Chapter 3

Culture

Chapter Outline

Defining Culture The Elements of Culture Cultural Diversity Popular Culture Theoretical Perspectives on Culture Cultural Change

Defining Culture

Complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a society. Includes: beliefs, values, knowledge, art, morals, laws, customs, habits, language, and dress.

Characteristics of Culture
1.
2. 3. 4. 5.

Culture is shared. Culture is learned. Culture is taken for granted. Culture is symbolic. Culture varies across time and place.

Culture is

Concrete We can observe cultural practices that define human experience. Abstract It is a way of thinking, feeling, believing, and behaving.

Elements of Culture
Element
Language Norms Folkways

Examples
English; Spanish; hieroglyphics Manners Cultural forms of dress; food habits

Elements of Culture
Element
Mores Values Beliefs

Examples
Religious doctrines; formal law Liberty, freedom Belief in a higher being

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Language determines what people think because it forces them to perceive the world in certain terms. Critics question whether language singlehandedly dictates the perception of reality.

The Social Meaning of Language

Language affects peoples perception of reality. Studies find that when college students look at job descriptions written in masculine pronouns, they assume women are not qualified for the job.

The Social Meaning of Language

Language reflects the social and political status of different groups in society. The term working woman suggests that women who do not work for wages are not working.

The Social Meaning of Language

Groups may advocate changing language referring to them as a way of asserting a positive group identity. Some advocates for the disabled challenge the term handicapped, arguing that it stigmatizes people who may have many abilities.

The Social Meaning of Language

The implications of language emerge from specific historical and cultural contexts. The naming of so-called races comes from the social and historical processes that define different groups as inferior or superior.

The Social Meaning of Language

Language can distort actual group experience. The terms Hispanic and Latino lump together Mexican Americans, island Puerto Ricans, U.S.-born Puerto Ricans, people from Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, and other Central and South American countries.

The Social Meaning of Language

Language shapes peoples perceptions of groups and events in society. The statement that Columbus discovered America implies that Native American societies didnt exist before Columbus found the Americas.

The Social Meaning of Language

Terms used to define groups change over time and can originate in movements to assert a positive identity. In the 1960s, Black American replaced Negro. Earlier, Negro and colored were used to define African Americans. Currently, it is popular to refer to all so-called racial groups as people of color.

Norms

Specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation. A society without norms would be in chaos; with established norms, people know how to act, and social interactions are consistent, predictable, and learnable. Social sanctions are mechanisms of social control that enforce norms.

Beliefs

Shared ideas people hold collectively within a culture. Beliefs are the basis for many of a cultures norms and values. Beliefs orient people to the world by providing answers to otherwise imponderable questions about the meaning of life.

Values

Abstract standards in a society or group that define the ideal principles of what is desirable and morally correct. Values determine what is considered right and wrong, beautiful and ugly, good and bad. Values can provide rules for behavior, but can also be the source of conflict.

Cultural Diversity

The United States has enormous cultural diversity from religious, ethnic, and racial differences, as well as regional, age, gender, and class differences. 11% of people living in the United States are foreign-born. In a single year, immigrants from more than 100 countries come to the United States. 18% of young people speak a language other than English at home.

% Speaking Language Other Than English at Home

Polling Question

Do you favor or oppose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would make English the official language of the United States? A.) Favor B.) Oppose C.) No opinion

Dominant Culture

The dominant culture is the most powerful group in society. It receives the most support from major institutions and constitutes the major belief system. Social institutions in the society perpetuate the dominant culture and give it a degree of legitimacy that is not shared by other cultures.

Subcultures

The cultures of groups whose values and norms of behavior differ from the dominant culture. Members of subcultures interact frequently and share a common world view. Subcultures share some elements of the dominant culture and coexist within it.

Countercultures

Subcultures created as a reaction against the values of the dominant culture. Members of the counterculture reject the dominant cultural values and develop cultural practices that defy the norms and values of the dominant group. Nonconformity to the dominant culture is often the mark of a counterculture.

Ethnocentrism

Judging a culture by standards of ones own culture: builds group solidarity discourages understanding can lead to conflict, war, and genocide

Popular Culture

The beliefs, practices, and objects that are part of everyday traditions. It is mass-produced and mass-consumed. Has enormous significance in the formation of public attitudes and values, and plays a significant role in shaping the patterns of consumption in contemporary society.

The Influence of the Mass Media

The average person consumes some form of media 71 hours per weekmore time than they likely spend in school or at work. 95% of all homes in the United States have at least one televisionmore than have telephone service. Watching television is the most popular leisure activity of Americans: 26% say it is their favorite way to spend an evening.

% Of Americans Who Say They Are Offended by Television Content (by Age)

Polling Question

Rate yourself on attractiveness to the opposite sex compared with the average person your age and in your culture. A.) Highest 10 percent B.) Above average C.) Average D.) Below Average E.) Bottom 10 percent

Theoretical Perspectives on Culture

Culture.
Integrates people into groups. Serves interests of powerful groups.

Theoretical Perspectives on Culture

Culture.
Creates group identity from diverse cultural meanings.

New Cultural Studies

Is unpredictable and constantly changing.

Sources of Cultural Change

change in societal conditions. 2. Cultural diffusion 3. Innovation 4. Imposition of cultural change by an outside agency.

Fast Food and the Transformation of Culture

The average person in the United States consumes 3 hamburgers and 4 orders of French fries per week. Americans spend more money on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, music, computers, and higher education combined. 1 in 8 workers has at some point been employed by McDonalds.

Fast Food and the Transformation of Culture

McDonalds is the largest private operator of playgrounds in the United States. McDonalds is the single largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes. 96% of American schoolchildren can identify Ronald McDonald, which is only exceeded by the number who can identify Santa Claus.