© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Culture 3 2 nd edition Sociology in Modules Richard T. Schaefer.

© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Culture 3

2nd edition

Sociology in Modules

Richard T. Schaefer

© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 2

What Is Culture?

• Culture: Totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior– Includes ideas,

values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people


Culture and Society

• Society is the largest form of human group– Common culture simplifies

day-to-day interactions– Culture influences human behavior– Adorno: culture industry – force

that standardizes the goods and services demanded by consumers—limits people choices


Cultural Universals

• Cultural universal: certain common practices and beliefs that all societies have developed– Many adaptations to meet essential human needs– Murdoch listed cultural universals but they

are expressed differently from culture to culture


Ethnocentrism

• Ethnocentrism: Tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represents the norm or is superior to others– Our view of the world is

dramatically influenced by the society in which we were raised


• Cultural relativism: People’s behaviors from the perspective of their own culture– Different social

contexts give rise to different norms and values

Cultural Relativism


Sociobiology and Culture

• Sociobiology: Systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior– Founded on Darwin’s

Theory of Evolution– most social scientists

would agree there is a biological basis for social behavior


Figure 9-1: Countries with High Child Marriage Rates

Source: UNICEF 2010.


Sociology in the Global Community

3-1: Life in the Global Village– How are you affected by globalization?

Which aspects of globalization do you find advantageous and which objectionable?

– How would you feel if the customs and traditions you grew up with were replaced by the culture or values of another country? How might you try to protect your culture?


Development of Culture around the World

• Innovation: process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture– Discovery: Making known or sharing

existence of an aspect of reality– Invention: Existing cultural items

combined into form that did not exist before


Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology

• Diffusion: Process by which cultural item spreads from group to group– McDonaldization: Process through

which principles of fast-food industry dominate certain sectors of society

– Technology: Information about how to use material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires (Nolan and Lenski)


• Material culture: Physical or technological aspects of daily lives

• Nonmaterial culture: Ways of using material objects

• Culture lag: Period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture struggles to adapt to new material conditions



Sociology in the Global Community

3-2: Cultural Survival in Brazil– Compare the frontier in Brazil today

to the American West in the 1800s. What similarities do you see?

– What does society lose when indigenous cultures die?


Innovation

• Innovation: The process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture

• Discovery: Involves making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality.

• Invention: Results when existing cultural items are combined intro a form that did not exist before.



• Diffusion: Refers to the process by which a cultural item spreads from group or society to society.

• McDonalization of Society: Term used by George Ritzer to describe how the principles of fast-food restaurants have come to dominate more and more sectors of society throughout the world.



• Technology: Defined by Gerhard Lenski as “Cultural information about the ways in which the material resources of the environment may be used to satisfy human needs and desires.”



• Material culture: Physical or technological aspects of our daily lives, including food, houses, factories, and raw materials.

• Nonmaterial culture: Refers to ways of using material objects, as well as to customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication.

• Culture lag: The period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions.


Global Culture War

• Culture war: Polarization of society over controversial cultural elements– In 1990s, referred to political debates

over abortion, religious expression, gun control, and sexual orientation

– After U.S. established military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign opinion of U.S. became quite negative


Sociology on Campus

3-4: A Culture of Cheating?– If you know anyone who has engaged in

Internet plagiarism, cheating on tests or falsifying laboratory results, how did the person justify these forms of dishonesty?

– What negative effects does cheaters’academic dishonesty have on them? What effects does it have on students who are honest? Could an entire college or university suffer from students’ dishonesty?


Culture and the Dominant Ideology

• Dominant ideology: Set of cultural beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful interests, including:– Social interests– Economic interests– Political interests

• Conflict perspective: dominant ideology has major social significance

• Growing number of social scientists believe it is not easy to identify a core culture in U.S.


Table 3-2: Sociological Perspectives on Culture


Figure 3-3: Valuing Ethnicity by Country

Source: Council on Foreign Relations 2009.


Case Study: Culture at Wal-Mart

• Wal-Mart is one of the largest corporations in the world– World’s 14th largest economy– Opponents criticize its low pay

rates, lack of health care, lack of commitment to equal opportunity

• South Korea did not like warehouse approach

• Pulled out of Germany, due in part to its failure to adjust to the national culture


Bilingualism

• Looking at the Issue– Bilingualism: Use of two or more

languages in a particular setting– Bilingual education may instruct children

in their native language while gradually introducing the language of the host society


Bilingualism

• Looking at the Issue– Bureau of the Census: about 20%

of population spoke a language other than English as their primary language at home in 2008

– Bilingual programs vary widely so difficult to measure their success


Bilingualism

• Applying Sociology– For long time, people in U. S. demanded

conformity to a single language– Recent decades have seen

challenges to pattern of forced obedience to the dominant ideology

– Often ignore fact that Bilingual education programs may have beneficial results


Bilingualism

• Initiating Policy– Bilingualism has policy implications in

efforts to maintain language purity and programs to enhance bilingual education

– Nations vary dramatically in tolerance– Public concern over potential decline

in use of English appears to be overblown


Figure 3-4: Percentage of People Who Speak a Language Other Than English at Home, by State

Source: American Community Survey 2010:Table R1601.

© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Culture 3 2 nd edition Sociology in Modules Richard T. Schaefer.

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