学术英语社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 5 Sociology Matters Cultures all share certain basic characteristics despite differences. In this unit we

学术英语社科Academic English for Social Sciences

5Sociology MattersCultures all share certain basic characteristics despite differences. In this unit we will see how those characteristics change as cultures develop, and how cultures influence one another through their technological, commercial, and artistic achievements.

Unit 5Sociology Matters

Unit Contents

Text AText B

Listening

Speaking

Writing

Lead-in

Text C

Lead-in

Task Read the first paragraph of the text. Work in pairs and write down two examples of the development of culture in China.

1 _____________________________________________

2 _____________________________________________


• Text A

– Critical reading and thinking– Difficult sentences– Group discussion– English language for academic purpose

• Collocations• Signpost language• Formal English


Text A

Critical reading and thinking of Text A

Text Analysis

Analyzing the text by explaining key terms

1 Culture

the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior


Text A


Text Analysis

2 Cultural universals

adaptations to meet essential human needs, such as people’s need for food, shelter, and clothing

e.g. athletic sports, cooking, funeral ceremonies, medicine, and sexual restrictions (Anthropologist George Murdock) (Para.2)


Text ACritical reading and thinking of Text A

Text Analysis

the process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture:

1) discovery: making known or sharing the existence of some aspect of realitye.g. the finding of the DNA molecule; identification of a new moon of Saturn(Para.5)

2) invention: an invention results when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before.e.g. the bow and arrow, automobile, the Internet (Para.5)

3 Innovation


Text A


Text Analysis

4 Globalization

the worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas

e.g. Starbucks in China (Para.6)


Text A


Text Analysis

5 Diffusion

the process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society.

e.g. Diffusion can occur through a variety of means: exploration, military conquest, missionary work, the influence or the mass media, tourism, and the Internet. (Para.7)


Text A


Text Analysis

6 McDonaldization

the process through which the principles of the fast-food restaurant have come to dominate certain sectors of society, both in the United States and throughout the world


Text A


McDonaldization is associated with the melting of cultures.

Examples:

In Japan: African entrepreneurs have found a thriving market for hip-pop fashions popularized by teens in the United States. (Para.9)

In Austria: the McDonald’s organization has drawn on Austrians’ love of coffee, cake, and conversation to create the McCafe fast-food chain. (Para.9)


Text A


In some societies, McDonaldization has met resistance to the invasion of too much culture from other countries.

Examples: In Canada: 35% of a station’s daytime radio programming is required be devoted to Canadian songs or artists. (Para.10)

In Brazil: Barbie’s popularity has been eclipsed by Susi, a doll that looks more like Brazilian girls. (Para.10)


Text A


Text Analysis

7 Technology

cultural information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires

e.g. Technology has increased the speed of cultural diffusion and broadened the distribution of cultural elements. (Para.11)


Text A


Text Analysis

8 Material culture

the physical or technological aspects of our daily lives, including food items, houses, factories, and raw materials


Text A


Text Analysis

9 Nonmaterial culture

ways of using material objects and customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication It is more resistant to change than material culture.


Text A


Text Analysis

10 Cultural lag

the period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions

e.g. the ethics of using the Internet, such as issues concerning privacy and censorship (Para.12)


Text A

Difficult sentences

• The cultural practices listed by Murdock may be universal, but the manner in which they are expressed varies from culture to culture. (Para.3)

→ These cultural practices in Murdock’s list are common to many societies, but these practices are carried out in ways that differ greatly among different cultures.


Text A

Difficult sentences

• Each generation, and each year for that matter, most human cultures change and expand through the processes of innovation and diffusion. (Para.4)

→ ‘For that matter’ is used to show that a statement is true in another situation. Here it emphasizes the fact that human cultures change rapidly.


Text A

Difficult sentences

• Today, more and more cultural expressions and practices are crossing national borders, transforming the traditions and customs of the societies exposed to them. (Para.7)

→ Today cultural expressions and practices of different countries are influencing each other. Hence

the traditions and customs of many societies are changed under the influence .


Text A

Difficult sentences

• Sociologist George Ritzer coined the term “McDonaldization”… (Para.8)

→ Coin: to use a word or phrase that no one has used before. Coining of new terms is common in social science studies, often serving to introduce a new concept or theory.

• Her wardrobe includes…(Para.10)

→ The clothes that the Brazilian doll has…


Text A

Difficult sentences

• Today’s technological developments no longer need await publication in journals with limited circulation. Press conferences, often carried simultaneously on the Internet, now trumpet new developments.(Para.11)

→ Today when new technology is developed, it does not have to introduce itself in specific journals; rather it normally draws on online press conferences to spread the information.


Text A

Difficult sentences

• …the ethics of using the Internet, particularly issues concerning privacy and censorship, have not yet caught up with the explosion in Internet use and technology. (Para.12)

→ The Internet ethical issues, particularly privacy and censorship issues are not fully discussed and well developed, thus is lagging behind the rapid increase in the Internet use and technology.


