Culture:Cultural Diversity and Conformity

• Culture consists of all the shared products of human groups.

• These products include both physical objects and the beliefs,

values, and behaviors shared by a group.

• Diversity exists between cultures and within a culture.

Components of Culture

Culture is both learned and shared.ALL cultures have certain basic components

1. Technology2. Symbols3. Language4. Values5. Norms

Culture

Material CultureThe physical objects that people create and use.

Nonmaterial CultureAbstract human creations: beliefs/values, family patterns, language, political and economic systems, rules, skills, and work practices

“Culture for Sale!!”:What does our stuff say about us?

Examples of Material Culture• Food• Clothing and Adornment of the Body• Tools and Weapons• Housing and Shelter• Transportation• Personal Possessions• Household Articles

Buried Treasure Activity

• For the item you selected to place in the time capsule, identify the following:– Role in society, use, purpose, etc.– Rules associated with item– Change agent? How has the item changed

culture or behavioral patterns?

Components of Culture

Culture is both learned and shared.ALL cultures have certain basic components

1. Technology2. Symbols3. Language4. Values5. Norms

Technology

Culture consists of not only physical objects but also the rules for using those objects.

Using items of material culture, particularly tools, requires knowledge of various skills which is part of nonmaterial culture

Example: an understanding of how silicon chips work, knowledge of computer languages, and the ability to surf the internet are all skills related to the computer (a material culture item)

Symbols

The use of symbols is the very basis of human culture.

A symbol is anything that represents something else.

Word, gestures, images, sounds, physical objects, events, or elements of the natural world.

ALL cultures communicate symbolically.

ANYTHING THAT CARRIES A PARTICULAR MEANING RECOGNIZED BY PEOPLE WHO SHARE CULTURE

• REALITY FOR HUMANS IS FOUND IN THE MEANING THINGS CARRY WITH THEM– THE BASIS OF CULTURE; MAKES LIFE POSSIBLE

• PEOPLE MUST BE MINDFUL THAT MEANINGS VARY FROM CULTURE TO CULTURE– WHY AMERICANS ARE AT TIMES CALLED “UGLY”

• MEANINGS CAN EVEN VARY GREATLY WITHIN THE SAME GROUPS OF PEOPLE– FUR COATS, CONFEDERATE FLAGS, ETC.

Language

The organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system

Formal language—written and spokenInformal language—slang, texting, accents, regional

A SYSTEM OF SYMBOLS THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER

• CULTURAL TRANSMISSION– PASSING ON CULTURE

• SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS– WE KNOW THE WORLD ONLY IN

TERMS OF OUR LANGUAGE– i.e. self

• NON-VERBAL LANGUAGE– BEWARE OF USING GESTURES

Values• Language and symbols are important

partly because they allow us to communicate our values to one another.

• Values are shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable

Influences kind of culture created• American Values – Sometimes a

contradiction–EQUALITY –ACHIEVEMENT AND SUCCESS–INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

HOW DO WE SHARE OUR VALUES WITH MEMBERS OF SOCIETY?

Public Service Announcements

• Prevent Forest Fires

• Register to Vote

• Rock the Vote

• Humane Society: Fight against Dog Fighting

Norms•All groups create norms to enforce

their cultural values•Norms are shared rules of conduct

that tell people how to act in specific situations

•Norms are expectations for behavior, not actual behavior

•Some norms apply to everyone in society, others are applied selectively

• TYPES– FOLKWAYS

• LESS SERIOUS OFFENSES• PREFERRED BEHAVIOR

– MORES• MORALLY SIGNIFICANT

– TABOOS• EXTREMELY SIGNIFICANT

– Laws • Formalized norms

LAWS ARE NORMSWHICH CAN BEENFORCED BYAGENTS OF THESTATE.

SOCIAL CONTROLMEANS BY WHICH MEMBERS

OF SOCIETY ENCOURAGE CONFORMITY

FORMAL SANCTIONS• Rewards/punishments given

by formal organization– Positive – promotions, raises,

bonuses

– Negative: fines, low grades, termination

INFORMAL SANCTIONS• Spontaneous expressions of

approval/ or disapproval given by an individual or group– Positive: smile, praise,

– Negative: frowns, scolding, ignored

Cultural Universals

• Copy the T-chart to the right onto p. 6 of your packet. Choose one of the countries from your Culturegrams activity.

