Sociology Chapter 3
Cultural Conformity and Adaptation
PreviewSection 1: The American Value System
Section 2: Social Control
Section 3: Social Change
Sociology Chapter 3
Read to Discover
• What are the basic values that form the foundation of American culture?
• What new values have developed in the United States since the 1970s?
Section 1: The American Value System
Sociology Chapter 3
Question
What basic values form the foundation of American culture?
Section 1: The American Value System
Sociology Chapter 3
Traditional American Values(explanation follows)
• Personal achievement• Individualism• Work• Morality and humanitarianism• Efficiency and practicality• Progress and material comfort• Equality and democracy• Freedom
Section 1: The American Value System
Sociology Chapter 3
• Personal Achievement - nation built primarily by people valued individual achievement. Most evident in the area of employment
• Individualism - success comes through hard work and initiative
• Work - discipline, dedication, and hard work are viewed as signs of virtue
Section 1: The American Value System
Sociology Chapter 3
• Morality and Humanitarianism - high value is placed on morality and the world is viewed in terms of right and wrong; quick to help the less fortunate
• Efficiency and Practicality - practical and inventive; every problem has a solution; objects are judged on their usefulness and people on their ability to get things done
Section 1: The American Value System
Sociology Chapter 3
• Progress and Material Comfort - through hard work and determination, living standards will continue to improve
• Equality and Democracy - to have human equality, there must be an equality of opportunity; success must be earned
• Freedom - freedoms of choice such as religion, speech, and press must be protected from government interference
Section 1: The American Value System
Sociology Chapter 3
Other Core Values
• Nationalism and Patriotism
• Science and Rationality
• Racial and Group Superiority
• Education
• Religious Values
• Romantic Love
Section 1: The American Value System
Sociology Chapter 3
Question
What new values have developed in the United States since the 1970s?
Section 1: The American Value System
Sociology Chapter 3
• Commitment to the full development of one’s personality, talents, and potential; self-fulfillment includes leisure, physical fitness, and youthfulness (narcissism, “ME Generation”)
• Environmental protection
• Education and religion were deemed important by students who were polled
End Section 1. HW - p. 48, #1, 2, 4a
Section 1: The American Value SystemOur Changing Values
Sociology Chapter 3
Read to Discover
• How are the norms of society enforced?
• What are the differences between positive and negative sanctions and between formal and informal sanctions?
Section 2: Social Control
Sociology Chapter 3
Question
How are the norms of society enforced, and what are
the four types of sanctions?
Section 2: Social Control
Sociology Chapter 3
• Internalization—process by which a norm becomes a part of an individual’s personality, thus conditioning that individual to conform to society’s expectations (waiting in line)
• Sanctions—rewards and punishments used to enforce conformity to the norms
Section 2: Social Control
Enforcing the Norms of Society
Sociology Chapter 3
ENFORCEMENT OF SOCIAL NORMS
Negative:punishment or the threat of
punishment to enforce
conformity
Formal: reward or punishment
by a formal organization or
regulatory agency, such as a school
Informal:spontaneous expression of approval or
disapproval by an individual or group
Positive:action that rewards a particular
kind of behavior
Internalization: how a norm becomes part of a person’s personality, causing them to conform to society’s expectations
Sanctions: rewards or punishments used to enforce conformity to norms
Section 2: Social Control
Sociology Chapter 3
Question
What are the differences between positive and negative sanctions
and between formal and informal sanctions?
Section 2: Social Control
Sociology Chapter 3
• Positive Sanction—action that rewards a particular kind of behavior such as good grades or a pay raise
• Negative Sanction—punishment or the threat of punishment to enforce conformity such as frowns, detention, imprisonment, and even death
Section 2: Social Control
Sociology Chapter 3
• Formal Sanction - rewards or punishments by a formal organization or regulatory agency such as the government; includes promotions, awards, fines, or low grades
• Informal Sanction - spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval by an individual or group such as a standing ovation, gifts, gossip, or ridicule
Section 2: Social Control
Sociology Chapter 3
• Principal means of social control is self-control, learned through internalization.
• Agents of social control include family, church, school, police, courts, public opinion
• No society can survive long without an effective means of social control.
End Section 2. HW – p. 53, #1-3.
Section 2: Social Control
Sociology Chapter 3
Read to Discover• What are the main sources of social change?• What factors lead people to resist social
change?
Section 3: Social Change
Sociology Chapter 3
Question
What are the main sources of social change?
Section 3: Social Change
Sociology Chapter 3
• Values and Beliefs - changes in values and beliefs are often caused by ideology and spread through social movements (prohibition, women's’ rights, civil rights, gay rights, environmental movement)
• Technology - new knowledge and tools people use to manipulate their environment (atomic fusion, cell phones, political movements)
Section 3: Social Change
Sociology Chapter 3
• Population - change in size and characteristics of population may bring about changes in the culture (new foods, crowding in cities, migrations change regions, age of population – older US)
• Diffusion - process of spreading culture traits from society to society. Technology and material traits diffuse faster than beliefs and ideas. (foods, movies, music, electronics) Many societies adapt, or reformulate, traits to own needs.
Section 3: Social Change
Sociology Chapter 3
• Physical Environment - the environment may provide conditions that encourage or discourage cultural change (importing of foods, natural disasters, change in resource supplies)
• Wars and Conquests – (causes quick changes) exposure to new cultures; changes in politics, economy, population, property, technology, medicine
Section 3: Social Change
Sociology Chapter 3
Values and Beliefs
Technology
Population
Diffusion
Physical Environment
Wars and Conquests
Section 3: Social ChangeSocial
ConsequenceSource of
Social Change Example
Sociology Chapter 3
See “The 100% American”Page 59
Question
What factors lead people to resist social change?
Section 3: Social Change
Sociology Chapter 3
• Ethnocentrism - tendency to view one’s own culture or group as superior, which can lead to segregation (resistance to Japanese cars)
• Cultural Lag - a delay in cultural change, such as in the introduction and use of computers (180 day school year - developed for rural society of 1800s, not needed in today’s society but doesn’t change)
Section 3: Social Change
Sociology Chapter 3
• Vested Interests—satisfaction with the status quo, which can lead to such things as a focus on maintaining budgets over a focus on providing a quality education (big business resist change –automobile, oil industries)
End Section 3 and Chapter 3. HW – p. 61, #1, 3b and p. 62, I.P.I.; U.M.I., #3,4,7,8; T.C., #3,5
Section 3: Social Change