Chapter 2

Culture

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Chapter Outline
• Defining Culture
• The Elements of Culture
• Cultural Diversity
• The Mass Media and Popular Culture
• Theoretical Perspectives on Culture and the Media
• Cultural Change

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Defining Culture (1 of 2)
• Culture is the complex system of meaning and
behavior that defines the way of life for a given group
or society.
• It includes beliefs, values, knowledge, art, morals,
laws, customs, habits, language, and dress, among
other things.
• Culture includes ways of thinking as well as patterns of
behavior.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Defining Culture (2 of 2)
• Culture is both material and nonmaterial.
– Material culture consists of objects created in society,
e.g., the desk you sit at when studying.
– Nonmaterial culture consists of nontangible things
such as, the norms, laws, customs, values, beliefs, and
ideas of a group of people.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 The Power of Culture
• Ethnocentrism is the habit of only seeing things from
the point of view of one’s own group.
• Cultural relativism is the idea that something can be
understood and judged only in relationship to the
cultural context in which it appears.
• Culture shock is the feeling of disorientation when
one encounters a new or rapidly changed cultural
situation.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Characteristics of Culture (1 of 4)
• Culture is shared.
– The fact that culture is collectively experienced and
agreed upon is what makes human society possible.
– People within a given culture use shared symbols,
language patterns, belief systems, and ways of thinking.
• Culture is learned.
– Sociologists say that culture is learned both informally
and formally.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Characteristics of Culture (2 of 4)
• Culture is taken for granted.
– People engage unknowingly in hundreds of cultural
practices; culture makes these practices seem “normal.”

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Characteristics of Culture (3 of 4)
• Culture is symbolic.
– The significance of culture lies in the meaning it holds
for people.
– Symbols are things or behaviors to which people give
meaning; the meaning is not inherent in a symbol but is
bestowed by the meaning people give it.
 Different cultures assign different meanings to symbols.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Characteristics of Culture (4 of 4)
• Culture varies across time and place.
– Culture develops as humans adapt to the physical and
social environment around them.
– Culture is a mix of the past and the present.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 The Elements of Culture
• Every culture relies on certain elements to provide its
people with a way to live:
– language
– norms
– beliefs
– values

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Language
• Language is a set of symbols and rules which, put
together in a meaningful way, provide a complex
communication system.
– The formation of culture among humans is made
possible by language.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Norms (1 of 2)
• Norms are the specific cultural expectations for how to
behave in a given situation.
– Society without norms would be chaos; with norms in
place, people know how to act, and social interactions
are consistent, predictable, and learnable.
• There are norms governing every situation.
– Sometimes they are formal, sometimes informal.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Norms (2 of 2)
• Folkways are the general standards of behavior
adhered to by a group.
– They are the ordinary customs of different group
cultures
• Mores are strict norms that control moral and ethical
behavior.
– Most mores are enforced by rules and laws.
– Violating or breaking a more can result in formal social
sanctions or punishments.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Beliefs
• Beliefs are shared ideas held collectively by people
within a given culture about what is true.
– Shared beliefs are part of what binds people together in
society.
– Beliefs are also the bases for many norms and values
of a given culture.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Values
• Values are the abstract standards in
a society or group that define ideal
principles.
– Values define what is desirable and
morally correct; thus, values
determine what is considered right
and wrong, beautiful and ugly, good
and bad.
– Values guide the behavior of people
in society; they also shape the
social norms in a given culture.
Photo caption: Cultural values can clash when groups
have strongly held, but clashing, value systems.
Values can be a source of cultural cohesion, but
also of cultural conflict. What are some of the
different values that are being debated in society?
Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
 Cultural Diversity
• Dominant Culture: the culture of the most powerful
group in a society.
– This is not determined by the size of the group, but
rather the power that the group has in determining the
culture’s framework.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Map 2.1 Mapping America’s Diversity: English
Language Not Spoken at Home

