Note
Studied by 2 people
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
System of SHARED BELIEFS, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that members of society use to COPE with their world and with one another, and that are TRANSMITTED from generation to generation through learning
Traditions and customs that govern behavior and beliefs, but also includes the tools and symbols that are used to convey meaning
What makes up our culture?
Language
Cuisine
Clothing
Music and the arts
Celebrations and Rituals
Beliefs
Types of Culture
Mainstream/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
Characteristics of Culture
Culture is LEARNED
People learn culture from each other
Culture is SHARED
Culture is an attribute of individuals as members of groups
Culture is SYMBOLIC
Symbolic thought is UNIQUE to humans and is CRUCIAL to cultural learning.
A symbol. verbal or non-verbal, is something that stands for something else, with which it has no necessary or natural connection
Culture is ALL-ENCOMPASSING
Anthropologist take a broad view of culture to include seemingly trivial things
Culture is INTEGRATED
They are organized around a set of CORE VALUES - key, basic, or central values. New ideas that don't fit with these core values are rejected.
When a core value CHANGES, it RESULTS a change in a large part of the culture.
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
Directly - taught
Indirectly - observed
Culture CONSTANTLY CHANGES in response to both INTERNAL & 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 human, 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
SOCIAL ORDER - 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
The values, 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
Without it,we would not 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 same 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
Culture
Consists of the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a particualr group or society
Through culture, people and groups define themselves and draw meaning from it, conform to society’s shared values, and contribute to society, especially in terms of development
Institutions
Clusters of rules and cultural meanings associated with specifc social activities
Culture is related to the adjective “cultured”
Being well-educated, knowledgeable of the arts, stylish, and well-mannered
We speak of “high culture” and “low culture”
High culture
- generally pursued by the upper class, refers to classical music, theater, fine arts, and other sophisticated pursuits
members of the upper class can pursue high art beause they have cultural capital
the professional credentials, education, knowledge, and verbal and social skills necessary to attain the “property, power, and prestige” to “get ahead” socially
Low culture
- (popular culture) generally pursued by the working and meiddle classes, refers to sports, movies, televison sitcoms and soaps, and rock music
Sociologists
define culture differently than they do cultured high culture, low culture, and popular culture
Society
- as the people who interact in such a way as to share a common culture
can also have a geographic meaning
Cultural bond
may be ethnic or racial, based on gender or due to shared beliefs values, and activities
Culture and society are intricately related
a culture consists of the “objects” of a society
a society consists of the people who share a common culture
Cultural Change
Cultural change
Refers to the transformation of cultural norms, values, and practices over time.
Today, cultural change is being driven by globalization, urbanization, and the spread of technology and social media.
These changes have led to the emergence of new cultural practices such as the rise of social media influencers, and the growth of the gig economy.
However, cultural change is also shaped by political and economic factors, including the rise of population and the increasing divide between the rich and the poor.
Tomorrow, cultural change is likely to be driven by demographic shifts, including the growth of the youth population, and the changing nature of the work and employment.
the common name given 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 Cultural Appropriation?
Misrepresentation
Cultural Appropriation
“the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society” -Arthur E. Christy
What is Culture?
Raymond Williams
1. Ideologies
2. Shared ways of life
3. Cultural production
shared creative and artistic productivity
most concrete portion of culture
How does power operate in relationship to culture?
Culture-shared nature
Culture is shared among its people
Possession/ownership
Cultural ownership
Appropriation happens when you have a position of power or are a member of a dominant culture who is able to take the parts of a marginalized culture that you enjoy; divorce them from their original meaning; and use them for entertainment value without considering their original context or negative effects
What are the boundaries between participating versus appropriating
2 Society and Social Structure
What is society?
Society - came from the Latin word "Socius" meaning companion, association, or fellowship.
Because human live in the company of their fellow human beings.
Used in the sense of group such as rural or urban society
It is abstract, not concrete, in nature
Considered as both a structural and functional unit.
An organization, a system, and a pattern.
A system of rules and regulations which changes in course of time.
A larger group of which individuals are members
Consist of like bodied and likeminded individuals
George Simmel - sociability is the essence of society.
Society in Other Senses
Used to refer to as members of specific groups
Refers to some institutions
Refer to an association
In Sociology
It refers not to a group of people but to the complex pattern of the norms or interaction or relationships that arise among them.
Exist only as an agent of social relationships
Mere congregation of individuals do not constitute society. But rather refers to the complicated network of social relationships.
It is by which every individual is interrelated with her fellow human beings
Society is viewed as a process of living not a thing, a motion rather than structure. Thus, a system of social relationship is the most important aspect of society.
