norms
 Folkways-Rules that cover customary ways of
thinking, feeling and behaving, but lack moral
overtones ex: sleeping in a bed, not floor
 Mores-norms that have a moral dimensions and
should be followed for the well-being of a society ex:
able-bodied men should work
 Laws-norms that are formally defined and enforced by
officials
 *folkways can become mores or laws ex: smoking in
public places
Enforcing the Rules
 Sanctions: rewards and punishments used to
encourage people to follow norms
 1)formal sanctions: imposed by persons given special
authority; can be positive or negative ex: judges,
teachers
 2)informal sanctions: rewards or punishments that can
be applied by most members of a group; can be positive
or negative
Values
 Broad ideas about what is good or desirable and shared
by people in a society
 Form that basis for norms
What Values shape the lives of
Americans?
 Read pages 80-81
 Make a list of 15 things, both material and nonmaterial
that you value
 Rank your list in order of most valuable (1) to least
valuable (15)
 If I give you a $1000 to spend on these values, divide up
what you would give to each value
Chapter 3.4
Why Beliefs Matter
 Beliefs: ideas about the nature of reality; can be true or
false
 Provide a sense of community
Material Culture
 Uses and meanings of physical objects can vary among
societies
 Objects that make up material culture can carry
meanings not related to their actual use
 Ex: automobiles are designed to transport people and
goods, but the type of automobile a person drives can
also have social meaning
Ideal and Real Culture
 a gap sometimes exists between cultural guidelines and
actual behavior
 IDEAL: cultural guidelines publicly embraced by members
of society
 REAL: the actual behavior patterns
 Ex: ideal culture is honesty, real culture is we all lie at times
(cheating on assignments/tests)
 Ideal culture can provide unrealistic expectations, but
provides us with a guideline and allows us to see if others
stray too far and need a sanction
Chapter 3.5
Cultural Change
 Norms, values and beliefs are relatively stable, but they
do change over time
 3 Reasons:
 Discovery-the process of finding something that already
exists ex: female athletes
 Invention-creation of something new ex: cell phone
 Diffusion-borrowing of aspects of culture from others
ex: food
Diversity
 The condition of being made up of different elements,
such as racial identities, ethnicities, religious beliefs,
and so on
 Can be a result of social categories: grouping of
persons who share a social characteristic ex: age,
gender, religion
 Factors that promote diversity include immigration,
globalism, better/faster communication, travel,
cultural relevance
Diversity con’t
 Folk culture: cultural patterns practiced by traditional
groups
 Pop culture: cultural patterns that are widespread
among a society’s population
 Culture shock: feeling of surprise and confusion
people may feel when they encounter cultural
practices different from their own
Diversity con’t
 Groups that differ in particular ways from the larger
culture; they participate in the larger culture, but have
some ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that set
them apart
 Subcultures: part of the dominant culture but differs
from it in some important respects ex: Chinatown; can
create stereotypes
 Countercultures: a subculture deliberately and
consciously opposed to certain central beliefs or
attitudes of the dominant culture ex: gangs, hippies
Ethnocentrism
 Once people learn their culture, they tend to become
strongly committed to it
 Ethnocentrism: May judge others in terms of their own
culture
 Advantages-group loyalty, confidence, patriotism,
maintain traditions/values
 Disadvantages-divide people, lead to hatred and
violence
Cultural Universals
 General traits that exist in all cultures
 Identified more than 70
 Ex: sports, cooking, division of labor, education, funeral
rites, family, government, housing, joking, language,
medicine, marriage, music, caring for children
 Cultural particulars: the ways in which a culture
expresses universal traits
 Biological similarities shared by all humans helps
account for many cultural universals