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Chapter Outline
Defining Culture
The Elements of Culture
Cultural Diversity
Popular Culture
Theoretical Perspectives on Culture
Cultural Change
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Defining Culture
Complex system of meaning and
behavior that defines the way of life
for a society.
Includes: beliefs, values, knowledge,
art, morals, laws, customs, habits,
language, and dress.
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Characteristics of Culture
1. Culture is shared.
2. Culture is learned.
3. Culture is taken for granted.
4. Culture is symbolic.
5. Culture varies across time andplace.
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Culture is
Concrete
We can observe cultural practices
that define human experience.
Abstract
It is a way of thinking, feeling,believing, and behaving.
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Elements of Culture
Element Examples
Language English; Spanish;
hieroglyphics
Norms Manners
Folkways Cultural forms of dress; foodhabits
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Elements of Culture
Element Examples
Mores Religious doctrines; formal
law
Values Liberty, freedom
Beliefs Belief in a higher being
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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Language determines what people think
because it forces them to perceive the
world in certain terms. Critics question whether language single-
handedly dictates the perception of
reality.
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The Social Meaning of
Language
Language affects peoples perception
of reality.
Studies find that when college studentslook at job descriptions written in
masculine pronouns, they assume
women are not qualified for the job.
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The Social Meaning of
Language
Language reflects the social and
political status of different groups in
society. The term working woman suggests
that women who do not work for wages
are not working.
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The Social Meaning of
Language
Groups may advocate changing
language referring to them as a way of
asserting a positive group identity. Some advocates for the disabled
challenge the term handicapped,
arguing that it stigmatizes people whomay have many abilities.
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The Social Meaning of
Language
The implications of language emerge
from specific historical and cultural
contexts. The naming of so-called races comes
from the social and historical processes
that define different groups as inferioror superior.
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The Social Meaning of
Language
Language can distort actual group
experience.
The terms Hispanic and Latino lumptogether Mexican Americans, island
Puerto Ricans, U.S.-born Puerto
Ricans, people from Honduras,Panama, El Salvador, and other Central
and South American countries.
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The Social Meaning of
Language
Language shapes peoples
perceptions of groups and events in
society. The statement that Columbus
discovered America implies that
Native American societies didnt existbefore Columbus found the Americas.
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The Social Meaning of
Language
Terms used to define groups change overtime and can originate in movements toassert a positive identity.
In the 1960s, Black American replacedNegro.
Earlier, Negro and colored were used todefine African Americans.
Currently, it is popular to refer to all so-calledracial groups as people of color.
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Norms
Specific cultural expectations for how to
behave in a given situation.
A society without norms would be inchaos; with established norms, people
know how to act, and social interactions
are consistent, predictable, and learnable. Social sanctions are mechanisms of
social control that enforce norms.
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Beliefs
Shared ideas people hold collectively
within a culture.
Beliefs are the basis for many of acultures norms and values.
Beliefs orient people to the world by
providing answers to otherwiseimponderable questions about the
meaning of life.
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Values
Abstract standards in a society or group
that define the ideal principles of what is
desirable and morally correct. Values determine what is considered right
and wrong, beautiful and ugly, good and
bad. Values can provide rules for behavior, but
can also be the source of conflict.
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Cultural Diversity
The United States has enormous culturaldiversity from religious, ethnic, and racialdifferences, as well as regional, age, gender,
and class differences. 11% of people living in the United States are
foreign-born.
In a single year, immigrants from more than100 countries come to the United States.
18% of young people speak a language otherthan English at home.
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% Speaking Language
Other Than English at Home
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Dominant Culture
The dominant culture is the most powerful
group in society.
It receives the most support from majorinstitutions and constitutes the major belief
system.
Social institutions in the society perpetuate the
dominant culture and give it a degree oflegitimacy that is not shared by other cultures.
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Subcultures
The cultures of groups whose values and
norms of behavior differ from the
dominant culture. Members of subcultures interact
frequently and share a common world
view. Subcultures share some elements of the
dominant culture and coexist within it.
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Countercultures
Subcultures created as a reaction against
the values of the dominant culture.
Members of the counterculture reject thedominant cultural values and develop
cultural practices that defy the norms and
values of the dominant group. Nonconformity to the dominant culture is
often the mark of a counterculture.
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Ethnocentrism
Judging a culture by standards of
ones own culture:
builds group solidarity
discourages understanding
can lead to conflict, war, andgenocide
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Popular Culture
The beliefs, practices, and objects that
are part of everyday traditions.
It is mass-produced and mass-consumed. Has enormous significance in the
formation of public attitudes and values,
and plays a significant role in shaping thepatterns of consumption in contemporary
society.
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The Influence of the Mass
Media
The average person consumes some form of
media 71 hours per weekmore time than they
likely spend in school or at work.
95% of all homes in the United States have at
least one televisionmore than have telephone
service.
Watching television is the most popular leisureactivity of Americans: 26% say it is their favorite
way to spend an evening.
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% Of Americans Who Say They Are
Offended by Television Content (by Age)
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Culture
Theory Culture.
Functionalism Integrates people into
groups.
Conflict Theory Serves interests of
powerful groups.
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Theoretical Perspectives on
Culture
Theory Culture.
Symbolic
Interaction
Creates group identity
from diverse culturalmeanings.
New Cultural
Studies
Is unpredictable and
constantly changing.
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Sources of Cultural Change
1.A change in societal conditions.
2. Cultural diffusion
3. Innovation
4. Imposition of cultural change by an
outside agency.
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Fast Food and the
Transformation of Culture
The average person in the United States
consumes 3 hamburgers and 4 orders of
French fries per week.
Americans spend more money on fast food than
on movies, books, magazines, newspapers,
videos, music, computers, and higher education
combined. 1 in 8 workers has at some point been
employed by McDonalds.
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Fast Food and the
Transformation of Culture
McDonalds is the largest private operator ofplaygrounds in the United States.
McDonalds is the single largest purchaser of
beef, pork, and potatoes.
96% of American schoolchildren can identifyRonald McDonald, which is only exceeded bythe number who can identify Santa Claus.
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Quick Quiz
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1. Culture includes all of the following
except:a. impulses
b. laws
c. art
d. knowledge
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Answer: a
Culture does not include impulses.
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2. Which of the following statements about
culture is not true?
a. Cultural beliefs and practices are
learned.
b. Cultural beliefs and practices are
constantly questioned.
c. Culture is dynamic that is it changes
over time.
d. A significant aspect of culture is that it
is shared.
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Answer: b
The statement, cultural beliefs and
practices are constantly questioned, is
not true.
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3. Expectations about what is appropriate
behavior in particular situations arereferred to as:
a. values
b. lawsc. norms
d. beliefs
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Answer : c
Expectations about what is appropriate
behavior in particular situations are
referred to as norms.
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4. Values can best be defined as:
a. What is considered appropriate
behavior
b. Shared ideas that provide a life theme
c. Shared ideas held collectively bypeople
d. What is considered socially and
morally desirable
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Answer: d
Values can best be defined as what is
considered socially and morally
desirable.
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4. Which of the following is not an example
of subcultures?a. Inner-city youth
b. Deadheads
c. The Amishd. Militia groups
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Answer: d
A militia groupis not an example of a
subculture.
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5. Which of the following statements reflects
the symbolic interactionist view of culture?
a. Culture creates norms and values thathelp integrate people into society
b. Culture serves to reinforce the position
of power enjoyed by the elite
c. Culture is socially constructed
d. Culture can be a source of political
resistance
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Answer: c
That statement, culture is socially
constructed, reflects the symbolic
interactionist view of culture.