1. Chapter 3
Culture

2. Chapter Outline Culture and Society in a Changing World
Components of Culture
Technology, Cultural Change, and Diversity
A Global Popular Culture?
Sociological Analysis of Culture
Culture in the Future

3. Culture
The knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society.
Examples of cultural interruption
Residential Schools
Genocide

4. Culture
Culture is essential for survival and communication with other people.
Culture is learned through interaction, observation and imitation.
Culture is fundamental for the survival of societies.

5. How Much Do You Know About Culture and Intolerance Toward Others?
True or False?
Core values in the United States are opposed to racism and a belief in the superiority of one’s own group.

6. How Much Do You Know About Culture and Intolerance Toward Others?
False.
Among the core American values identified by sociologists is the belief that one’s own racial or ethnic group should be valued above all others. Inherent in this belief may be the assumption of racism—that members of racial–ethnic categories other than one’s own are somehow inferior.

7. How Much Do You Know About Culture and Intolerance Toward Others?
True or False?
As the United States is increasing in diversity, most dominant group members (middle- and high-income white Anglo-Saxon Protestants) are becoming more tolerant of social and cultural diversity.

8. How Much Do You Know About Culture and Intolerance Toward Others?
False.
Recent polls show that as the U.S. has increased in diversity, most dominant-group members are not becoming more tolerant.
Examples include recent demands that immigration laws be strictly enforced, interest in establishing English as the “official” language of the United States, and pressure to eliminate affirmative action programs that benefit minority-group members.

9. Question
During the last few years, has anyone in your family brought a friend who was a the opposite race home for dinner?

10. GSS National Data Education No High School Diploma High School Diploma
College Education
Yes
24.4%
31.9%
42.1% No
75.6%
68.1
57.9%

11. Question
_____ consists of knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects.
Social structure
Society
Culture
Social organization

12. Answer: c
Culture consists of knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects.

13. Gestures With Different Meanings in Other Societies
“Hook ‘em Horns” or
“Your spouse is unfaithful”

14. Gestures With Different Meanings in Other Societies
“He’s crazy” or
“You have a telephone call”

15. Gestures With Different Meanings in Other Societies
“Okay” Or
“I’ll kill you”

16. Material Culture
Physical creations that members of a society make, use, and share.
Items of material culture begin as raw materials such as ore, trees, and oil.
They are transformed through technology.
Sociologists define technology as knowledge, techniques, and tools that make it possible for people to transform resources into usable forms, and the skills required to use them after they are developed.

17. Nonmaterial Culture
Abstract or intangible human creations of society that influence people’s behavior.
Language, beliefs, values, rules of behavior, family patterns, and political systems are examples of nonmaterial culture.
A central component of nonmaterial culture is beliefs.

18. Question
All of the following statements regarding culture are true, except:
culture is essential for our survival.
culture is essential for our communications with other people.
culture is fundamental for the survival of societies.
culture is always a stabilizing force for societies.

19. Answer: c
The following statement regarding culture is not true: culture is fundamental for the survival of societies.

20. Cultural Universals Examples:
Appearance (bodily adornment, hairstyles)
Activities (sports, dancing, games, joking)
Social institutions (family, law, religion)
Practices (cooking, folklore, gift giving)

21. Components of Culture
Symbol
Anything that meaningfully represents something else.
Language
Symbols that express ideas and enable people to communicate.

22. Components of Culture
Values
Collective ideas about what is right or wrong and good or bad.
Norms
Established rules of behavior or standards of conduct.

23. Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis
According to this theory, language shapes the view of reality of its speakers.
If people are able to think only through language, then language must precede thought.