Society Defined by Sociologist
Note that sociologist are not unanimous in their opinion about society. Thus result in a Structural and Functional definitions
Two (2) Types of Definition of Society (Complementary of each other)
Structural Definition
Society is nothing but a structure
Society refers to the social heritage of folkways, mores, ideals, institutions, and habits.
Morris Ginsburg
- A society is a collection of individuals united by certain relations or models of behaviors which mark them off from others who do not enter into these relations or who differ from them in behavior
F.H. Giddings
- The union itself, the organization, the sum of formal relations in which associated individuals are bound together.
G.D.H Cole
- Society is the complex of organized associations and institutions within the community
J.H. Cuber
- A group of people who have lived long enough to become organized and to consider themselves and be considered as a unit more or less distinct from other human units
Functional Definition
Society is a process of social relationships
A complex of groups in reciprocal relationship, interacting among themselves, and carrying on an independent life and helping each other in fulfilling their wishes
Robert Morrison MacIver and Charles H. Page
Society is a system of usages and procedures, authority and mutual aid, of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behavior and of liberties"
Talcott Parsons
- the total complex of human relationship in so far as they grow out of action in terms of means and relationship, intrinsic or symbolic.
Charles H. Cooley
- society is a complex of forms or processes each of which is living and growing by interaction with the others, the whole being so unified that what takes place in one part affects all the rest.
Eleanor Burke Leacock
- society includes not only the political relations by which man are bound together but the whole range of human relations and collective activities
We can conclude that we cannot have an absolute, one-size-fits-all definition of society.
Note:
A comprehensive understanding of society requires a thorough understanding of its basic elements or characteristics.
Elements or Characteristics of Society
Population
Without a population, no society could be formed
Likeness
The most important characteristics of society.
According to MacIver, society means likeness. Without likeness, there could be no mutual recognition of "belonging together". Therefore, no society.
Found in the early society on kinship and, in modern societies.
Have broadened out into the principles of nationality
Friendship, intimacy, and association of any kind would be impossible without likeness.
Differences
Another important characteristics of society.
Society depends on differences as much as likeness.
Primary likeness and secondary differences create the greatest of all institutions - the division of labor
Complementary to social relationship
If differences would not exist, society could not be formed and there would be little reciprocity, and relationship became limited.
Interdependence
Visible in every aspect of present-day society
Aristotle - "man is a social animal". Meaning we are dependent on others.
The survival and wellbeing of each member is dependent on interdependence.
No individual is self-sufficient thus, people have to depend on others for shelter and security, and for the fulfillment of many of his needs and necessities.
Cooperation and Conflict
MacIver - "Society is co-operation crossed by conflict"
Cooperation
Essential for the formation of society.
Without it there can be no society.
It avoids mutual destructiveness.
Conflict
It acts as the cementing factor for strengthening social relations
In a healthy and well-developed society, cooperation and conflict co-exist to form a society.
Conflict can make cooperation meaningful.
Society as a Network or Web of Relationships
Social relationships is one of the foundations of society
MacIver - society is a network of social relationship
Permanent Nature
Permanency is an important characteristics of society
It is not a temporary organization of individuals
Society exist even after the death of individual members.
Society as Abstract
Society is an abstract concept
Society in essence means a state or condition a relationship and is, therefore, necessarily an abstraction.
Society consist of customs, traditions, folkways, mores, and culture which are all abstract.
Society as Dynamic
The very nature of society is dynamic and changeable
No society is static.
Old customs, traditions, folkways, mores, values and institutions got changed and new customs and values take place.
Comprehensive Culture
Each society has its own culture which distinguishes it from others
The way of life of other members of a society, which includes their values, beliefs, art, morals, and the like.
Culture fulfills the necessities of social life and is culturally self-sufficient.
Each society transmits its cultural pattern to the succeeding generations.
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
Enduring, regular, social arrangements; with persistent, recurring patterns of behavior, created by interaction, relationships, and the exchange of ideas. Tend to be loosely or unofficially defined and regulated.
Two Key Elements
Rules - creates expectations and limitations
Resources - Structure provides research/Create opportunities
Social structure organized through social positions
Social Status
Social positions are relational
Roles
Define how to act in a specific situation
Social position is situation-specific
What your position is
What a position can do
Ex:Thinking about social structure
A classroom
What are the statuses
What their associated roles
What rules and expectation are in place
What are the resources for different positions
Social Structure
Social structure
exists outside the individual
Affects them
Individualism is the foil against sociology
Paradigms in Sociology
Symbolic interactionism
People share symbols and expectations within
Network Paradigm
Groups of individuals and ties between individuals
Functionalism
Institutions - work to help society
Conflict Paradigm
role of power,conflict, and competition in shaping society
Impact of Social Structure
Affects expectations of individuals
Affects role expectations
Affects Group expectations
Affects Institution expectations
Homophily
Social Institution
Specific Entity
University, Church, or Business
It is Officially Regulated
There are set of people or rules that regulates the behavior of the people within an institution.
