Soc Notes Ch 3 - Dr. Debjani Chakravarty, \"Introduction to Sociology\" textbook, Seagull 11th PDF

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Dr. Debjani Chakravarty, "Introduction to Sociology" textbook, Seagull 11th Edition...

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“Intro to Sociology” 11th Edition Ch 3 - Culture and Society BASIC CONCEPTS ● Culture: values, norms, and materials/goods characteristic of a group ○ the ways of life within a society ● Cultural universals: values or mode of behavior shared by all human cultures ○ communication and expression (language) ○ material objects with cultural meaning or used in daily life ● Marriage: socially approved sexual relationship between 2+ people; traditionally on basis of procreation/family ● Nonmaterial culture: cultural ideas that are not objects ○ Values: ideas held by people or groups of what is “good” “bad” etc. ○ Norms: rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in social situations; backed by sanctions ○ Symbols: items used to stand for or represent objects, functions, or ideas ○ Signifier: vehicle of meaning and communication ○ Language: the primary vehicle of meaning and communication in a society; a system of symbols that represent objects and abstract thoughts ○ Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis ■ Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf ■ language influences perception ■ we are more aware of things we have words for ○ Writing ■ transition in history; storing information, lists, and records ■ Preserve cultural ideas and experiences ● Material culture: physical objects a society creates STUDY OF CULTURE ● Cultural turn: sociology’s recent emphasis on the importance of understanding the role of culture in daily life ○ “Tool kit” of different understandings and behaviors ○ Does not rigidly determine values ○ Cultural scripts ● Hunting and gathering societies: societies who survived by hunting, fushing, and gathering edible plants ○ Culture and materials tied to environment; nomadic ○ No class system; men hunted and women gathered, oldest men considered leaders ● Pastoral societies: survived from raising domesticated livestock

● Agrarian societies: survived from farming and growing crops ○ Pastoral and agrarian may be mixed or seperate ○ Led to wealth inequality (class) ○ Settled societies, often in fertile river areas ● Industrialization: emergence of machine production of goods ○ Started in 18th century Britain (harnessed power from water and steam, new inventions, use of science and improved technology) ● Industrialized societies: strongly developed societies, majority works in factories or offices, urban areas ○ Urban life impersonal and anonymous, most interactions between strangers ● Nation-states: types of modern states where gov has sovereign power in defined territorial areas, and residents self-identify as citizens ○ Industrial tech developed more advanced military and weapons; spread of Western society ● Post Industrial society (modern) information technology, AI, robotics UNDERSTANDING THE MODERN WORLD ● Colonialism: the process whereby Western nations established rule in areas away from their home territories ○ Settler colonialism: replacement of indigenous societies with invasive settlement, often results in distinct identity and sovereignty ○ No official distinction between the terms “developed” and “developing” ○ “Global North” seen as developed vs. “Global South” seen as developing ● Cultural capital: the accumulated cultural knowledge within a society that confers power and status ○ Pierre Bourdieu (1986; see Ch. 16 on education) ○ Embodied, objectified, institutionalized ● Emerging economies: developing countries that are cultivating a strong industrial base ● Cultural conformity: the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to a group in order to be accepted into said group ○ Countercultural movements have cultural conformities of their own ○ Enforced through childhood learning and social punishment ● Cultural appropriation: members of one cultural group borrowing elements of another group’s culture ○ Majority or aggressor group appropriating from minority or oppressed group seen as offensive, insensitive, and culturally damaging ● Subcultures: values and norms, distinct from majority, held by group within larger society ● Countercultures: cultural groups within a larger society that reject values of majority

● Assimilation: acceptance of a minority group by a majority; new group takes on values and norms of dominant culture ● Multiculturalism: ethnic groups existing separately within the same society and sharing equally in economics and politics ● Ethnocentrism: judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture ● Cultural relativism: judging a society by its own standards UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ● Nature vs. nurture debate ● Sociobiology: the application of biological principles to explain behavior ○ Reproductive strategy theory ■ Women = quality: large investment in reproductive cells ■ Men = quantity: small investment in reproductive cells ● Instincts: fixed patterns of behavior that have genetic origins and appear in all normal animals within a species ● Nationalism: a set of beliefs expressing identification with a nation ○ Can be highly political and ethnocentric ● Cultural lag: changes in cultural values and norms take time to catch up with technological developments...