Sociology
The study of human behavior, groups or societies
What forms the foundation of a culture?
The methods by which collections of people deal with their environments
Culture
All the shared products of human groups
Material culture
Physical objects that people create and use
Nonmaterial culture
Abstract human creations
Society
A group of interdependent people who have organized in such a way as to share common culture and feeling of unity
What is the difference between society and culture?
Society: People
Culture: The material and nonmaterial products people make
Culture is both ____ and ____
Learned and shared
What are the components of culture?
Technology, symbols, language, values and norms
Technology
The combination of physical objects and the rules that come with them
Symbol
Shared meaning attached to it
Language
The organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system
Values
Shared beliefs about what is good or bad
Norms
Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations
What are the two types of norms?
Folkways and mores
Folkways
Do not have great moral significance attached to them
Mores
Greater punishment
How do we formalize mores?
Laws
Culture is ____ not ____
Dynamic not static
What are the levels of complexity?
Culture traits, culture complexes, culture patterns
Culture traits
Indidivual tools, acts or beliefs that is related to a particular situation or need
Culture complexes
Cluster of interrelated traits
Culture patterns
Culture complexes combined
Culture universals
General traits common to all cultures
Ethnocentrism
The tendency to view ones own culture and group as superior
Culture relativism
Beliefs that cultures should be judged by their own standards rather than by applying the standards of another culture
Subculture
Group with its own unique values, norms and behaviors that exists within a larger culture (ex: gender, age, religion, political, ethnic)
Counterculture
Group that rejects the values, norms, practices of the larger society and replaces them with a new set of cultural patterns (hippies, terrorists)
Values are ____ like all aspects of society
Dynamic
Self fufillment
Commitment to the full development of ones personality, talents, potential
Narcissism
Extreme self-centeredness
Internalization
Process by which a norm becomes a part on individuals personality thereby conditioning the individual to conform to societies expectations
Sanctions
Rewards or punishments used to enforce conformity to norms
What are the four types of sanctions?
Positive, negative, formal, informal
Positive sanction
Action that rewards a particular kind of behavior
Negative sanction
Punishment or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity
Formal sanction
Reward or punishment given by a formal organization or regulatory agency
Informal sanction
Spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval given by an individual or group
What are the two basic ways in which the norms of society are enforced?
Internalization and sanctions
What are the causes of social change?
Values and beliefs, technology, population, diffusion, physical environment and war and conquests
Ideology
System of beliefs or ideas that justified the social, moral, religious, political or economic interests held by a group or society
Social control
Enforcing of norms through either internal or external means
Social movement
Long term conscious effort to promote or prevent social change
Technology in social change
Finding new ways to manipulate new environment
Ways technology arises?
Discovery and invention
Diffusion
Process of spreading culture traits from one society to another
Reformulation
Adapting borrowed cultured traits to fit their own particular needs
Cultural lag
Situation in which some aspects of the culture change less rapidly or lag behind other aspects of the same culture