Culture

1
Culture

• Chapter 3

2
Culture

• Culture is a combination of knowledge, values,
  language, and customs passed from generation to
  generation.
• Material
• Non-material

3
Passing on culture

• Culture determines what people like and dislike,
  believe and don't believe, and what we value or
  don't value.
• It is because of culture that boys feel they need
  to act manly and girls feel they need to wear
  makeup or perfume.

4
Society

• A society is a group of people who live in a
  particular territory and participate in a common
  culture. 
• We are not born knowing our culture, therefore we
  have to learn it.

5
Instincts

• Instincts are unlearned patterns of behavior
• Reflexes
• Drives

6
Symbols

• Symbols are things that stand for or represent
  something else.
•  
• Ex A confederate flag is a symbol of oppression
  for African-Americans and a proud cultural
  heritage for many white southerners.
• When something is important in a society it will
  have many different words to describe it. 
• Ex The English language has only a few words to
  describe snow where the Inuit Eskimo language has
  over twenty.

7
Norms

• Norms are rules defining appropriate and
  inappropriate behavior.
• Norms help to explain why people in a society or
  group behave similarly in similar circumstances. 
  
• Ex. Whispering in church, farting in public
• Take a few minutes to list a few norms in our
  society.

8
Customs

• Take a break and read customs on page 82.
• YES THIS MEANS YOU!!!

9
Types of Norms

• We don't notice norms very often until they are
  broken. 
• Ex if someone breaks in line for the restroom at
  the Cardinals game.
• There are three types of norms  folkways, mores,
  and laws

10
Folkways

• Folkways are rules that are not of serious
  importance in a society.  Folkways lack moral
  value.
•  
• EX taking your hat off indoors, placing a napkin
  on your lap at a nice restaurant, not wearing
  shorts with a shirt and tie.
• Disapproval of those who break them is not very
  great.

11
Mores

• Mores are norms of great moral significance. 
  They are vital to the well-being of a society
  that they be followed.
• Some examples of mores being broken are cheating
  on your husband or wife, ignoring your children,
  letting your nine year old child play outside at
  11 p.m.

12
Taboos

• More serious mores are called taboos.  A taboo is
  a more so strong that a violation may require
  punishment from the group. 
• EX incest.

13
Laws

• Mores and folkways are often unconsciously
  created where as laws are consciously created and
  enforced.
• Read the laws on page 86.

14
Sanctions

• Sanctions are rewards and punishments that
  encourage conformity to norms
• Formal
• Informal

15
Values

• Values are broad ideas about what most people in
  a society consider to be desirable. 
• Cultural diversity exists in all societies.  Some
  of this diversity results from social
  categories. 
• These are characteristics like age, gender, race,
  religion, etc.  These social categories are
  expected to behave in a certain way. 
• Ex 50 cent rapping compared to George Bush
  rapping.

16
Subculture

• Subcultures exist in large, complex societies. 
  They are smaller cultures inside of larger
  cultures. 
• Ex musicians, professional athletes, the
  Catholic community, etc.

17
Counterculture

• Counterculture is a subculture that is against or
  opposed to the main beliefs and attitudes of a
  larger culture. 
• Ex. Gothic scene, white supremacist groups,
  hippies.

18
Ethnocentrism

• When people judge other cultures based on their
  own cultural standards this is called
  ethnocentrism. 
• We are all probably guilty of doing this at some
  point. 
• Ex putting in lip plates for beauty and status

19
Cultural universals and particulars

• Cultural universals are traits that exist in all
  cultures. 
• Ex. sports, cooking, religion, funerals,
  language, etc.
• How these cultural universals are practiced,
  however, are may times completely unique.  The
  difference is called cultural particulars. 
• Ex child rearing is a cultural universal. 
  However, in the U.S. women are mostly given the
  responsibility of taking care of the child, but
  in New Guinea the man is completely in charge of
  child rearing.