1. Culture and Society Unit Purpose: Cultures share certain traits and mores in common, but can often vary widely. Certain cultural rules and values, like taboos, make cultures and societies stronger and united, but can break down in times of stress or appear silly or odd to an outside observer. American culture is but one in the world, with some strengths and other weaknesses. Essential Questions: How and why might societal norms change? How are a society’s values organized? What values should our society emphasize? How does one’s culture alter their perspective? Can societal practices fairly be judged?

2. Society: The community of people living in a particular region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations

3. Culture the language, beliefs, norms, behaviors, and even material objects that are passed from one generation to the next.

4. Material culture: the physical objects that distinguish a society (jewelry, art, buildings, weapons, etc.); – also known as artifacts

5. Non material culture (aka- symbolic culture): the beliefs, values, and common assumptions about the world, – actions: behaviors, gestures, language, values, norms, sanctions, and other forms of interaction

6. Culture and Taken-for-Granted Orientations to Life Our speech, our gestures, our beliefs, and our customs are usually taken for granted We assume that they are normal or natural, and almost always accept them without question Ralph Linton: “The last thing a fish would ever notice would be water.” The same thing goes for people Except in unusual circumstances, the effects of our own culture remain imperceptible to us

7. Culture within us… We came into the world without a language; without values and morality; with no ideas about religion, war, money, love, use of public space, personal boundaries, and so on At this point in our lives, though, we all have acquired them. – This is called “Culture within us” – Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us

8. Reactions to other cultures: Culture shock: – the disorientation that people experience when they come in contact with a different culture and can no longer depend on what they take for granted – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgfpIV2 9Ccc

9. Ethnocentrism: – the tendency to view one’s own culture and group as superior. – It’s like using your group’s ways of doing things as the yardstick for judging others – What’s good, right, proper, and even superior Ethnocentrism can have both positive effects (creating in-group loyalties) and negative effects (discrimination against groups who are different from ours)

10. Cultural universals: Features common to all cultures. – Examples: myths/folklore, Sports Cooking, Feasting language

11. Symbol: something to which people attach meaning to communicate with each other.

12. Gesture: Communication (symbol) with body parts Gestures not only facilitate communication, but also, because their meanings differ around the world, can lead to misunderstanding, embarrassment, or worse! Yikes! Don’t use this gesture in Italy!

13. Cultural Awareness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGVSIkEi3 mM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGVSIkEi3 mM “The Close Talker”

14. Subculture: group in society who share values and norms not shared by the whole population. – Ex: doctors, smokers, groupies, Chinese- Americans, the Amish

15. Counterculture: rejects norms/values of society and develop their own

16. Put notes away! In groups/with neighbors write down a definition (in your own words) and an example or two for the following terms: Material and nonmaterial culture Cultural universals Symbol and gestures subculture

17. www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Americans.h tm www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Americans.h tm http://www.daily-quotes.net/culture- quotes/western-culture-quotes http://www.daily-quotes.net/culture- quotes/western-culture-quotes http://swahhas.blogspot.com/2010/04/cultu re-shock-for-saudi-student.html http://swahhas.blogspot.com/2010/04/cultu re-shock-for-saudi-student.html http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/tag/bow ing/