Culture

1. Culture Today: Values Norms Concrete Culture-Share artifacts Review sociologists Cultural Relativism Language Before next week

2. Three major theories in sociology Society is like… 1)Society is like the human body. Every part serves a function 2)Society is like the NFL Everyone is in competition 3)Society is like a play. We are all actors on a stage. Structural functionalism Conflict Theory Symbolic Interactionsim

3. Symbolic Interactionist Conflict Structural Functionalist Remember, this theory is concerned with roles people perform and how society functions as well as what the functional or dysfunctional aspects of the topic are. Remember, this theory is concerned with inequality and looks for groups that might be taking advantage of other groups Remember, this theory is concerned with the influence of social groups, labels, and meanings of symbols Review

4. Sociological Imagination C. Wright Mills • Ability to see the many ways society influences our thoughts and actions

5. How is American culture viewed by others? View International Student Experience Colombia University International Business Students View Part 2

6. Participation guidelines • Raise your hand, do not interrupt • Sidebar conversations and side comments are unacceptable • Be respectful The El Camino College faculty, staff, and administration are dedicated to maintaining an optimal learning environment. Violation of classroom policies will lead to disciplinary action (loss of 15 points, formal write up, and report to Dean).  

7. Culture Total way of life shared my members of a community bound together by a: -common history -geographic location -language -economic level -religion

8. Characteristic’s of Culture • Islearned • Is taken for granted (“the last thing a fish would notice is water”) • Is symbolic (the significance of cultures lies in the meaning it holds for people) • Isconstantly changing and shaped by political, social, and economic conditions. • Effects how we perceive and evaluate the world around us

9. Culture exists on 3 levels  Non-material culture Material culture

10. What culture is NOTThink of a typical “multicultural day” • Artifacts or material used by a people  • Biological traits such as race • The idealized and romantic heritage of a people as seen with food, music, holidays, etc. • Higher class status derived from a knowledge of the arts, manners, literature, etc.

11. Values: shared beliefs about what is important • General guidelines for behavior • Define what is important within society (ex: respect for elders) • Vary from one society to another • Ideas of what people “should”, “must”, “ought to” give importance to What values do you think are important in the United States?

12. Values in the U.S. Sociologist Robin Williams (1965) identified the following as underlying core values shared my many in U.S. society: • Achievement and success • Individualism • Activity/Work • Efficiency and practicality • Science and technology • Material comfort • Love • Education • Freedom Do we have the same values now?

13. Value Contradictions. Do some of these values contradict each other? How so? • Progress • Humanitarianism • Equality • Safety • Healthy Lifestyles • Concern for the Environment • Freedom • Self-fulfillment • Achievement and success • Individualism • Activity/Work • Efficiency and practicality • Science and technology • Material comfort • Love • Education • Religion Example: individualism can contradict humanitarianism

14. Ideal culture vs. Real culture Do we really value…? Example: Do we value safety (for children)? Yes. We have laws the require seat belts for all passengers in a car, child car seats are required for babies, young children cannot sit in the front seat until they are a certain age/weight No. We don’t always value it because many school buses do not have seatbelts • Progress • Humanitarianism • Freedom • Equality • Education • Safety • Healthy lifestyles • Concern for the environment • Love

15. Ideal culture vs. Real culture Do we really value what we like to say we value? Discuss in groups of 5 1. Pick one value. 2. What is 1 example of how we do value this? 3. What is 1 example of how we do not? 4. Select 1-2 people in your group to share your examples with the class Progress Humanitarianism Freedom Equality Love 7 mins Education Safety for children Healthy lifestyles Concern for the environment

16. Ethnocentrism • Using your own group’s ways of doing things as a measure of what is normal, and possibly as a measure to judge others against National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy Asked Americans ages 18-24 which is the world’s most spoken language? Mandarin Russian English Arabic

17. Ethnocentrism • Has positive and negative aspects

18. Culture shock Disorientation that occurs when entering an unfamiliar culture. Have you had experiences with culture shock?

19. Concrete Culture • Assignment 3. Share your cultural artifact. Tell us: • your name • what you brought • what meaning it has for you 2. As people are sharing, record which category of culture you think each item falls under: • Race/ethnicity/nationality • Language • Gender • Socio-economic status • Age • Sports • Religion • Political ideology • Interests/hobbies • Experiences

20. Subcultures and counter cultures Subculture: • Culture within larger culture • Has some own values, customs etc, • Shares many values of the parent culture Ex: Youth culture, DJ’s, surfers, doctors Counter culture: • Holds values that stand in opposition to those of the dominant culture Ex: Swingers, gangs, mafia

