Chapter 3: Culture

1
Chapter 3 Culture
2
What is culture?

• Culture refers to the way of life of a people.
• Specifically, culture consists of the material
  and nonmaterial things that people create and
  share with each other.
• Material culture
• The tangible products humans create, like houses,
  roads, clothes, technologies, etc.
• Nonmaterial culture
• The intangible products that humans create, like
  beliefs, values, ideas and norms.

3
Importance of culture

• 1. adaptation to the environment
• Our cultures reflect our efforts to adapt to the
  environment.
• 2. blueprint for living
• Culture provides a ready-made blueprint for
  living.
• 3. symbiotic relationship
• We create culture, and it creates us.
• 4. it is learned
• Culture is learned, not biologically transmitted.

4
Significance of learned culture

• Most species rely on biologically transmitted
  instincts to survive. Humans have few complex
  instincts and rely instead on learned
  information.
• Is there such a thing as human nature with
  fixed characteristics?
• While there are biological influences and there
  are a few universal human patterns, humans are
  whatever they create themselves to be. They are a
  remarkably flexible, diverse, and adaptive
  species.
• There are roughly 7000 cultures across the globe
  and there is great diversity among them. However,
  this number is in decline due to globalization
  forces.

5
Components of culture

• A. Nonmaterial components
• 1. symbols
• 2. language
• 3. values and beliefs
• 4. norms
• 5. statuses and roles
• B. Material components
• The importance of technology

6
1. symbols

• A symbol is anything that carries a particular
  meaning recognized by members of a culture.
• Symbols are the basis of culture and provide the
  foundation of everyday reality.
• Sharing common symbols builds social integration.
• Culture shock the inability to read the meanings
  of symbols due to being in a foreign culture.
• The psychological sensation of culture shock is
  anxiety or fear.
• Symbolic meanings differ across societies (or
  even across subcultures in the U.S.)
• A dog is a pet in the U.S., but could be dinner
  in other cultures.
• Symbols and meanings change over time.
• How do marketers influence the meaning of a pair
  of jeans?

7
2. language

• Language a system of symbols with standard
  meanings that allows members of a culture to
  communicate.
• Language allows cultural transmission.
• Cultural transmission the process by which
  culture is passed on across generations.
• Is language uniquely human?
• Some animals have a rudimentary ability to use
  symbols, but their skills are limited.
• Does language shape subjective reality?
• The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis we know the world
  essentially in terms of our language and what it
  points out about the world.
• Research suggests that language helps shape
  subjective reality, but it does not determine it.

8
3. Values and beliefs

• Values standards by which we define what is good
  or bad, or right or wrong.
• Values serve as guidelines for social behavior
  and differ across cultures.
• Beliefs are specific statements that people hold
  to be true.
• When members of a culture share common values and
  beliefs, social integration is promoted.
• Example what does Rambo (the Hollywood movie)
  say about what Americans value and believe?
• While small, homogeneous cultures have a lot of
  value consensus, large heterogeneous cultures
  have a lot of value diversity and value
  conflicts.

9
American core values

• Individualism a sense of personal autonomy
• Myth of the rugged individual
• The masculine mystique (male gender identity
  reflects high levels of individualism)
• Affective individualism passionate bonding of
  two individuals at the expense of the influence
  of extended kinfolk and the larger community in
  which they are embedded.
• Romantic love emphasizes affective individualism.

10
American core values

• Liberty and freedom
• Personal freedom (individualism)
• Collective freedom (sovereignty)
• Free market capitalism
• Equality of opportunity, not outcome
• Competition
• Meritocracy
• Hard work and achievement
• Materialism or material success

11
American core values

• Capitalism
• Competition
• Private profit or self-interest
• Free market
• Rationality, efficiency, practicality, pragmatism
  
• Faith in science, technology, and progress
• Education

12
American core values

• Democracy
• Tolerance and compromise
• Pluralism and humanitarianism
• Rule of law (no person, King, or President is
  above the law)
• Due process of law (fair procedures in court in
  which the government respects a persons legal
  rights)
• Example habeas corpus, or the requirement that
  the prosecution must present evidence of guilt.

