CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Chapter 2, Section 1
WHAT IS CULTURE?
Culture, the shared products of human groups,
comes in two forms- material and nonmaterial.
 It should not be confused with the term society,
which refers to a group of people who share
culture and a feeling of unity.


In short, societies are people, and culture refers to
the components people create.
Material culture= physical objects such as
books, clothing, utensils, etc.
 Nonmaterial culture= abstract human
creations, such as beliefs, language, ideas, etc.

COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

There are 5 basic components of culture that all
societies have some form of. They are:




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Technology
Symbols
Language
Values
Norms
COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

Technology
 Combination of objects and rules for using
them.
Items of material culture, and the knowledge of
how to use them.
 Also incorporates ideas.


Symbols

Anything that represents something else and has a
shared meaning.
Form of communication between members of a society.
 Though the symbols may be different, they are used the
same from culture to culture.

COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

Language


Organization of written or spoken symbols into a
standardized system.
Values
Shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or
wrong, desirable or undesirable.
 Help determine the character of a group of people.


Norms
Shared rules of conduct that tell how to act in a given
situation.
 Expectations of behavior not everyone’s actions will
be in line with these.

TYPES OF NORMS

Folkways= socially acceptable behavior that do
not have great moral significance attached.
Common customs of everyday life.
 Examples:

Eating steak with utensils instead of your hands
 Covering your mouth when you yawn
 Shaking hands when you meet someone


Mores= great moral significance attached;
otherwise, the stability of society would be upset.

Examples:

Dishonesty, fraud, aldultery
VIOLATION OF MORES
 Societies
have established laws for when
mores are violated.

Written rules of conduct enacted and enforced
by the government.
 However,
not all laws are established for
mores– some are in place to enforce
folkways, such as not parking in a
handicap spot.
EXAMINING CULTURE
 Culture
is dynamic rather than static– it
changes over time. Cultures adapt as the
world around us changes.
 Sociologists
study culture on three levels
of complexity:
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Cultural traits
Cultural complexes
Cultural patterns
EXAMINING CULTURE


Cultural trait= simplest level of culture; an
individual item, act or belief.
Cultural complex= cultural traits come
together to make up a cultural complex.


Multiple items, acts or beliefs.
Cultural pattern= multiple cultural complexes;
together they form large parts of a society’s
culture.
LEVELS OF CULTURE– EXAMPLE

American sports cultural pattern
Football cultural complex
 Helmet cultural trait
