Culture and Society

Cultural behavior

What people do

Cultural knowledge

What people think

Cultural artifacts

What people make and use

Culture is learned, not biological

Culture is transmitted, not passed down, notion of biological culture was used to justify eugenics

Culture is shared

Mutually understood, “culture of two” (ex. romantic couples) or “national cultures”, shared interpretations, symbols, behaviors, etc. help people function and thrive

Culture is patterned

Much of social life is predictable, conscious and unconscious levels of patterns, proxemics= socio-cultural spacing

Culture is symbolic

Arbitrary, conventional, and shared, ex. gestures, clothing, flags,

Culture shapes nature

Nature can shape culture but culture shapes understandings of nature, ex.food, much is edible but culture determines what is “food”

Culture is adaptive

No culture is “frozen in time”, all cultures change, there are quick changes and slow evolutions, new social conditions demand new responses, ex. new tech, natural disasters

Social status

The categories of different types of people who interact

Social roles

Rules for action associated with particular status

Social situation

Times, places, objects, and events

Social groups

Organized collections of people

Social networks

People with whom people normally interact

Institutions

When patterns of behavior and ideology become relatively discrete, enduring and autonomous, can be concrete or digital

Some social structures/agents

Education system, peers, economic status, religious systems, government, race, gender

Social structures

Recurrent patterned arrangements which influence or limit choices and opportunities available to individual or groups, ex. gen ed requirements, the focus of many traditional dems, ex. prison systems

Agency

The capacity or ability of individuals to act independently and to make their own (free) choices, ex.choosing your major, the focus of traditional republicans, ex. “American Dream”

Socialization

Learning one’s culture, social norms, morality, values, motives, symbols, etc., socialized from birth, typically begins at home and continues through school, jobs, etc.

Implicit socialization

Mimicry, observing and then doing

Explicit Socialization

Instructions on correct behavior

Habitus

Patterned behavior, habits, you have an allusion of agency, you have the ability to make any choice you want but you often don't

Economic Capital

Resources, cash, assets, etc.

Social capital

Relationships and networks

Cultural Capital

Forms of knowledge, skills, etc.

Symbolic Captial

Honor, prestige, “nouveau riche”, old money vs. new money

Functionalism

Culture functions to satisfy peoples basic needs, both material, ex. shelter, clothing, and psychological, ex.religion

3 Fundamental Levels of Needs Provided by Culture

1.Biological needs: food and protection

2.Instrumental needs: law and education

3.Integrative needs: religion and art