What is culture?

CULTURE: sum total of symbols, values, norms,

and material objects that a society creates
MATERIAL CULTURE: physical items that a
society uses or makes
NON- MATERIAL CULTURE: non-physical
products of society
CULTURAL TRANSMISSION: passing of culture
from one generation to the next
CULTURAL UNIVERSALS: elements that are
common to all human cultures worldwide
What is culture?
DOMINANT CULTURE: usually but not always
practiced by the majority and controls many of
the social institutions
SUBCULTURE: subset of the dominant culture
that has distinct values, beliefs, and norms
COUNTERCULTURE: group whose values and
norms are in opposition to the dominant culture
LANGUAGE: system of spoken and/or written
symbols used to convey meaning and to
communicate
SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS: speakers of a
different language think differently because of
differences in languages
What comes to mind when you
see these two flags?

SYMBOLS: things/items that represent, suggest, or

stand for something else
 GESTURES: are symbols we make using our bodies
Non-material culture: Values
VALUES: shared general beliefs about what is
desirable or undesirable, good or bad, or right or
wrong
IDEAL CULTURE: values and behaviours to which a
society aspires
REAL CULTURE: society’s actual value and behaviours
Seymour Lipset: cultural traditions are shaped by
historical circumstance
Americans: rebellious, individualistic, egalitarian
Canadians: respectful of authority, elitist, collectivist
Non-material culture: Norms
NORMS: relatively precise rules for permitted or
prohibited behaviours
INFORMAL NORMS: those norms that dictate
appropriate behaviours without the need of written
rules
Garfinkel: examined customs in order to determine
how tacit and unconscious nature of societal rules
and norms
BREACHING EXPERIMENT: researcher purposely
breaks a social norm or behaves in a socially awkward
manner in order to assess responses
SANCTION: reward for following or punishment for
violating a norm
Non-material culture: Norms
FOLKWAYS: informal norms that when violated do
not evoke severe moral condemnation
MORES (more-ayes): norms whose violation
provokes condemnation and are a community’s
more important values
LAWS: formal norms that are enforced through
social institutions
TABOOS: norms based on the belief that such
behavior is either too sacred or too accursed for
ordinary individuals to undertake
Cultural biases
ETHNOCENTRISM: occurs when an individual
uses his or her culture to judge another culture
XENOPHOBIA: fear and hostility toward those
from other countries or cultures
XENOCENTRISM: perceiving other groups or
societies as superior to your own
CULTURAL RELATIVISM: making a deliberate
effort to appreciate a group’s way of life without
prejudice
Cultural change
CULTURE SHOCK: occurs when an individual
encounters a culture foreign to his/her own and has
an emotional response to the differences between
the cultures
GLOBAL VILLAGE: refers to the shrinking of the
world through immediate electronic
communications
CULTURAL IMPERIALISM: global situation in
which powerful culture industries dominate other
local, national, and regional cultures
Cultural Change
Cultural change
INVENTION: occurs when something is
deliberately changed or made to produce something
new
DISCOVERY: occurs when humanity better
understands or observes something that already
exists
DIFFUSION: occurs when an item or a method of
doing things is transmitted to one culture to
another
CULTURAL LAG: when social and cultural changes
occur at a slower pace than technological changes
Symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interactionists explore how small-group
interactions create cultural elements
Meaning behind elements of culture lie in how
individuals interpret and use societal symbols,
norms, and values
SLUR: negative term use to depreciate members of
certain groups, usually minorities
 RE-APPROPRIATION: process by which these
groups reclaim/re-appropriate a slur
Functionalism
Functionalists examine how culture serves an
important function in helping societies meet their
basic needs and how culture helps to bind people
together
 Malinowski: Magic provided a sense of control and
confidence that enabled Trobriand Islanders to fish in the
dangerous waters each day. Hence, it performed an
important and rational function in their life
Culture is so important that structural institutions
(such as the media) may be called upon to direct
and support the diffusion of certain cultural values
Conflict
Conflict theorists argue that the values and norms
of society reflect the interests of the dominant
groups and how those norms and values are
maintained
IDEOLOGY: set of ideas that legitimates existing
inequalities of wealth and power
AGGRESSIVE ASSIMILATION: Canadian
government policy whose goal was to integrate
Indigenous peoples into Canadian culture
Feminist
Feminist perspective emphasizes the importance of
gender in social institutions and social interactions
Androcentric bias means that women may be
culturally invisible or devalued
Feminism has brought about a cultural change in
how women are viewed and in how they participate
in society