Soc 001 1st Edition Lecture 17 Outline of Last Lecture I Homework 5 Analysis I In class example II Culture controls the way we think III Clicker Question Outline of Current Lecture IV Cultural definition V Five Constitutes of Culture VI Chapter 7 Reading Assignment Current Lecture Culture is foundational Culture is socialized we learn it in interactions with others Cultures differ people do things differently o Japanese toilets o But because culture is foundations to members of different cultures these seem wrong o It is hard and takes practice Cultures just grow o Cultures form more or less randomly o No one person makes them o No ultimate purpose o But each one of us encounters our culture as something fully formed o CHANGE looks orderly inevitable in hindsight But it is really disruptive as it occurs o Seem obvious in hindsight but not so if you re living through it Cultures are very complex specialized o Complex there s a lot going on o Specialized sophisticated and specific o No single individual know the entire culture The Code of the Street o Widely shared concern among students o Street and Decent o These are labels that Anderson s subjects use Chapter 7 Reading Assignment Culture These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Culture is ubiquitous it is everywhere all around us Material culture includes all those things that humans make or adapt from raw stuff of nature consists of sophisticated and complex things o Ex houses computers telephones jewelry oil paintings socks utensils etc o Material culture is made up of artifacts which are a by product of human behavior Nonmaterial culture made up of intangible things and these things can vary from simple to complex items o Ex truth beauty happiness boredom funniness ideals about right and wrong Nonmaterial culture can be divided into five basic categories o Symbols anything that represents something else to more than one person Symbols on computer keyboard include percent dollar and Symbols stand for something other than itself Symbols are social things if an object has meaning only to one individual it is not a symbol They are powerful because humans react to them as if they were real things Are powerful enough to evoke emotion o Language organized set of symbols and an essential part of nonmaterial culture Best way of conveying the meaning behind symbols Made up of certain kinds of symbols Spoken or written words and gestures o Nodding head up and down communicates a different message than shaking head back and forth Rules grammar and syntax o Norms rules about behavior The way to judge the importance of a norm or if it even exists is to observe how people respond to behavior Two categories of norms proposed by William Graham Sumner Folkways casual norms violations are not taken very seriously o When riding in an elevator face the door do not look at strangers faces do not enter into strangers conversations Mores reflect important rules such as norms against unjustified assaults on other persons Later a third category was added by society Taboos norms so deeply held that even the thought of violating them upsets people Ex eating human flesh in the US Negative sanction response if norm is violated seriousness of sanction depends on norm violated Violations of folkways might receive a nasty glance or a comment whereas violation of a taboo could result in expulsion from social group imprisonment or death Formal negative sanction official responses from specific organizations within society such as government imprisonment or fines universities library fine expulsion or churches penance or excommunicated Informal negative sanctions come from individuals in a social group range from being laughed at humiliated to being given the cold shoulder by everyone in the group Positive Sanction reward received when behavior is in keeping with a norm or going beyond what is expected Formal positive sanction given out officially by some organization and can range from receiving an A in a sociology course to winning the Nobel Peace Prize Informal positive sanctions range from a smile to a standing ovation o Values general or abstract ideas about what is good and desirable as opposed to what is bad and undesirable in a society Expressed by norms that are followed Can create problems when people accept the same values in principle but then cannot agree on how to put these values into practice If a friend asks you to copy your test answers does your loyalty to your friend win against your commitment to honesty o Beliefs people s ideas about what is real and what is not real what people accept as factual Beliefs and values are often related Culture systems entirety of material and nonmaterial cultural things are created by humans and are therefore a product of action o Language and gestures have very different meanings between cultures o There is no gesture or body motion that has the same meaning in all societies o The differences in norms values beliefs and language between cultures is what sometimes causes travelers sense of culture shock Culture conditions our actions or behaviors by putting us in a rut o People solve problems that arise such as finding food shelter clothing etc and once this problem is solved people tend to stick to that solution and pass it on throughout the generations o Creates the feeling that this is natural and becomes so comfortable that the people within it do not realize they are in a rut Institutions set of ideas about the way a specific important social need ought to be addressed o Those solutions to problems which have been given social status o University is an institution of higher learning o After a particular pattern of responding to important social needs has become established it becomes institutionalized Not every solution to societal problems becomes institutionalized some solutions can be adopted from other cultures termer cultural diffusion o Ex Americans adopted sushi bars from Japanese culture and Japanese have adopted baseball from American culture o As cultural diffusion increases the differences between cultures decreases Creates the sense of cultural leveling Subcultures when shared values norms beliefs or use of material culture sets some people apart from other people within that society o Can be the result from many reasons occupational religious regional differences ethnic or racial