Culture

Question 1

What is the difference between material and non-material culture?

Answer 1

MATERIAL CULTURE

• All things that humans make or adapt from the raw stuff of nature
• Material culture includes all those things that humans make or adapt from raw stuff of nature. For example, computers, forks, bulldozers, jewelry, telephones, socks and many more. You will notice that although these might have a similar name, they may appear different when it comes from different locations, and cultures. The easiest to see is material culture of clothing.
• Made up of artifacts (by-products of human behaviour)

NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

• Nonmaterial culture is different first of all because it is made up on intangible things. We all know that intangible things vary from simple to the very complex. Our ideas about truth and beauty, about happiness and boredom, about what is funny and what is not, about right and wrong – all these are part of the nonmaterial culture. So too are the words with which we express these ideas.
• We can divide non-matrerial culture into 5 basic categories. These 5 basic categories are symbols, language, norms, values and beliefs.

Material culture
Physical or technological aspects of our daily lives, including food, houses, factories, and raw materials.

Nonmaterial culture
Refers to ways of using material objects, as well as to customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication.

Question 2

Definition of symbols

Answer 2

Anything that represents something else to more than one person

• Symbols are social things
• Powerful things in the interactions between human beings
• Because we react to them as if they were real things
• Convey information
• Invoke emotions

If an object has meaning to only 1 person, then it is not a symbol. A symbol is anything that at least two people agree represents something other than itself.

Question 3

Definition of language

Answer 3

• Without language there can be no culture
• Best way of conveying meanings between people
• Organised set of symbols (spoken or written words and gestures) and rules (grammar and syntax) for using these symbols
• Language rules are important as words alone cannot convey complex meanings clearly
• Verbal and non-verbal

Question 4

Definition of norms

Answer 4

Established standards of behaviour maintained by a society

• In sociology, all rules about behaviours are called norms
• Some norms are more important that others
• The way to judge the importance of a norm is to observe how people respond to the behaviour

Question 5

Definition of values

Answer 5

• Values are the collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper in a culture
• General or abstract ideas about what is good and desirable as opposed to what is bad and undesirable in society.
• Values may be general (health, love and democracy are examples) or specific (owning a home or honouring one’s parents).

Question 6

Definition of beliefs

Answer 6

• people’s ideas about what is real and what is not real

- Have to do with what people accept as factual

Question 7

What are the difference between formal and informal norms?

Answer 7

Formal Norms
- Written down and specify strict punishments for violators

Informal Norms
- Generally understood but not precisely recorded

Question 8

Elaborate on Norms (Folkways)

Answer 8

Norms governing everyday behaviour

Violations are not often taken very seriously

E.g. walking up the down escalator in the shopping mall

Question 9

Elaborate more on Norms (Mores)

Answer 9

Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society

Embody most cherished principles of a people

Society would insist on conformity

Question 10

Elaborate more on Norms (Taboos)

Answer 10

Norms that are so deeply held that even the thought of violating them upsets people

Example:

• Survivors of a Uruguayan rugby team
• 14 players flew over the mountains to Chile to commemorate the anniversary
• Hollywood movie “Alive” (1993)

Question 11

What are sanctions

Answer 11

• Penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm
• Positive sanctions could be pay raises, gratitude, medals
• Negative sanctions could be fines, threats or imprisonment

Question 12

Example of positive formal sanctions

Answer 12

Medals

Question 13

Example of negative formal sanctions

Answer 13

Imprisonment

Question 14

Example of positive informal sanctions

Answer 14

Gratitude

Question 15

Example of negative informal sanctions

Answer 15

Threats

Question 16

Are values and beliefs the same?

Answer 16

Beliefs and values are different

Shared value: preserve human life
Different beliefs: who qualifies as a human being?

Question 17

Definition of ideology.

Answer 17

• Knowledge that has been distorted by social, economic, or political interests
• The set of ideas found in law, religion, literature and art that the upper class use to maintain their economic superiority

Question 18

Explain culture as a product of action, as a conditioning of further action

Answer 18

Culture systems (total package of material and nonmaterial cultural things) – created by humans; product of human action and interaction

• Expects different groups of humans to have different cultures

Question 19

What are examples of culture as a product of action?

Answer 19

Example: Language
Content of language reveals a lot about a culture
- Ancient Greek has 4 distinct words for love
- Agápe Éros Philia Storge
- What is the word for love in your mother tongue?

Parts of language that we assume mimic natural sounds are cultural

• bow-wow (English)
• gua-gua (Spanish)
• af-af (Russian)
• wan-wan (Japanese)

Example: Gestures

Question 20

Elaborate on cultural conditioning.

Answer 20

Cultural Conditioning as element for further action

• Once problem is solved satisfactorily, we tend to stick with that solution
• Children repeat these solutions, as do their children.
• A track is established; people tend to stay on that track

Question 21

How does culture condition our further actions or behaviours?

Answer 21

• Puts us in the same rut; rut is so comfortable to most of us
• The influence of culture is so comfortable that it is difficult to see
• Traditions or customs (continue to) influence how we live our lives

Question 22

Elaborate on cultural diffusion.

Answer 22

• Process by which cultural things are adopted

- spread of cultural characteristics from one group to another

Question 23

Elaborate on cultural levelling.

Answer 23

• As cultural diffusion increases, the difference between culture decreases
• Process in which cultures become similar to one another

E.g. see someone eating a Big Mac, drinking Coke, and talking on i-phone while in China, France, India

E.g. see someone drinking a Starbucks coffee

Question 24

Elaborate on sub-cultures.

Answer 24

• Culture is a powerful force in shaping people’s behaviour, thoughts and emotions
• May be based on shared ethnic or racial heritage, age, social class, sexual orientation, political beliefs, hobbies
• Groups of people within society whose shared values, norms, beliefs or use of material culture sets them apart from other people in that society

Question 25

What are some examples of sub-cultures?

Answer 25

• CCAs in school

- Communities or interest groups on Facebook

Question 26

Elaborate on counterculture

Answer 26

• A special form of subculture
  Not only set them apart from the larger culture
• Perceived to threaten the dominant culture
• A group who’s values and norms deviate from or are at odds with those of dorminant culture

Question 27

Why do people join countercultures?

Answer 27

Members of countercultural groups are

• usually outsiders
• alienated
• freaks, geeks, nerds and losers
• marginalised people with little power over their status in the world
• don’t fit into the mold of what culture says is ‘normal’