Chapter 2: Culture
Warm-Up Read the text on pages 35-36 and answer the
following:
1. Why was the girl in the text so
uncomfortable?
2. Should we try to conform to the culture of
the places we visit? Why or why not?
3. Have you ever been in a similar situation? If
so, explain.
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Chapter 2: Culture
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Objectives Define culture.
Discuss and differentiate between material culture and
nonmaterial culture.
Agenda 1. Warm-Up
2. Chapter 2 Notes (pgs. 36-39)
3. Worksheet – Everyone Has a Culture
4. Cultural Norms Around the World
5. Article – Understanding American Worldview
6. Closing Questions
Culture
DEFINES HOW PEOPLE
BEHAVE IN A SOCIETY
IN RELATION TO
OTHERS AND TO
PHYSICAL OBJECTS.
Chapter 2: Culture
CULTURE What is culture?
Language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors and non
material objects that are passed on from one generation
to the next.
Chapter 2: Culture
Material Culture
The material objects that distinguish a group of people.
Examples include: art, buildings, weapons, utensils, clothing,
hairstyle and jewelry
Chapter 2: Culture
Non-material (Symbolic Culture
A group’s way of thinking and doing. Examples include a societies
beliefs, values, common patterns and behaviors including language
and other forms of interaction.
Chapter 2: Culture
Cultural Awareness Culture is engrained into us from birth
Culture within us – learned and shared ways of
behaving and doing.
Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and
evaluate what is going on around us.
Culture Shock
The disorientation that people experience when they
come in contact with a fundamentally different culture
and can no longer depend on their taken for granted
assumptions about life.
Ethnocentrism
The use of one’s own culture as a yard stick for judging
the ways of other individuals or societies, generally leading
to a negative evaluation of their values, norms and
behaviors.
Chapter 2: Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 8
Closing Questions
1. Describe your personal culture.
2. Do you define your culture in a material or
nonmaterial way? Why?
3. What culture in the world do you think is the
most like the United States? The least?
Explain your choices.
Chapter 2: Culture
Warm-Up
1. What is the difference between material and
nonmaterial culture?
2. Do you think Americans are ethnocentric?
Why or why not?
3. Describe a situation in which you have used
nonverbal communication to communicate to
someone else.
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Chapter 2: Culture
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Objectives Cite key symbols that make up nonmaterial culture.
Differentiate between gestures and language.
Explain why language is the basis of culture.
Describe the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Agenda 1. Warm-Up
2. Chapter 2 Notes (pgs. 39-45)
3. Worksheet – Are you Text Savvy?
4. Worksheet – Identify the Signs
5. Article – The Sound of Silence
6. Closing Questions
Chapter 2: Culture
Nonmaterial culture is symbolic culture
Symbol
Something to which people attach meaning that they
then use to communicate with one another.
Symbols include:
Gestures, language, value, norms, sanctions, folkways
and mores.
Gestures
Using one’s body to communicate with one another.
Components of Symbolic
Culture
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
What does this gesture
mean?
Chapter 2: Culture
Primary way people communicate
A system of symbols that can be combined in
an infinite number of ways and represent not
only objects, but also abstract thought
Language allows culture to exist!
Allows the human experience to be cumulative
Language
Chapter 2: Culture
Allows culture to develop by freeing people to move
beyond their immediate experiences.
Provides a social or shared past and future
Language allows shared perspectives
Talking about events allows us to arrive at
shared understandings that form the basis of
social life.
Allows complex, shared, goal directed behavior.
Language
Chapter 2: Culture
Studied Hopi Indians in Southwest U.S.
Noticed the Indians had no words for past, present,
future.
Sapir-Whorf concluded that “Language has
embedded within it ways of looking at the world, it not
only expresses our thoughts, but also helps determine
what we perceive.”
Discovered major truth that language both reflects
and shapes cultural experiences.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Chapter 2: Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 26
Closing Questions
1. Why is body language so important to the way
we communicate?
2. Imagine if you could no longer speak. How
would you cope with the loss of your verbal
language? Benefits? Costs?
Chapter 2: Culture
Warm-Up
1. Describe the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Do
you agree or disagree with this hypothesis?
2. The common phrase “Actions speak louder
than words” can be applied to our study of
nonverbal communication. Do you think this
phrase is a true statement? Why or why
not?
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Chapter 2: Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 28
Objectives Define “values,” “norms,” “sanctions,” “folkways,”
“mores,” and “taboos”; provide examples of each and
discuss their sociological significance.
Agenda 1. Warm-Up
2. Discuss Article – The Sound of Silence
3. Chapter 2 Notes (pgs. 46-48)
4. Values Worksheet
5. Norms & Sanctions Worksheet
6. Closing Questions
Chapter 2: Culture
Values – standard that people define what is
desirable and undesirable, good or bad
beautiful or ugly.
Values, Norms & Sanctions
Chapter 2: Culture
Values, Norms & Santions
NORMS Rules and expectations by which society guides
the behavior of its members.
