worth 20% of your overall grade in this course. The purpose of this assignment is to have you apply your sociological imagination and to reflect on your own life history by applying concepts and theor
Culture Key Terms • Culture • Material Culture • Non -material Culture • Counterculture • Cultural Capital • Economic Capital • Social Capital • Cultural Relativism • Dominant Culture • Ethnocentrism • Reverse Ethnocentrism • High Culture • Popular Culture • Subculture • Symbol • Values • Culture Shock • Culture Lag • Culture Change • Sapir -Whorf Hypothesis • Language • Symbolic Capital The Importance of Culture • Culture is essential for our individual survival and for our communication with other people. • We learn about culture through interaction, observation, and imitation in order to be part of a group. • A system of rule making is part of every known society. Nature and Nurture • There is a contrast between nature (with the use of instinct to live as being unlearned and biologically determined) and nurture (our social environment). • Human life is an intricate link between nature and nurture. The Importance of Culture • Culture may also be seen as a ‘tool kit’ of symbols, stories, rituals, and world views, which people may use in varying configurations to solve different kinds of problems. • We as free agents ‘choose’ various tools to accomplish social or personal goals. Material Culture • Material culture: All the physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use, and share. Nonmaterial culture • A component of culture that consists of the abstract or intangible human creations of society — such as attitudes, beliefs, and values — that influence individuals. Technology • Technology: The knowledge, techniques, and tools that make it possible for people to transform resources into usable forms, and the knowledge and skills required to use them after they have been developed. Technology • Computers • Tools • Clocks • Writing Utensils • Machinery • Motors • Etc … Cultural Universals • Customs and practices that occur across all societies (sports, bodily adornments, feasting). • Their specific forms vary from one group to another and from one time to another within the same group. Culture • Refers to a “system of behaviour, beliefs, knowledge, practices, values, and concrete materials including buildings, tools and sacred items” • Culture is dynamic, fluid, ever changing • Culture will impact: • the language we speak • the way we think about the world • what we believe (is right or wrong) • our traditions and holidays • what we consider important in life • how we dress • our taste in art, fashion, food, architecture and style Culture • The culture we grow up in, feels normal to us • When we travel abroad, we are shocked to see differences • When we engage with tourists in Vancouver, we might be offended by their behaviour, dress, speech, etc. because it reflects different cultural values and norms • Take a moment and write down an example of a time when you have been surprised, annoyed, treated rudely, or shocked by the behaviour of someone, only to realize they are from another culture • If we grow up in multiple cultures, we might have different behavioural patterns or ways of thinking, of solving problems, interacting with people and groups Values • Values: Collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in a particular culture. • They provide us with the criteria by which we evaluate people, objects, and events. • Value contradiction: Values that conflict with one another or are mutually exclusive. • Ideal culture : the values that we espouse about how we think we should act (e.g., environmentalism) • Actual culture : how we act (e.g., driving large SUVs) Cultural Change • Societies continually experience cultural change at both material and nonmaterial levels. • Changes in technology continue to shape the material culture of society. Culture Change • Factors of change: • Discovery : Learning about something previously unknown or unrecognized. • Invention : Reshaping existing cultural items into a new form. • Diffusion : Transmission of cultural items or social practices from one culture to another. Culture Lag • All parts of a culture do not change at the same pace. • Cultural lag: William Ogburn’s term for a gap between the technical development of a society (material culture) and its moral and legal institutions (nonmaterial culture). Culture Shock • The disorientation that people feel when they encounter cultures radically different from their own. • When people travel to another society, they may not know how to respond to that setting. Canadian Society:Ethnic Origins Canadian Society:
Religious Affiliations Ethnocentrism • This is the practice and belief of holding your own culture as the basic standard and superior, by which all other cultures are to be judged • Involves an idea that there is a “right way to do things” and based on the assumption that one’s own way of life is superior to all others. • For example: Beauty standards that are rooted in Western Ideals of beauty • What are some examples of ethnocentrism that you have observed in Canada? Cultural Relativism • This is a way of thinking, understanding and judging other cultures by their own standards, within its proper cultural context • It includes how we understand cultural practices and how we judge those practices • For example: When people behave in ways we might consider rude, inappropriate, hostile or offensive, we strive to understand how their behaviour represents a cultural difference, not an individual failing • It may be used to excuse customs and behaviour that may violate basic human rights. Reverse Ethnocentrism • This takes place when one assumes that a popular culture other than ones’ own culture is better than one’s own culture in some way • Places another culture as an unmatchable standard that sets the standard • For example: In Canada currently, we tend to idealize