It is built around an idea
this idea is expressed openly in mission statements and the like.
Clear Boundaries
You know when you are in or out of the social institution
Roles/ Titles
There are roles that are officially recognize usually carrying titles (President, CEO, Prof., etc.)
Characteristics of a Social Structure
Vague
See it by its Effects
Patterned Behaviors
Patterns of Interactions
Social Relations
Broad
Difficult to Define
Unofficially Regulated
Examples of Social Structures
Education - The style of education (school and corporate)
Family
Sexism - Idea of differences between people.
Racism - Idea of differences between people.
Internet
Nation State - The identity of the people
3 Socialization: The Social Roots of Personality
What is Socialization?
Socialization Crash Course
Socialization
The social process through which we develop our personalities and human potential and learn about our society and culture
Lifelong process
Types of Socialization
Primary Socialization
First experiences with Language, Values, Beliefs, Behaviors, and Norms of your society
Parents and Guardians are First teachers
Cultural Capital
Anticipatory Socialization
The social process where people learn to take on the values and standards of groups that they plan to join
Gender Socialization
Learning the Psychological and Social Traits associated with a person’s sex
Race Socialization
The process through which children learn the behaviors, values, and attitudes associated with racial groups
Class Scoialization
Teaches the norms, values, traits, and behaviors you develop based on the social class you’re in
Secondary Socialization
The process through which children become socialized outside the home, within society at large this often starts with school
Hidden Curriculum in Schools
Education in norms, values, and beliefs that are passed through schooling
Peer groups
Social groups whose members have interests, social position, and usually age in common
James Coleman
Identified the four main social categories based on data from interviewing teenagers.
These social categories came with social prescriptions. Behaviors that were expected of people in those groups.
Nerd, Jocks, Leading crowds, and Burnouts
TV, internet, and media are huge parts of our lives and how we consume our media is affected by social traits,like class, race, or age
Total Institutions
refers to institutions that control all aspects of individual’s lives
Cut off from the outside world
Places where people are completely cut off from the outside world, and face strict rules for how they must behave.
Coined by sociologist Erving Goffman
undergo resocialization
Break down existing socialization
Environments is carefully controlled to encourage them to develop a new set of norms, values, or beliefs
Done by breaking down the existing identity of a person then using rewards and punishment to build up a whole new identity.
like military, prisons, boardings schools, or psychiatric institutions that control all aspects of their residents' lives\
Socialization Lecture
Socialization
The way in which individuals can learn skills, values, motives, and roles appropriate to their position or group in society
Norm
Usual
Typical
Standard
Group held belief
Govern behavior
Unwritten rules
Breaking norms
Positive and Negative Sanctions
Expressed approval and disapproval
Agents of Socialization
Family
Peer Groups
School
Religion
Workplace
Mass Media
Social Roles
Roles intersect with other roles
Looking-Glass Self
The Self-image an individual forms by imagining what others think of his/her behavior & appearance
We form ourselves based on what others expect of us
Three elements of the Looking-Glass Self
We imagine how we must appear to others
We interpret the judgment of others
Our perceptions lead to developing our sense of self
Pride
Humiliation
Socialization
It is the process whereby an individual learns to adjust to a group or society.
Behaving in a manner approved by that group or society
It represents the whole process of learning throughout the life course
It is a central influence on the behavior, beliefs and action of adults as well as children.
It is a process that introduces people to social norms and customs.
It helps individuals function well in society
It helps society run smoothly.
Family members, teacher, religious leader, peers, etc.
All these play roles in a person's socialization.
Stages of Socialization
Primary Socialization - takes place from birth through adolescence.
Secondary Socialization
continues throughout one's life.
May occur whenever people find themselves in new circumstances.
Especially those with which they interact with individuals whose customs and norms differ from theirs.