Text A

Group Discussion

It is said that people in different societies take different attitudes toward diffusion. What kind of attitude do Chinese people take toward diffusion?

Use examples to illustrate your point.


Collocation

Text A

English language for academic purpose

1. 人们对衣食住的需求

2. 推出新概念

3. 解除现有的工作关系

4. 改变社会传统和习俗

Task 1

Translate the following expressions related to sociology into English (P96)

→ people’s need for food, shelter, and clothing

→ introducing a new idea

→ sweep away existing working relationships

→ transform the traditions and customs of the society


1

Text A


→ dilute the distinctive aspects of a society’s culture

→ the cultural invasion from other countries

→ satisfy human needs and desires

→ issues concerning privacy and censorship

5. 削弱社会文化中的特殊方面

6. 来自于其他国家的文化侵略

7. 满足人类的需求和欲望

8. 关于隐私和审查的问题

CollocationTask 1

Translate the following expressions related to sociology into English (P96)


1

Text A

2Task 1

Complete the sentences with the collocations in the box. (P97)


Collocation


human needs and desires level of privacymaterial culture social consequencesworking relationship worldwide integration

2

Text A

2

Task 1 Complete the sentences with the collocations in the box. (P97)


Collocation


1. Internet users may achieve an adequate __________________ through controlled disclosure of personal information.

2. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the __________________ of population decline and aging in Japan.

3. Sociologists use the term “globalization” to refer to the resulting _________________ of government policies, cultures, social movements and financial markets.

level of privacy

social consequences

worldwide integration

2

Text A

Task 1 Complete the sentences with the collocations in the box. (P97)


Collocation


4. A final recommendation of the consultants was a radical attempt to forge a closer _______________ between the board and staff members.

5. In the social sciences, “__________________” is a term that refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations.

6. Abraham Maslow wrote his Hierarchy of Needs theory wherein he attempted to document the five levels of ________________________.human needs and desires

material culture

working relationship

2

Signpost language

• …may be classified in a variety of ways• At the essay level…• …be sorted into functional groups• Depending upon the purpose or intent of the writer…• Paragraphs may also be classified…

Text A


Task 2 Classification

Read the paragraph on Page 98 and underline signpost language of classification.


Text A

In academic writing, claims are often couched in tentative language. This is known as hedging.


Formal English

•Modal auxiliary verbs:can, could, may, might, should, would •Other modal verbs:appear, look, seem, tend •Probability adjectives:likely, possible, probable, unlikely •Probability adverbs:perhaps, possibly, probably, presumably •Frequency adverbs:generally, occasionally, often, seldom, usually


Text A

2

Task 3 Complete the sentences with hedging expressions. (P98)


Formal English


1. The cultural practices listed by Murdock ____ be universal, but the manner in which they are expressed varies from culture to culture. For example, one society ____ let its members choose their own marriage partners. Another ____ encourage marriages arranged by the parents.

may

maymay

Text A

2


Formal English


2. Globalization ____ be defined as the worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas.

3. One economist went so far as to suggest that the entire field ______ be simply summarized: “People respond to incentives. The rest is commentary.”

may

could


Text A

2


Formal English


4. When deciding how safely to drive, rational people compare, ________ unconsciously, the marginal benefit from safer driving to the marginal cost.

5. Economists, like astronomers and evolutionary biologists, ________ have to make do with whatever data the world happens to give them.

6. Workers unemployed for many months are more _______ to suffer economic and psychological hardship.

likely

usually

perhaps


• Text B

– Critical reading and thinking– Difficult sentences– English language for academic purpose– Researching


Text B

• Sociologists’ view on globalization→ “Globalization means an increase in the geographic range of locally consequential social interactions.” (Charles Tilly)

• tourist gaze→the expectation on the part of the tourist that he or she will have exotic experiences while traveling abroad

Critical reading and thinking

Main points of the text


Text B

• Effects of globalization on international tourism

→Globalization has greatly expanded the possibilities for international travel. (Para.2;find statistics to illustrate it)

→High level of international tourism translated into an increase in the number of face-to-face interactions between people of different countries.




Text B

• exotic experiences

→experiences that violate our everyday expectation about how social interaction and interaction with the physical environment are supposed to proceed

e.g. Americans traveling in England may delight in the fact that the British drive on the left-hand side of the road.(Para.3)




Text B

• Most of tourists do not want their experiences to be too exotic.

e.g. the popularity of McDonald in Paris among young American tourists (Para. 4)




Text B

•What can sociologists study about the tourist increases with the march of globalization?

e.g. dominant patterns of interaction that emerge between tourists and locals; whether these interactions are friendly or antagonistic (Para.6)




Text B

Difficult sentences

• Americans, of course, have always interacted with people from foreign lands if for no other reason than America itself is an ethnically and culturally diverse nation.(Para. 1)

→ Americans, of course, have always communicated with people from other cultures simply because America itself is an ethnically and culturally diverse nation.


