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Ideal Society and Impacts of

2/23/2020

Sociology 101

Phil Kim

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Culture is an idea that humans created to feel united with other people. It encompasses

values, norms, beliefs, rules, language, thoughts, traditions, social heritage, problem solving

skills, ideas, communication, historical origins, location, folklore, religion, major holidays, rites

of passage, interpersonal relations, living conditions, family, clothing, food, education, heritage,

work, sports, entertainment, crafts, hobbies and social problems

(Hammond, Cheney, & Pearsey, Chpt. 5, 2015)(2004).

Values are defined as “Standards of what is good, bad, desirable or undesirable for

ourselves and others.” (Hammond, Cheney, & Pearsey, Chpt. 5, 2015) Norms are defined as

shared social expectations and rules of behavior. Cultural beliefs encompass values and

perceptions that people hold to be true (Lumen Learning, n.d.). These are all factors that

determine all the different societies in the world. Each society contains their own shared values,

norms and beliefs that help define and characterize their culture. Cultural values typically

influence personal values as well as beliefs. For example, the way a child should be raised can

vary from culture to culture. Some allow for children to express themselves freely developing

self confidence, while other cultural beliefs teach to respect their elders and develop self-control

(Course Hero, 2020).

Socialization is the process by which we become social beings. Through this we learn

characteristics of one’s group, norms, values, attitudes and behaviors. Socialization is learned

from the day they are born starting with family, then friends and is continually gained through

adulthood. Primary socialization, secondary socialization and adult socialization are the three

stages. Primary socialization starts as a newborn and continues until elementary school. The
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individual learns how to communicate basic interactions and societal expectations. Secondary

socialization occurs through the school years. Now, conformity is needed to accommodate to

learn this different culture that is not just their own family’s culture. Adult socialization happens

as we start to acquire adult roles in society such as mother/father, wife/husband, college student,

employee, ect. (Hammond, Cheney, & Pearsey, Chpt. 5, 2015).

Cooley’s looking-glass self theory goes on to hypothesize that people base the

judgements of others to determine their self worth, an individual imagined judgement of other

people, and developing emotions and then responding to these perceived judgments (Lesley

University, n.d.). This helps develop socialization by having us play an active role in how we

want others to perceive us and how we think they perceive ourselves based off of social cues. We

read verbal and non-verbal cues to give us a better clue of how someone else may view us. Our

self image is based off of what we think others feel about us. The ways we want people to

perceive us is based off of the culture we are surrounded by. In one culture, someone might want

to be seen as cool so they may indulge in binge drinking alcohol with their friends and in another

culture someone may buy expensive items for bragging rights. The way we perceive ourself and

how we think others feel towards us will vary throughout different cultures.

Functionalism can be connected to the evolution of culture because it is thought to be a

society in which all parts work together to create a whole working society. Without a culture,

there would be no way for this theory to be relevant; Norms are used to support the inter-

workings of the society, while values help steer people into doing the “right” thing. The conflict

theory views social structure as unfair due to race, gender, age and class. Culture is developed
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through striving for a more equal society. The less privileged groups are formed to create a more

equal society for everyone. In symbolic interactionism theory society is “being created and

maintained by the ways people interact and in how individuals interpret each other’s actions.

Proponents of this theory conceptualize human interactions as a continuous process of deriving

meaning from both objects in the environment and the actions of others.” (Keirns, Strayer,

Griffiths, Cody-Rydzewski, Scaramuzzo, Sadler, Jones, Chpt. 3, 2016) Socialization is connected

because people need to communicate with each other to understand the actions they are doing.

There are many different ways one can learn about their culture or even other cultures.

Observing, listening, and asking questions are the biggest ways. Through watching how others

interact, from the day we are born until the day we die, we pick up on concepts like how to greet

people, space and privacy, eating habits, gestures, signals, friendships and family life, religions

and their influence on individuals (Stevenson, n.d.).

Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of another culture based on how it compares to one’s own

culture. Cultural relativism is the assessment of a culture based on that culture’s standard (). The

way one perceives the culture they are looking at will determine how they view cultures.

Typically, people are more bias towards their own culture believing that their’s is superior to all

the other ones. This would impact the devolvement of an ideal society because if the individual

were to be an ethnocentric thinker, their views of an ideal society would be closer to their

culture. If they were a culturally relativist, their view of an ideal society would contain several

different aspects from multiple societies that are good and combine them to make the most ideal

society possible.
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A sense of self is developed through differentiating themselves from others around them.

It is also developed through viewing yourself through someone else’s eye’s. Different genetic

components can impact the development of people by “encoding molecular products that build

and govern the functioning of the brain which behavior is expressed.” (Robinson, Fernald, &

Clayton, 2008) The brain uses inherited and environmental influences (nature and nurture) to

shape our social behavior. Every interaction we have we analyze it, and decide how much we are

going to allow that interaction in alter our behavior in the future.

Culture has an influence on human interaction because it affects how everyone lives in

that given society. Some cultures have strict social rules such as Norway, Pakistan, India,

Malaysia and South Korea (Schei, 2011). In these type of cultures it becomes easier to point out

aberrant behavior within society. People change culture over time as technology advances and as

norms, values and laws change. Technology has changed culture in today’s world by changing

the way we socialize. In the past, people would socialize by meeting in public places such as

restaurants or malls. In today’s world, we mostly communicate through social media. Our face to

face interaction has decreased substantially as technology advances.

The types of subcultures that would appear in an ideal society would be groups that

uphold the traditional values of society but with some different norms and values that could

include different cultural, political and even sexual matters. There would probably not be a

counterculture in an ideal society due to countercultures being a group that has different values,
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norms, behaviors and beliefs of the general society. A subculture relates to the dominate culture

because they share some values and norms as the majority of society.
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Sources:

(2004). Retrieved February 21, 2020, from https://fod-infobase-com.ccco.idm.oclc.org/

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Hammond, R., Cheney, P., & Pearsey, R., (2015). Chapter 5 - Culture. In Introduction to

Sociology. Retrieved from https://ccco.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/2651113/

viewContent/28179496/View

Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Sociology. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://

courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-sociology/chapter/values-and-beliefs/

Course Hero. (2020). Cultural Symbols, Values, and Norms. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from

https://www.coursehero.com/sg/introduction-to-sociology/cultural-symbols-values-and-

norms/

Lesley University. (n.d.). Perception Is Reality: The Looking-Glass Self. Retrieved February 23,

2020, from https://lesley.edu/article/perception-is-reality-the-looking-glass-self

Keirns, N. J., Strayer, E., Griffiths, H., Cody-Rydzewski, S., Scaramuzzo, G., Sadler, T., Jones, F.

(2016). Introduction to sociology (2nd ed.). Houston, TX: OpenStax, Rice University.

Stevenson , B. (n.d.). Learning About Culture. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://

www.jbu.edu/assets/international/resource/file/missions/Working_with_Cultural_Helper1.pdf

Robinson, G. E., Fernald, R. D., & Clayton, D. F. (2008, November 7). Genes and social

behavior. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/

PMC3052688/

Schei, V. (2011, June 7). NORWEGIANS GIVE EACH OTHER LITTLE ROOM FOR

MANOEUVRE. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://fod-infobase-com.ccco.idm.oclc.org/

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