21. Culture shock Disorientation that occurs when entering an unfamiliar culture.

22. Norms: shared rules of conduct • Outline what is acceptable, appropriate • Guide behavior • Based on values Value: respect for elders Norm: give up your seat on the bus if there is someone elderly standing • Norms are seen as a mechanism of social control

23. How do we learn norms? • reinforced by positive and negative sanctions • Sanctions: reactions people get for breaking or following norms

24. 3 Types of Norms: Folkways, Mores (more-ays), Taboo

25. 3 Types of Norms: Folkways, Mores, Taboo

26. 3 Types of Norms: Folkways, Mores, Taboo

27. 3 types of norms

28. Sociologists to know-Review Why do these people matter? Possible topic for your final: Select a sociological theorist and explain their contribution to the discipline. Why is this theorist important? What are the major key points of their theory? How do (or don’t) their theories apply today?

29. Auguste Comte (1798 –1857) Coined the term “sociology” Comte suggested the use of positivism: applying the scientific approach to the social world Believed that this new science should not only discover sociological principles, but should then apply those principles to social reform.

30. Herbert Spencer 1820-1903 Sociology should not include social reform Developed “Organism” theory-society is constantly evolving like an organism Coined the term “Survival of the Fittest” and applied theories of evolution to societies

31. Karl Marx 1818-1883 An economist, concerned with Social Change through Social Conflict and revolution Developed theories of Class Conflict Described Capitalism is a 2 class system of bourgeoisies and proletariat

32. Emile Durkheim 1858-1917 Study of suicide Elementary Forms of Religious Life Believed sociologists should diagnose the causes of social problems and also develop solutions for them.

33. Max Weber 1864-1920 believed religion was the main force of social change Wrote The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism Stressed that personal values or biases should not influence social research.

34. Harriet Martineau 1802-1876 First recognized female sociologist Translated Comte’s work from French to English Studied British and American societies and published How to Observe Morals and Manners.

35. Jane Addams 1860-1935 Founded the Hull House a social services agency in Chicago 1st American woman to earn the Nobel Peace Prize for her work Stressed that crime in urban areas was not a result of the people, but of economic desperation

36. W.E.B. Du Bois 1868-1963 First African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard Part of creation of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Concerned with racial equality and criminology * Possible Paper 2 Topic

37. Robert K. Merton1910-2003 • Typology of Prejudice and Discrimination • Discussion of functions and dysfunctions (manifest and latent) • Theory of anomie (5 ways people may react when unable to attain success in a legitimate manner) *Possible Paper 2 Topic

38. George Herbert Mead1863-1931 • Stated human beings begin their understanding of the social world through play • Published Mind Self Society • Described internal thought processes and conflicts: I, Me, Self, Mind

39. Charles Horton Cooley 1864-1929 • Also studied the subject of “the self” • Interested in social interaction • Looking Glass Self: He stated that we form our sense of ourselves by looking in a mirror. That mirror symbolizes the people that we interact with

40. Cultural relativism Examining cultures without judging its elements as superior or inferior to ones own way of life Is cultural relativism a good thing? Can it be a bad thing?

41. Language Defined: • set of symbols that expresses ideas and allows people to think and communicate with each other. • Can be verbal or nonverbal. • Represents not only objects but also abstract thought

42. Language Guides perceptions There are words that exist in certain languages that do not have a an equivalent in others Examples: • girlfriend/boyfriend doesn’t exist in Urdu • Kuya/Ate(older brother/sister in Tagalog) • Ta’arof- Farsi term referring to etiquette, politeness, cultural obligations doesn’t exist in English

43. Culture and Language • Humanslearn and transmit our culture through language

44. Culture and Language What we say influences what we think what we feel and what we believe What think, feel, and believe influences what we say

45. Language The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population:(number of native speakers in parentheses) Mandarin Chinese (937,132,000) Spanish (332,000,000) English (322,000,000) Bengali (189,000,000) Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000) Arabic (174,950,000) Portuguese (170,000,000) Russian (170,000,000) Japanese (125,000,000) German (98,000,000) French(79,572,000)

46. What do these proverbs tell you about what the culture values? • “Lower your voice and strengthen your argument” (Lebanese proverb) • "When the brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father's estate.“ (African proverb) • “Flies never visit an egg that has no crack.” (Chinese proverb)

47. Language Moribund (endangered language) • Moribund = spoken only by a few older people and unknown to children • Perhaps as many as 90% of all world languages will be extinct or moribund within the next 100 years • An entire way of thinking is lost each time a language becomes extinct

48. Endangered Languages • View National Geographic Map of endangered languages • View Enduring Voices Project

49. Before next week • Read chapter 3 and 4 • Quiz 1 study guide posted on website • Quiz 1 in 2 weeks bring scantron, pencil, be on time-class continues after the quiz

50. Summary • View How Beliefs and Values Define a Culture