24. Janitor/ maintenance man
Language and Gender
Male Term
Female Term
Neutral Term
Teacher
Worker /employee
Working mother
Janitor/ maintenance man
Maid/ cleaning lady
Custodial attendant

25. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis…
Does language shape how we think?
Linguistic Relativity and Linguistic Determinism

26. Languages Spoken in U.S. Households
Total Estimated
Number of Speakers
English only
215,423,557
Spanish
28,101,052
Chinese
2,022,143
French
1,643,838
German
1,383,442
Tagalog
1,224,241

27. Languages Spoken in U.S. Households
Total Estimated
Number of Speakers
Vietnamese
1,009,627
Italian
1,008,370
Korean
894,063
Russian
706,242
Polish
667,414
Arabic
614,582

28. Ten Core American Values
Individualism
Achievement and Success
Activity and Work
Science and Technology
Progress and Material Comfort

29. Ten Core American Values
Efficiency and Practicality
Equality
Morality and Humanitarianism
Freedom and Liberty
Racism and Group Superiority

30. Question
Which of the following hypothetical statements does not express a core U.S. value?
"How well does it work?"
"Is this a realistic thing to do?"
"My freedom is important to me."
"It is good to be lazy."

31. Answer: d
The hypothetical statement, “It is good to be lazy." does not express a core U.S. value.

32. Cultural Diversity The Danger of a Single Story
Cultural differences between and within nations are caused by:
Natural circumstances
Climate, geography
Social circumstances
Technology, composition of the population

34. Norms Norms are established rules of behavior or standards of conduct.
Prescriptive norms state what behavior is appropriate or acceptable.
Proscriptive norms state what behavior is inappropriate or unacceptable.

35. Social norms
are the "customary rules of behavior that coordinate our interactions with others."
may be explicit or implicit.
Failure to follow the rules can result in severe punishments, including exclusion from the group
established and approved ways of doing things, of dress, of speech and of appearance
These vary and evolve not only through time but also vary from one age group to another and between social classes and social groups.
What is deemed to be acceptable dress, speech or behavior in one social group may not be accepted in another.
Social norms tend to be tacitly established and maintained through body language and non-verbal communication between people in their normal social discourse.

36. Formal and Informal Norms
Formal norms are written down and involve specific punishments for violators.
Laws are the most common type of formal norms.
Informal norms are unwritten standards of behavior understood by people who share a common identity.
When individuals violate informal norms, people may apply informal sanctions.

37. Folkways
Everyday customs that may be violated without serious consequences within a particular culture.
In the United States, folkways include:
using underarm deodorant
brushing our teeth
wearing appropriate clothing for a specific occasion

38. Mores
Strongly held norms with moral and ethical connotations that may not be violated without serious consequences.
Taboos are mores so strong that violation is considered extremely offensive and even unmentionable.
The incest taboo, which prohibits sexual relations between certain kin, is an example of a nearly universal taboo.

39. Laws
Formal, standardized norms that have been enacted by legislatures and are enforced by formal sanctions.
Civil law deals with disputes among persons or groups.
Criminal law deals with public safety and well-being.

40. Technology, Cultural Change, and Diversity
Changes in technology continue to shape the material culture of society:
The introduction of the printing press more than 500 years ago and the advent of computers and electronic communications in the twentieth century.
Cultural lag is a gap between the technical development of a society and its moral and legal institutions.

41. Cultural Diversity
Cultural differences between and within nations are caused by:
Natural circumstances
climate, geography
Social circumstances
technology, composition of the population

42. Cultural Diversity of U.S. Society: Religion

43. Question
In what religion were you raised?
Protestant
Catholic
Jewish

44. GSS National Data Region East Midwest South West Protestant 43.2%
67.8%
80.1%
58.8%
Catholic
52.2%
31.1%
18.3%
38.1%
Jewish
4.6%
1.1%
1.6%
3.1%

45. Cultural Diversity of U.S. Society: Income

46. Cultural Diversity of U.S. Society:Race/Ethnicity

47. Question
In which of these groups did your total family income, from all sources, fall last year before taxes, that is?
$1K-$14999
$15K-24999
25K and up

48. GSS National Data Education No High School Diploma High School Diploma
College Education
$1K-$14999
49.5%
22.6%
13.2%
$15K-24999
21.1%
20.7%
13.3%
25K and up
29.3%
56.7%
73.5%

49. Then and Now Changing Culture Activity Group pics
Two pics of contrast in culture

50. The Old Order Amish Subculture
Strong faith in God.
Rejection of worldly concerns.
Rely on horse and buggy for transportation.