Positive Sanction – Expression of approval for
following a norm (applause, hand shake, high
five, prize, money etc.)
Negative Sanction – Reflects disapproval for
breaking a norm (harsh words, frowns, stares,
sometimes fined)
Click picture to play video
Chapter 2: Culture
Simple Example of Positive and Negative Norms
Wearing a bathing suit at pool or beach -
Positive
Wearing a bathing suit to church – Negative
(Not against the law though)
Values, Norms & Sanctions
Chapter 2: Culture
Values, Norms & Sanctions
Norms are divided into folkways and mores
Folkways – Norms that have little moral significance
Routine way of doing things
Violations elicit mild social reaction
Consist of preference rather than demand.
Click picture to play
video
Chapter 2: Culture
Norms that have great social significance
Identified with group welfare and group survival.
Consists of demands rather than preferences.
Most mores are laws. (rape, murder, theft)
Some mores are called taboos.
Something so grotesque or met with revulsion (cannibalism,
incest)
Mores
Chapter 2: Culture
Folkways v. Mores
1. Man walks down street with no shirt –
folkway.
2. Man walks down street with no pants – More
Chapter 2: Culture
CORE VALUES IN
AMERICA
What most Americans
define as the basic values.
Core values do not change
without meeting strong
resistance (same sex
marriage, legalization of
marijuana, role of women
in society, racism etc.)
TRADITIONAL
CORE VALUES
EMERGING
VALUES
Achievement and
success
Leisure
Individualism Self-fulfillment
Activity and work Physical fitness
Efficiency and
practicality
Youthfulness
Science and
technology
Concern for
humanity
Progress
Material comfort
Humanitarianism
Freedom
Democracy
Equality
Racism and group
superiority
Education
Religiosity
Romantic Love
Chapter 2: Culture
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Closing Questions
1. What are some of your family’s values?
Which are most important to you?
2. Give an example of a folkway and a more.
Chapter 2: Culture
Warm-Up
1. How often do you think you use nonverbal
communication and what kinds of things do
you communicate nonverbally?
2. Do you agree with the statistic that 55% of
everything we say is nonverbal? Why or
why not?
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Chapter 2: Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 38
Objectives Differentiate between gestures and language.
Participate in games that test your ability to communicate in
nonverbal ways.
Agenda 1. Warm-Up
2. Chapter 2 Vocab Quiz
3. Game Day Play – TABOO, Gestures & Pictionary
4. Closing Questions
Chapter 2: Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 39
Closing Questions
1. Which game was the hardest for you to
participate in? Why?
2. Which game was the easiest? Why?
3. How do these games lend themselves to our
study of body language and sociology?
Chapter 2: Culture
Warm-Up
1. What groups are you a part of in your
everyday life? (i.e. family, sports, classes,
etc)
2. What are some ways in which these groups
impact your life?
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Chapter 2: Culture
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Objectives Compare and contrast dominant culture, subculture, and
counterculture, providing examples of each.
Agenda 1. Warm-Up
2. Chapter 2 Notes (pgs. 48-53)
3. Counter Culture Jigsaw Activity
4. Closing Questions
Chapter 2: Culture
The majority of people in a society that
share the same basic core values.
Dominant Culture
Chapter 2: Culture
A world within the larger world of the dominant
culture.
There are thousands of subcultures in America.
Subcultures
Chapter 2: Culture
A group whose related behaviors,
values and beliefs place its members in
opposition to the broader culture
GOTHIC PUNK GRAFFITI
PIERCING Counter
Cultures
Chapter 2: Culture
Conflicting values
Those that seem to conflict with one another – (ex.
Democracy and equality with racism and
feminism).
Value conflictions can undergo modifications as
society develops and challenges the existing norm.
Value Clusters
Related core values that fit together to form a
larger whole (ex. hard work, education, efficiency,
material comfort and individualism bound
together.)
Conflicting Values & Value
Clusters
Chapter 2: Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 46
Closing Questions
1. How is a subculture different from a
counterculture?
2. Make a list of three subcultures that you are a
part of and why you consider yourself a
member of those subcultures.
Chapter 2: Culture
Warm-Up
1. Have you ever seen the movie Shrek? If so,
what cultures can you identify?
2. If you haven’t seen the movie before, think of
another animated movie and list some of the
cultures of that movie.
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Chapter 2: Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 48
Objectives Compare and contrast dominant culture, subculture, and
counterculture, providing examples of each.
Agenda 1. Warm-Up
2. Shrek Clips & Worksheet
3. Overview & Begin NAZA Simulation
Chapter 2: Culture
Warm-Up
TEN MINUTES TO MEET WITH YOUR
SIMULATION GROUP!
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 49
Chapter 2: Culture
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 50
Objectives Compare and contrast dominant culture, subculture, and
counterculture, providing examples of each.
Agenda 1. Warm-Up
2. NAZA Simulation
3. Chapter 2 Review Worksheet