Sociology: Chapter 2 Section 1

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Sociology Chapter 2 Section 1

• Cultural Variations
• Standards 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.12,
  2.13, 5.8

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A Diverse World

• If you count ONLY the languages that have over
  2,000,000 speakers, there are more than 220
  different languages
• There are also different dialects of the same
  language

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What do we have in common?

• Cultural Universals Traits common to ALL/MOST
  cultures
• George Murdock 1940s Came up with 60 Cultural
  Universals
• Ex
• 1. Cooking
• 2. Feasting
• 3. Myths Urban Legend (Hull House Reder Road)
• 4. Folklore
• 5. Religion

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Culture Variations

• Margaret Mead 1930s Anthropologist
• Studied variations and Temperamental differences
• Concluded that differences based on Culture
• Mead studied two different people from Papau New
  Guinea
• Arapesh
• Mundugumor

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Arapesh and Mundugumor

• Mundugumor
• Lived in fertile river valley
• Hunters
• Lots of food
• Aggressive
• Competitive
• Jealous
• Show off
• Scattered families
• Large of wives (Polygamy)
• Lineage pattern (Property)
• Fathers to Daughters
• Mothers to sons
• known as the Rope

• Arapesh
• Lived in mountains
• Had scarce food
• Were planters
• Were non aggressive
• Cooperative
• Arranged marriages
• Girls (7-8) Boys (13-14)
• Monogamous w/ Expectations

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Language and Culturep 34

• Benjamin Whorf Linguistic-Relativity Hypothesis
• Two Principles
• 1. Language shapes the way that people think
• 2. People who speak different languages perceive
  the world in different ways
• Ex. Since the Inuit (Eskimos) of N. America live
  in landscape dominated by snow, their language
  features many different words that describe that
  many potential states of snow (Drifting,
  Fallingetc)
• For this reason, Whorf concludes that the Inuit
  have a better understanding of snow than most
  other cultures

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Studying Variation

• Ethnocentrism
• Caused by cultural diversity
• Who is right?
• Tendency to view ones own culture as superior to
  others.
• We often mock the beliefs and actions of other
  cultures with the assumption that what we are
  doing is right

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Studying Variation

• Cultural Relativism
• Cultures should be judged by their OWN standards
  not ours (Verstehen)
• Marvin Harris Cannibals and Kings
• Harris explored the Indian prohibition against
  killing cows in spite of food shortages
• Harris concluded that Indians did not kill cows
  because they were needed for plowing fields and
  providing milk both of which are essential to
  the Indian culture

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Studying Variation

• Subculture Do not share ALL of the culture
  traits of the dominant society
• Ex. Little Italy in Chicago
• Ex. Little Havana in Miami
• Consider selves as PART of the main culture, but
  still retain SOME of their original culture
  traits
• Counter Culture REJECT ALL aspects of the
  dominant society
• Ex. Anarchists
• Ex. Hermit
• Culture PowerPoint Project (Std. 2.7-2.9 5.8)