Values

Values: collective ideas about what’s right or wrong; good or bad; desirable or undesirable by a particular culture

Robin Williams Core American Values

Individualism = overarching value Value Clusters

Achievement and success

Activity and workEfficiency and practicality

Science and progress

Material comfort [Education 1975]

Robin Williams Core American Values

Value Cluster Equality and Equal Opportunity Democracy Freedom and liberty (free

enterprise) Humanitarianism and morality [religiosity; romantic love 1975]

Robin Williams Core American Values

Contradictory Values Racism and group superiority (logical outcome of individualism)

EQUITY

strains -- change

American Values

Emerging Values Leisure

Self-fulfillment Physical fitness Youthfulness Environmental concerns

Culture Strain

Ideal -------real culture

Culture Strains Cheating-- ex

Moral Holidays/Moral Holiday places

Culture Wars

ESSENTIAL TO CULTURE

Symbols and Language

Symbols

anything which meaningfully represents something else

Creates shared meanings; powerful feelings

Alphabets

ABCDEFGHIHKLOMNPQUSTUVWXYZ

Language

set of symbols that expresses ideas and allows people to communicate

Creates visual imagesSG: allows shared past, present and futureComplex goal directed planning Cumulative human experience – can go

beyond the immediateShared and new perspectives

Sapir-Whorf Thesis

language predisposes its People to think and perceive in certain ways, to shape reality by what we notice and how we designate:

Verbal – Oral and Written

Symbols grammarA,B,C structure/form

Argot – specialized languageinsider status –”glues and excludes”

Non-Verbal

PowerfulIntentional or unintentionalVisual cuesVerbal cues -tone, inflection Environment and context

Types of Non Verbal Communication

Symbolic Action powerful gesturesEX. Black power salute 1968 draft card burninglynching

bra burning at Miss America

Types of Non Verbal Communication

Body Language1. Facial Expressions – universal

Ekman

BUT what triggers the emotionacceptable responses = cultural

2. gestures – relative, must be learnedstaring, eye contact

3. demeanor – tied to relative social power

4. dress

Key ideas - Hall

Body language/non verbal language is LEARNED – by observation & imitation

We learn what’s appropriate for gender, ethnicity, class, regions, race

“Non verbal communications signal to other members of your own group what kind of person you are, how you feel about others, how you’ll fit in and work in a group, whether you’re anxious, the degree to which you feel comfortable with the standards of your own culture as well as deeply significant feelings about the self…”

Non Verbal Communication -space

Space and proximity

personal space distance needed for safety

we react to invasion

Intimate distance – w/in 18 “ – spouses, lovers, close friends

“get out of my face!

Personal distance – immediate area that one claims as private 18”-4’

Social distance – 4’-12’ formal relationships

Public distance – over 12’

Contradictory Messages - paradox

Can’t decipher meaning – get two meanings or cues

Must interpret cues to determine behavior or response

Not the same a lack of clarity or misunderstanding

Ex. flirting