CULTURE

Chapter 2

What Is Culture?

Culture: The language, beliefs, values, norms, and material objects that are passed from one generation to the next.

Material Culture: The material objects that distinguish a group of people, such as food, art, buildings, clothing, machines, utensils.

Nonmaterial Culture: A group’s way of thinking (including values and beliefs) and doing (patterns of behavior, language, interaction).

Taken-for-Granted Orientations to Life We came into life without language, values,

morality, etc., but we acquire them and they become our assumptions about what normal behavior is

Because we assume that our language, values, etc. are normal we often follow them without question

Culture provides a basis for decision making – what we ought to do or think

Taken-for-Granted Orientations to Life Culture Shock:

The surprise, disorientation, and fear people experience when they encounter a new culture.

We find unfamiliar behaviors upsetting because they violate our expectations of the way “people ought to be”

Taken-for-Granted Orientations to Life Ethnocentrism: Using one’s own culture to

judge the ways of other individuals or societies, generally leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms, and behaviors Positive Effects: Can create loyalty Negative Effects: Can lead to discrimination

Cultural Relativism: Not judging a culture, but trying to understand it in its own terms

Components of Symbolic Culture Symbolic Culture: Another term for

nonmaterial culture

Symbol: Something to which people attach meaning and then use to communicate with others, including gestures, language, values, norms, sanctions, folkways, and mores.

Components of Symbolic Culture Gestures: The ways in which people use

their bodies to communicate with one another

Components of Symbolic Culture Language: A system of symbols that can be

combined in an infinite number of ways and can represent not only objects but also abstract thought.

Language allows us to… pass ideas, knowledge, & attitudes to future

generations. move beyond immediate experiences –share past or

future events. develop a shared understanding of past events plan future events establish shared understandings

Components of Symbolic Culture Language (continued)

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis When we learn a language, we not only learn

words, but a way of thinking and understanding Ex: If you didn’t know words like jock, goth,

stoner, etc. you wouldn’t perceive people in these manners

Components of Symbolic Culture Values:

The standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly.

Values underlie our preferences, guide our choices, and indicate what we hold worthwhile in life.

Components of Symbolic Culture Norms: Expectations, or rules of

behavior, that reflect and enforce values. Change constantly Differ widely among cultures and even

within cultures Settings Time Period Country

Components of Symbolic Culture Sanctions: Expressions of approval or

disapproval given to people for upholding or violating norms Positive Sanction: A reward or positive

reaction for following norms Negative Sanction: An expression of

disapproval for breaking a norm. Can be informal (a frown) or formal (prison sentence).

Folkways and Mores

Folkways: Norms that are not strictly enforced We expect people to follow these, but don’t

make a big deal if they don’t.

Mores (MORE-ays): A norm based on morality, or definitions of right and wrong. Usually strictly enforced.

Taboo: A norm that is so strong that it often brings revulsion if violated. Ex: eating human flesh, necrophilia

Many Cultural Worlds

Subcultures: A world within the larger world of the dominant culture. May be based on occupation, race, religion,

financial status, political ideals, sexual orientation, hobbies

Many Cultural Worlds

Counterculture: A subculture that opposes the dominant culture.

Values in U.S. Society

Pluralistic Society: A society made up of many different groups, such as the United States.

Values in U.S. Society

Core values shared by most Americans: Achievement Success Individualism Hard Work Technology Progress Material Comfort Freedom Democracy Equality