U.S. Culture

1
U.S. Culture
2
List as many American values that you can think
of

• Remember values are the standards by which people
  define good and bad, beautiful and ugly

3
Basic Values

• According to sociologist Robin Williams, 15 basic
  values are dominant in US culture
• Success -Science
• Hard work -External conformity
• Efficiency -Individualism
• Material comfort -In-group superiority
• Morality -Equality
• Humanitarianism - Freedom
• Progress - Patriotism
• Democracy

4
Value Clusters

• Made up of related core values that come together
  to form a larger whole
• Example Success
• We find hard work, education, efficiency,
  material comfort and individualism all bound
  together

5
Value Contractions

• Some values conflict with each other
• Example There cannot be full expressions of
  democracy, equality, racism and sexism at the
  same time
• As society changes some values are challenged and
  undergo modification

6
Culture War

• Core values do not change without meeting strong
  resistance
• Todays clash in values is so severe that it is
  referred to a culture war

7
Values blind people

• Values and their supporting beliefs may blind
  people to other social circumstances
• Example the emphasis on individualism
• So high that many people in the US believe that
  everyone is free to pursue the goal of success
• Blinds them to the consequences of family
  poverty, lack of education and dead-end jobs

8
Ideal Culture v. Real Culture

• Ideal Culture- refers to the ideal values and
  norms of people
• Most people fall short of this
• Real Culture- norms and values that people
  actually follow

9
Changing Society

• As society changes over time new values emerge
  that reflect changed social conditions
• For example leisure, physical fitness,
  self-fulfillment, concern for environment

10
Culture Changes is 3 ways

• Invention- creating new cultural elements
• Telephone, airplane, internet
• Discovery- Recognizing a better understanding of
  something already in existence
• X-Ray, DNA
• Diffusion- The spread of cultural traits from one
  society to another
• Jazz music, slang words, etc.

11
technology

• Central to material culture is technology
• Refers to tool but can include the skills or
  procedures to make and use those tools
• New technologies refer to the emerging
  technologies that have a major impact on human
  life

12
Culture Lag

• Term coined by William Ogburn
• Refers to a situation in which not all parts of a
  culture change at the same pace
• A groups material culture usually changes first
• Non-material culture lags behind
• Sometimes non-material culture never catches up

13
Cultural diffusion

• The transmission of cultural characteristics
• Material culture is more likely to change because
  of cultural diffusion
• One consequence Cultural leveling
• The process in which cultures become similar to
  one another
• Example Japan adopting western culture

14
Culture Clash

• Differences among cultures can be expected to
  generate most of the conflict around the world
• Coming in contact with radically different
  cultures produces culture shock
• Challenging our basic assumptions about life

15
Ethnocentrism

• The attitude that ones own culture is superior
  to those of other people
• Can serve as the glue to hold society together
• Strong sense of unity as a nation

16
Cultural Relativism

• The belief that a culture must be understood on
  its own terms
• Looking at a culture from their own perspective
  and understand why they do things their way
• Can contribute to international peace

17
Multicultural

• US is made up of different cultures
• I.e. Anglo, Hispanic, African
• Multiculturalism- a state in which all
  subcultures in the same society are equal to one
  another
• Varies in degree from 1 society to another
• Switzerland most multicultural (Fr, Gm, It)
• Bosnia- minorities are despised and often killed
• US somewhere in between

18
US Multiculturalism

• Eurocentrism- view the world from the standpoint
  of European culture
• Afrocentrism- the view of world from the
  standpoint of African culture

19
Pop Culture

• Popular culture consists of relatively
  unsophisticated artistic creations that appeal to
  the mass audience
• Movies, tv shows, music

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Cultural Universals

• All human beings have the same needs that must be
  met in order to survive
• Biological needs- food and shelter
• Social needs- clothing, complex communication,
  peaceful coexistence, aesthetic spiritual
  experiences
• These needs are universal
• Cultural Universals- practices found in all
  cultures as the means for meeting the same human
  needs
• Food gathering - art forms
• Building houses - religion
• Developing language

21
What values do celebrities portray?