2013 Culture Powerpoint Lecture
Note-Taking in Graphic Organizer• The basic definitions of the terms and concepts have been
included in the provided graphic organizer.– You should highlight key points to help you process and
remember.• We will be do Individual and Pair-Share Activities within this
lecture and you will do them in the graphic organizer.• In the EXAMPLES column, you are to write down examples
from the powerpoint, your own life, and from the pair-shares.• In the VISUAL column, you are to draw or print up an image
from the internet or powerpoint to help you understand and remember the content.
Get You Thinking: What Would Happen If?
• Pair-Share: Turn to your partner and select one of the following situations to discuss and write down your responses. Consider
• 1. How would other people behave and respond and why?
• 2. How would you feel and why?a) You cut into the middle of a line by yourself and stayed in line for at
least 2 minutes?
b) You sang loudly on a public bus by yourself?
c) You positioned yourself 6 inches from an acquaintance’s nose during a conversation?
d) You laughed during a funeral?
Defining Culture
What is Culture?• Culture is the entire way of life for a group of
people including all of their ideas, values, knowledge, behaviors, and material objects that they share.
• It is a lens through which one views the world and is passed from one generation to the next.
• It is what makes us human.
• It is what shapes and guides people’s perceptions of reality.
What is culture?What is culture?
• The word The word cultureculture, , from from the the Latin colo, colo, -ere-ere, with its , with its root meaning root meaning "to cultivate“. "to cultivate“.
• CultureCulture refers to refers to the universal the universal human capacity human capacity to classify, and to classify, and communicate communicate their their experiences experiences symbolically. .
Characteristics of Culture
1. Culture is shared.
2. Culture is learned.
3. Culture is taken for granted.
4. Culture is symbolic.
5. Culture varies across time and place.
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Buddhist Monks in MyanmarEnglish Punk Rocker
Culturevaries around the world
How Many Cultures?
• One indication of culture is language• Global estimates document 7,000
languages• In the USA, there are about 200
languages• Upcoming decades will show the
disappearance of hundreds of languages
Material and Symbolic/Non-Material Culture
Material and Nonmaterial Culture• Material Culture includes all those things
that humans make or adapt from the raw stuff of nature: houses, computers, jewelry, oil paintings, etc (Stick from the forest might be a part of material culture)
• Nonmaterial culture is a group's way of thinking (including its beliefs, values) and doing (its common pattern of behavior, including language and other forms of interaction) (Poem about stick)
Material Culture
• Material culture includes the objects associated with a cultural group, such as tools, machines, utensils, buildings, and artwork.
Introduction to Sociology: Culture 12
Material Culture
• Physical objects people create and give meaning
• Examples:– Homes – School buildings– Churches, synagogues, temples, mosques – Cell phones– Clothes– Cars– Computers– Books
Pair-Share Activity
• Pick ONE artifact in your home, describe the item, and describe why it is important to your culture?
Non-Material/Symbolic Culture
• Symbolic culture includes ways of thinking (beliefs, values, and assumptions) and ways of behaving (norms, interactions, and communication).
Introduction to Sociology: Culture 15
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Non Material CultureThe products of collective human activity that have
no physical reality
• Beliefs• Customs• language• Symbols• Music• Government.
What does a handshake symbolize?
Non-Material Culture• Rules of Etiquette for Eating: Japan
Non-Material CultureRules of etiquette for eating
U.S.
Non-material / Symbolic Culture
We communicate through:
• Signs
• Gestures
• Language
Cultural Universals
Cultural Universals
• Customs and practices that occur across all societies
12 Aspects of Culture or Ethnicity
1. History-time period and conditions under which a group migrated or immigrated.
2. Social Status Factors – education, occupation, income3. Social Group Interaction Patterns: Intra-group (within
group relations) and Inter-group (between-group relations)4. Value Orientation – standards by which members of a
culture judge their personal actions and those of others.5. Language and Communication: Verbal and Nonverbal6. Family Life Processes – gender roles, family dynamics7. Healing Beliefs and Practices – attitudes and beliefs about
health.8. Religion – spiritual beliefs and practices9. Art and Expressive Forms – art, music, stories, dance, etc.10. Diet/Foods – preferred food eaten by groups.11. Recreation – activities, sports for leisure, etc.12. Clothing – types, styles, and extent of body coverings.
Examples of the Roles of Cultural Universals
Religion, Education and Language
Religion Culture Religion: system of shared beliefs about the
sacred Major religious groups and some economic
implications---EXAMPLES– Christianity Protestant work ethic– Islam Islamic economic principles– Hinduism anti-materialistic, socially stratified– Buddhism anti-materialistic, social equality– Confucianism hierarchy, loyalty, honesty
Education and Culture
Education– Medium through which people are acculturated
– Language, “myths,” values, norms taught
– Teaches personal achievement and competition
– Critical to national competitive advantage
Education system may be a cultural outcome
Language and Culture
• One of the most important functions of symbolic culture is it allows us to communicate through signs, gestures, and language.
