Clinical Sociologist		 Dr. John Lamberton
 Putting Sociology to Work
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
CULTURE
Proprietary Lecture Notes
 Assistant Professor
 

What is Culture?  Material & Non-Material Culture are products of human interaction.  See DYAD

Although extensive academic literature addresses culture, no generally accepted, shared terminology accurately defines it. The result is a crazy quilt of definitions that makes understanding cultures difficult.

  • Definitions of Culture

  • Relevant Concepts about CULTURE

  • ETHNICITY - According to the American Sociology Association's official website, “ethnicity” refers to shared culture, such as language, ancestry, practices, and beliefs.

  • SYMBOLS:  A symbol is any cognitive construct which is meant to represent a mental or physical entity.

  • RITUALS

  • CANCEL CULTURE - Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. Cancel culture is generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group shaming. 

  • VALUES 

  • LANGUAGE - (SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS)

  • GESTURES

  • NORMS

  • CULTURAL CHANGE:  Cultural change refers to the repositioning of culture, which means the reconstruction of the cultural concept of a society.  Marlboro Man

  • CULTURAL RELATIVISM

  • SUBCULTURE/COUNTERCULTURE

  • Culture Drives Behaviors

  • VIDEO about Ideal and Real culture. 

    • IDEAL culture refers to the values and standards of behavior that people in a society profess to hold.

    • REAL culture refers to the values and standards of behavior that people actually follow.

  • Introduction to Folkways and Mores. 

    • FOLKWAYS are informal norms or everyday customs that may be violated without serious consequences within a particular culture. Wearing deodorant, brushing teeth, dress for the occasion.

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    • MORES are strongly held norms with moral and ethical considerations that may not be violated without serious consequences in a particular culture.

    • TABOOS are Mores so strong that their violation is considered to be extremely offensive and even unmentionable. Marrying a parent, sibling.

  • ETHNOCENTRISM is the practice of judging all other culture by one’s own culture.