Culture

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Culture

• What does this mean?

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• Culture all the shared products of human
  groups. This includes both physical objects and
  the beliefs, values, and behaviors shared by a
  group.

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• Sociology
• You need a ½ sheet of paper
• In 500 years, if an archeologist arrived at this
  room, what would s/he say about the way we lived?
  Explain, with examples and detail.

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• Material culture physical or tangible creations
  that members of society make, use, share
• Nonmaterial culture abstract or intangible
  human creations of society that influence
  peoples behavior

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Components of Culture

• Technology
• Symbols
• Language
• Values
• Norms

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Technology

• The items themselves are important, but the rules
  of acceptable behavior when using material
  culture is a part of this.

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Technology and its impact on cultural change

• Cultural lag gap between the technical
  development (material culture) of a society and
  its moral and legal institutions (nonmaterial
  culture)
• Discovery learning about something previously
  unknown
• Invention combining existing cultural items
  into a new form
• Diffusion the transmission of cultural items or
  social practices from one group or society to
  another

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Symbols

• It is through symbols that we create our culture
  and communicate it.
• Symbols have a shared, accepted meaning. Its
  how we make sense of our lives.
• Culture shock! Inability to read the symbols

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Sociology questions (1/2 sheet)

• Would a mosque near the 9/11 site be viewed by
  most Americans as a symbol of tolerance or a
  symbol of weakness? Explain.
• Should this issue even matter to anyone who lives
  outside that area? Explain.

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Language

• The organization of written or spoken symbols
  into a standardized system.
• Changing nature of word acceptance what are
  some examples

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• Language shapes the view of reality of the
  speaker
• Language and gender
• The use of the male and female
• Language and race, ethnicity
• Transmission of preconceived ideas

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Another Question

• Does the fact that the U.S. does not have an
  official language damage our culture? Why or why
  not?

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Values

• Language and symbols allow us to communicate our
  values to one another.
• Values are shared beliefs about what is good or
  bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable.

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Question 4

• What are core American values? Identify 7.

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Equal Opportunity

• The chance to achieve success
• Youth sports, clubs organizations
• Adult intramural activities
• Public school
• Federal aide programs

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Achievement and Success

• Built into our competitive activities
• Grades in school for scholarships and class rank
  (bumper stickers, choice of school)
• Promotions at work for power, prestige, and pay
  (floor, office)

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Material Comfort

• Material possessions achievement and success
• Knowledge for self actualization . . . BLAH.
  Give me
• Material wealth confirms hard work and
  perseverance
• Tremendous symbolism here

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Activity and Work

• Employment, participation, outdoor activities,
  cell phones
• The unemployed are ridiculed
• Connected to the character issue
• From the young to the old
• Youth sports go play outside get a summer job
• Retirement becomes travel part-time job, we
  dont slow down

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Practicality and efficiency

• People want bigger, better, faster
• For tech - How well does it work? What is its
  usefulness?
• For people - Is this a realistic thing to do?
  Play it safe Play the odds
• We value people on their ability to get things
  done.
• Think about a college major
• Doers vs. dreamers
• This is why it can be difficult to change
  institutions like school

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Progress

• Often times this is connected with Material
  Comfort, and later with Science, but it may stand
  alone.
• We have always changed government, technology,
  social structure, for the better, albeit most of
  the time slowly.
• Things can and will get better.

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Science/Math/Technology

• Vary much tied to our comparison with the rest of
  the world and our progress
• It controls our health and safety, our reliance
  on day to day functioning
• I want to no numbers, results, proof

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Democracy and free enterprise

• Individual nature of both the political and
  economic
• Self-reliance is promoted just as much as equal
  opportunity

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Freedom

• Natural, civil, political, economic, social
  rights
• No matter the political attitude the concept of
  freedom and liberty is always articulated
• This is oftentimes the first complaint, Im
  being denied my . . .

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Racial and/or group superiority

• American past and present discrimination
• Do we need this to strengthen our culture?

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Core American Values

• Equal Opportunity
• Achievement and success
• Material comfort
• Activity and work
• Practicality and efficiency

• Progress
• Science
• Democracy and free enterprise
• Freedom
• Racism and group superiority

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Application of values

• How does our specific geographic location
  (Morehead, Ky.) influence our value of Activity
  and Work?
• In practicality and efficiency?
• In freedom?
• In race relations?

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• Value Contradictions values that conflict with
  one another or are mutually exclusive (achieving
  one means makes it difficult to achieve another)
• Ideal culture what we profess
• Real culture what people actually follow

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Norms

• Norms are created to enforce culture.
• Norms are shared rules of conduct that tell
  people how to act in specific situations.
• Ex. the value of democratic government is
  reinforced through the norms governing political
  participation respect for the flag etc.

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Norms

• Folkways norms that describe socially
  acceptable behavior but do not have great moral
  significance
• Provide 5 examples
• Mores norms with great moral significance
• Provide 5 examples