Beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society. Culture

What is Culture?? Language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors and material objects that are passed from one generation to another. Ideal culture A group’s ideal values, norms, and goals Real culture The group’s actual behavior

Material Culture Jewelry, art, buildings, weapons, machines, even eating utensils, hair styles, and clothing…

Non- Material Culture… Group’s way of thinking, beliefs, values, etc. i.e. religion Language Gestures Body language Customs Patterns of behavior.

Culture often taken for granted. Seen as “normal”! Culture Shock The disorientation people feel when they come into contact with a different culture and it causes them to question the perspectives they were taught and raised with. Ethnocentrism The belief that one’s own culture is superior leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms and behaviors.

Cultural Relativism Not judging a culture, but trying to understand it on its own terms.

Components of Symbolic Culture something to which people attach meaning and use to communicate with each other. Gestures Language Values, Norms, Sanctions Folkways and Mores

Gestures are… Movements of the body to communicate with others… Used as a shorthand to communicate messages without using words. Make a list of commonly used gestures

Language… Visual and Sound symbols that convey meaning based on their combinations. Language allows culture to exist!! Allows human experience to be cumulative Allows us to share and pass on our past Allows us to share a vision of our future Allows us to share perspectives Share and communicate goal directed behavior

Language and Perception The Sapir- Whorf Hypothesis Language determines our consciousness and thus shapes perception of objects and events. In short, Language shapes how you see the world!! **Think of examples where language influenced how you interpreted what was going on…

Values, Norms, Sanctions The standards by which people define what is good and bad, beautiful and ugly, etc. Norms expectations (or rules of behavior) that develop out of a groups values Sanctions the reactions people give or receive for following or breaking norms. Positive Sanctions – approval Negative Sanctions - disapproval

Folkways and Mores Folkways Mores Taboo norms that are not strictly enforced. Mores Norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought to be essential to the core values or the well being of the group (i.e. society) Taboo a norm so strong that it brings revulsion if violated.

Many Cultural Worlds Subcultures Counter-Cultures Pluralism Smaller Cultures within the larger overall culture Counter-Cultures Group’s whose values and norms place them on opposition to the value and norms of the larger culture Pluralism One group made up of many smaller groups and cultures… i.e. the United States

Overview U.S. Culture Achievement and success Individualism Activity and work Efficiency and practicality Science and Technology Progress Material Comfort Humanitarianism Freedom Democracy Equality Racism and Group Superiority (exceptionalism) Education Religiosity Romantic Love

Value Clusters Value Contradictions values are not independent, cluster together to form the larger whole. Value Contradictions Values that contradict one another. Creates “cognitive dissonance” and pushes change

Culture Wars Clashes in Cultural Values Values as Blinders Challenges in core values are met with strong resistance by the people who hold them dear. i.e civil rights legislation Values as Blinders Form a view of what ‘ought’ to be like Ideal vs Real Culture ‘Ideal’ culture A group’s ideal values, norms, and goals ‘Real’ culture The group’s actual behavior

Dialectics- The Basics There are the three laws of dialectics according to Frederick Engels, a revolutionary thinker and partner of Karl Marx, writing in the 1870s in his book Dialectics of Nature.

Here's how it works - 1. Every thing is made of opposing forces/ opposing sides. 2. Gradual changes lead to turning points, where one opposite overcomes the other. 3. Change moves in spirals, not circles

1. Everything is made of opposites Like material objects, the process of change needs opposing forces. Change needs a driving force to push it ahead, otherwise everything stays put. A billiard ball only moves when hit with a pool cue or another ball. We eat when our hunger tells us to.

2. Gradual changes lead to turning points. Two opposing forces in a process of change push against each other. As long as one side is stronger than the other side, change is gradual. But when the other side becomes stronger, there is a turning point--an avalanche, a birth, a collapse, a discovery, . . . This law is powerful in describing the stages of development of anything. A person's life, a society is shaped by these changes.

3.Change moves in spirals, not circles Many changes are cyclical--first one side dominates, then the other--as in day/night, breathing in/breathing out, one opposite then another. Dialectics argues that these cycles do not come back exactly to where they started; they don't make a perfect circle. Instead, change is evolutionary, moving in a spiral. http://home.igc.org/~venceremos/whatheck.htm

Technology (tools) Sets the framework for the non-material culture… Shape thinking Symbols Language Interactions Roles Etc.

Cultural Lag and Change William Ogburn A group’s material culture usually changes first, and the non-material culture will lag behind. i.e. hard for laws, religion, etc. to keep up with scientific advancements and new technology

Technology and Cultural Leveling Cultural Diffusion The spread of cultural traits from one culture to another. (i.e. McDonalds) Cultural Leveling The process by which cultures become similar to one another. Refers specifically to the process by which Western culture is being diffused into other nations.