Chapter 3

Culture
Chapter Outline
 Defining Culture
 The Elements of Culture
 Cultural Diversity
 Popular Culture
 Theoretical Perspectives on Culture
 Cultural Change
Defining Culture
 Complex system of meaning and
behavior that defines the way of life
for a society.
 Includes: beliefs, values, knowledge,
art, morals, laws, customs, habits,
language, and dress.
Characteristics of Culture
1. Culture is shared.
2. Culture is learned.
3. Culture is taken for granted.
4. Culture is symbolic.
5. Culture varies across time and
place.
Culture is…
 Concrete
 We can observe cultural practices
that define human experience.
 Abstract
 It is a way of thinking, feeling,
believing, and behaving.
Elements of Culture
Element Examples
Language English; Spanish;
hieroglyphics
Norms Manners
Folkways Cultural forms of dress; food
habits
Elements of Culture
Element Examples
Mores Religious doctrines; formal
law
Values Liberty, freedom
Beliefs Belief in a higher being
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
 Language determines what people think
because it forces them to perceive the
world in certain terms.
 Critics question whether language single-
handedly dictates the perception of
reality.
The Social Meaning of
Language
 Language affects people’s perception
of reality.
 Studies find that when college students
look at job descriptions written in
masculine pronouns, they assume
women are not qualified for the job.
The Social Meaning of
Language
 Language reflects the social and
political status of different groups in
society.
 The term “working woman” suggests
that women who do not work for wages
are not working.
The Social Meaning of
Language
 Groups may advocate changing
language referring to them as a way of
asserting a positive group identity.
 Some advocates for the “disabled”
challenge the term “handicapped,”
arguing that it stigmatizes people who
may have many abilities.
The Social Meaning of
Language
 The implications of language emerge
from specific historical and cultural
contexts.
 The naming of so-called races comes
from the social and historical processes
that define different groups as inferior
or superior.
The Social Meaning of
Language
 Language can distort actual group
experience.
 The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” lump
together Mexican Americans, island
Puerto Ricans, U.S.-born Puerto
Ricans, people from Honduras,
Panama, El Salvador, and other Central
and South American countries.
The Social Meaning of
Language
 Language shapes people’s
perceptions of groups and events in
society.
 The statement that Columbus
“discovered” America implies that
Native American societies didn’t exist
before Columbus “found” the Americas.
The Social Meaning of
Language
 Terms used to define groups change over
time and can originate in movements to
assert a positive identity.
 In the 1960s, “Black American” replaced
‘Negro”.
 Earlier, “Negro” and “colored” were used to
define African Americans.
 Currently, it is popular to refer to all so-called
racial groups as “people of color.”
Norms
 Specific cultural expectations for how to
behave in a given situation.
 A society without norms would be in
chaos; with established norms, people
know how to act, and social interactions
are consistent, predictable, and learnable.
 Social sanctions are mechanisms of
social control that enforce norms.
Beliefs
 Shared ideas people hold collectively
within a culture.
 Beliefs are the basis for many of a
culture’s norms and values.
 Beliefs orient people to the world by
providing answers to otherwise
imponderable questions about the
meaning of life.
Values
 Abstract standards in a society or group
that define the ideal principles of what is
desirable and morally correct.
 Values determine what is considered right
and wrong, beautiful and ugly, good and
bad.
 Values can provide rules for behavior, but
can also be the source of conflict.
Cultural Diversity
 The United States has enormous cultural
diversity from religious, ethnic, and racial
differences, as well as regional, age, gender,
and class differences.
 11% of people living in the United States are
foreign-born.
 In a single year, immigrants from more than
100 countries come to the United States.
 18% of young people speak a language other
than English at home.
% Speaking Language
Other Than English at Home
Polling Question
 Do you favor or oppose an amendment
to the U.S. Constitution that would make
English the official language of the
United States?
A.) Favor
B.) Oppose
C.) No opinion
Dominant Culture
 The dominant culture is the most powerful
group in society.
 It receives the most support from major
institutions and constitutes the major belief
system.
 Social institutions in the society perpetuate the
dominant culture and give it a degree of
legitimacy that is not shared by other cultures.
Subcultures
 The cultures of groups whose values and
norms of behavior differ from the
dominant culture.
 Members of subcultures interact
frequently and share a common world
view.
 Subcultures share some elements of the
dominant culture and coexist within it.
Countercultures
 Subcultures created as a reaction against
the values of the dominant culture.
 Members of the counterculture reject the
dominant cultural values and develop
cultural practices that defy the norms and
values of the dominant group.
 Nonconformity to the dominant culture is
often the mark of a counterculture.
Ethnocentrism
 Judging a culture by standards of
one’s own culture:
 builds group solidarity

