Culture. Culture vs. Instinct Why is culture more important than instinct in determining human...

Culture

Culture vs. Instinct

Why is culture more important than instinct in determining human behavior?

Instincts innate (unlearned) patterns of behavior

Reflexes automatic reaction to physical stimulus

Drives impulse to reduce discomfort

What is culture?It consists of all the shared products of human groups

Material Culture physical objects created by human groups, also known as artifacts

Nonmaterial Culture abstract human creations such as language, ideas, beliefs, rules, skills, family patterns, work practices, and political and economic systems

Culture vs. Society

Society is a group of mutually interdependent people who have organized in such a way as to share a common culture and feeling of unity

Culture and society ARE NOT the same!!

Components of Culture

Symbols

Language

Values

Norms (folkways, mores, taboos, laws)

Breaking it down…

Food

Language

Religion

Entertainment

Clothing

Ethnic

Tradition

Standard of Living

Government

Education

Cultural Universals

Cultural Universals – general cultural traits that exist in all cultures

How are these cultural universals expressed?

Cultural particulars the ways in which a culture expresses universal traits

Why do cultural universals exists?

Cultural Universals

Researchers have identified more than 70 traits in all cultures

Economy Clothing, Food, Shelter, Communications,Transportation, Business, Jobs, Services, Goods,

Technology, Tools, Trade

Institutions Economy, Religion, Education, Government, Family

Arts Folk Tales, Crafts, Music, Theater, Dance, Literature,Art

Language Words, Expressions, Pronunciations, Alphabet,Symbols

EnvironmentCommunities, Geography, Geology, Habitat, Wildlife,Climates, Resources

Recreation Games, Toys, Arts, Media, Holidays, Festivals

Beliefs Values, Traditions, Ethnicity, Customs, Religions,Morals

Examining Culture

Culture is DYNAMIC not static – it is always changing!

Sociologists divide culture into three parts:

Traits

Complexes

Patterns

Levels of Culture

***Diagram on my website under CULTURE folder!***

Beliefs and Physical Objects

Nonmaterial culture – Ideas, knowledge, and beliefs that influence people’s behavior

Beliefs – ideas about the nature of reality

Material Culture – the concrete, tangible objects of a culture

How are these two related??

Ideal Culture vs.Real Culture

Ideal Culture Cultural guidelines that group member claim to accept

Real Culture Actual behavior of members of a group

Cultural Diversity

Social Categories groupings of persons who share social characteristics

Subculture – a group that is part of the dominant culture but that differs from it in some important respects

Counterculture – a subculture deliberately and consciously opposed to certain central beliefs or attitudes of the dominant culture

Ethnocentrism

Judging others in terms of one’s own cultural standards

Examples?

Does ethnocentrism help or hurt society?

Norms

Norms are the specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation

They are the agreed-upon expectations and rules by which the members of a culture behave

Norms can be broken down into FOUR categories

Folkways

Often referred to as "customs”

Standards of behavior that are socially approved but not morally significant

They are norms for everyday behavior that people follow for the sake of tradition or convenience

Breaking a folkway does not usually have serious consequences

Mores

Strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior

Mores are norms based on definitions of right and wrong

Unlike folkways, mores are morally significant

People feel strongly about them and violating them typically results in disapproval

Taboos

A norm that society holds so strongly that violating it results in extreme disgust

Often times the violator of the taboo is considered unfit to live in that society

Laws

A law is a norm that is written down and enforced by an official law enforcement agency