Notes:Material culture, the physical artifacts representing components of society, and nonmaterial culture, ideas and symbols representing components of society, are the two basic types of culture
Ideal culture, the ideals and values that a society professes to believe, represents the majority of members of society. Often, the ideal culture is what the members consider to be ethically and morally desirable.
America’s real culture, the actual behavior of members of society,
Sapir-Whorf theory, a theoretical perspective that suggests people view society through the framework of language, states that it is difficult to understand a culture without understanding the influence of language (Pinker 1994; Sapir 1958; Whorf 1940).
beliefs, ideas generally held to be true in society (HP). Beliefs include ideas, viewpoints, and attitudes held by groups of people in a society. Traditions, science, religion, superstitions, and ideologies mold and shape our beliefs.
One commonly held belief among Americans is technological determinism, the idea that society’s technology drives the development of its social structures. This concept states that technology follows a predictable path and impacts society much more than society impacts technology. The central belief is that technology is a key governing force in society. Technology drives innovation and enables social progress, and the solution to social problems is technology.
values, collective ideas about what is desirable and undesirable in society (HP), such as efficiency and practicality, that are still present in the U.S. today.
norms, established guidelines, behaviors, and expectations that are accepted in a given range of social situations (HP).norms, established guidelines, behaviors, and expectations that are accepted in a given range of social situations (HP).
norms, established guidelines, behaviors, and expectations that are accepted in a given range of social situations (HP).
However, the violation of mores, (more-ayz), informal norms based on moral and ethical factors, typically results in minimal to severe disapproval.
Taboos, formal norms that, if violated, cause revulsion and the most severe social sanctions, are considered abhorrent to most members of society. Cannibalism is considered taboo in all but a few remote societies.
Severe negative social sanctions, punishments or rewards that support socially approved norms (HP), such as lengthy prison sentences, reinforce and maintain the socially approved norms among members of society.
The five basic elements of culture – symbols, language, beliefs, values, and norms – are collectively established, shared, and practiced distinctively in all societies. Informal and formal sanctions are used to enforce and provide consequences for violating norms.
subcultures, groups with a distinct set of cultural characteristics shared by a minority of people in society. There are many subcultures in the U.S. They include gamers, horseback riders, surfers, bodybuilders, and rap music lovers, to name a few.
countercultures are subculture groups that are in opposition or contrast with the majority of the members of society. A counterculture group wants to change the whole of society. Its actions and behaviors are so much in opposition to the larger society that they are seen as a threat to long-established norms.
Functionalist Theory: Functionalist theory is concerned with how cultures operate interdependently as societies evolve. Functionalists focus on how society adapts to a changing culture through shifts in norms, values, and ideologies. To maintain stability, large social structures, like the government, function to protect the interests of the society and its subculture groups while also responding to the concerns of counterculture groups, like the LGBTQ+ movement.
Conflict Theory: Conflict theory focuses on the tension and struggles for social change between various groups in society. Counterculture groups in Myanmar have established the Spring Revolution movement to oppose those now in authority. This theory focuses on the strain between groups, concerns over scarce resources, and inequalities in society.
Symbolic Interactionism: Symbolic interactionist theory focuses on the role symbols play in everyday life and our experience of the world around us. Subculture groups like the Amish have ways of thinking, acting, and behaving that distinguish them from the dominant group, while counterculture movements such as hate groups often use signs, symbols, and patterns to demonstrate their opposition to the larger society.
cultural universals, aspects of culture found in all societies.
Examples of cultural universals include beliefs, family structures, shelter, clothing, and language, to name a few.
social facts, social patterns that are external to individuals and greatly influence our way of thinking and behaving in society. These social patterns exert control over the individual via cultural norms and values in social structures and institutions.
ethnocentrism, judging another culture by one’s own standards (HP).
cultural relativism, understanding another culture from its standards. In other words, instead of looking at the situation from the standpoint of a person from Anywhere, USA, consider it from the perspective of a member of that culture. You can do this by keeping two important questions at the forefront of your mind:
- Is the person doing what they are supposed to be doing for someone from their culture?
- Does the person want to be doing what they are doing?
cultural diffusion, the spread of norms, values, knowledge, symbols, and material components from one society to another. The spread of culture in this manner is often unintentional, arising from a person’s desire to be surrounded by the familiar.
cultural leveling, the process of cultures becoming similar due to factors such as media and globalization, is what happens when societies adopt a new culture they have been exposed to, resulting in similarity from one society to the next.
popular culture, cultural characteristics adopted, imitated, and idolized by the masses (HP)
high culture consists of cultural characteristics associated with the dominant and elite members of society.