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SociologyUnit 2: Culture and Society
Components of Culture
Cultural Variation
Vocabulary
• Cultural universals• Subculture• Counterculture• Ethnocentrism• Cultural relativism• Cultural diffusion
Cultural Universals
•Cultural Universals: features evident in all cultures
•What are some features that all cultures have? •(Try and Guess 7)
Cultural UniversalsCultural
UniversalExamples
Arts and Leisure Athletic sports, dancing, decorative art, games, music
Basic Needs Clothing, cooking, housing
Beliefs Body adornment, folklore, funeral rites, religious ritual
Communication and Education
Education, language, greetings
Family Courtship, kin groups, marriage
Government and Economy
Calendar, division of labor, government, law, property rights, status differentiation, trade
Technology Medicine, toolmaking
Response to Variation• Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one's own culture
and group as superior to all other cultures and groups • Cultural relativism: a belief that cultures should be
judged by their own standards
How is this political cartoon a reflection of ethnocentrism?
Cultural Change• Cultural diffusion: the process of spreading
cultural traits from one society to another • Cultural leveling: the process through which
cultures become more and more alike
Value Systems
Vocabulary
• Self-fulfillment• Narcissism
The American Value SystemAmerican Values Descriptions/Examples
Personal Achievement
Progress and Material Comfort
Work
Individualism
Efficiency and Practicality
Morality and Humanitarianism
Equality and Democracy
Freedom
Personal Achievement
Doing Well at school and at work is important. Gaining wealth and prestige is a sign of success.
Progress and Material Comfort
History is marked by ongoing progress, and this progress improves people’s lives.
Work
• Discipline, dedication, and hard work are signs of virtue
Individualism
Hard work, initiative, and individual effort are the keys to personal achievement.
Efficiency and Practicality
Every problem can be solved through efficiency and practicality. Getting things done well in the shortest time is very important.
Morality and Humanitarianism
Judgments should be based on a sense of right and wrong. This sense of morality also involves helping the less fortunate.
Equality and Democracy
Everyone should have an equal chance at success and the right to participate freely in government.
Freedom
Personal freedoms, such as freedom of religion, speech, and the press, are central to the American way of life
New Values: Narcissism
Narcissism: the feeling of extreme self-centeredness
Social Structures
Vocabulary
• Social structure• Status• Role• Ascribed status• Achieved status
• Master status• Role conflict• Social institutions
Status: a socially defined position in a group or in a society.
Achieved Status: a status acquired through their own direct efforts.
Master Status: The status that plays the greatest role in shaping a person’s life and determining his or her social identity.
Ascribed Status: a status assigned according to qualities beyond a person’s control.
Status: Ascribed and Achieved
Status: Activity
Brainstorm: Your ascribed and achieved statuses
Identify your master status. Write a paragraph that explains why this status is characterized as a master status in your life.
Roles
• Statuses serve simply as social categories. Roles are the components of social structure that bring statuses to life.• Most of the roles that you perform have reciprocal roles.
These are corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses.• EX. doctor-patient, teacher-student, or coach-athlete
Role Play Activity: Obtain an index card with a role. Without speaking, act out the interaction between you and your reciprocal role.
Role Conflict, Strain, and Exit
• Role Conflict: a situation that occurs when fulfilling the expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the expectations of another status
• Role Strain: a situation that occurs when a person has difficulty meeting the expectations of a single status
• Role Exit: the process that people go through to detach from a role that has been central to their self-identity
Social Interaction
• Exchange• Reciprocity• Exchange theory• Competition
Vocabulary
• Conflict• Cooperation• Accommodation
Exchange• Most basic and common form of social
interaction. • Dating, family life, friendship, and politics all
involve exchanges.• Reciprocity is the basis for exchange• the idea that if you do something for someone,
that person owes you something in return.
Exchange Theory
• Definition: a theory that holds that people are motivated by self-interests in their interactions with others .• People do things primarily for rewards. Behavior that is
rewarded tends to be repeated. exchange theory appears to run counter to some social norms such as altruism.
Competition
• Definition: an interaction that occurs when two or more people or groups oppose each other to achieve a goal that only one can attain.• A common feature in Western society.• Basis behind capitalism and democracy• If it follows accepted rules of conduct, most sociologists
view it as a positive means of motivating people to perform the roles society asks of them. • Negatively, competition can lead to psychological stress,
a lack of cooperation in social relationships, inequality, and even conflict.
Conflict• Definition: The deliberate attempt to control a person by
force, to oppose someone, or to harm another person.• Few rules of accepted conduct, and even these often are
ignored.• May range from the deliberate snubbing of a classmate
to the killing of an enemy.• Four sources of conflict: wars, disagreements within
groups, legal disputes, and clashes over ideology (religion or politics)• Can be useful• Reinforces group boundaries• Strengthen group loyalty• Bring about social change
Cooperation
• Definition: interaction that occurs when two or more persons or groups work together to achieve a goal that will benefit many people • No group can complete its tasks or achieve its goals
without cooperation from its members. • Competition may be used along with cooperation to
motivate members to work harder for the group.
ASSIGNMENT: Think of groups with which you have been involved. Have they ever used competition along with cooperation? What are some examples?
Accommodation
• Definition: a state of balance between cooperation and conflict • Accommodation helps to ensure social stability. • It can take a number of different forms• Compromise• Truce• Mediation• Arbitration