• Choose four of the cultural universals and identify one example for each culture.

U.S.Your choice

DIVERSITY IN CULTURE

• DIVERSE NATION: BUILT ON IMMIGRATION

• ONE OF THE MOST MULTICULTURAL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

– Ethnic Diversity• MELTING POT OR MOSAIC

– Economic Diversity• Class structure

– Age• Youth Culture

DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF CULTURE– HIGH CULTURE

• CULTURAL PATTERNS FOUND WITHIN A SOCIETY’S ELITE GROUPS

– POPULAR CULTURE• PATTERNS THAT ARE WIDESPREAD

• SUBCULTURES– GROUPS WHOSE CULTURAL PATTERNS SET THEM APART

FROM WIDER SOCIETY– ACCEPT PRIMARY NORMS AND VALUES OF MAINSTREAM

• RELIGIOUS CULTS, INNER-CITY TEENS, COWBOYS, THE AMISH, FARMERS,

• COUNTERCULTURES– GROUPS WHOSE CULTURAL PATTERNS ARE AT GREAT

ODDS WITH WIDER SOCIETY– REJECT MAINSTREAM NORMS AND VALUES

• RADICAL MILITIA GROUPS, THE KLAN, THE SKINHEAD GROUPS

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN CULTURAL DIVERSITY ISGOOD FOR A SOCIETY, AS WELL AS TIMES WHEN

IT SEEMS TO WORK AGAINST “THE GRAIN”

Responses to Cultural Variation

Ethnocentrism• Judging other cultures

based on the norms of our own culture

• Can lead to culture clash (conflict between cultures)

Cultural Relativism • Use their cultural standards

to judge

Postville: When Cultures Collide• As you watch the film:

– Components of Culture• Create a chart with 3 columns and 4 rows. • Each each row label with a component of culture (symbols, language,

values, norms)• Each column label with one of the ethnic groups in Postville (Anglo-

American/white mid-westerners, Orthodox Jews, and Hispanic)• Identify examples from the film of the component of culture you identify

– Cultural Encounters• As you watch the film, identify examples of the following:

– Ethnocentrism– Culture clash– Cultural change

5-Minute Warm-up

• Make a list of 15 things, both material and nonmaterial, that you value.

• Rank each item (#1 is the most important to you and #15 is the least).

• You’ve been given $1000. Decide how you much of your money you will spend on each item. You may spread out your money or put it all on one item.

Quick Fire:Changes in America

• Task:–Identify one major change in American

culture during the last hundred years.• What is the change? (before and after)• What was the reason for the change?

• Cultural diffusion• Cultural diffusion is the spreading of culture traits from one

society to another• Today it can happen almost instantly

• Cultural lag• Cultural lag is the time it takes for nonmaterial culture to “catch

up” to changes in material culture

• Cultural leveling• Cultural leveling is a process by which cultures become more

and more alike• Some suggest it is the first step toward a global culture

Cultural Change

• DISCOVERY - UNDERSTANDING HAS INCREASED

• INVENTION - CREATING NEW CULTURE

The Adaptive American CultureThe long history of immigration to the United States has resulted in an American culture that embraces values, behaviors, and material culture from other cultures around the world.

Cultural Diversity and Sociology

• Latino influence is especially strong as Hispanics are the largest minority group

• Influences food, clothes, and cars available

• Latino holidays are celebrated• Spanish-language advertisements

are common

• South Asians are becoming a larger and larger portion of U.S. population

• Pakistani and Indian food has quickly become more popular

• Bollywood movies are popular

How important is work in the American value system?

• Nationalism• Patriotism• Science and rationality• Racial and group superiority• Education• Religion• Romantic love

Other Core Values

While the United States has a set of core values, new values or changed values are sometimes noted.

• Leisure• Physical fitness• Youthfulness• Self-fulfillment• Environmentalism• Progress

New Values

Our Changing Values

• Some scholars see self-fulfillment as a healthy new value, while others view its extreme, narcissism, as detrimental to society as a whole.

Self-fulfillment and Narcissism

Values in the U.S.• Create a collage of images that represent the

eight core values of American culture.• You may include photos from magazines or your

own illustrations. You’ll only have 20 minutes to choose the eight images for your collage.

• On the back of the collage, for each of the American values,– In your own words, define the value and write a one

sentence summary of your rationale for choosing the image. How does it represent the value?