51. Examples of Countercultures
Beatniks of the 1950’s
Flower Children of the 1960’s
Drug Enthusiasts of the 1970’s

52. Culture Shock, Ethnocentrism, and Cultural Relativism
Culture shock refers to the anxiety people experience when they encounter cultures radically different from their own.
Ethnocentrism is the assumption that one’s own culture is superior to others.
Cultural relativism views and analyzes another culture in terms of that culture’s own values and standards.

53. Question An alternative to ethnocentrism is: racism Prejudice
cultural relativism
xenophobia

54. Answer: c
An alternative to ethnocentrism is cultural relativism.

55. High Culture and Popular Culture
High culture consists of activities patronized by elite audiences, composed of members of the upper-middle and upper classes.
Examples: classical music, opera, ballet, live theater
Popular culture consists of activities, products, and services that are assumed to appeal to members of the middle and working classes.
Examples: Rock concerts, spectator sports, movies, soap operas, situation comedies

56. Three Forms of Popular Culture
Fads - a temporary but widely copied activity followed enthusiastically by large numbers of people.
Fashions - A style of behavior, thinking, or appearance that is longer lasting and more widespread than a fad.
Leisure activities

57. Cultural Imperialism
The extensive infusion of one nation’s culture into other nations.
Some consider the use of the English language in countries that speak other languages as a form of cultural imperialism.
If the world develops a global culture, it will likely include a diffusion of literature, music, clothing, and food from many societies and cultures.

58. Sociological Analysis of Culture
Functionalist
Culture helps people meet biological, instrumental and expressive needs.
Conflict
Ideas can be used by the ruling class to affect members of other classes.

59. Sociological Analysis of Culture
Symbolic Interactionist
People create, maintain, and modify culture during their everyday activities.
Postmodern
Culture is based on simulation of reality rather than reality itself.

60. Quick Quiz

61. ________ consists of the physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use, and share.
Nonmaterial culture
Cultural universals
Material culture
High culture

62. Answer: c
Material culture consists of the physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use, and share.

63. 2. Language, beliefs, values, rules of behavior, family patterns, and political systems are examples of:
material culture
high culture
nonmaterial culture
cultural universals

64. Answer: c
Language, beliefs, values, rules of behavior, family patterns, and political systems are examples of nonmaterial culture.

65. 3. An example of a symbol is:
a dove
all of the choices
a heart
Nazi swastika

66. Answer: b
An example of a symbol is a dove, a heart, and a Nazi swastika.

67. 3. According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis:
reality is objective and is easily understood by humans.
language shapes the view of reality of its speakers.
reality is based on the interactions of individuals.
with more knowledge, a person minimizes the influence of language.

68. Answer: b
According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, language shapes the view of reality of its speakers.

69. 4. According to Karl Marx, and Marxist theorists:
none of the choices.
ideas are used by agents of the wealthy to affect the thoughts and actions of members of other classes.
ideas are effective for the working classes to motivate the wealthy.
ideas have little impact on the relations between the wealthy and poor in societies.

70. Answer: b
According to Karl Marx, and Marxist theorists, ideas are used by agents of the wealthy to affect the thoughts and actions of members of other classes.

71. Popular culture consists of:
activities, products, and services that are assumed to appeal primarily to members of the middle and working classes.
media events, which are typically on TV or the Internet.
ideas that can transform a society, but have yet to take shape or form.
fads to keep the populace uninterested in politics which can remove the status quo from power, disrupting organization and stability in everyday life.

72. Answer: a
Popular culture consists of activities, products, and services that are assumed to appeal primarily to members of the middle and working classes.

73. According to Functionalists, a function of popular culture is to:
keep members of society preoccupied so they do not realize inequalities within society.
keep members of society focused on the important things within society.
be the glue that holds society together.
teach cultural relativism.

74. Answer: c
According to Functionalists, a function of popular culture is to be the glue that holds society together.