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Subcultures

• Subcultures: those whose

values and norms differ to
some degree from those of
the dominant culture.
– Members of subcultures
tend to interact frequently
with one another and
share a common
worldview.
Photo caption: The Amish people form a
subculture in the United States,
although preserving their traditional
way of life can be a challenge in the
context of contemporary society.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 The Globalization of Culture
• Global culture: the diffusion of a single culture
throughout the world.
– U.S. markets increasingly dominate fashion, food,
entertainment, and other cultural values, thereby
creating a more homogenous world culture.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 The Mass Media and Popular Culture
• The term mass media refers to the channels of
communication that are available to wide segments of
the population.
– This includes print, film, and electronic media (radio and
television), as well as the Internet.
– Mass media has extraordinary power to shape culture,
including what people believe and the information
available to them.
– Social media – vast networks of social interaction that
new media have inspired.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 The Media and Popular Culture
• Popular culture refers to the culture’s beliefs,
practices, and objects that are part of everyday
traditions.
– The popular culture of the United States is one defined
by its dominating usage and reliance on the mass
media.
• Digital divide is a term used to refer to a persistence
of inequality in people’s access to electronic
information.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Theoretical Perspectives on Culture and the
Media (1 of 3)
• One important question for sociologists studying the
mass media is whether these images have any effect
on those who see them.
– Does the media create popular values or reflect them?
– The reflection hypothesis contends that the mass
media reflects the values of the general population.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Theoretical Perspectives on Culture and the
Media (2 of 3)
• Functionalist theorists believe that norms and
values create or disrupt social bonds that attach
people to society.
– Culture therefore provides coherence and stability in
society.
• Conflict theorists analyze culture as a source of
power in society.
– History is filled with examples of conflict between
different cultures where the conflict has actually shaped
the course of world affairs.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Theoretical Perspectives on Culture and the
Media (3 of 3)
• Symbolic interactionists are concerned with the
meaning that people give to behavior and how social
interaction produces and changes culture and cultural
behavior.
– Symbolic interaction also emphasizes that culture, like
all other forms of social behavior, is socially
constructed.
• Feminist theory – analyzes the power that men have
in controlling cultural institutions.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Cultural Change
• Sometimes cultures adjust slowly to changing cultural
conditions, resulting in culture lag.
– Rapid technological change is often accompanied by
some aspects of culture “lagging” behind.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Sources of Cultural Change (1 of 2)
• Cultural diffusion is the transmission of cultural
elements from one society or cultural group to another.
– This is swift and widespread in societies with
instantaneous communication and ease of rapid travel.
– Cultural diffusion also occurs when subcultural
influences enter the dominant group.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Sources of Cultural Change (2 of 2)
• Cultural innovation can create dramatic changes in
society.
– Trolleys, subways, and automobiles changed the
character of cities.
– People no longer walk to work; instead, cities expanded
outward to include suburbs.
– Technology is currently changing U.S. culture at a faster
rate than previously experienced in recorded history.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Chapter Summary
• What is culture?
• How do sociologists define norms, beliefs, and
values?
• What is the significance of diversity in human
cultures?
• What is the sociological significance of the mass
media and popular culture?
• What do different sociological theories reveal about
culture?

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Question 1
Beliefs, values, knowledge, art, morals, laws, customs,
habits, language, and dress are all examples of which
concept below?
A.Social structure
B.Nonmaterial Culture
C.Cultural capital
D.A social institution

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Answer 1
B. Nonmaterial Culture

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Question 2
Material culture _____ .
A.is abstract and less tangible than nonmaterial culture
B.includes norms and values
C.can be both a representation of, and an influence on,
nonmaterial culture
D.has little meaning or significance for a given society

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Answer 2
C. can be both a representation of, and an influence on,
nonmaterial culture

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Question 3
Which of the following is NOT an aspect of culture?
A.Culture is shared.
B.Culture is in-born.
C.Culture is taken for granted.
D.Culture is symbolic.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Answer 3
B. Culture is in-born.

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Defining Culture: Material Culture (1 of 2)

• Material Culture (tangible objects)

– Your clothes
– Road signs
– Buildings
– Any tangible objects in your home

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

 Defining Culture: Material Culture (2 of 2)

• Nonmaterial Culture
– Norms
– Beliefs
– Values
– Language

Copyright © 2020 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.