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Cultural Diversity. The Meaning of Culture. What is Culture?. Culture consists of all the shared products of human groups. These products include both physical objects and the beliefs, values, and behaviors shared by a group Material Nonmaterial. The Principles of Culture.
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Cultural Diversity The Meaning of Culture Hempfield Sociology
What is Culture? • Culture consists of all the shared products of human groups. These products include both physical objects and the beliefs, values, and behaviors shared by a group • Material Nonmaterial Hempfield Sociology
The Principles of Culture • 1. There is nothing "natural" about material culture. • 2. There is nothing "natural" about nonmaterial culture. Hempfield Sociology
The Principles of Culture • 3. Culture penetrates deep into our thinking, becoming a taken-for-granted lens through which we see the world and obtain our perception of reality. Hempfield Sociology
The Principles of Culture • 4. Culture provides implicit instructions that tell us what we ought to do and how we ought to think. Hempfield Sociology
The Principles of Culture • 5. Culture also provides a "moral imperative"; that is, the culture that we internalize becomes the "right" way of doing things. Hempfield Sociology
The Principles of Culture • 6. Coming into contact with a radically different culture challenges our basic assumptions of life. Hempfield Sociology
The Principles of Culture • 7. Although the particulars of culture differ from one group of people to another, culture itself is universal. Hempfield Sociology
The Principles of Culture • 8. All people are ethnocentric, which has both positive and negative consequences. Hempfield Sociology
The Components of Culture • Technology • Symbols • Language • Values • Norms Hempfield Sociology
Technology • Tools and the rules by which these tools are used Examples: • Soccer boots • “tunable” soles Hempfield Sociology
Symbols • Anything that represents something else Examples: • word, gesture, image, sound, physical object, event Hempfield Sociology
Language • Written or spoken symbols that are organized into a system Examples: • English in America (for now ?) Hempfield Sociology
Values • shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable Examples: • Freedom Hempfield Sociology
Norms • shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations Examples: • Folkways – Mores – Laws - Taboo • do not kill a human being Hempfield Sociology
Levels of Culture • Cultural Trait • Cultural Complex • Cultural Pattern Hempfield Sociology
Cultural Trait • an individual tool, act, or belief that is related to a particular situation or need • Examples: • Using knives, forks, and spoons when eating Hempfield Sociology
Cultural Complex • a cluster of interrelated cultural traits • Examples: • Breakfast Hempfield Sociology
Cultural Pattern • the combination of a number of culture complexes into an interrelated whole • Examples: • Eating Hempfield Sociology