1. Sociology and Current Affairs
Chapter 3 Culture

2. Multicultural of the United States
The most multicultural of the world
Drawn from the Nation’s history of immigration
Preferences and tastes differ by culture
More/fewer children
Honor of elderly/young
Peaceful/warlike
What is polite, rude, beautiful, ugly, etc

3. What is Culture
Values, beliefs, behavior and material objects that together form a people’s way of life
Our link to the past and our guide to the future
Nonmaterial Culture—the ideas created by members of a society
Material culture—the physical things created by members of a society

4. Culture Shock
Personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life

5. Culture Shock—Even in the US
A trip to the Amish countryside in Ohio
A New Yorker visits a small southern town
Other examples?

6. Question
What specific practices or social patterns familiar to us in the United States that would shock people from another society?

7. Humanity—No natural Way
Since humans have the capacity to think, there is no one way for them to build a culture or act
Only humans rely on culture rather than instinct to create a way of life and ensure our survival

8. Culture and Human Intelligence
From primates of 12 million years ago
Animals with largest brains/body size
Closest relative
Homo Sapiens of 40,000 years ago
People looked more or less like ourselves

9. River Valley Civilizations
Permanent settlements
Fashioning the natural environment for ourselves
Iraq
Egypt

10. Culture, Nation, and Society
Culture—a shared way of life
Nation—political entity, with borders—but not necessarily
Society—the organized interaction of people who typically live in a nation or some specific territory
The US is both a nation and a society

11. How Many cultures in the US
Census Bureau list 200 languages
100 languages spoken in the LA school system
7000 languages spoken globally
But half are spoken by 10,000 people
Number spoken commonly is declining
High technology, communication, international migration, expanding global economy accounts for decline

12. The elements of Culture
Symbols
Languages
Values
Norms
etc

13. Symbols
Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture
Word
Whistle (verb)
Graffiti
Raised fist
Flag
Winking the eye
Interest, understanding, or insult

14. New Symbols are Created All the Time
:-() I am shocked
:- I am smiling
:-II I am angry with you
Etc

15. Symbols and Culture Shock
The inability to “read” meaning in new surroundings
Not sure how to act
Fear
What about seeing people burning the flag

16. Differences People in parts of Asia roast dogs for dinner
We may offend people in India by asking for a hamburger because cows are sacred
A fur coat may represent success or inhumanity to animals
Confederate Flag—regional pride/history or a symbol of racial oppression

17. Language Helen Keller (1880-1968) Language Cultural Transmission
Blind and deaf
Brought to understanding through sign language
Became famous educator
Language
A system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another
Cultural Transmission
The process by which one generation passes culture to the next

18. Literacy The US—about 10% are illiterate
Low income countries—about 50% are illiterate
Language sets humans apart as the only creatures who are self-conscious, aware of our limitations, and ultimate mortality—able to dream and hope for the future and better

19. Does Language Shape Reality?
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf—yes!
Symbols are distinctive and build reality
Language has words or expressions not found in any other symbolic system
A single idea may “feel differently” in another language

20. Values and Beliefs
Values: Culturally defined standards that people use to decide what is desirable, good, beautiful, and that serves as broad guidelines for social living. Values support beliefs
Beliefs: Specific statements that people hold to be true
Different—values are more abstract and beliefs more specific

21. Values and Beliefs (cont)
Culturally mosaic nation
The US differs from Asian countries like Japan and China—more culturally homogeneous

22. Key Values of U.S. Culture
Equal opportunity
Achievement and success
Material comfort
Activity and work
Practicality and efficiency
Progress
Science
Democracy and free enterprise
Freedom
Racism and group superiority

23. Values Sometimes in Conflict
Do our values of equal opportunity conflict with our ways we view race and sex?
Do we view values in a hierarchy?
Are we becoming a “Culture of Victimization?”
Where has rugged individualism gone?
Where is accepting our responsibilities gone?

24. Values: A Global Perspective
Higher income countries have different values than lower—Lower:
Lower income countries value survival
Physical safety
Economic security
Traditional values
Celebrate the past
Family, religion, obedience to authority, conformity

25. Higher Income Countries
Individualism
Self expression
High quality of life
Lifestyle
Happiness
Tolerant
Divorce
Abortion

26. Norms
Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members
Proscriptive—what we should not do
Prescriptive—what we should do
Example: we are expected to applaud at the end of a musical entertainment event but not after a sermon

27. Mores (more-rays) and Folkways
Mores: norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance
Folkways: norms for routine or casual interaction
Appropriate greetings
Proper dress
Draw a line between the right and rude

28. Social Control
Mores and folkways make dealings with others more orderly and predictable
Social control—attempts by society to regulate people’s thoughts and behavior
Help to give people a conscious
“Downloading a term paper on the internet” can cuase some guilt
Mark Twain—people “are the only animals that that blush—or need to.”

29. Ideal and Real Culture
We may not make achieve the ideal actions or behavior, but we should strive for it

30. Material Culture and Technology
Physical human creations called “artifacts”
We own 230 vehicles and half bought in recent years were SUVs
Rugged individualism
Consistent with the U.S.

31. Material Culture and Technology
Technology—Knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings
The better the technology, the more people can make a life
The better to shape society around them

32. Technology Downside Has contributed to unhealthy levels of stress
Created weapons capable of destroying mankind
Amish of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana live simple live amid “commercialism and technology run wild”

33. New Information Technology and Culture
Not so much working with your hands as working with symbols
Ability to speak
Ability to write
Ability to compute
Ability to design
Ability to create

34. Computer-Based Economy
Generating new cultural ideas, images and products

35. Cultural Diversity: Many Ways of Life in One World
The U.S. is the most multicultural of all high-income
Japan, due to historic isolation, is the most monocultural of all high income nations
Between 1820 and 2003, 69 million people came to our shores
One million newcomers now arrive each year.

