3-1

Richard T. Schaefer

SOCIOLOGY:
A Brief Introduction
Seventh Edition

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 chapter
3
Culture
CHAPTER OUTLINE

•Culture and Society

•Development of Culture Around the World
•Elements of Culture
•Culture and the Dominant Ideology
•Cultural Variation
•Social Policy and Culture: Bilingualism

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 3-3

A Look Ahead
█ How basic is the study of culture to
sociology?
█ What is the meaning of culture and
society?
█ How did culture develop?
█ How do functionalists and conflict
theorists view culture?

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 3-4

Culture

█ Totality of learned, socially transmitted

customs, knowledge, material objects,
and behavior
– Culture includes
ideas, values,
customs, and
artifacts of groups of
people

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 3-5

Society

█ Large number of people who live in same

territory, are relatively independent of
people outside that area, and participate
in common culture
– Society members learn culture and transmit
from generation to generation
– Language is a critical element of culture that
sets humans apart from other species

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 3-6

Cultural Universals

█ Societies develop common practices,

including:
– Athletic sports
– Cooking
– Funeral ceremonies
– Medicine
– Sexual restrictions

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Globalization, Diffusion,
and Technology
█ Diffusion: process by which a cultural
item spreads from group to group or
society to society
– McDonaldization: process through which
the principles of the fast-food industry have
come to dominate certain sectors of society
– Technology: information about how to use
the material resources of the environment to
satisfy human needs and desires (Nolan and
Lenski 2006:37)
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 3-8
Globalization, Diffusion,
and Technology
█ Material Culture: █ Nonmaterial
physical or Culture: ways of
technological using material
aspects of our objects as well as:
daily lives – Customs
– Food items – Beliefs
– Houses – Philosophies
– Factories – Governments
– Raw materials – Patterns of
communication
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 3-9
Globalization, Diffusion,
and Technology
█ Culture Lag: period of maladjustment
when nonmaterial culture is still struggling
to adapt to new material conditions

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Biological Basis of Culture

█ Sociobiology: Systematic study of how

biology affects human social behavior
– Founded on Charles Darwin’s theory of
evolution
█ Sociobiologists assert that many cultural
traits are rooted in our genetic makeup

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 3-11

Elements of Culture

█ Each culture considers its own

ways of handling basic societal
tasks to be “natural”
█ Culture is learned and transmitted
through human interaction within
specific societies

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 3-12

Language

█ Abstract system of word meanings

and symbols for all aspects of
culture
– Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
• Language precedes thought
• Language is not a given
• Language is culturally determined
• Language may color how we see world

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 3-13

Language

█ Nonverbal Communication
– Use of gestures, facial expressions, and
other visual images to communicate
– Nonverbal communication is learned
– Nonverbal communication is different in
different cultures

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 3-14

Norms

█ Established standards of behavior

maintained by a society
– Formal norms: generally written;
specify strict punishments
– Informal norms: generally understood
but not precisely recorded
– Mores: norms deemed highly
necessary to the welfare of a society
– Folkways: norms governing everyday
behavior
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 3-15

Sanctions

█ Penalties and rewards for conduct

concerning a social norm
– Positive sanctions include pay raises,
medals, and words of gratitude
– Negative sanctions include fines, threats,
imprisonment, and stares of contempt

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Values

█ Collective conceptions of what is good,

desirable, and proper—or bad,
undesirable, and improper
Influence people’s behavior

Criteria for evaluating actions of others

Values may change

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Table 3-1: Norms and Sanctions

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Figure 3-2: Life Goals of 3-18

First-Year College Students in the

United States, 1966-2005

Sources: UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, as reported in Astin et al. 1994; Pryor et al. 2005; Sax et al. 2005.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Dominant Ideology

█ Describes the set of cultural beliefs and

practices that help to maintain powerful
interests, including
– Social interests
– Economic interests
– Political interests

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Aspects of Cultural Variation

█ Subculture: Segment of society that

shares distinctive pattern of mores,
folkways, and values that differs from the
larger society

Argot: specialized
language that
distinguishes a subculture
from the wider society

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Aspects of Cultural Variation

█ Counterculture: subculture that

conspicuously and deliberately opposes
certain aspects of the larger culture
– Hippies
– Terrorist cells
█ Culture shock: Feeling disoriented,
uncertain, out of place, or fearful when
immersed in an unfamiliar culture

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Attitudes toward
Cultural Variation
█ Ethnocentrism: Tendency to assume that
one’s own culture and way of life
represents the norm or is superior to all
others
█ Cultural relativism: people’s behaviors
from the perspective of their own culture

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Table 3-2: Major Sociological

Perspectives on Culture

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Bilingualism
█ The Issue
– Bilingualism refers to use of two or more
languages in a particular setting, such as
the workplace or schoolroom
– Program of bilingual education may instruct
children in their native language while
gradually introducing the language of the
host society

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Bilingualism
█ The Setting
– Languages know no political boundaries
– Minority languages common in many
nations
– Schools throughout the world deal with
incoming students speaking many
languages

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Bilingualism
█ Sociological Insights
– For a long time, people in the United States
demanded conformity to a single language
– Challenges to this forced obedience to our
dominant ideology

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Bilingualism
█ Policy Initiatives
– Bilingualism has policy implications in efforts
to maintain language purity and programs to
enhance bilingual education
– Nations vary dramatically in tolerance for a
variety of languages

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Figure 3-3: Non-English Speakers
at Home

Source: Shin and Bruno 2003:8.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.