CHAPTER 3: CULTURE
Chapter Three's topic is simply: HOW DO PEOPLE LEARN OR Acquire CULTURE??!!
DEFINITION: SOCIALIZATION IS SIMPLY THE PROCESS BY WE LEARN THE
ATTITUDES, VALUES, AND ACTIONS Appropriate as INDIVIDUALS of a
PARTICULAR CULTURE.
Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs,
knowledge, material objects, and behavior. It includes the ideas values
customs and artifacts, for example, books, records, flags, of groups and
people.
A society is the largest form of a human group it consists of people who
share a common heritage and culture. Members of the society learned this
culture and transmitted from one generation to the next.
There are some cultural universals, although not all scholars believe
this. Bought, some examples, some very GENRAL examples, include clothing
and other adaptations to meet essential human needs. Some of these
include athletic sports, cooking, funeral ceremonies, and sexual
restrictions. Although "universal," the expression changes.
There are some ways in which we distribute culture.
SOCIAL REALITY HAS MANY DIFFERENT LAYERS OF MEANING.
THE GOAL OF SOCIOLOGY IS TO DISCOVER THESE LAYERS, DIGGING CONTINUALLY
AND PEELING OFF, LIKE AN ONION, THESE LAYERS.
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE: CULTURE REFLECTS A LONG, VERY LONG, PROCESS OF
DEVELOPMENT. COMPONENTS:
--SYMBOLS
--LANGUAGE
--VALUES
--NORMS
NORMS, VALUES, ETC, ARE SHAPED BY YEARS, EVEN MILLENIUMS OF PAST
DEVELOPMENT (EG, RELIGION (OLD); (SOME NOT AS OLD, such as CUB FEVER
(VERY RECENT)! CULTURAL INNOVATION: THE PROCESS OF INTRODUCING AN IDEA
THAT IS NEW TO CULTURE IS KNOWN AS INNOVATION. TWO FORMS:
1. DISCOVERY: MAKING KNOWN OR SHARING THE EXISTENCE OF
"REALITY." EXAMPLES: DNA, NEW MOON ON SATURN;
The MOON ISN'T MADE OF GREEN CHEESE OR THOSE NO "MAN IN
THE MOON"
2. INVENTION: OCCURS WHEN EXISTING CULTURAL ITEMS ARE
INTRODUCED INTO FORM THAT DID NOT EXIST BEFORE. BOW AND ARROW;
DVDS AND VIDEO TAPES, ELECTRICAL MUSIC (R&R) ARE EXAMPLES.
3. DIFFUSION: SPREAD OF CULTURE, NEW GROUPS PICKING IT
(EXAMPLES---ROMANS CONQUERED GREECE MILITARILY, BUT GREEKS
"CONQUERED" ROMANS CULTURALLY; R&R CREEPING INTO C&W MUSIC; ETC)
One way that culture is diffused is through technology. Technology can be
defined as information about how to use the material sources of the
enviroonment to satisfy space human needs and desires.
Technology accelerates the diffusion of scientific innovations and also
transmits culture.
NORMATIVE SYSTEM:
FORMAL NORMS: WRITTEN DOWN; EXPLICIT (STOP AT RED LIGHTS;
NO CHEATING ON EXAMS)
INFORMAL NORMS: TACIT, UNDERSTOOD (SPACE, SEVERITY OF PUNISHMENTS;
ETIQUETTE) (NOTE: SOME INFORMAL NORMS ARE MORE POWERFUL
THAN NORMS (ASK FOR EXAMPLES: EG ACUTE
STIGMA/EMBARRASSMENT/SHAME
(IE, CONSEQUENCES WORSE THAN IF BREAKING A LAW
NORMS [NAME SOME]
GO TO HANDOUT ON NORMS
1. VALUES: BASIC, DEEPLY HELD BELIEFS; Many BASED ON
(TEN COMMANDMENTS, DEATH PENALTY, ETC). EG:
PATRIOTISM, SEX (ANTI-GAY, ETC).
2. CUSTOMS: CUSTOMS ARE FOLKWAYS THAT ARE MORE-OR-LESS
AND SHARED BY MOST OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CULTURE.
(SHAKING HANDS, ETC)---THESE ARE BEHAVIOR
"LEGITIMATIONS"---OFTEN, BUT NOT ALWAYS, BASED ON VALUES
3. NORMS
A) FOLKWAYS: THESE ARE GENERAL RITUALS THAT GOVERN
LIFE (WALKING UP A DOWN ESCALATOR, TABLE MANNERS,
TALKING DURING CLASS
EG-DISTANCE:
A) INTIMATE DISTANCE (UP TO 18 INCHES)
B) PERSONALDISTANCE (18 INCHES--4 FEET)
C) SOCIAL DISTANCE (4 TO 7 FEET)
D) PUBLIC DISTANCE (12 FEET OR MORE)
B) MORES: MORES ARE FOLKWAYS THAT HAVE BECOME MORE
OBLIGATORY, AND CONSIDERED NECESSARY FOR SOCIAL LIFE.
VIOLATIONS SEVERE. EXAMPLES: ARRIAGE RITUALS; NO INTERMARRIAGE
BETWEEN RACES: CUSTOMS ALSO); STANDING DURING NATIONAL ANTHEM; NOT
DISRESPECTING PARENTS]
DISCUSS VALUE CONFLICTS AND HOW THIS LEADS TO
A) SOCIAL CONFLICT
B) SOCIAL CHANGE
LANGUAGE:
FOUNDATION OF CULTURE---MUCH OF LANGUAGE IS CREATED AND CULTURE (EG, HORSES,
MANY TERMS; BUT ONLY ONE TERM FOR SNOW; ESKIMOS MAY HAVE MANY) ALSO: MUCH
OF THE MEANING OF LANGUAGE MAY BE CULTURALLY SHAPED; (IE, DEPENDS ON THE
CULTURE IN WHICH IT'S USE)---EXAMPLES--
SAPIR-WHORF: SINCE PEOPLE CAN CONCEPTUALIZE THE WORLD ONLY IN LANGUAGE,
LANGUAGE PRECEDES THOUGHT. THUS, WORDS (AS SYMBOLS) AS A GRAMMAR OF A
LANGUAGE ORGANIZE THE WORLD FOR US.
LANGUAGE IS NOT A GIVEN, BUT RATHER IT IS CULTURALLY DETERMINED AND LEADS TO
DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF REALITY BY FOCUSING OUR ATTENTION ON CERTAIN THINGS
AND IGNORING OTHERS.
The of the ROLE LANGUAGE PLAYS (IE WORDS, ETC) in so-called "CULTURAL
UNIVERSALS:" COOKING, DANCING, FAMILIES, MYTHS, INCEST TABOO, SPORTS/GAMES
Nonverbal Communication: Symbolic expressions
COUNTERCULTURES: A SUBCULTURE THAT REJECTS NORMS AND VALUES OF THE DOMINANT
CULTURE AND SEEKS ALTERNATIVES
(NOTE: Is there a "culture of cheating" in college?
CULTURE IS SHAPED BY TECHNOLOGY:
--Cultural Change
--Cultural Diversity
--Culture Shock
--Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism
--Xenophobia/Xenocentrism
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