 discourages understanding

 can lead to conflict, war, and

genocide
Popular Culture
 The beliefs, practices, and objects that
are part of everyday traditions.
 It is mass-produced and mass-consumed.
 Has enormous significance in the
formation of public attitudes and values,
and plays a significant role in shaping the
patterns of consumption in contemporary
society.
The Influence of the Mass
Media
 The average person consumes some form of
media 71 hours per week—more time than they
likely spend in school or at work.
 95% of all homes in the United States have at
least one television—more than have telephone
service.
 Watching television is the most popular leisure
activity of Americans: 26% say it is their favorite
way to spend an evening.
% Of Americans Who Say They Are
Offended by Television Content (by Age)
Polling Question
 Rate yourself on attractiveness to the
opposite sex compared with the average
person your age and in your culture.
A.) Highest 10 percent
B.) Above average
C.) Average
D.) Below Average
E.) Bottom 10 percent
Theoretical Perspectives on
Culture
Theory Culture….
Functionalism Integrates people into
groups.

Conflict Theory Serves interests of

powerful groups.
Theoretical Perspectives on
Culture
Theory Culture….
Symbolic Creates group identity
Interaction from diverse cultural
meanings.
New Cultural Is unpredictable and
Studies constantly changing.
Sources of Cultural Change
1. A change in societal conditions.
2. Cultural diffusion
3. Innovation
4. Imposition of cultural change by an
outside agency.
Fast Food and the
Transformation of Culture
 The average person in the United States
consumes 3 hamburgers and 4 orders of
French fries per week.
 Americans spend more money on fast food than
on movies, books, magazines, newspapers,
videos, music, computers, and higher education
combined.
 1 in 8 workers has at some point been
employed by McDonald’s.
Fast Food and the
Transformation of Culture
 McDonald’s is the largest private operator of
playgrounds in the United States.
 McDonald’s is the single largest purchaser of
beef, pork, and potatoes.
 96% of American schoolchildren can identify
Ronald McDonald, which is only exceeded by
the number who can identify Santa Claus.
Quick Quiz
1. Culture includes all of the following
except:
a. impulses
b. laws
c. art
d. knowledge
Answer: a
 Culture does not include impulses.
2. Which of the following statements about
culture is not true?
a. Cultural beliefs and practices are
learned.
b. Cultural beliefs and practices are
constantly questioned.
c. Culture is dynamic that is it changes
over time.
d. A significant aspect of culture is that it
is shared.
Answer: b
 The statement, cultural beliefs and
practices are constantly questioned, is
not true.
3. Expectations about what is appropriate
behavior in particular situations are
referred to as:
a. values
b. laws
c. norms
d. beliefs
Answer : c
 Expectations about what is appropriate
behavior in particular situations are
referred to as norms.
4. Values can best be defined as:
a. What is considered appropriate
behavior
b. Shared ideas that provide a life theme
c. Shared ideas held collectively by
people
d. What is considered socially and
morally desirable
Answer: d
 Values can best be defined as what is
considered socially and morally
desirable.
4. Which of the following is not an example
of subcultures?
a. Inner-city youth
b. Deadheads
c. The Amish
d. Militia groups
Answer: d
 A militia group is not an example of a
subculture.
5. Which of the following statements reflects
the symbolic interactionist view of culture?
a. Culture creates norms and values that
help integrate people into society
b. Culture serves to reinforce the position
of power enjoyed by the elite
c. Culture is socially constructed
d. Culture can be a source of political
resistance
Answer: c
 That statement, culture is socially
constructed, reflects the symbolic
interactionist view of culture.