• Signs (or symbols), such as a traffic signal or product logo, are used to meaningfully represent something else.
• Gestures are the signs that we make with our body, such as hand gestures and facial expressions; it is important that these gestures also carry meaning.
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Language: Culture BoundLanguage, spoken
–“private” does not exist as a word in many languages
–Eskimos: 24 words for snow–Words which describe moral concepts can
be unique to countries or areas–Spoken language precision important in
low-context culturesLanguage, unspoken
–Context... more important than spoken word in high context cultures
Words Past and Present
40s Slang Take a powder Fuddy-duddy Gobbledygook Eager beaver Flip your wig Lettuce Pass the buck
60s & 70s Slang Skinny Can you dig it? Spaz Far out Chill Bread A gas Bug out
Non-Verbal Gestures: Let’s Look At The Different Meanings
For One Gesture
Italy
Greece
Egypt
Humorous Examples of Language Differences
Between Cultures
Cultural Diversity – “Chevy Nova Award”
Dairy Association’s huge success with the campaign “Got Milk?” prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico
It was brought to their attention the Spanish translation read, “Are you lactating?”
Cultural Diversity – “Chevy Nova Award”
Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick”, a curling iron into Germany
Only to find out that “mist” is German slang for manure.
Cultural Diversity Chevy Nova Award
When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used US packaging with the smiling baby on the label.
In Africa, companies routinely put pictures on labels of what’s inside, since many people can’t read.
Cultural Diversity Chevy Nova Award
Pepsi’s “Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation” in Chinese translated into
“Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave”
Cultural Diversity Chevy Nova Award
Coca-Cola’s name in China was first read as “Kekoukela”, meaning “Bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”, depending on the dialect.
Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent “kokou kole”, translating into “happiness in the mouth.”
Components of Culture
Components of Culture Culture: a society’s (group’s) system of shared, learned
values and norms; these are the society’s (group’s) design for living– Values: abstract ideas about the good, the right, the
desirable – Norms: social rules and guidelines; guide appropriate
behavior for specific situations Folkways: norms of little moral significance
dress code; table manners; timeliness Mores: norms central to functioning of social life
– bring serious retribution: thievery, adultery, alcohol
Pair-Share Activity
• After Ms. Barben has gone over the definitions for each and explained the examples, you and your partner will have five minutes to come up with your own personal examples from your own lives and ideas for the visuals.
Beliefs• Shared ideas people hold
collectively within a culture.• Specific statements that
people hold to be true or false.
• Beliefs are the basis for many of a culture’s norms and values.
• Beliefs orient people to the world by providing answers to otherwise imponderable questions about the meaning of life.
Values
Values• Culturally defined standards by which
people assess desirability, goodness, and beauty and that serve as broad guidelines for social living.
• Values determine what is considered right and wrong, beautiful and ugly, good and bad.
• Values can provide rules for behavior, but can also be the source of conflict.
Values
Values determine for us what is desirable in our life;
If we learn other people’s values we learn about other people;
Values underlie our preferences, our choices, indicate what we deem as worthwhile in our society.
Values
• Values comprise ideas about what in life seems important.
• Pair-Share: In your graphic organizer, what are the values in the United States and why?
American Values Examples
Key Values of U.S. Culture• Robin Williams Jr. (1970)
– Ten values central to our way of life
1.Equal Opportunity
– Not equality of condition but equality of opportunity
2.Individual Achievement & Personal Success
3.Material Comfort
4. Activity and Work
– Our heroes are “doers”
5. Practicality and Efficiency
– Practical over the theoretical
6. Progress
7. Science
– Expect scientists to solve problems and improve our lives
8. Democracy and Free EnterpriseIndividual rights
9. FreedomIndividual initiative over collective conformity
10. Racism and Group Superiority– Some people in the U.S. still judge
others according to gender, race, ethnicity, and social class
American Values
Americans traditionally prized success through individual effort and initiative, Japanese emphasize collectivism and loyalty to the company
Emerging American ValuesValues change over time:• Material comfort • Personal growthU.S. always valued hard workRecently, increasing importance of
leisureTime off from work for:
TravelFamilyCommunity service
Norms
Norms• Specific cultural expectations for how to behave
in a given situation.• Norms are expectations for behavior
• A society without norms would be in chaos; with established norms, people know how to act, and social interactions are consistent, predictable, and learnable.
• Social sanctions are mechanisms of social control that enforce norms.
According to the informal norms of culture of the mountainous Asian kingdom of Bhutan, people greet each other by extending their tongues and hands
Norms
• Norms consist of expectations of how people will behave in various situations.
• Pair-Share: In your graphic organizer, what are the norms of Great Valley High School?
