Culture (Week 2)

8/9/2019 Culture (Week 2)

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Language, Beliefs, Values, Norms, Behavior

Passed from One Generation to the Next

Material – Jewelry, art, buildings, etc.

Nonmaterial Cultures – beliefs, values, etc.

Story in Ampleforth – unfamiliar territory and

universal norms

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 1

What is Culture?

- Basics in Sociology


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Ampleforth



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Ampleforth Spring



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Ampleforth Orchards



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Researchers’ Accommodation



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• Different?

Same?

Both?



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Universal Values?



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Stereotypes and Humor Material

• Heaven Vs Hell

•

Elephants across cultures

• Allowed | Prohibited

• War



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Definition

• Culture: “The deposit of knowledge,experience, beliefs, values, attitudes,meanings, hierarchies, notions of time, roles,

spatial relations, concepts of the universe, andmaterial objects and possessions acquired bya group of people in the course of generationsthrough individual and group striving”

(Samovar & Porter, 2003, p. 8)


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Definition (Cont.)

• “An historically transmitted pattern of

meaning embodied in symbols, a system of

inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic

forms” (Geertz, 1973, p. 89)

• “The term culture usually is reserved to refer

to the systems of knowledge used by

relatively large numbers of people” *i.e.,national groups] (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, p.

17)


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Using your sociological imagination in culture

Meeting someone new and seeing the effects of a much different

culture

Internalization of our norms – eye contact, space, etc.

Culture Shock – When your material and non-material fail

you. The eerie feeling is culture shock. Ex. Pushing

Ethnocentrism – “Culture within us” - Positive/Negative


Culture and Taken-for-Granted

Orientations


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Understanding cultures on their own terms

Not seeing the culture as inferior or superior

None of us can be entirely successful at practicing

cultural relativism. Strange foods.

Evaluation through our lens.

“Sick Cultures” – Robert Edgerton - Lack of

enhancement in our lives

Confronting Contrasting Views of RealityCopyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 14

Practicing Cultural Relativism


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Symbol – something to which people attach meaning

and that they use to communicateGestures

Using ones body to convey messages without words

Gestures’ meaning differ among cultures Can Lead to Misunderstandings

Left handed Americans


Components of Symbolic Culture or

Non-Material Culture


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Language

Because written language lacks subtle cues,

Emoticons – online use

Provides social or shared past

Provides social or shared future

Allows shared perspective

Allows complex, shared, goal-directed behavior

Like Gestures the same sound in one culture is

entirely different in another


Components of Symbolic

Culture


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Emoticons - Mike Jones Microsoft Programmer

:-) Smile ;-)Smile with a

wink

:


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Language has embedded within it ways of

looking at the world

Sapir-Whorf reverses common sense

It is our language that determines ourconsciousness

Language both reflects and shapes cultural

experiences

Dry fruits, apricots,

apples or almonds, nuts?


Language and Perception:

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis


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Values - What is desirable in life The standards at which we determine what is good or

bad. Education, time is money, technology.

Norms - Expectations or rules for behavior

“Should Do” Expectations in our societies

Behaviour in religious gatherings.

Sanctions - Reaction to following or breaking norms

Positive Sanctions

Negative Sanctions

Moral Holidays


Values, Norms, and Sanctions


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Folkways - Norms not strictly enforced. Line betweenright and rude. Customs

Walking on the right side of the sidewalk

Holding a door

Not belching and burping.

Mores - Core Values: We insist on conformity. Druguse or extreme dress style. Marriage - no bfs and gfs.

Taboo – Most extreme more. Extreme disgust. For

example, Abortion, Giving an even number flowers in

Russia.

Law - Norm written down, Enforced. Theft, murder,Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 21

Folkways and Mores


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Values in U.S. Society. Are oursdifferent?


Romantic LoveDemocracyScience andTechnology

ReligiosityFreedomEfficiency andPracticality

EducationHumanitarianismActivity and

Work

Racism and

GroupSuperiority

Material

ComfortIndividualism

EqualityProgressAchievementand Success


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Subculture - A World Within the Dominant Culture

Example – Engineering Society.

