Chapter 3

Culture

Nacirema

Culture – The knowledge, language, values, customs and physical objects that are passed from generation to generation among members of a group

Material culture – skyscrapers, fast-food, cell phones, cars

Nonmaterial – beliefs, rules, customs, family systems

Society – Group of people who live in a defined territory and participate in a common culture

Sociobiology – Study of the biological basis of human behavior. Combines Darwin and modern genetics.Behaviors that help humans the most are passed on.

Critics believe:

Labeling of “inferior races”

Too much variation around the world

Human culture too complex for genetics alone

1. The pen is mightier than the ___________

2. Better safe than ____________

3. It’s always darkest before ____________

4. Don’t bite the hand that _____________

5. No news is _______________

6. If you lie down with dogs, you’ll ___________

7. A penny saved is a ______________

8. None are so blind as ________________

9. Children should be seen and not ______________

10. Better late than _______________

Same answers? Why?

Symbols – Things that represent something else

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis of linguistic relativity – Our perceptions can be shaped by language, i.e. importance

qanuk qanir qanunge qanugglir kaneq kaner kanevvluk kanevcir natquik natquvigte nevluk nevlugte aniu apun qanikcaq qanikcir muruaneq qetrar qerretrar nutaryuk qanisqineq qengaruk utvak navcaq navcite pirta pircir pirtuk cellallir piretepag pirrelvag

Inuit words for types of snow

How many different words for money can you think of?

Without talking the class must arrange itself by birthday, starting with January and going to February.Can you communicate without words? Is it easy?

Avalanche blizzard blowing snow dusting flurry frost hail hardpack igloo powder sleet slushsnow snow-bank snow-fort snow-man snow-mixed-with-rain snowflake snowstorm

English words for types of snow

Norms – Rules defining appropriate and inappropriate behavior

Folkways – Norms that lack moral significance

Mores – Norms that have moral dimensions and that should be followed by members of a society

Taboo – A rule of behavior, the violation of which calls for strong punishment

Law – A norm that is formally defined and enforced by officials

Sanctions – Rewards and punishments used to encourage people to follow norms

Formal/Informal Sanctions – Examples?

Values – Broad ideas about what is good or desirable shared by people in a society

Beliefs and Material CultureBeliefs – Ideas about the nature of reality

Material Culture – The concrete, tangible objects of culture

Does the meaning of an object ever change?

Ideal v. Real culture – what we claim to do versus what we actually do

Cultural Change – Discovery, Invention & Diffusion

Social Categories – Grouping of persons who share a social characteristic: i.e. age, gender or religion

Subculture v. Counterculture

Ethnocentrism – Judging others in terms of one’s own cultural standards: How are you, compared to me?

Cultural universals – General cultural traits that exist in all cultures: Economy, Social Institutions, Arts, Language, Environment, Recreation and Beliefs

Cultural particulars – The ways in which a culture expresses universal traits: Culture differences