36. High Cultural and Popular Culture
High culture—cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite
Popular culture—cultural patters that are widespread among a society’s population
The text author suggests we may praise high culture more simply because people have more money in that culture—oh, really? What about:
Dangers that may exist in more popular culture
Untried new habits that sprang up as just popular, in the culture’s face, hooky actions
Just because it’s different

37. Subculture
Subculture—cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society’s population
“chopper” riders (author forgets…now yuppies)
Polish Americans
New England “Yankees”
Etc.

38. What Kind of Commitment ot Subculture
Can set people apart from one another—sometimes referred to as “tribal mentalities” or “Balkanism”
Yugoslavia
1990s civil war fueled by extreme diversity
Two alphabets, three religions, four languages, five major nationalities, six political republics, absorbing cultures of seven surrounding countries
The above was a source of pleasing variety but also outright violence

39. The “Melting Pot” is Questioned
Out of many, one
The author suggests that one subculture is as good as another—the rich skier in Aspen is equal to the skateboarder in L.A. (can’t a rich skier also be a skateboarder in L.A.?)
Therefore, some sociologists prefer to level the playing field by emphasizing multiculturalism

40. Multiculturalism
An educational program recognizing the cultural diversity of the United States and promoting the equality of all cultural traditions (how do you do that?)
Formally, we defined ourselves through Western (primarily English) culture
Historical traditions or contemporary diversity—is that the real question?

41. Eurocentrism
The dominance of European (especially English) cultural patterns
But the country is moving to where people of African, Asian, and Hispanic ancestry will be the majority (really?? Then what about the tendencies to cross-marry, etc)
Some educators call for Afrocentrism—emphasizing and promoting African cultural patterns (OK, but what about the Asians, Hispanics and Indians)—or is it really just the loudest voices speaking?

42. Multicultural Criticism
Divides people by looking at their skin pigment rather than looking at people as individuals
Is it better to live, breathe, and “ooze” in the color of one’s skin or is it better to simply accept all people as equals and children of God as made in the image of God.
Do we obsess over our differences through the philosophy of multiculturalism rather than embracing each other through the simple faith that we are all seekers of God and the promise of everlasting life?

43. Multiculturalism Criticism (cont)
Does multiculturalism unify? Or does it d separate us by pointing out divisions and differences among us?
Instead of recognizing “truth”, does not multiculturalism interpret truth through the “prism” of race? Or gender?
Do we not dissolve into an “African experience” or “Asian experience” instead of a human experience

44. Multiculturalism Criticized (cont)
What ever happened to Dr. Martin Luther King’s statement that implores people to evaluate people based not upon the color of one’s skin but on the content of one’s character?
Are we to study only certain topics and issues from one point of view? How intellectual is that?

45. Cultural Change Change remains a constant
Today’s students more interested in making money rather than developing a philosophy of life—true?
Cultural integration—when one thing changes, the change(s) effects other things.

46. Cultural Lag When some things change faster than others
Does the laboratory fertilization of an egg with sperm from a stranger change the traditional ideas of motherhood and fatherhood? If yes, then what about adoption?

47. Causes of Cultural Change
Invention: like the telephone, airplane, and computer
Discovery: a better understanding of something already in existence—such as new elements
Diffusion: the spread of cultural traits from one cultural to another

48. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
Confucius: “All people are the same; it’s only their habits that are different”
Ethnocentrism: the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture
Common to “come from some place” when evaluating others
But, there can be conflict

49. Cultural Relativism Judging a culture by its own standards
Requires openness
Requires putting aside cultural standards known

50. Problems—Are Some Cultural Norms Just Plain Wrong?
What about the children of Indian and Moroccan families who worked long hours
Before judging, first ask what do they think about the norm

51. A Global Culture The world is flat Everyone is wearing jeans
More people are speaking English
Migration
Communications
Economy

52. The World is Flat Limitations?
The author say the advantages go to North America and Europe—really? What about the internet?
Poverty sets people apart from others
People see cultural differences differently—Harry Potter has more influence in one nation than another

53. The Functions of Culture: Structural-Functional Analysis
Complex—strategies for trying to meet human needs
Cultural values bind us together
Think functionally—why do these people live this way? The Amish?
Cultural universals: family, funerals, care of children, etc

54. Critical Review—Structural-Functional
Emphasizes dominant cultural patterns
Downplays change

55. Inequality and Culture: Social-Conflict Analysis
Link between culture and inequality
Any trait benefits some members more than others
Marx said that man’s social being determines his consciousness
Materialism verses structural functionalism

56. Capitalism
Serves the interests of the countries wealthy elite. (your author) Really? What about all those who have moved from poor to middle class and middle class to wealthy in this system?
Teaches us that the rich work harder and are more deserving—Oh?
Disparages economic equality—Oh, how?

57. Evolution and Culture
Sociobiology—a theoretical approach that explores ways in which human biology affects how we create culture
Rests on Charles Darwin—natural selection—organisms change over time
Adaptation and survival of the fittest
But—is one race superior to another?

58. Culture as a Constraint
Habit
Racial prejudices
Gender discrimination

59. Culture As Freedom
We are forced to chose and we make choices—having that freedom
We continue to make and re-make
Good?