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Culture
Sociology 12
Culture
• The knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects passed from one generation to the next in a human group or society
Culture and Intolerance Toward Others
Answer true or false
1. Canadians generally see themselves as tolerant of other cultures and intolerant of racism.
2. In recent years, the number of reported attacks in Canada against persons because of their race, religion, or ethnic origin has increased.
3. It is illegal to be a member of a racist organization.
True or False Cont’d
4. Individuals can do very little to reduce or eliminate intolerance in society.
5. As the rate of immigration to Canada has increased in recent years, anti-immigrant feelings have risen.
6. The majority of hate crimes in Canada are directed against racial minorities.
7. Incidents of violence targeted toward African Canadians and Jews have declined in recent years.
True or False Cont’d
8. Communities with greater proportions of visible-minority immigrants are generally more tolerant of racial and ethnic differences.
9. It is illegal to disseminate hate literature on the internet.
10. A recent national survey found that the majority of respondents accept the concept of Canada as a multicultural mosaic.
Answers
1. True 2. True3. False4. False5. True6. True7. False8. True9. False10. False
Material and Nonmaterial Culture
• Material culture consists of the physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use, and share.
• Nonmaterial culture consists of the abstract or intangable human creations of society that influence people’s behaviour.
• Language, beliefs, values, rules of behaviour, family patterns, political systems
Belief
• Central to nonmaterial culture
• May be based on: faith, experience, scientific research, tradition… or a combination
• What are some examples of beliefs?
Components of Culture
• Symbols
• Language
• Values
• Norms
Symbols
• Anything that meaningfully represents something else.
• Can stand for love, peace or hate just like words. They can also in some cases have different meanings for different people.
• Gestures are also forms of cultural symbols.
• Colours: pink and blue
What do these symbols mean to you?
Language
• A set of symbols that express ideas and enable people to think and communicate with one another.
• Verbal: spoken
• Nonverbal: written or gestured
• Language is one of the most important human attributes because it allows us to share our experiences, feelings and knowledge with others.
Language
• Language and social reality
• Language and gender
• Language, race and ethnicity
• Language diversity in Canada
Values
• Collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in a particular culture.
• Usually come in pairs of positive and negative… ie: brave and cowardly
• We use values to judge and justify behaviour
Group Work
• In groups of 4-5 read Core Canadian Values on page 78 of the text
• Discuss the core values listed. Do you think these values fit in with your image of what it means to be Canadian? Would you change or add any?
Canadian Values
1. Equality and fairness in a democratic society.
2. Consultation and dialogue 3. Accommodation and tolerance 4. Support and diversity 5. Compassion and generosity 6. Canada’s natural beauty 7. Canada’s world image
Value Contradictions
• Value contradictions are values that conflict with one another or are mutually exclusive.
• Morality vs success?
• Can you think of an example that might conflict?
Ideal vs Real Culture
• Ideal culture refers to the values and standards of behaviour that people in a society profess to hold.
• Real culture refers to the values and standards of behaviour that people actually follow.
• Example: Lie, speeding, drugs, drinking and driving
Hypocrisy
• Pretending to be what one is nor or to feel what one does not feel
• Mary tells her students that drinking and driving is morally wrong and illegal. On Saturday night Mary is out with friends and has some drinks and then drives home. Mary is a hypocrite.
Norms
• Norms are established rules of behaviour or standards of conduct.
• Prescriptive norms state what behaviour is appropriate or acceptable.
• Proscriptive norms state what behaviour is inappropriate or unacceptable.
Formal and Informal Norms
• Formal norms: laws or official rules
• Informal norms: commonly accepted norms
• Sanctions: awards for appropriate behaviour or penalties for inappropriate behaviour.
• Examples?
Folkways
• Informal norms or everyday customs that may be violated without serious consequences within a particular culture
• Very culturally specific and are learned behaviour
• Examples in Canada: wearing deodorant (asia?) wearing appropriate clothing for the occasion, waiting in line
Mores
• Mores are strongly held norms with moral and ethical connotations that may not be violated without serious consequences in a particular culture.
• Taboos are mores so strong that their violation is considered to be extremely offensive and even unmentionable.
• Examples? Cultural differences around the world?
Laws
• Laws are formal standardized norms that have been enacted by legislatures and are enforced by formal sanctions.
• Civil or criminal
• Changes in law often reflect changes in culture
Advertising
• Read box 3.2 on pages 82-83
• In a group discuss these questions…
• How did these companies make these mistakes?
• Do you get the sense that there is a lack of understanding or desire to understand other cultures?
Culture Shock
• Culture shock is the disorientation that people feel when they encounter cultures radically different from their own
• Reverse culture shock is the disorientation that people feel when they return to their home culture after spending time in a culture radically different from their own
• Has anyone experiences culture shock?
Culture Shock?
Ethnocentrism
• The tendency to regard one’s own culture and group as the standard, and thus superior, whereas all other groups are seen as inferior.
• Positive
• Negative
Cultural Relativism
• The belief that the behaviours and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture’s own standards.
• Example: holding doors, child labour
High culture and popular culture
• High culture• Ballet, theatre, opera• Basically things that
people with the economic and time allowances can enjoy
• Popular culture consists of activities, products and services that are assumed to appeal primarily to members of the middle and working class.
• Examples: tv shows, popular music (top 40), spectator sports, internet
Popular Culture
• Fads
• Fashion
• Leisure activities
The ’90s
The 2000’s
Pop Culture?
High Culture to Popular Culture
Popular Culture Project
• PowerPoint
• Wordle
Group Questions
• In a group answer the questions and discuss your answers
Subcultures
A subculture is a group of people who share a distinct set of cultural beliefs and behaviours that differ in some significant way from that of the larger society.
Examples: Muslims, Jews, skateboarders, goth, gamers, etc.
Look at the Hutterites
Countercultures
A counterculture is a group that strongly rejects dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternative lifestyles.
Examples: beatniks, KKK, neo-Nazi
Gay/Lesbian Movements?
Culture
• Functionalist perspective
• Conflict perspective
• Symbolic interactionist perspective
• Postmodern perspectives
Functionalist Perspective
• Biological needs: food and procreation
• Instrumental needs: laws and education
• Popular Culture: glue
• Dysfunctions: crime and violence – Movies– Videos – Games
Conflict Perspective
• Constant struggle between social classes
• Theory that those with the most material means can control ideas
• Popular culture originated with everyday people but is now dominated by the “media” and big business – Needs?
Symbolic Interactionist
• Continually negotiate realities
• Interpret for different social situations
Postmodern Perspectives
• Should speak of cultures not culture
• Simulation
Media
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7C64j8d34U
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQhci0VPf3E
Test
10 Vocabulary choose 6
6 Short answer questions choose 3
10 Matching
One essay
Vocabulary Words
• Counterculture• Subculture• Popular culture• Ethnocentrism • Culture shock • Traditions• High culture• Nonmaterial culture• Symbols
• Working class • Mores• Folkways• Values • Norms• Laws• Cultural universals • Material culture• Language