4 Social Change
Social Change
Pakistan Train Hijack
Theories of Social Change: Linear
Social Change
Change
- law of nature; alteration, difference or modification through time
Changes that take place in human interactions and interrelations
Society is a web of relationships and social change means a change in the system of social relationships
Describe the desirable variations in social interaction, social processes and social organization
Two (2) Distinct Tendencies of Societies
Conservative
People in a society have their tendency to conserve and preserve the social change of the past
Every society is proud of its own cultural history of the past
Progressive
Society has the tendency to change, modify, and improve the existing social heritage
Man is never satisfied with his present situation or existing condition
People want to make changes and improvement of the existing state of affairs
This change is the law of nature and it is inevitable in the life of an individual as well as of society
Social Change
Society = dynamic entity
Changes in human interaction or interrelation
change in system of social relationships
alterations in structure and functions of the society
Social change definition
M.E. Jones
Social change is a term used to describe variation in or modifications of any aspect of social processes, social patterns, social interaction or social organiszation
Kingsley Davis
meant only such alterations as occur in social organization, that is, Structre and Functions of society
MacIver ad Page
Social change refers to ‘a process’ responsive to many types of changes ; to change in the man-made conditions of life, to change in the attitude and beliefs of men, and to the changes that go beyond the human control to the bilogical and physical nature of things
A complex Phenomenon
What is the direction of social change?
What is the form of social change?
What is the source of social change?
What are its causes and consequences?
What are its condition and limitations?
What is the rate of change?
Nature and Characteristics of Social Change
Continuous
Temporal/changes takes time
Changes environmental/cultural context
Human Change/human involvement
results from interaction of a number of factors
may create chain reactions
involves tempo/rate and direction of change
may be planned or unplanned/natural calamities
cause short or immediate changes; or
long run changes
an objective term/there is no value judgement in social change
Characteristics of Social Change
Social change is continuous
Society is always undergoing endless changes.
Society cannot be preserved in a museum to save the ravages of time.
From the dawn of history society has been in continuous flux.
Social change is temporal
Social change is temporal in the sense it denotes the time sequence. In fact, society exist only as time-sequence.
Innovation of new things, modification, and renovation of the existing behavior and the discarding of the old behavior patterns take time.
Social change is environmental
It must take place within the geographic or physical and cultural context.
Both these contexts have impact on human behavior and in turn man changes them.
A social change never takes place in vacuum.
Social change is human change
The sociological significance of the change consists in the fact that it involves the human aspect.
The composition of society is constant, but changing
Social change may be planned or unplanned
The direction and tempo of social change are often conditioned by human plans and programs of man in order to determine and control the rate and direction of social change.
Unplanned change refers to change resulting from natural calamities such as famine, floods, earthquakes etc.
Social change is an objective term
It describes one of the categorical processes. It has no value-judgements attached to it
To the sociologist social change as a phenomenon is neither moral nor immoral, it is amoral. It means the study of social change involves no value judgements.
One can study change even within the value system without being for against the change.
Social change may create chain reaction
Change in one aspect of life may lead to a series of changes in its other aspects.
Example
Change in rights, privileges, and status of women has resulted in a series of changes in home family relationships and structure, the economic and some political pattern both rural and urban society.
Theories of Social change: Linear
Social Change
Theories related with philosophical interpretation of history
Recognized particular significance of changes which occured in Europe from 17th Century
Influenced social life throughout the world
Helped in the development of modern science and industry
Durkheim
- Social Change as a result of changes in the bonds of morality or solidarity, mechanical so that solidarity is simple and organic solidarity is complex society
Weher
- Development and Social change depends on culture, peoples belifs and values
Two (2) Aspects of Social Change at the Macro Level
1. Structural
Changes affect society as a whole
such as industrialization
2. Cultural
Change in deep rooted belief system
such as women empowerment
Evolutionary Theories of Social Change
Based on social evolution like biological evolution or organic evolution
Societies change from simple to complex
Gradual change
1. Unilinear
2. Sign of Development
3. Analogy between society and human beings
4. Reaching new heights of civilization
Greater independence, formal control, etc.
The problem: Description of social change but no explanation
Linear theories of social change
As societies developed, modern researchers started supporting multilinear theory of social change
Rejected the comparison of society to living organisms
Systematic way of change
direction of change is always upwards Sequence of development in one direction and forward
Speed of change is slow at first
Theories are based on experiences and not on historical data
Change in one society is quickly adopted by other societies
Change in all societies will be the same
Augus Compte
Laws of three stages
Man’s intellectual development
Progressive evolutionary model
Theological to metaphysical mode to positive mode (logic)
Basis of development is the in the intellectual development of humans
Social Statics and social dynamics
Herbert Spencer
Social Darwinism
Survival of the fittest
Society equal to organism
Criticized Compte’s ideas
Stages of evolution simple, compound, doubly compound
Edward Burnett Tylor
Growth of arts, scientific knowledge leads to cultural development
3 Phases of evolutionary sequence
Animism
Polytheism
Monotheism
Ferdinand Tonnies
Gemeinschaft
- essential will - small homogeneous society - informal - role of religion
Gesellschaft
- arbitrary will - large and heterogeneous - high degree of conflict and stratification - no role of religion
Evolution of society from first to latter