Culture It touches almost every aspect of who and what we are.

Culture

It touches almost every aspect of who and what we are

Culture Orientation

Have you ever experienced culture shock?

What is culture?

Culture The language, beliefs, values, norms,

behaviors, even material objects that are passed from one generation to the next

Who has traveled somewhere and seen different cultures based on this definition?

Material vs. Non-material

Material culture: jewelry, art, buildings, weapons, utensils, machines, hairstyles, clothing

Non-material culture: a group’s way of thinking (including beliefs, values, and other assumptions about the world) and doing (it's common patterns of behavior, including language and other forms of interaction)

Material vs. Non-material

How do the two distinguish culture, please provide me with a few examples!

Establishment of culture

Culture comes to us at a very early age and acquire it without conscious

It creates assumptions about social life in context to others’ cultures Creates the “way things ought to be” idea

Examples might include hygiene, eye contact, personal space, etc.

Culture Shock

Culture shock emerges when non-material culture fails one’s self Story example of the author being taller

and pushing to buy tickets and felt bad about it

Ethnocentrism

Tendency to use one’s own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individual or societies.

It generally leads to a negative evaluation of their values, norms, and behaviors leading to discrimination

On the positive side, it can create in-group loyalties

Cultural Shock Exercise

Listen to the following excerpt on the arrival of the Hmong and answer the question for your consideration after

Cultural Relativism

Culture is deeply rooted It is by definition: not judging a culture

but trying to understand it on its own terms

Bullfighting in Spain example

Culture Diversity Exercise

You are what you eat!

Symbolic Culture

Symbols help us attach meaning ABC’s, 123’s Include gestures,

values, norms,

sanctions, folkways

and more

Gestures

Using your body to convey messages hand and body gestures have

different meanings in different cultures By show of hands, how many of you are

left-handed? What about the “A-OK” sign… what does

that mean?

Language

Symbols the can be combined in an infinite number of ways for the purpose of communicating abstract thought

Language allows culture to exist! Consider the following…

Language (cont.)

It allows human experience to be cumulative Builds on experiences and modify

behaviors in light of past generations Without language we would not be any

more advanced then by grunts and gestures

Norms and Values

Values are ideas of what is desirable in life and by which people define what is good and bad

They guide our choices The golden rule is universal What other values are universal?

Norms

Norms are used to describe expectations that develop out of a groups’ norms

Sanctions help show expressions of approval or disapproval for following or breaking norms Homework and MAT…

Sanctions

Non-verbal sanctions Frowns, stares, raised fists, finger

gestures

Verbal sanctions Harsh words, censorship

Subcultures

What condition is this doctor describing?? [It accompanies] diaphragmatic pleurisy, pneumonia,

uremia, or alcoholism…Abdominal causes include disorders of the stomach, and esophagus, bowel diseases, pancreatitis, pregnancy, bladder irritation, hepatic metastases, or hepatitis. Thoracic and mediastinal lesions, or surgery may be responsible. Posterior fossa tumors or infarcts my stimulate centers of the medulla oblongata.

Subcultures

Hiccups!

Definition of subculture is the values and related behaviors of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture, a world within a world

Subcultures

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Subcultures

A world within the larger world of the dominant culture

What subcultures are there at Howard High School?

What other subcultures are you aware of?

Counterculture

Consider the following quote about sterilization

Counterculture

A group whose

values, beliefs,

and related

behaviors place its

members in

opposition to the

broader culture

U.S. Values

Sociologist Robin Williams identified in a study underlying core values 14 different values most Americans can agree with

Which ones do you think are most important?

Thinking Critically

Sociobiology

Framework of thought that views human behavior as the result of natural selection and considers biological factors to be the fundamental cause of human behavior