Tens of thousands of subcultures

Some broad – Some specific

Countercultures - Groups With Norms and Values at

Odds With the Dominant Culture

Survivalists -a person who anticipates and prepares

for a future disruption

Enthusiasts v. Gangs


Subcultures and

Countercultures

V l Cl t


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Value Clusters – values that together form a larger whole

Hard work, education, efficiency, material comfort, and individualism

are bound together

Value Contradiction – to follow the one means that you will

come in conflict with another. Freedom, democracy applied

only to some groups. Women's Liberation, Racism, Sexism

“It is precisely at the point of value contradictions, then, that one

can see a major force for social change in a society.”


Values Clusters,

Contradictions, and

Social Change


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Leisure Luxury Cruises

Self-fulfillment

Self help movement Physical Fitness

Fitness centers

Youthfulness

Plastic surgeries

Concern for the Environment


Emerging Values


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Culture Wars: When Values Clash

A student going abroad!

Value as Blinders – What is attainable?

“Ideal” vs. “Real” Culture

Norms, values etc. that the group sees as ideal

However most people don’t reach these ideals,

this is what sociologist call Real


Values and Culture


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Controversial View of Human Behavior

Biology Cause of Human Behavior

Charles Darwin and Natural Selection

Sociologists and Biologists on Opposite

Sides


Sociobiology


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The New Technology - New Tools

Cultural Lag and Cultural Change

Technology and Cultural Leveling


Technology in the

Global Village


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Culturally Based Differences in

Management Style: Stereotypes

Germany

Technically expert,

authoritarians

France

Elitist,

authoritarians

Japan

Formal,

consensus

seekers

China

Low-profile,

tough

negotiators

United States

Emotional,

egalitarians


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Multicultural Managers and

Organizations•The Multicultural Manager

– Has the skills and attitudes to relate effectively to andmotivate people across race, gender, age, social attitudes,and lifestyles. Respects and values the cultural differences.

– Has the ability (e.g., is bilingual) to conduct business in adiverse, international environment.

– Has a cultural sensitivity in being aware and interested in whypeople of other culture act as they do.

–

Is not parochial in assuming that the ways of one’s culture arethe only ways things should be done.

– Is not ethnocentric in assuming that the superiority of one’sculture over that of another culture.


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Protocol Do’s and Don’t’s in Several Countries

Greece

DO distribute business cards freely so people will know how to spell your name. DO be prompt even if your hosts are not. DON’T expect to meet deadlines. A project takes as long as theGreeks think is

necessary.

DON’T address people by formal or professional titles. The Greeks want more informality.

Japan

DO present your business cards with both hands and a slight bow as a gesture of

respect. DO present gifts, American - made and wrapped . DON’T knock competitors.

DON’T present the same gift to everyone, unless all members are the same organizationalrank.


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Short Activity

• What are the protocol Do’s and Don’t’s in our

society?

• Quickly make a list of Do’s and Don’t’s in the

areas of: – Gifts

– Social Gatherings – Time Management

– Competition

– Formal/Informal dressing at workplace



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Multicultural Organizations

The Multicultural Organization – Values cultural diversity and is willing to

encourage and even capitalize onsuch diversity.

Benefits of a MulticulturalOrganization

– Achieves the benefits of valuing diversity.

– Avoids the problems of not managingfor diversity:

• increased turnover

• interpersonal conflict

• communication breakdowns


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Barriers to Good Cross-Cultural Relations

• Perceptual expectations

– Predispositions about the appropriate appearance andphysical characteristics of individuals.

• Ethnocentrism

– A belief that one’s culture is the best and judging other

cultures by how closely they resemble one’s ownculture.

• Intergroup rather than interpersonal relations

– Stereotyping individuals based on their group

membership• Stereotypes in intergroup relations

– Assuming an individual’s personal characteristics basedon their group membership.

Cross Cu tura Processes:


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Cross-Cu tura Processes:Motivation

In order to use motivational concepts across cultures,managers must know two key factors:

– Which needs the people are seeking to satisfy.

– Which rewards will satisfy those needs.

Research findings:

– A motivational concept thathas a good cultural fit witha culture can be

successfully appliedto that culture.

Documents

Culture (Week 2)