Sociology

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Chapter 3
Culture

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What is Culture?
Culture is the
 values,
 beliefs,
 behaviour, and
 material objects
that together form a people’s way of life.

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Culture Terms
 Nonmaterial culture: The intangible world of
ideas created by members of a society
 Material culture: The tangible things created by
members of a society
 Culture shock: Personal disorientation when
experiencing an unfamiliar way of life
(Cont’d)

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Culture Terms (Cont’d)
 Culture is very recent
– Homo sapiens 40 000 years ago
– “Civilization” 12 000 years ago in Middle East
– Industrial way of life 300 years ago
 Nation: political entity and people
 State: political entity in a territory with borders
 Society: People who interact in a defined territory
and share culture

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Components of Culture
 Symbols: Anything that carries a particular
meaning recognized by people who share a culture
 Language: A system of symbols that allows people
to communicate with one another. Other species
may have culture, but language skills are limited.
 Cultural transmission: process of passing on
culture to the next generation.
(Cont’d)

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Components of Culture (Cont’d)
 Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: people perceive the
world through the cultural lens of language.
 Values: Culturally defined standards by which
people assess desirability, goodness, and beauty and
that serve as broad guidelines for social living
 Beliefs: Statements that people hold to be true
(Cont’d)

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Components of Culture (Cont’d)
 Norms: Rules and expectations by which society
guides the behaviour of its members
– Mores: Norms that are widely observed and have great
moral significance, e.g., no sexual relations with children.
– Folkways: Norms for routine or casual interaction,
e.g., proper dress.
– Social control: means by which members of a society
encourage conformity to norms.

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“Ideal” and “Real” Culture
 IDEAL CULTURE
– The way things should be
 REAL CULTURE
– The way things actually are

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Material Culture and Technology
Technology: knowledge that a society applies to the
task of living in a physical environment
 Humans in original state had little more than simple
tools
 In Canada, some groups reject modern technology.
 New Information Technology: The application of
ideas and information using computers and other
electronic devices, began 50 years ago. It can
generate culture on a grand scale.

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Cultural Diversity
 Multicultural: 2001 Census had more than 200
responses to question of ethnic identity in Canada
 High Culture: Cultural Patterns that distinguish a
society’s elite
 Popular Culture: Cultural patterns widespread
among society’s population
(Cont’d)

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Cultural Diversity (Cont’d)
 Subculture: Cultural patterns that set apart some
segment of society.
 Multiculturalism: Social policy designed to
encourage ethnic or cultural heterogeneity.
 Eurocentrism: dominance of European cultural
patterns
 Counterculture: Cultural patterns that strongly
oppose those widely accepted

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Table 3-1

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Cultural Diversity (Cont’d)
 Cultural Change: Occurs by invention, discovery,
and diffusion
 Cultural lag: Some elements change more quickly
than others
 Ethnocentrism: Practice of judging another culture
by the standards of one’s own culture
 Cultural Relativism: Practice of evaluating a
culture by its own standards

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A Global Culture?
Societies have more contact by the flow of:
1. goods
2. information
3. people
But these flows are uneven:
 the goods and services are expensive; and
 different meanings are attached to them

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Structural-Functional Analysis
Culture is a complex strategy for meeting human
needs
– Cultural Universals: traits that are part of every
known culture and include: family, funeral rites,
& jokes
Critical evaluation: downplays importance of
change, and overlooks range of diversity.

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Social-Conflict Analysis
Culture is a dynamic arena of conflict.
Cultural traits benefit some members at the
expense of others.
Approach rooted in Karl Marx and materialism –
society’s system of material production has a
powerful effect on the rest of a culture.
Critical evaluation: Understates the ways cultural
patterns integrate members into society.

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Cultural Materialism
A paradigm that explores the relationship of human
culture to the physical environment.
Why do Hindus not eat cows?
Cows cost little to raise and produce oxen and
manure, the latter providing building materials and
a source of heat.
Critical evaluation: not easy to draw connections and
modern society can manipulate the natural world.

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Sociobiology
A theoretical paradigm that explores ways in which
human biology affects how we create culture.
Approach rooted in Charles Darwin’s concept of
natural selection: living organisms change over
long periods of time.
Critical evaluation: May be used to support racism or
sexism; and little evidence to support theory, people learn
behaviour within a cultural system.

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Culture and Freedom
 Culture as constraint
– We only know our world in terms of our culture
 Culture as freedom
– Culture is changing and offers a variety of
opportunities