Sociology B1
Culture
The Nacirema
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Fundamental Belief: The human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease.
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The Shrine Room
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Medicine Men and Lapistos
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Mouth-Rites and Holy Mouth Men
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Temple of Sweat and Brawn
Culture
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Humans are to culture as fish are to water.
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Culture is ubiquitous.
Defining Culture
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The language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and material objects that are passed from one generation
to the next
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Learned and shared ways of believing and doing (culture within us).
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Total life way of a people, the social legacy the individual acquires from his group.
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The part of the environment that is the creation of man.
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A storehouse of the pooled learning of the group.
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“That which binds men together…”
Cultural Questions
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Why do Moroccans wear white robes that reach to their feet?
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Why do we face the door when riding in an elevator with strangers?
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Why do the Nacirema allow the holy-mouth-man to exorcise the evils of the mouth with painful rituals and
practices?
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Why do we do any of the things that we do?
Material Culture
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Tangible
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Human made from raw materials.
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Artifacts / Artificial
Culture
Introduction to Sociology
What We Eat
Culturally Standardized Unreason
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Equally non-rational responses to the meanings attached to cultural norms.
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How many wives should a husband have?
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What meat will you eat?
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What relationships are appropriate or inappropriate?
Where We Live
What We Drive
What We Buy / Own
Material Culture
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Other examples of material culture?
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What would a culture from another time and/or place say about us based on our material culture?
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Culture
Introduction to Sociology
Non-Material Culture
Symbols
Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture.
Anything that represents something else.
Gestures
Language
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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
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Language precedes thought.
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Language is not a given.
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Language is culturally determined.
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Language colors the ways in which we see our world.
Organized set of symbols.
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Spoken or written words and gestures.
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Governed by a set of rules (grammar and syntax).
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Without rules we would have trouble understanding one another.
So prey I God that non myswrite the,
Ne the mysmetre for defaute of tonge.
And red wher-so thou be, or elles song,
That thou be understode…
-Chaucer
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Argot – Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture.
Is txtng killing language?
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Consider the following:
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“Many do not know the alphabet or multiplication table, cannot write grammatically, and seem to
have been trained to hate mental exercise... often they cannot read intelligently, and dislike any
reading.”
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“From every college in the country goes up the cry, ‘Our freshman can’t spell, can’t
punctuate.’ Every high school is in despair because its pupils are so ignorant of the merest
rudiments.”
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“Bad spelling, incorrectness as well as inelegance of expression in writing, ignorance of the
simplest rules of punctuation, and almost entire want of familiarity with English literature, are far
from rare among young men of eighteen otherwise well prepared for college studies.”
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Culture
Introduction to Sociology
Is txtng killing language? (continued)
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“For a long time I have noted with regret the almost entire neglect of the art of original composition
in our common schools... hundreds graduate from our common schools with no well-defined ideas
of the construction of our language.”
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“Spoken Latin has picked up a passel of words considered too casual for written Latin, and the
grammar use when speaking has broken down. It has gotten to the point that the student of Latin is
writing in what is to them an artificial language, and it is an effort for him to recite in it decently.”
Language Continued….
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The meanings for the adjective “black” in the dictionary:
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Dismal, gloomy, forbidding, destitute of moral light or goodness, atrocious, evil, threatening,
clouded with anger.
The meanings for the adjective “white” in the dictionary:
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Pure or innocent.
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Consider “blacklists” and “white lies”.
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Consider gender.
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Mailman, policeman, fireman.
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Miss, Mrs., Ms. vs. Mr.
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Princess, softball, powderpuff, women’s tennis, women’s golf, etc.
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The emergence of non-sexist terms in spite of resistance to such terms.
Norms
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Folkways – Casual norms.
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Mores – These are not casual.
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Common everyday expectations, taken for granted, givens. Not a big deal norms.
Strictly enforced, not tolerated, not ignored. BIG DEAL NORMS!
Taboos – Not discussed.
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Culture
Introduction to Sociology
Act your Age
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We usually act our age in predictable ways…we make age invisible.
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Age is not invisible when we deliberately (or are forced) to make sense of age.
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Milestones, birthdays, anniversaries, death.
