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.
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. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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
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
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?
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.