Northern European Cultural norms, we buy books on how to internalize the “Hygge”, we claim many of our social problems could be solved by applying Nordic models of governance and policy • What are some examples from our own life? Share with a partner? Cultural Globalization • This refers to the increasing expansion of cultural flows around the world • English language emerging as prominent in science, media, medicine, business, the Internet • American media, film, music, celebrities • American corporations: food, technology, cosmetics, furniture, etc. • What are some examples of global culture that you have observed? Dominant Culture • This is the culture of a society that through political and economic power is “able to impose its values, language, and ways of behaving and interpreting behaviour on a given society”. • What is characteristic of Canadian dominant culture? Subculture • Within a culture, multiple subcultures exist • Subcultures represent minority cultures that fall outside of the mainstream, are different from the dominant culture, but not directly in opposition to the mainstream • “A group of people who share a distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviours that differ in some significant ways from that of the larger society.” • For example: gamers, foodies, ____ collectors, any kind of sport enthusiast, etc. • What are some examples of subcultures that you can think of? Counter Culture • Countercultures differ from the dominant culture as well, however they do actively oppose or reject certain elements of the dominant culture • “A group that strongly rejects dominant societal values and norms, and seeks alternative lifestyles. “ • What are some examples of countercultures? • Vegans? • Goths/punks/ emos • Hippies • Political Separatists High Culture • This refers to the culture of the elites, who make up a distinct minority and this culture comes to represent prestige • Appreciating high culture usually requires some learning and acquisition of taste • Languages, history, literature, art, dance, music, etc. • In the Western world, High culture is commonly associated with theatre, opera, classical music, ballet, literary classics, artistic films (not movies), a “cultivated palate” for certain foods and alcohol Popular Culture • This is the culture of the majority, especially people who do not hold power in the society, such as: • the working class • less educated groups • If you have some agency over your life and take an active role in shaping culture that they consume such as through choice of fashion, speech, politics or entertainment, we call it pop culture Mass Culture • If you have minimal or no agency in terms of the culture you consume, this is called Mass culture • Instead, big corporations such as Walmart, McDonalds, Disney, Apple, etc. dictate what is available, what we watch, how we spend our money and time, what we think, and what we buy Popular Culture • Three prevalent forms of popular culture are fads, fashions, and leisure activities. • A fad is a temporary but widely copied activity followed enthusiastically by large numbers of people. • What are some fads you have observed recently or in your lifetime? • A fashion is a currently valued style of behaviour , thinking, or appearance that is longer lasting and more widespread than a fad. • What are some examples of this? Activity • How and where do you see evidence of: • dominant culture • high culture • popular culture • mass culture • counterculture • subcultures • Come back and report specifics of what you saw Pierre Bourdieu and Cultural Capital • Cultural capital : non -material lifestyle resources that are linked to and reflect social status. • Example: language use, occupation, education, fashion Economic Capital • Economic capital :material resources with obvious monetary value. • Example: any financial asset, a house, car, investments, companies owned, stocks owned, savings, etc Social Capital • Social capital :non -material resources such as social networks • Example: family friends who are CEO’s Test Your Understanding • Which of the three types of Capital do each of the follow examples represent?
Which social class would you associate them with? How do they reflect lifestyle? 1. Mode of transport: Bicycle, public transit or car 2. Stocks, gold, home ownership, savings Vrs . 3. Drink of choice: Wine, beer, whisky, energy drink, green smoothie , mineral water, starbucks , vrs Tim Hortons Vrs . Vrs . 4. Country club membership, family friends with members of parliament, family friends with corner store owners, relationship with lawyers, association in national psychology association Vrs . 5. Construction worker, lawyer, bank manager, professor, high school teacher, retail worker Vrs . 6. Food preferences Vrs . Vrs . 7. Sports & Exercise Vrs . Vrs . Practice • Can you define the difference between social and cultural capital? Symbols • Symbols are any tangible, or intangible, material or non - material objects, such as language, that hold great meaning and representation within a culture • We interpret and categorize the world around us by and through symbols • Symbols provide meaning to the everyday • Culture could not exist without symbols because there would be no shared meanings among people. Canadian Flag • What does it symbolize to you? • What might it symbolize to people who are not a part of our Canadian culture? Lobouton Shoes: What do they symbolize Carhartt:
What does this hat symbolize? Starbucks Frappuccino to go, with straw: What does this symbolize to you? Amish Clothing:
What does it symbolize, and would you make friends with someone dressing like this? Why? What do our modes of transportation symbolize about us as individuals and our culture? Review • What is culture? • What are cultural universals? • What are the four nonmaterial components of culture common to all societies? • What are the main types of norms? • What are high culture and popular culture?