13
American core values

• Christian conservative moralism
• Promotion of conformity to the Bible as the last
  word
• Law and order emphasis, strict punishment
• Myth of polarity good v. evil worldview
• Promotion of hierarchical social order
• God (above all else)
• King/President/Country
• Father
• Mother
• Child
• Other

14
American core values

• Group superiority values (emphasis on
  hierarchical social order such that one category
  is defined as superior to another category)
• Racism (both racial and ethnic)
• Sexism
• Classism
• Homophobia
• Regionalism (geographic regions)
• Religious bigotry
• Ageism (its form has shifted to anti-elderly)
• Speciesism (humans above other life forms)

15
American core values

• Militarism
• Imperialism and manifest destiny
• Nationalism/patriotism
• Conservative version has emphasis on conformity
  and blind faith in leadership (who are our
  shepherds)
• Liberal version emphasizes patriotism to
  principles, not necessarily the leaders
  themselves (who are fallible)

16
American core values

• The shift from early industrial capitalist values
  to 20th century post-industrial capitalist values
  brought a rising emphasis on
• Consumerism and credit purchases
• Hedonism and instant gratification
• Status consciousness and keep up with the Jones
• Youth orientation to stay young at all costs

17
American Values vs. Traditional Cultures

• U.S. Values
• Control over environment
• Change oriented
• Time and its control prioritized
• Equality
• Individualism
• Self help
• Competition
• Future orientation
• Action orientation
• Informality
• Directness, openness
• Pragmatism
• Materialism

• Traditional cultures
• Fate
• Tradition oriented
• Human interaction prioritized
• Hierarchy/rank/status
• Groups welfare (collectivism)
• Birthright inheritance
• Cooperation
• Past orientation
• Being orientation
• Formality
• Indirectness, ritual, face
• Idealism - philosophically oriented
• Spiritualism

18
Values in Action

• Some core values are incompatible with others.
• This partly reflects our diversity, as well as
  the rapid rate of change in American values.
• Example equality and racism are contradictory or
  incompatible values. Whereas most white Americans
  were racist 100 years ago, today most are not
  racist and lean toward racial equality.
• American games and sports socialize members into
  specific values competition, winning, fair play,
  meritocracy, hard work, achievement, etc.

19
4. Norms

• Norms prescriptions for behavior under specific
  social situations. Norms are behavioral
  guidelines and typically reflect our core values.
• Norms have functions. One manifest function is
  social control to promote orderly social
  interaction.
• Norms, like values, are internalized into our
  personalities. We learn to police ourselves to
  conform with societal expectations. Guilt and
  pride are influenced by norms.
• Social control is also maintained by sanctions.
• Sanctions may be positive (reward) or negative
  (punishment)
• Sanctions may be formal (backed by institutional
  authority and laws) or informal (backed by
  everyday social interaction cues)

20
Types of Norms

• Folkways
• Everyday guidelines that have little moral
  significance, like the expectation that one be
  reasonably well-groomed.
• Mores
• Morally significant guidelines, like the
  expectation that one will play fair in sports
  competition.
• Laws
• Norms that are codified and backed by formal
  institutional authority.
• Taboos
• Powerful restrictive mores. The violation of a
  taboo produces intense repulsion or disgust by
  other members of society.
• Examples incest, human flesh eating,
  necrophilia, etc.

21
5. Statuses and Roles

• Statuses are social identities, like teacher,
  student, mother, father, athlete, friend, etc.
• In complex heterogeneous cultures, people have
  many different statuses.
• Roles are the behavioral expectations (norms)
  attached to specific statuses.
• Once one acquires a status, they acquire a set of
  role expectations and are socially evaluated for
  the quality of their role performances.

22
B. Material Culture

• Generally, the materials we construct reflect our
  cultural core values.
• What value(s) does a fast, big car symbolize?
• Why do Americans prefer suburban homes with lots
  of privacy?
• Technology the application of cultural knowledge
  to the task of survival and living in a physical
  environment.
• The more complex the technology, the more the
  physical environment may be re-shaped.
• Western cultures emphasize technological growth
  and progress as a means to happiness.

