culture.lecture notes

8/9/2019 Culture.lecture Notes

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o other others ermans have it – schadenreude maybebecause in the 'hilippines, it is taboo to wish ill on yourneighbors "being outwardly religious%

alues – the standards by which members o a culture distinguish

desirable rom the undesirable the good vs. the bad- the broad principles, evaluations, and judgments rom thestandpoint o a given culture

- learned through sociali*ation, help shape the development opersonality

/elies – sharing o !nowledge, ideas and common ideas in a group opeople- ables, proverbs, myths, folklore ,traditions, superstition, eduationand et!

&orms – rules that guide behavior- prosriptive – mandating what we must not do- presriptive – stating what we must do- varies in terms o importance

mores – norms that have great moral signifcanceol!ways – norms that have little moral signifcance

- concepts developed by 0illiam raham Sumner- norms provide or conormity

- santions – positive and negative responses to the behavior o

people that reward conormity and punish deviance- important part o a society’s cultural system o social control- through sociali*ation, cultural norms are internali*ed and

constraints are imposed on people’s behavior --- avoiding guiltand shame

- soial ontrol – the various means by which members o societyencourage conormity to cultural norms

ideal culture – social patterns mandated by cultural values and normsreal culture – social patterns that actually occur

- material and nonmaterial culture are very closely relatedartiacts or human creations, e1press the values o a culture

- material culture re2ects a culture’s technology – application ocultural !nowledge to the tas! o living in a physical environment

- attempt to manipulate natural environment cultures attempt toadapt to natural worlds



high culture – reers to natural patterns that distinguish a society’selitespopular culture – designates cultural patterns that are widespreadamong a society’s population

subculture – cultural patterns that distinguish some segment o asociety’s population "e.g. $ilipinos – Cebuanos3

- based on age, ethnicity, residence, se1ual preerence,occupation, and many others

counterculture – cultural patterns that strongly oppose popular culture- members o counterculture are li!ely to 4uestion the morality o

the majority group and engage in some orm o protest activities- e.g. 5ippies

cultural integration – reers to the close relationship among variouselements o a cultural system

cultural lag – reers to the act that cultural elements change atdi#erent rates, which may disrupt a cultural system

- e.g. recogni*ing that same-se1 relationships can have the samerights as that o heterose1ual couples cannot be had in the'hilippines still embracing the teachings o the conservativeCatholic Church

cultural change6

7. invention8. discovery9. di#usion- e.g. invention o the steam engine paved the way or :ndustrial

;evolution to ta!e place along with the values o people in thatpart o history

ethnocentrism – the practice o judging another culture by thestandards o one’s own culture

- creates a biased evaluation o unamiliar practices

cultural relativism – reers to the practice o judging any culture by itsown standards

<heoretical =nalysis o culture7. structural-unctionalist – culture is understood as an organi*ed

system devised to meet human needs



a. cultural universals – traits ound in every culture o theworld

8. social con2ict – ine4uality among di#erent categories o peoplein a culture

a. e.g. caste system in :ndia

9. cultural ecology – emphasi*es that human culture is signifcantlyshaped by the natural environment

a. defned as a theoretical paradigm that e1plores therelationship o human culture to the physical environment

b. e.g. sacred cows in :ndia – help the arm status symboli. Cow worship – 5indu ;eligionii. Second )illenium /.C. – 5indu scared te1ts "edas%

do not prohibit the slaughter o cattle eaten atceremonial easts presided over by /rahman priests

iii. 833 =.>. – /rahman priests e1horted the populationto venerate the cow and orbade them to abuse it oreed on it religious easts involving ritual slaughterwere eliminated

iv. :slamic invasion "?th Century =>% – 5indus may haveound it politically e1pedient to set themselves o#rom the invaders, who were beeeaters, byemphasi*ing the need to prevent slaughter o theirsacred animals

v. Cow is a symbol o health and abundancevi. conomic use – mil!(yogurt arm – tractor dung or

hearths "coo!ing uel%(ertili*ersvii. 'rohibition against beeeating restricts consumption

by the higher castes and help distribute animalprotein to the poorest sectors o the population

@. sociobiology – theoretical paradigm that see!s to e1plain culturalpatterns as a product, at least in part o biological causes

a. Charles >arwin’s theory o natural selection, applies tohuman evolution

b. $ocus on the e1istence o certain cultural universals asevidence that culture is determined to a signifcant degree

by biologyc. enetic coding – passed rom one generation to the ne1td. :llustrates how biological orces ma!e some cultural

patterns more common than others "e.g. males –genetically driven - ApromiscuityB(B4uantityB women –A4ualityB( AselectivityB – choice o mates – machismo,women loo! or men who could support them men loo! orse1y women to ensure ertility%

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