1. UNIT 2: Culture Shock! Chapter 3: Culture Chapter 4: Socialization Chapter 5: Social Structure and Society
Standard: Students will examine the influence of culture on the individual and the way cultural aspects are transferred within the society and the patterns and processes in becoming members of societies

2. Nature vs. Nurture
Culture refers to the knowledge, language, customs and physical objects that are shared by members of a society.
Human behavior is based on culture. Since humans are not born knowing their culture, human behavior must be learned!
Instincts are innate patterns of behavior—including reflexes (automatic reactions to physical stimulus) and drive (impulses to reduce discomfort).
Our personalities are part nature and part nurture; however, human social behavior is mostly based on culture.
Sociobiology is the study of the biological basis of human behavior.
What is Social Darwinism?
Read “The Mysterious Fall of Nacirima” on page 76 and answer the two questions. Be prepared to discuss your answers!

3. Language and Culture What is cultural transmission? What are symbols?
How are language and culture related?
Language allows us to read, discuss and recombine existing ideas and technology. Language allows us to pass experiences, ideas and knowledge to others.
The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis
The Hypothesis of Linguistic Relativity is the theory stating that our idea of reality depends largely upon language.
How we think about a thing depends on the number and complexity of words we have to describe that thing.
Our perception of the world depends in part on the particular language we have learned; since languages differ, so do perceptions!
What can vocabulary tell you about a culture?
How does exposure to another language change our perceptions of the world?
What factors other than language shape our perception of reality?
Read “Cultural Relativism” on page 80 and answer the two questions.

4. Norms, Values and Beliefs
Norms define appropriate and inappropriate behavior; norms vary from culture to culture.
Folkways are norms that lack moral significance.
Mores are norms that have a moral dimension and should be followed by all members of that society.
A Taboo is a norm that is so strong that it demands punishment from the group or even from a supernatural force.
Laws are norms that are formally defined and enforced by officials.
Sanctions are rewards and punishments used to encourage people to follow norms. Sanctions can be formal or informal.
Values are broad ideas about what is good or desirable in a society.
Beliefs are ideas about the nature of reality.
Material culture is the concrete, tangible objects of a culture.
Nonmaterial culture is the ideas, knowledge or beliefs that influence people’s behavior.
How is material culture related to nonmaterial culture?
Ideal and Real Culture
Ideal culture is the set of cultural guidelines that group members claim to accept.
Real culture is the actual behavior patterns of members of a group.

5. Cultural Diversity and Similarity
Why does culture change?
Discovery (the process of finding something that already exists)
Invention (the creation of something new)
Diffusion (the borrowing of aspects of culture from other cultures)
Cultural Diversity
Social categories are groupings of persons who share a social characteristic.
A subculture is a group that is part of the dominant culture but that differs from it in some important respects.
A counterculture is a subculture that deliberately and consciously opposes certain central beliefs or attitudes of the dominant culture.
Ethnocentrism is judging others in terms of one’s own cultural standards.
Cultural universals are general cultural traits exist in all cultures.
Cultural particulars are the ways in which a culture expresses universal traits.

6. The Importance of Socialization
Socialization is the process of learning to participate in a group. Socialization begins at birth and continues throughout life. Without socialization, a human infant cannot develop the set of attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviors associated with being human.
How do monkeys react to social isolation?
How do humans react to social isolation?
Please read the two case studies in your textbook. Compare and Contrast Anna and Isabelle. What do these two case studies tell us about socialization?
Watch “The Boy from Baby House 10” (dateline).
Read “Can the Internet Stunt Your Growth” on page 112 and answer the question at the bottom of the page. Be prepared to discuss your answer.
How does the functionalist perspective explain socialization? Socialization keeps society stable by promoting the same norms, beliefs and values for all members of a group.
How does the conflict perspective explain socialization? Socialization maintains the status quo and discourages members of the group from questioning the existing class structure.
How does the symbolic interactionism perspective explain socialization? Socialization is the primary determinate of human nature. The “me” is the part of the self learned through socialization. The “I” is the part of the self that accounts for unlearned, spontaneous acts.
Self-concept is the image you have of yourself as having an identity separate from other people.
The looking glass self is the image you have of yourself based on what you believe others think of you.
Significant others are those people whose reactions are most important to your self-concept.
Role-taking is taking the viewpoint of another person and using that viewpoint to shape the self-concept. In terms of human development, this includes the imitation stage, the play stage and the game stage.
The generalized other is the integrated concept of the norms, values, and beliefs of one’s community or society.

