Culture and Society

Chapter 3
Based on OpenStax
Introduction to Sociology 2e
Introduction to Culture

• What is culture?
– Culture is not
• Biological or genetically programmed behaviors such as
breathing, hunger and the need to sleep
• Individual or idiosyncratic behaviors – i.e. behaviors
that are not shared by other individuals
Culture

• Do animals have culture?

– Japanese Monkey
• Learned to separate rice from sand
– Chimpanzees in Tanzania
• Learned to gain status by banging empty gas cans
– What’s Learning got to do with it?
• Learning shares behaviors
– What’s adaptation got to do with?
• Allows us to learn new things and be flexible in new environments
– Culture as one major element in human adaptation
Culture - Definitions

Edward Tylor (1871):

• Culture ... is that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society. (p.1)
Culture - Definitions

Franz Boas (The mind of primitive man 1911):

• Culture may be defined as the totality of the mental and physical reactions
and activities that characterize the behavior of individuals composing a
social group collectively and individually in relations to their natural
environment, to other groups, to members of the group itself and of each
individual to himself. It also includes the products of these activities and
their role in the life of the groups. The mere enumerations of these
various aspects of life, however, does not constitute culture. It is more, for
its elements are not independent, they have a structure (p. 149)
Culture - Definitions

Clifford Geertz (1966):

• [the culture concept] denotes an historically
transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in
symbols, a system of inherited conceptions
expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men
communicate, perpetuate, and develop their
knowledge about and attitudes toward life... (p.89)
Culture - Definitions

Clyde Kluckholm
• Culture is like water for fish, we swim in a sea of
culture, it would hardly be a fish that discovers
water.”
Culture - Definitions

• Culture is learned and shared.

• Culture is material and non-material.
• Culture is symbolic and creates meaning.
• Culture is used to generate behavior.
• Culture is used to interpret experiences.
• Culture is a means of adaptation.
• Culture is both internal and external to the
individual.
What Does Culture Provide?

• Worldviews
– How individuals in culture view the world (reincarnation happens)
• Values
– What is desirable and given precedence or positive attention in a culture
• Norms
– Statistical Norms: What is most common
– Conventions/folkways: What is expected in a culture
– Mores: Norms with a moral component attached to them
– Laws: Norms with a formal component decided upon by lawmakers that also
come with formal consequence if you break them - like going to jail if you
commit theft
What Does Culture Provide?

• Beliefs:
– Idea that are commonly held within a culture – such as the belief if
ghosts
• Knowledge:
– Things that are required for you to survive in a culture –like how to
drive a car
What Does Culture Provide?

• Status:
– Ones social titles – For example Professor or
Student
• Role: The behaviors associated with a status
What Does Culture Provide?

• Social Institutions:
– All cultures have institutions which are behaviors
shared by the group that help make interaction
work between people
• Government
• Healthcare
• Economic institutions
• Education
• The Family
Culture and Society

• Society
– People who live within a defined territory and interact to
create a culture.
– Societies may be composed of several cultures and
subcultures.
• Subculture
– A group with a larger culture that has distinct
characteristics, norms and values.
• Counterculture
– A type of subculture that develops a belief system and
norms that strongly oppose the culture of the dominant
society.
How Do We React To Cultural
Differences?
• Xenophobia - fear of someone just because
they are different
• Culture Shock – often experienced when
someone first enters a culture and their
expectations do not match the reality
• Ethnocentrism – a feeling that one’s culture is
superior or literally translated ethnic central
How Do We React To Cultural
Differences?
• Assimilation or Host Conformity
– What happens when a new group moves into a culture and begins to conform to the
norms of that culture sometimes by force and sometimes by choice
• Melting Pot
– Amalgamation/blending
– When several cultures come together and blend their ideas and practices
• Salad Bowl
– Pluralism
– When several cultures exist together in the same society but maintain their distinct
cultural differences
How Do We React To Cultural
Differences?
Cultural Relativism
• The idea that every culture is valuable and
each has their own way of doing things and
that no way is better than another
– Some cultures drive on the left or right side of the
road – it is just a decision made by the culture or a
tradition