Text B

Difficult sentences

• “globalization means an increase in the geographic range of locally consequential social interactions” (Para. 1)

→ Globalization means those social interactions that used to just impact the local community now has an impact that reaches beyond the local area.


Text B

Difficult sentences

• High levels of international tourism, of course, translate into an increase in the number of face-to-face interactions between people of different countries. (Para.3)

→ High levels of international tourism, of course, leads to an increase in face-to-face communications between people of different countries.


Collocation

•witness the effects of globalization•social interaction •a proportion of•delight in•be disconcerting to•take pleasure in•put strains on•with the march of globalization

Text B



Team work: Form groups of 4-5 and conduct a research about Chinese tourists traveling abroad. The following prompts may be helpful:

• the number of Chinese tourists abroad every year• the countries they visit and the length they stay there• the aspects or things they are interested in• their shopping behaviors• how the tourists interact with locals

Researching


Text B

Task 1 (P103)

1. The “tourist gaze” refers to the expectation of a tourist when he or she travels abroad to have experiences different from that he or she enjoys back at home.

2. The tourist gaze may put strains on face-to-face interactions between tourists and locals, especially those who do not benefit from tourism because some tourists may require too much and become too judging.

Suggested answers


Text B

• Text C

–Critical reading



Text C

Suggested answers

Translate Paragraph 5 of Text C into Chinese

要了解你与人沟通的风格不是件容易的事。随意拉住别人问他们觉得你是哪种人，随意的？好辩的？友好的？活泼的？这样做颇为尴尬，也不太妥当。所以要进行自我观察和分析，你必须对别人给你的反馈保持敏感，并诚实地解读收到的反馈。这样的观察和分析通常称为“自我监控”，其好处在于能够帮助你发现各种状况下恰当、得体的行为，控制你的情绪反应，给别人留下良好印象，还能在你从一种状况转换到另一种状况时帮助你修正行为。

• Listening

– Note-taking symbols


Listening: Note-taking symbols (See Page 106)

Listening

Academic activities


Task 1 (P106)

ListeningSuggested answers


1 Four concepts the speaker explains in the lecture:1) culture identity 2) ethnic identity3) cultural group 4) ethnic group

2 Definitions of the four concepts:1) Culture identity embodies standards of behavior and the ways in which beliefs, values, and attitudes are transmitted to the younger generation. It also entails the ways in which kinship relationships and marital and sexual relationships are structured.

Task 1 (P106)

Listening

Suggested answers


2) Ethnic identity refers to the geographic origin of a minority group within a country or culture.

3) Cultural group refers to a set of people who embrace core beliefs, behaviors, values, and norms and transmit them from generation to generation.

4) Ethnic group is a set of people who are embedded within a larger cultural group or society and who

share beliefs, behaviors, values, and norms that are also transmitted from generation to generation.

Task 2 (P107)

Listening

Suggested answers


DictationOne’s cultural identity is an important aspect of being human. Cultural identity evolves from the shared beliefs, values, and attitudes of a group of people. It embodies standards of behavior and the ways in which beliefs, values, and attitudes are transmitted to the younger generation. Cultural identity also entails the ways in which kinship relationships and marital and sexual relationships are structured. Examples of the vast array of cultural identities in the United States include Anglo American, Italian American, African American, and Asian American – to name just a few.

• Speaking

–Turning to a new point


Turning to a new point

Speaking

In a seminar, you can take the initiative to move on to the next point by using the following expressions:

• All right, I think we've finished that item. •If we can now turn to...•Can we move on to the next point now? •I'd like now to move on to… •Turning now to… •Moving on now to… •Having looked at…, I'd now like to consider... •I now want to turn to... •Another interesting point is... •The next aspect I'd like to consider is... •I'd now like to turn to...


• Writing

– Writing methodology


Writing

Writing methodology Task 1 Read the Methodology part in Sample 2 and

complete the table about the main components of the methodology part.

Type of research

Sampling method / technique

Respondents (e.g. location, procedures)

Questionnaire (e.g. questions, materials)


combination of qualitative and quantitative research

random sampling

mothers at the healthcare facilities and institutions in Las Pinas City

background information;previous infant feeding practices;birth of the youngest infant and the baby’s general health and age;factors influencing mother’s infant feeding decisions;the type of infant formula

• Getting ready for the next unit


– After class tasks

Do the following tasks after class

Getting ready for the next unit

1. Find out main points of Text A.2. Define the key terms with examples.3. Mark the specialized vocabulary and explain them.4. Underline the collocations you think important.


Documents

学术英语 社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 5 Sociology Matters Cultures all share certain basic characteristics despite differences. In this unit we

学术英语社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 5 Sociology Matters Cultures all share certain basic characteristics despite differences. In this unit we