Module 4

1 Culture and Cultural Change

What is Culture?

• Culture

  • Way of Life of a particular Group

    • often forms part of an individual’s identity

  • Way we live

  • Members of cultural groups will often share cultural norms and values

  • Can be based upon belief systems, geographical locations and physical traits

• What makes up our culture?

  • Language

  • Cuisine

  • Clothing

  • Music and the arts

  • Celebrations and Rituals

  • Beliefs

• Types of Culture

  • Mainstream or Popular Culture - majority of population

  • Folk Culture - Regionalized/Traditional

  • Global Culture - Influence of Globalization in life

  • High Culuture - Highest class/Sophisticated

  • Low Culture - Working class/Middle

  • Subcultures - Alternatives/Own norms & values

• Theoretical Views of Culture

  • Functionalists

    • take a consensus view on society’s culture

    • suggest it reflects the norms and values of the majority - a value consensus

      • Explains that those that either reject or replace social norms and values with alternatives form subcultures

  • Conflict theories

    • culture is imposed upon society by powerful groups

    • Marxists claim that mainstream culture is a reflection of the hegemonic norms and values of the capitalist ruling class

    • Feminists argue that society’s culture is patriarchal and benefits men through promoting male interests

  • Interactionists

    • society’s culture is constructed through individuals interpreting social interactions - it is a social construction

    • Postmodern views suggest that there is no longer a dominant culture, but instead society have become fragmented and increasingly diverse

• What problems are there with defining culture?

  • The value of different behaviours is down to individual interpretations which makes value consensus difficult

  • Rapidly changing norms and values leads to culture changing at a pace many cannot understand

  • Definitions of culture vary across groups, nations and over time - different contexts for cultural behaviours

What is Culture and why does it matter?

• Culture - refers to a set of beliefs, practices, and that are learned and shared

  • these beliefs, practices, and symbols form an all-encompassing, integrated whole that binds people together and shapes their worldview and lifeways

  • People with a shared culture does not equate to same thinking and beliefs

• Members of a culture share many things in common

  • We can learn any culture - enculturation

    • we learn to become members of our group both directly, through instruction from our parents and peers, and indirectly by observing and imitating those around us

• Culture constantly changes in response to both internal and external factors

  • Some parts of culture change more quickly than others

  • Ex: technology changes rapidly while deep seated values change slowly

• When one part of culture changes, so do other parts

  • All parts of culture are integrated and interrelated

• Belief

  • refers not just to what we “believe” to be right or wrong, true or false

  • Refers to all the mental aspects of culture including values, norms, philosophies, worldview, knowledge, and so forth

• Practices

  • refers to behaviors and actions that may be motivated by belief or performed without reflection as part of everyday routine

• Symbol

  • Culture is symbolic

  • Individuals create, interpret, and share the meanings of symbols within their group or the larger society

    • Groups within American society interpret the same symbol in different ways

  • Cultural symbols powerfully convey either shared or conflicting meanings across space and time

• The definition of culture: shared learned beliefs, practices, and symbols, allows us to understand that people everywhere are thinkers and actors shaped by their social contexts

• Culture is central to making us humman, we are still biological beings with natural needs and urges that we share with other animals, such hunger, thirst, sex, and elimination

  • Human culture uniquely channels these urges in particular ways and cultural practices can then impact our biology, growth, and development

  • We thrive when we adapt

• Why does culture matter, especially to the sociologists and anthropologists?

  • Because it plays an important role in the production of social order

    • Socialorder means the stability of society based on the collective agreement to rules and norms that allow us to cooperate, function as a society, and live together in peace and harmony

  • Emile Durkheim

    • Both material and non-material aspects of culture are valuable in that they hold society together

    • Thevalues, beliefs, morals, communication, and practices that we share in common provide us with a shared sense of purpose and a valuable collective identity

    • He revealed that when people come together to participate in rituals, they reaffirm the culture they hold in common, and in doing so, strengthen the social ties that bind them together

  • Sociologists and anthropologists see this important social phenomenon happening not only in religious rituals and celebrations like weddings and the Indian festival of Holi, but also in secular ones, such as high school dances and widely-attended, televised sporting events

  • Karl Marx

    • introduces the critical approach to culture in the social sciences

    • It is in the realm of non-material culture that a minority is able to maintain unjust power over the majority

    • Subscribing to mainstream values, norms, and beliefs keep people invested in unequal social systems that do not work in their best interests, but rather, benefit the powerful minority

      • ex: most people in capitalist societies buy into the belief that success comes from hard work and dedication, and that anyone can live a good life if they do these things, despite the reality that a job which pays a living wage is increasingly hard to come by

  • Culture can be a force for oppression and domination, but it can also be a force for creativity, resistance, and liberation

    • also a deeply important aspect of human social life and social organization

    • Withoutit,wewouldnot have relationships and society

  • Culture is a reflection of a community or nation

    • determining factor of how the community reacts, responds, and grows

    • Culture gives us a sense of belonging, especially when everyone speaks the same language

    • Culture also provides stability that gives us a feeling of security and safety

    • Culture provides them with the samer emotional response as they have for their family

      • instant connection with strangers who are part of the same culture

  • Culture shapes our personalities

    • we act in accordance to norms or rules laid out by our culture

    • Our culture defines people’s expectations from us. In the attempt to fulfill them, we shape our behavior and personlity to suit our culture

    • Our religion, traditions, customs, all a part of our culture, play a major role in shaping our personalities

    • The way we perceive a situation and react to it depends largely on what we have learned from the environment and the way we have been brought up

Culture and Society defined

Cultural Change

• Cultural change

  • the common name fiven to the national movement for the transformation of older adult services based on person-centered values and practices

  • Focuses on individualizing care and focusing on the person, not just their disease or what is “wrong” with them

  • The culture change movement is gaining strength all over the world

  • In fact, person-centered practices are accepted as the gold standard globally by the World Health Organization and The institute of Medicine

  • Few dispute the philosophy behind Person-Centered Care

  • Culture Change starts by examining the “culture” of our organizations

  • Our “culture” is our collective thoughts, behaviors and attitudes based on our values and beliefs

  • Culture change requires us to change our current medical, institutional thinking and practices, and transform everything we do to focus on the PEOPLE we are serving

  • Culture change requires changes in organizational practices, physical environments, as well as in our personal beliefs and relationships

  • We need to create an organizational culture that has values that drive resident choice, dignity, meaningful relationships and self-determination for those who live and work in our organizations

What is Culture Change?

2 Society and Social Structure

What is society?

• Social structure

  • is the way that various parts of societies, social institutions, and social groups are organized and arranged

    • Can engender order and can engender conflict

    • Define limitations and opportunities for individuals

• Two Key Elements

  • Rules - expectations and limitation

  • Resources -

Social Structure

3 Socialization: The Social Roots of Personality

What is Socialization?

Socialization Crash Course

4 Social Change

Social Change

Theories of Social Change: Linear