7. Agents of Socialization
Our family’s social class effects what we think of ourselves and how we are perceived by the world.
Our families teach us how to think and speak, as well as how to internalize norms, beliefs and values.
We form some basic attitudes and acquire a self-image as we develop a capacity for social relationships.
The Family
Schools create feelings of loyalty and allegiance to something beyond the family.
Relationships are impersonal and children learn how to be less emotionally dependent on their parents.
The “hidden curriculum” teaches discipline, order, cooperation and conformity.
Schools
This is the only form of socialization that is not controlled by adults.
Children must figure out how to deal with conflict, competition, cooperation, self-direction, and self-expression.
Our peer group has a growing effect on social development as we become adults.
Peer Groups
Mass media is a means of communication meant to reach the entire public.
Mass media can provide role models for children to imitate, and it can provide images of achievement and success, activity and work, and equality and democracy.
Mass Media

8. Processes of Socialization
Total institutions are places where individuals are separated from the rest of society and controlled by the officials in charge.
Desocialization is the process of giving up old norms, values, attitudes and behaviors.
Resocialization is the process of adopting new norms, values, attitudes and behaviors.
Anticipatory socialization is the voluntary process of preparing to accept new norms, values, attitudes and behaviors.
A reference group is a group whose norms and values are used to guide behavior; it is the group with whom you identify.
Read “National Television Violence” on page 136 and answer the three questions. Be prepared to discuss your answers.

9. Social Structure, Status and Roles
Social structure is the underlying pattern of relationships in a group.
Status is a position a person occupies within a social structure.
Ascribed status is a position that is neither earned nor chosen but assigned.
Achieved status is a position that is earned or chosen.
A status set is all of the statuses that a person occupies at any particular time.
A master status is a position that strongly affects most other aspects of a person’s life.
Read “Adopting Statuses in a Simulated Prison” and answer the three questions on page Be prepared to discuss your answers.
A role is an expected behavior associated with a particular status.
A right is a behavior that individuals can expect from others.
An obligation is a behavior that individuals are expected to perform towards others.
Role performance is the actual behavior of an individual in a role.
Social interaction is the process of influencing others and being influenced by others.
Role conflict is the condition in which the performance of a role in one status interferes with the performance of a role in another status.
Role strain is the condition in which the roles of a single status are inconsistent or conflicting.

10. Types of Society
A society is a group of people living within defined territorial borders and sharing a common culture.
A hunting and gathering society is a society that survived by hunting animals and gathering edible plants.
A horticultural society is a society that survives primarily through the growing of plants.
A pastoral society is a society in which food is obtained primarily by raising and taking care of animals.
An agricultural society is a society that uses plows and draft animals in growing food.
An industrial society is a society that depends on science and technology to produce its basic goods and services.
A postindustrial society is a society in which the economic emphasis is on providing services and information.
Jigsaw Activity: Each group so students will choose one type of society and develop a web of information to share with the class.
What do sociologists think about industrialization?
In 1887, Ferdinand Tonnies distinguished between preindustrial and industrial socieites.
Gemeinschaft is a preindustrial society based on tradition, kinship and close social ties.
Gesellschaft is an industrial society characterized by weak family ties, competition, and impersonal social relationships.
In 1893, Emile Durkheim distinguished societies based on social solidarity—the degree to which society is unified.
Mechanical solidarity is type of social unity achieved by people doing the same type of work and holding similar values.
Organic solidarity is a type of social unity in which members’ interdependence is based on specialized functions and statuses.
What contributes to a stable society in the postindustrial age?
What leads to social instability in the postindustrial age?

11. Working With Precollected Data