SA 21- Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology - Lecture Notes 6 Culture as a Social Institution Introduction.

Cultural differences range from arbitrary conventions to more profound differences. In both cases, culture serves as a peoples survival kit. Animals have instinct. Humans have culture. What Is Culture? Culture consists of the beliefs, values, behavior, and material objects that define a peoples way of life. Culture is a lens by which we view reality, an orientation to the world. Culture has two basic components: nonmaterial culture or the intangible creations of human society, and material culture, the tangible products of human society. Together, these two components describe a peoples way of life. Culture also plays an important role in shaping the human personality. The concept of culture must be distinguished from those of nation or society. Many modern societies are multicultural. Travelers often experience culture shock, personal disorientation that accompanies exposure to an unfamiliar way of life. Only humans depend on culture rather than instincts to ensure the survival of their kind. Culture gives us the ability to actively shape the natural environment for ourselves. Humans are generalized animals. The Components of Culture. Symbols are defined as anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture. The meaning of the same symbols varies from society to society, even within a single society. Language is a system of symbols that allows members of a society to communicate with one another.

Language is the key to cultural transmission, the process by which one generation passes culture to the next. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis holds that people perceive the world through the cultural lens of language. Values are culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness and beauty and which serve as broad guidelines for social living. They support beliefs, specific statements that people who share culture hold to be true. Social scientists have identified central values in Philippine culture. The Institute of Philippine Culture, for instance, lists three: Social Acceptance (SIR, pakikisama, euphemism, etc.) Reciprocity (utang na loob, e.g.) Socioeconomic mobility (form of material comfort)

Values within one society are frequently inconsistent and sometimes conflict with one another. Norms are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members. There are two special types of norms that were identified by William Graham Sumner: Mores, norms that have great moral significance, and Folkways, norms that have less moral significance than mores As we internalize norms, we respond critically to our own behavior through shame or guilt. We become conformists and reproduce society. How do we change? Material culture reflects a societys technology, the knowledge that a society applies to the task of living in a physical environment.

Technology and Culture Gerhard and Jean Lenski focus on sociocultural evolution, a historical change in culture caused by new technology. This perspective identifies five major stages of societies. Hunting and gathering societies use simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation. Until about ten thousand years ago, all humans were hunter-gatherers; very few are today. At this level of sociocultural evolution, food production is relatively inefficient, groups are small, scattered and usually nomadic. Society is organized around the family, and specialization is minimal, centered chiefly around age and sex. These societies are quite egalitarian and rarely wage war Horticultural societies employ a technology based on using hand tools to cultivate plants. In very fertile and also in arid regions, pastoralism, technology that supports the domestication of animals, develops instead of horticulture. In either case, these strategies encourage much larger societies to emerge. Material surpluses develop, allowing some people to become fulltime specialists in crafts, trade or religion. Social inequality increases Agrarian societies are based on agriculture, the technology of large-scale farming using ploughs harnessed to animals or more powerful sources of energy. These societies initiated civilization as they invented irrigation, the wheel, writing, numbers, and metallurgy. Agrarian societies can build up enormous food surpluses and grow to an unprecedented size. Occupational specialization increases, money emerges, and social life becomes more individualistic and impersonal. Inequality becomes much more extreme. Religion underlies the expanding power of the state Industrial societies are based on industrialism, the technology that powers sophisticated machinery with advanced sources of energy. At this stage, societies begin to change quickly. The growth of factories erodes many traditional values, beliefs, and customs. Prosperity and

health improve dramatically. Most of the population moves the cities. Occupational specialization and cultural diversity increase. The family loses much of its importance and appears in many different forms. In the early stages of industrialization, social inequality increases. Later on, while poverty continues to be a serious problem, most peoples standard of living rises. Demands for political participation also escalate Postindustrial societies focus on information technology, i.e. computers and other electronic devices that create, process, store and apply information. Cultural Diversity High culture refers to cultural patterns that distinguish a societys elite; in contrast, popular culture designates cultural patterns that are widespread among a societys population. High culture is not inherently superior to popular culture Subcultures are cultural patterns that distinguish some segment of a societys population. They involve not only difference but also hierarchy. Countercultures are cultural patterns that strongly oppose accepted culture within a society. Cultural change As cultures change, they strive to maintain cultural integration, the close relationship among various elements of a cultural system William Ogburns concept of cultural lag refers to the fact that cultural elements change at different rates, which may disrupt a cultural system. Three phenomena promote cultural change: Invention, the process of creating new cultural elements

Discovery, recognizing and understanding an idea not fully understood before Diffusion, the spread of cultural traits from one cultural system to another

Critical evaluation: Structural-functional analysis has the strength of portraying culture as an integrated system to meet human needs Its weakness is that it stresses a societys dominant cultural pattern while directing less attention to cultural diversity It also minimizes the importance of change

Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one own culture. Sociologists tend to discourage this practice; instead, they advocate cultural relativism, the practice of judging a culture by its own standards Evidence suggests that a global culture may be emerging. Three key factors are promoting this trend: Global communications: the flow of information Global economy: the flow of goods Global migration: the flow of people

The social-conflict paradigm suggests that many cultural traits function to the advantage of some and the disadvantage of others Critical evaluation: Social-conflict analysis recognizes that many elements of a culture maintain inequality and promote the dominance of one group over others It understates the ways in which cultural patterns integrate members of a society

Three problems with the global culture thesis have emerged: Global culture is much more advanced in some parts of the world than in others Many people cannot afford to participate in the material aspects of a global culture Global culture may suppress or eliminate local culture

The symbolic interactionist paradigm suggests that people create, maintain and modify culture as they go about their daily activities. Postmodernism, and another related perspective called new cultural studies, add popular culture may simulate reality rather than being reality Sociobiology is a theoretical paradigm that explores ways in which biological forces affect human culture. It is grounded in part in Darwins theory of natural selection Critical evaluation: Sociobiology may promote racism and sexism Research support for this paradigm is limited

Different people attribute different meanings to various aspects of the global culture. Theoretical Analysis of Culture The structural-functional paradigm depicts culture as a complex and relatively stable strategy for meeting human needs. Cultural universals are traits that are found in every known culture.

Culture and Human Freedom Culture as Constraint Culture as Freedom Culture and Structure