CULTURE AND SOCIAL

STRUCTU

RE

M S . CU R R E Y

LEARNING GOALS:1.Explain how culture and heredity affect social behavior.

2.What are the criticisms of sociobiology?

3. Where do norms come from and how to they affect our behavior? List 3 types of norms.

4. Why does culture change? Is cultural change good?

5. Does ethnocentrism help or hurt a society?

6. Identify similarities in cultures around the world. Why are there similarities in cultures around the world?

CULTUREKnowledge, values, customs and physical objects

that are shared by members of a society.

Society: specific territory inhabited by people who share a common culture

DOES CULTURE OR BIOLOGY AFFECT BEHAVIOR?

Both!Why is culture more important than

biology? We are not controlled by our instincts because we don’t need them to survive anymore. Ex: Eating when you are not hungry.

HEREDITY AND BEHAVIORAbout ½ of our personality traits come

from genes.

REFLEXES AND DRIVESEat, drink, associate with others, react to pain.

BUT expression of our reflexes and drives can be dif based on culture. Ex: Be a MAN! Don’t cry!

SOCIOBIOLOGYThe study of the biological basis for human

behavior.

Assumes that the behaviors that best help people are biologically based and transmitted through the genetic code.

CRITICISMS OF SOCIOBIOLOGY

1.Can be used as justification for racial inferiority

2.Too much variation in societies around the world for behavior to be explained with biology

Main lesson: genes work WITH culture. Men and women prefer different things in romantic partners. Is this biological?

HOW ARE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE RELATEDLanguage is a way to create and spread

culture. Easy way to transmit culture. Exposure to another language or new

words can alter perception.

CULTURAL RELATIVISMStory of girl who wanted to build a well in

Africa…..

NORMS AND VALUESNorms: the rules we live by. May not even think

about them unless violated. Ex: cutting in line.

3 TYPES OF NORMSFolkways, mores, and laws.

Folkways: norms that lack moral significance ex: sleep in bed not floor

Mores: norms that have morals that should be followed: if you can work you SHOULD work.

Taboo: most serious mores: violation calls for strong punishment

Laws: norm that is FORMALLY defined and enforced by officials. Consciously created while mores emerge slowly and are often created unconsciously

ENFORCING THE RULESRules must be learned and accepted.

How? Sanctions! Rewards and punishments used to encourage people to follow norms.

Informal Sanctions: can be applied by most members of a group (ex stare at someone who talks during a movie

Formal Sanctions: only applied by officially designated people like judges or teachers.

As we age, we start to conform w/our sanctions because we want to avoid guilt or social disapproval.

VALUES: BASIS FOR NORMSShared broad ideas about what is good or

desirable.

Note: people can have similar values with dif norms. Ex: US and Soviet Union had value of freedom but they had very dif norms in their society.

WHY ARE VALUES IMPORTANT?They form the basis for norms.Involved in most aspects of daily life.

Ideal of freedom in Americas affects family relationships, how people are treated in the legal systems, worship, and running of organizations.

BASIC VALUES OF THE USAchievement and successActivity and workEfficiency and practicalityEqualityDemocracyGroup superiority (place greater value on people of

own race)

Some think honesty, optimism and friendliness should be added to this list.

BELIEFS AND MATERIAL CULTUREBehavior based on beliefs.Material culture: the concrete tangible objects of

a culture: cars, books, chairs….. No meaning unless people give it to them

Non-material culture: cultural meaning not determined by physical characteristics of objects. Based on beliefs, norms and values people hold w/regards to them. Newspaper and Pepper story (p93)

IDEAL AND REAL CULTUREIdeal: cultural guidelines that group members

claim to accept. (honesty)Real: actual behavior patterns (tax evasion)

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND SIMILARITYWhy does culture change?1. Discovery: women can play sports! 2. Invention: creation of something new (cell

phones, i-pods , facebook have big effect on life)

3. Diffusion: borrowing aspects of culture from other cultures. Ex: pizza hut, KFC all over the world

FACEBOOK DEBATE!Read articles together: http://www.sociology.org/featured/friend

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/itslideshow/5916773.cms

Discuss!

CULTURAL DIVERSITYSome is result of social categories:

grouping of persons that share a social characteristic: age, gender, religion……….

SUBCULTURES AND COUNTERCULTURESubculture: part of dominant culture but differs in some

important respects. Ex: China town in San Francisco

Counterculture: subculture deliberately and consciously opposed to certain cultural beliefs or attitudes of dominant culture. Ex: white supremacists.

ETHNOCENTRISMWhen people learn their culture and tend to be

strongly committed to it and cannot imagine any other way of life.

Olympics!

DOES ETHNOCENTRISM HELP OR HURT SOCIETY?Both! People feel good about themselves in a

group- leads to stability, traditions…BUT if a society is too rigid, it can prevent change

for the better.

CULTURAL UNIVERSALSTraits that exist in all cultures (over 70!) p 107

sports, cooking, division of labor….

How are they expressed? Different for dif cultures. EX: caring for kids: U.S.: mostly done by women. New Guinea: men

WHY DO CULTURAL UNIVERSALS EXIST?1. Biological similarity shared by all humans. Ex:

childcare necessary for survival of species.2. Physical Environment: All people need to

protect themselves from environment with things like shelter, armies etc…

3. Social Problems: Goods must be produced and distributed, tasks must be assigned, work must be accomplished and dif cultures develop similar methods of solving these problems.

REVIEW:1.Explain how culture and heredity affect social behavior.

2.What are the criticisms of sociobiology?

3. Where do norms come from and how to they affect our behavior? List 3 types of norms.

4. Why does culture change? Is cultural change good?

5. Does ethnocentrism help or hurt a society?

6. Identify similarities in cultures around the world. Why are there similarities in cultures around the world?

SOCIAL NORMS EXPERIMENTI Learning Objective(s) Learning to understand what social norms are and how

they affect us.II Rationale for Objectives Hands-on experience with social norms.III Materials  IV Procedures  

(1) Introduction  

(2) Activity

(1) Break a social norm of dress/attire. (Caution: do not wear anything illegal, dangerous, or extremely disruptive.) Try dressing in female clothes if you are male. Wear formal attire to a casual get together. Wear a winter jacket in the summer. Wear sandals in the snow. Wear stripes with polka dots. Wear an unstylish or outdated outfit.(2) Next, interact with others and observe their responses while wearing your norm-breaking outfit. 

(3) DiscussionDid you experience sanctions? Were there subtle punishments for breaking social norms? How does conforming to and violating social norms fit into the lifelong process of socialization?

(4) Summary Takes 30 minutes in class, about an hour outside of class.

V Evaluation/Assignment Write a short summary of your experiences and interpretations.

VI SupplementaryReadings Your textbook will have relevant readings on social norms, deviance and labeling.