{ Culture What do people mean when they say: “You are so cultured”?

Culture  All the shared products of a human group.  Past down from one generation to the next.  Methods by which collections of people deal with their environment.  We assume ours is “normal” or “natural”  Material Culture: the physical objects that people create.  Jewelry, art, architecture, weapons  Nonmaterial Culture: abstract human creations.  Ways of thinking and doing (interaction)  Society: group of mutually interdependent people who have organized in a way to share a common culture.

Components of Culture  Culture is learned and shared.  Specific components vary among societies and changes occur over time.  Emerging technology has impacted our social life:  Culture Lag: when nonmaterial culture can’t keep up with material culture.  EX: texting and driving  Cultural Diffusion: the spread of cultural characteristics from one group to another.  EX: adoption of superior weapons  Cultural Leveling: process by which cultures become similar

Symbolic Culture  Things people attach meaning to (usually nonmaterial) that they use to communicate.  Gestures: using one’s body to communicate (meanings might change from one culture to the other)  Some gestures are biological.  Language: organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system.  Provide deeper understanding of what we are communicating  Represents objects and abstract thought.  Emoticons: “written gestures” for expressing yourself online 

Gestures Quiz

 Allows culture to develop – move beyond immediate experiences.  Provides a social or shared past and future – understand past events (times, dates, places).  Allows for shared perspectives – form a shared understanding that forms the basis of social life  Not sharing a language while living alongside one another, invites miscommunication and suspicion.  Allows complex, shared, and goal-directed behaviors – establish purpose. Language Continued

 Language creates ways of thinking and perceiving (rather than objects)  In the United States we have learned to classify people (with given titles) – jocks, goths, stoners, skaters, preps, etc. – because of that we will perceive people in an entirely different way from someone who does not know these classifications. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Values   Values: shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable.   Value Cluster: values that fit together to form a larger whole.   Value Contradiction: to follow one, means you must given up another   American Value System   Certain values are shared by the majority of Americans.   Value systems change due to various social factors, which leads to value conflicts as some values change over time.  Personal Achievement  Work  Morality  Humanitarianism  Efficiency  Practicality  Material Comfort  Equity  Democracy  Freedom  Self-Fulfillment

Norms  Norms: the shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations (expectations) based on a community’s shared values.  One who breaks the norms = deviant.  Some people are expected to behave in certain ways based on their specific role in society  EX: profession, age, gender  Folkways: norms that do not have great moral significance attached to them (the etiquette and customs of a people that are not of critical importance to the society).  EX: Walking in the wrong direction at the mall.  Mores: have great moral significance attached to them (violation of them endangers the well-being and stability of society).  EX: man walking down the street with nothing covering his lower half  EX: Stealing, rape, and murder  Some group’s folkways are another group’s mores.

 Law: written rule of conduct that is enforced by the government.  What is the difference between laws and mores?  Taboo: a norm so strong that it often brings revulsion if violated  EX: eating human flesh, having sex with one’s parents Norms Continued

Sanctions  Expressions of approval or disapproval for upholding or violating norms.  Positive: reward or positive reaction (prize, trophy, hug, smile, “high-five”)  Negative: expression of disapproval for breaking a norm (frown, look of disgust, prison sentence)  Physical or Psychological  Formal vs. Informal  Moral Holiday: specified times when people are allowed to break a norm  EX: Mardi Gras (public drunkenness and nudity)  Moral Holiday Place: locations where norms are expected to be broken  EX: Red Light District, nude beaches

Urinal Behavior Quiz  Number the Urinals from left to right, 1-5.  Following the scenario given, describe the proper etiquette… girls imagine this with the stales.  Be able to explain your response

Elevator Rules  List the expected etiquette/rules you have learned/follow when using an elevator.  Be sure to explain why that is proper behavior.

{ Cultural Diversity If humans all have the same basic needs, how can cultures be so different?

 Some needs are so basic that all societies must develop ways to ensure their fulfillment.  However human beings have the ability to meet these needs in a vast number of ways.  Example - survival => need to care for young => families.  But are all families the same? Cultural Universals

Cult Cultural Variation  Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one’s own culture and group as superior to others.  Culture Shock: disorientation experienced when we cannot make sense of the world when our nonmaterial culture “fails” us.  Cultural Relativism: cultures should be judged by their own standards of their own culture - viewed from the point of view of the members of that society.  Is there such thing as “normal” and “abnormal” when looking at differences in culture?  Subculture: a group in society that shares values, norms, and behaviors that are not shared by the entire population.  EX: Motorcycle enthusiasts, ICP followers  Counterculture: a group that rejects the values, norms, and practices of the larger society and replaces them with a new set of cultural patterns/practices.  EX: Mormons – value polygamy over monogamy