Folkways
Folkways
• Folkways are norms governing everyday behavior whose violation might cause a dirty look, rolled eyes, or disapproving comment
• Example: Walking up a “down” escalator in a department store challenges our standards of appropriate behavior
Folkways
• Less important rules of society• Violation of rules hurts nobody except the
person breaking the rule• Usually a violation of etiquette or habits
not acceptable to society• Violators are usually ridiculed/made fun
of or people avoid them• Manners not followed
Pair-Share Activity
• In the graphic organizer, what are examples of folkways that illustrate the differences between your parents’ generation and the current ninth grade population of Great Valley?
Mores
Mores
• Mores: Means “manners” in French.
• Mores are norms that are essential to American Values, close to legalistic.
• Attitudes from the past, habituated, very little deviation allowed
• Duties, obligations, common to cultural morality
Mores
Mores are norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society, often because they embody the most cherished principles of people
Each society demands obedience to its mores (violation can lead to severe penalties
Examples: murder, child abuse
Mores
• Mores: The fundamental ideas about what is right/wrong, virtuous and sinful.
• Important because they involve moral vision based on social cohesion, continuity, and community in human life.
• Mores eventually become LAWS.
• Part of social life, not changing.
Mores
• Strict enforcement, and insistence on conformity, we learn through socialization via our institutions in society.
• Examples: “prescribed” gender roles; Americans eat beef, not horse, dog, cat; you do not expose your genitals in public
Sociologists Ian Robertson illustrated the difference between Folkways and Mores: “A man who walks down a street wearing nothing on the upper half of his body is violating a folkway; a man is wearing nothing on the lower half of his body is violating one of mores (requirement that people cover their genitals and buttocks in public “(1987)
Taboos
Taboo
A taboo is a norm so strongly ingrained that to violate it creates disgust, revulsion, horror - the thought of it makes people sick:
Eating human flesh - cannibalism Incest - having sex with relatives Pedophilia - adults having sex with children
Taboo
a very extreme more in a society proscription almost unthinkable it is so unacceptable to
people people do not like to acknowledge that it can
occur in their society people are usually executed or given long
prison sentences for violations
Laws
LAWS Norms which have been formalized
written down by legislature or courtspunishment told before handcan be based on folkway or morecan be code of law not based on folkway or more folkways tough to enforce of all laws
Pair-Share Activity:
In your graphic organizer, what are some examples of recent laws that have been created that reflect changes in the norms of the American culture?
Sanctions
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Social Control and Sanctions
Sanctions are positive or negative reactions to the ways that people follow or disobey norms, including rewards for conformity and punishments for norm violators.
Sanctions help to establish social control, the formal and informal mechanisms used to increase conformity to values and norms and thus increase social cohesion.
Sanctions
Sanctions are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm
Conformity to a norm can lead to positive sanctions such as pay raise, a medal, a word of gratitude, or a pat on a back
Sanctions• Shame
– Painful sense that others disapprove
• Guilt– Negative judgment we make about
ourselves
Norms and Sanctions
NORMSSANCTIONS
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
Formal
Salary bonus Fine
Medal Jail sentence
Diploma Execution
Testimonial dinner
Expulsion
Informal
Smile Frown
Compliment Humiliation
Cheers Ostracism
Ethnocentricism
Does this picture offend you?
If so, then you may be guilty of Ethnocentrism!
• Ethnocentrism is a tendency to evaluate and judge the customs and traditions of others according to one’s own cultural tastes, beliefs, and standards
• We learn that the ways of our own group are good, right, proper, and superior to other ways
• Ethnocentrism contributes to social solidarity and a sense of value and community.
• However, it also fuels conflict.
Ethnocentrism
Has both positive and negative consequences
On the positive side, it creates in-group loyalty
On the negative side, ethnocentrism can lead to harmful discrimination against people whose ways differ from ours
Subservience to Males? Moral Depravity?
Iceberg Metaphor
The Iceberg Metaphor
• The metaphor of culture as an “iceberg” is extremely helpful in that it identifies aspects of culture that are:
• Immediately visible= explicit, visible, taught (above the water line). Only about one-eighth of an iceberg is visible above the water. The rest is below.
• Part of the iceberg that emerges & submerges with the tides= “now you see it, now you don’t” (at the water line)
• Deep beneath the surface= “hidden culture” (below the water line)
HOW IS CULTUE EMBEDDED HOW IS CULTUE EMBEDDED IN PEOPLE AND IN PEOPLE AND
ORGANIZATIONS? ORGANIZATIONS? THINK OF CULTURE AS AN ICEBERG:
you see it, but perhaps not the important parts
Symbols; language
Behaviors
Practices
Customs
Normsbeliefs, traditions, priorities, assumptions, values
Individual Reflection
• Why is culture important?
• You have a choice of writing or illustrating your response at the end of the graphic organizer.