23
Does technological growth make us happy?

• While we may live longer, were not necessarily
  happier.
• Sociology of happiness research reveals numerous
  factors associated with happiness
• Personal autonomy and feeling in control of ones
  life
• High self esteem
• Loving relationships (esp. the quality of family
  and friends)
• Feeling socially productive or helpful to others
• Relaxed leisure time
• Feeling healthy
• Wealth and level of technology are only
  moderately linked to the extent that they help
  one get the goals listed above.

24
Terms and issues

• High culture (the culture of elites) versus
  popular culture (the culture of the masses)
• Differences between high and pop culture reveal
  social class tensions.
• Ideal culture (societal principles) versus real
  culture (societal practices)
• The greater the discrepancy between the ideal and
  the real culture, the greater the perceived
  hypocrisy.
• Subcultures (generally aligned with mainstream
  core values) versus countercultures (generally
  against mainstream core values)

25
Analysis of a 1960s counterculture hippies

• Material culture hippies reject materialism, so
  they like to live with simple technologies and a
  simple material culture. Dress is very colorful
  and free. They often prefer tribal living
  arrangements and share their material possessions
  to a large degree.
• Nonmaterial culture
• 1. Symbols peace symbols, colorful clothing,
  long hair
• 2. Language hippies developed their own terms
  for drugs (i.e. acid) and have their own
  expressions (far out, groovy, etc)
• 3. Beliefs and values equality, peace and love,
  live life to the fullest, be yourself, be happy,
  the worship of money and power is bad, reject
  institutional authority and be free

26
Hippie valuesMainstream Hippies

• Conform to rules
• Materialism
• Militarism
• Strict discipline
• Repress sexuality
• Obey authority
• Social hierarchy
• Property development
• Future orientation
• Drugs are bad

• Freedom
• Spiritualism
• Peaceful passivism
• Go with the flow hedonism
• Celebrate sexuality
• Question authority
• Equality of all people
• Environmentalism
• Be in the now
• Sex, drugs, and rocknroll

27
4. Hippie norms

• Distinguishing Folkways
• long hair for men shop at Salvation Army type
  stores smoke pot listen to cool groove music
• Distinguishing Mores
• importance of being authentic, peaceful, and
  loving
• Laws
• Hippies reject formal institutions and the legal
  system they reject laws
• Taboos
• it is taboo among hippies to worship money and
  the corporate capitalist lifestyle

28
5. Hippie statuses and roles

• Hippies reject the formal statuses given them by
  mainstream institutions, preferring to create
  their own social identities, complete with
  nicknames that are symbolic of their humanitarian
  value system.
• Hippies are egalitarian, so their leaders tend to
  practice laissez faire leadership. The hippie
  identity is a direct rejection of uptight
  mainstream statuses. In many ways, their social
  identities are the opposite of mainstream
  statuses.
• The status of being a hippie implies certain role
  behaviors respect for all living things,
  passivism, practicing peace and love, rejecting
  mainstream culture, rejecting racism, being
  authentic, etc.

29
Multiculturalism a new paradigm

• Education and other programs that recognize
  cultural diversity as a good thing while
  promoting the equality of all cultural
  traditions.
• The prior paradigm was Eurocentrism (dominance of
  European cultural patterns and standards as the
  ideal)

30
The issue of cultural diversity

• Is the U.S. a melting pot? Or is it better seen
  as a patchwork quilt?
• Melting pot implies integration and blending in.
• U.S. history reveals a pattern of Eurocentrism
  and racism, in which racial minority groups were
  not welcome in any melting potuntil after 1964.
  
• Minority groups experienced internal
  colonization segregation with racism in a caste
  system that made them second class people.
• White immigrants were generally able to integrate
  over a few generations hence the melting pot
  imagery. But overall, U.S. history appears to
  reveal a patchwork quilt experience.

31
Cultural Change

• All cultures change.
• Industrial cultures are in perpetual rapid
  change.
• Sometimes one part of the cultural system may
  change more quickly than another, which lags
  behind.
• This is called cultural lag inconsistencies
  within a cultural system resulting from unequal
  rates of change by the elements of the system.
• Example Technology has made it possible to keep
  a brain dead person technically alive, but our
  legal system has not yet caught up with the
  rights of the patient.

32
End of Chapter 3