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Changes in our physical appearance or condition.
Early Childhood
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Measured in months.
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Importance of milestones.
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Prolonged with wealth.
Adolescence
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Tolerance vs. reaction to rebellion.
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Some behaviors are only acceptable in adolescence.
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Prolonged with wealth.
Adulthood
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Not allowed to do what you used to do.
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Be productive.
Old Age
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Body breaking down.
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Withdrawing from society.
Anticipatory Socialization
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Rehearsing for future positions.
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Why adolescents feel older than they actually are and parents feel that adolescents are not as old
as the adolescents think they are.
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Culture prepares it’s members for the next age phase… over the entire life course.
When the sequencing or timing is altered we “mark” the discrepancy.
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Teen mom.
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Non-traditional student.
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Child prodigy.
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Middle-aged men who still try to date younger women… much younger.
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Middle-aged women who dress like teenagers.
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Culture
Introduction to Sociology
Act your Age (continued)
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Experiencing Age “Clicks”
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The point at which we can no longer take existing knowledge, reactions, and practices as givens.
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Will not share age (in terms of years) with others.
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Realization that “I am/we are grown up”.
Reconciling Age
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The dichotomy of self-determined and over (socially) determined action/expectations.
Sanctions and Structure
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Sanctions are the way society perpetuates desired behavior and attempts to extinguish undesirable
behavior.
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Sanctions function to maintain societies structure by (+) reinforcing desirable norms and (-) reacting to
deviance.
Sanction Typology
Positive
Negative
Formal
Informal
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Culture
Introduction to Sociology
Key Values of U.S. Culture
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Individual achievement and personal success.
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Hard work.
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Efficiency and practicality.
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Science and rationality.
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Progress
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Material comfort.
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Equality.
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Freedom.
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Democracy and free enterprise.
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Group superiority.
Robin Williams Jr. (1970)
Culture in Action – 1
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Culture as a Product of Action
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Every society has problems to be solved.
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Solutions are created by humans.
Culture in Action – 2
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Culture as a Conditioning Element of Further Action
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Once a problem is solved in a satisfactory way, people stick with
that solution.
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Culture puts us all in the same rut.
Culture in Action – 3
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Culture
Introduction to Sociology
Society is Not the Same as Culture
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Society is the largest form of human group.
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Society is a group of people who interact more with each other than they do with other individuals,
cooperatively for the attainment of certain ends.
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Means to an end relationships.
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Organization, institution, formality.
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Culture is the glue that holds society together.
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Culture simplifies day to day interaction.
Cultural Maintenance
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Once something is institutionalized there is ordinarily great resistance to change.
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Our institutions represent:
“Our Sacred Beliefs” that are beyond criticism.
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To suggest modification or resistance is to threaten our very way of life.
Cultural Consequences of Globalization
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Culture Shock
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Cultural Lag
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Cultural Diffusion
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Cultural Leveling
Our Changing Culture
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Technology
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Knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings.
Overview of Technology
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Hunting and Gathering
§ Simple tools to hunt animals and gather vegetation.
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Horticulture and Pastoralism
§ Using tools to cultivate crops and the domestication of animals.
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Culture
Introduction to Sociology
Our Changing Culture (continued)
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Agriculture
§ Large-scale cultivation; control over the earth.
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Industry
§ Factories, energy, efficiency, production, etc.
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Postindustrial
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Ideas and information
Sub and Counter-Cultures
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Subculture
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Values, beliefs, and/or use of material culture set them apart from others in society.
Counterculture
o Values, beliefs, and/or behavioral are set or positioned against society.
Idiocultures
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Systems of knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and customs shared by members of an interacting group…
share experiences in common… a shared understanding… a shared construction of reality.
Culture Through the Paradigms
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Functionalist Paradigm
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Reinforce societal standards.
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Culture reinforces solidarity.
Conflict Paradigm
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People in different social classes have different values, beliefs, and behavioral norms which are
passed down through socialization.
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For most these values, beliefs, and behavioral norms are incompatible with success in society.
Symbolic Interactionist
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Culture dictates / directs interaction.
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Interaction defines, shapes, and is shaped by culture.
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