1. CULTURE
Chapter 2

2. WHAT IS CULTURE?
 Culture is the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors –
even material objects, that are passed from one generation to
another
 There are 2 different subtypes of culture
 Material culture
 Nonmaterial (symbolic) culture

3.  Material Culture – the material objects that distinguish a group of
people, such as their
art, buildings, weapons, utensils, machines, hairstyles, clothing, a
nd jewelry
 Nonmaterial (Symbolic) Culture – a group’s way of thinking
(including their beliefs, values, and other assumptions about the
world) and doing (its common patters of behavior, including
language and other forms of interaction)

4. CULTURE AND TAKEN-FOR-GRANTED
ORIENTATIONS TO LIFE
 Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and
evaluate what is going on around us
 We assume that our speech, our gestures, our beliefs, and our
customs are “normal” or “natural” and we almost always follow
them without question

5.  Culture Shock – the disorientation that people experience when
they come in contact with a fundamentally different culture and
can no longer depend on their taken-for-granted assumptions
about life
 Ethnocentrism – the use of one’s own culture as a yardstick for
judging the ways of other individuals or societies, generally
leading to a negative evaluation of their norms, values, and
behaviors
 Cultural Relativism – not judging a culture but trying to
understand it on its own terms

6. COMPONENTS OF SYMBOLIC
CULTURE
 Symbolic culture – nonmaterial culture
 Symbol – something to which people attach meaning and that
they use to communicate with one another
 Gestures
 Language
 Values, Norms and Sanctions
 Folkways, Mores, and Taboos

7. GESTURES
 The ways in which people use their bodies to communicate with
one another
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxoB6MhmbIg

8. LANGUAGE
 A system of symbols that can be combined in an infinite number
of ways and can represent not only objects but also abstract
thought

9. VALUES
 The standards by which people define what is good and
bad, beautiful and ugly

10. NORMS
 What is expected of people; the expectations (or rules) intended to
guide people’s behavior
 Sanctions – the reactions people receive for following or breaking norms

Positive sanction – expresses approval for following a norm

Negative sanction – reflects disapproval for breaking a norm
 Subtypes of Norms:

Folkways

Mores

Taboo

http://www.buzzfeed.com/natgeo/lifestyles-that-are-taboo-in-the-us-but-are-okay5n1c

11.  Folkways – Norms that are not strictly enforced
 Mores – norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought
essential to core values or the wellbeing of the group
 Taboo – a norm so strong that it often brings revulsion if violated

12. SUBCULTURE
 The values and related behaviors of a group that distinguish its
members from the larger culture; a world within a world
 http://www.ugo.com/web-culture/subcultures-you-never-knew-
existed
 Pages 54-55

13. SUBCULTURE EXAMPLES
 Any ethnic group (Native Americans, Chinese, Hispanics)
 Religious groups (Jews, LDS/Mormons
 Teenagers
 Vegans
 Farmers, Cowboys, Coal Miners
 Tea Party Members
 Homosexuals
 Goths, punks, geeks, trekkies
 Freemasons

14. COUNTERCULTURE
 A group whose values, beliefs, norms, and related behaviors
place its members in opposition to the broader culture

15. COUNTERCULTURE EXAMPLES
 Jihadists or Nation of islam
 Fundamentalist Church of LDS
 Gangs
 PETA
 Ku Klux Klan
 Hippies
 Mafia
 Neo Nazis/Skinheads

16. VAULES
 Pgs 53 – 57
 Values of beauty across cultures :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUj01I6sucU&feature=relmfu

17. TECHNOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL
VILLAGE
 Technology – in its narrow sense, tools; its broader sense
includes the skills or procedures necessary to make and use
those tools
 New technology – the emerging technologies of an era that have
a significant impact on social life

18. CULTURAL LAG
 Term for human behavior lagging behind technological
innovations
 A group’s material culture usually changes first, with the nonmaterial culture
lagging behind
 Ex – summer school break

19. DIFFUSION AND LEVELING
 Cultural Diffusion – the spread of cultural traits from one group
to another; includes both material and nonmaterial cultural traits
 Cultural leveling – the process by which cultures become similar
to one another; refers especially to the process by which Western
culture is being exported and diffused into other nations
 Mcdonalds

20. GET INTO GROUPS!
 Pick a subculture or counterculture
 Identify why the group is categorized as either sub or counter
culture
 Identify some the group’s gestures, language, and norms