Elements of Culture---Aka Crash Course for culture

I. Elements of Culture

Introduction: The term “culture” means different things to different people. To some, it is associated with activities. ELITE CULTURE refers to the life style of the wealthy, affluent, or upper classes. POPULAR CULTURE is viewed as the culture, particularly the leisure time, of the common people.

A. A CULTURE is a system of ideas, values, beliefs, knowledge, norms, customs, and technology shared by almost everyone in a particular society. A SOCIETY is a group of people who share a common culture. The existence of culture depends on people’s ability to create and understand SYMBOLS, things that are used to represent something else.

1. SYMBOLS are arbitrary designations that are collective creations; most sociologists believe that the ability to use symbols is uniquely human.

2. Success or failure in many relationships, both personal and professional, often depends upon our ability to communicate symbolically.

B. LANGUAGE, the systematized usage of speech and hearing to convey or express feelings and ideas, is the most important set of symbols.

1. Language is uniquely human and is one of the basic distinctions between human beings and other forms of life, as demonstrated by the comparative studies of infants and chimpanzees.

2. Regular use of words over time and place, and the widespread use of certain words, indicate that language is an integral and universal part of culture. Linguistic symbols are learned and shared just like other cultural traits.

3. In addition to a verbal and written language, every culture develops a “silent language” of gestures, expressions, and mannerisms; knowledge of this nonverbal language can be very useful to those who must deal with people from different cultures.

4. The SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS suggests that our perceptions of reality and consequent behaviors are significantly influenced by the grammatical forms, labels, and categories provided by our language.

C. VALUES are shared ideas of what is important and worthwhile by the people in a society. Values often are emotionally charged and learned early in life.

1. Most values have both positive and negative counterparts.

2. When basic values conflict with one another, a person may experience guilt or mental stress and attempt to resolve the guilt by pursuing alternative courses of action.

3. Despite the social diversity of the United States, Robin M. Williams (1970) described 15 major value orientations that are shared in our culture, including belief in achievement and success, external conformity, and democracy.

4. Williams states that most conflicts between value systems in the United States occur between values centering around individual personalities and values organized around categorical themes or conceptions. Group discrimination and racism, for example, are contrary to other central values of our society.

5. An understanding of value systems can be useful for many people in their work. The ability to recognize and deal with competing value systems leads to better management.

D. Social NORMS are rules of conduct or social expectations specifying how people should or should not behave in various social situations. Norms are either prescriptive or proscriptive.

1. William G. Sumner identified two types of norms, FOLKWAYS and MORES, and distinguished between them by (1) the degree to which group members are compelled to conform to them, (2) their importance, (3) the severity of punishment if they are violated, and (4) the intensity of feelings associated with adherence to them.

2. FOLKWAYS are learned customs or conventions that are passed down from one generation to the next; violation tends to be punished mildly, if at all.

3. MORES are considered more important than folkways; reactions to their violations are more serious. They tend to involve clear-cut distinctions between right and wrong and are more closely identified with society’s important values. Mores that prohibit something, that state “thou shalt not,” are called TABOOS. To care for one’s child is called a MOS (singular for MORES), while committing incest is a TABOO.

4. LAWS are formal, standardized expressions of norms enacted by legislative bodies to regulate particular types of behaviors. Laws state the punishment for their violation and are enforced by a group designated for that purpose.

5. When a law does not reflect folkways and mores, its enforcement is likely to be ignored or given low priority.

6. Cultural norms are not always beneficial to the society, group, or individual that follows them. Some may actually be harmful in what Erich Fromm calls the “PATHOLOGY OF NORMALCY.”

7. The process of violating norms beyond the range of group acceptability is termed deviance; the process of applying sanctions to obtain social conformity is known as social control.

E. TECHNOLOGY is the practical production and application of material techniques and products to maintain a culture’s standard of living; it includes social customs and practical techniques for converting raw materials into finished products.

1. ARTIFACTS are physical objects that reflect a society’s technology. Artifacts provide clues to a society’s level of technological development, but the presence of more sophisticated technology in one culture as opposed to another culture should not be used as scientific criteria for evaluating the two. It is a mistake to dismiss a culture’s technological system because it appears to be less developed or complex than our own.

F. CULTURAL LAG takes place when changes in technology and material culture occur more rapidly than changes in nonmaterial culture (such as beliefs, values, and laws); cultural lag is inevitable in rapidly changing societies.



II. Interpreting Culture: Our Own and Others

A. Sumner defined ETHNOCENTRISM as “that view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.” It is the attitude that one’s own culture is superior to others; that one’s own beliefs, values, and behaviors are more correct than others; and that other people and cultures can be evaluated in terms of one’s own culture.

1. Ethnocentrism is particularly strong among people who have had little contact with other cultures; yet ethnocentric attitudes are found among the highly educated and experienced travelers as well.

2. The functions of ethnocentrism include (1) promoting unity, (2) encouraging conformity, (3) reinforcing nationalism, and (4) maintaining the status quo.

3. The dysfunctions of ethnocentrism include (1) increasing resistance to beneficial change, (2) discouraging integration, (3) increasing the likelihood of hostility and conflicts among groups, and (4) preventing beneficial social change.

B. XENOCENTRISM, the opposite of ethnocentrism, is the belief that one’s own lifestyle, products, or ideas are inferior to those of other cultures.

C. TEMPOROCENTRISM is the belief that one’s own time is more important than the past or future. Historical events are judged not in their own context, but rather on the basis of contemporary standards. It is most prevalent among those who lack historical perspective.

D. The belief that cultures must be judged on their own terms is known as CULTURAL RELATIVISM.

1. Cultural relativism means that a behavior appropriate in one place may not be appropriate everywhere.

2. Knowledge of cultural relativism can be useful to anyone who works with people from different cultures.



III. Cultural Complexity and Diversity

Culture is a complex and diverse system of independent factors; its organization is influenced by physical circumstances such as climate, geography, and population. The complexity of a culture can best be understood by examining various units of a culture.

A. SUBCULTURES are groups of people who participate in the larger, dominant culture yet also maintain their own distinctive life styles and set of cultural elements as well.

1. In heterogeneous societies, a person may be a member of several subcultures at any one time or at different times in his or her life.

B. A COUNTERCULTURE is a subculture that adheres to “a set of norms and values that sharply contradict the dominant norms and values of the society of which that group is a part.”

1. Ideologically, countercultures adhere to a set of beliefs and values that radically reject the society’s dominant culture and prescribe an alternative set.

C. Every group forms an IDIOCULTURE, a system of shared knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and customs created through enduring group interactions and shared experiences.

D. In most cultures, differences exist between what people are supposed to do and what they actually do; that is, there is a distinction between the IDEAL CULTURE and the REAL CULTURE. Regardless of the manner in which cultures are organized, all cultures share some basic concerns, known as CULTURAL UNIVERSALS. Food, shelter, and protection are examples.

E. A SOCIAL INSTITUTION is a system of norms, values, statuses, and roles that develops around a basic social goal.

1. All societies have particular institutions to meet their broad goals; they form the foundation of society. Five basic social institutions are defined in the text: the family, religion, education, economic, and political.

2. Institutions are systems of norms; social organizations are actual groups of people deliberately organized around some common interest. Both terms will be discussed further in the next chapters.


reference source
http://www.ega.edu/facweb/strickland/SOCI1101Online/CHAPTEROUTLINES/OutlineCHAPTER04.html