Kazakh-American Free University

1.

Kazakh-American Free University
Sociology
Valentina V. Gersonskaya,
associate professor
Autumn 2020

2.

Culture

3.

Outline
Culture. Social Culture.
Aspects of Culture
Social Norms and Values
Anomie
Symbols
Culture Standards and Rules
Culture and Language
10/26/2021
Sociology
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4.

What does culture comprise?
What is more specific: values or norms?
What does any … centrism mean?
When do we use social norms?
How many languages can you speak?
10/26/2021
Sociology
4

5.

Social Culture
Social culture is all the beliefs, behaviors and
products that are common to members of a
particular group.

6.

Aspects of Culture
Social organization
Language
Customs and Traditions
Arts and Literature
Religion
Form of Government
Economic System
Sociology, 12th Edition by
John Macionis
Copyright 2008 Prentice
Hall, a division of Pearson
Education. All rights
reserved.

7.

material
Culture
nonmaterial
Physical objects (tools,
Language, values,
technologies, factories,
norms
consumer goods, offices,
schools,
places
of
worship,
cities
and
towns).

8.

Social Norms and Values
Social Norms – the shared rules in a
particular culture that tell its members
how to behave in a given situation.

9.

Norms
Habits
Traditions
Customs

10.

Values
Values are highly general ideas about what
is good, right or just in a particular culture.

11.

Values and Beliefs
Values
Values support beliefs.
Beliefs
Particular matters that individuals
consider to be true or false.
Sociology, 12th Edition by John
Macionis
Copyright 2008 Prentice
Hall, a division of Pearson
Education. All rights reserved.

12.

Anomie
Anomie is a state of normlessness.

13.

Types of Social Culture
High
Folk
Pop

14.

Ethnocentrism
and Cultural Relativism
Ethnocentrism
– The practice of judging another
culture by the standards of one’s
own culture.
Cultural relativism
– The practice of judging a culture by
its own standards.
Sociology, 12th Edition by
John Macionis
Copyright 2008 Prentice
Hall, a division of Pearson

15.

Ethnocentrism
the tendency to see things from the
point of view of the observer’s
culture.
Eurocentrism – belief that European
values
and
experiences
are
universally shared.
Androcentrism – “male-centredness”
Sociology, 12th Edition by John Macionis
Copyright 2008 Prentice Hall, a division
of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

16.

Symbols
Anything that carries a particular meaning
recognized by people who share a culture.
Societies create new symbols all the time.
Reality for humans is found in the meaning
things carry with them.

17.

Types of Cultural Standards and
Rules
Values
Norms
Mores
Taboos
Laws
Folkways

18.

Mores and Taboos
Mores – strongly held norms. Violation of such
norms is against the standards of a particular
country.
Taboos – extremely strongly held norms.
Violation of taboos is forbidden / unthinkable.

19.

Laws and Folkways
Laws – norms that have been legislated by the
state.
Folkways – fairly weak norms. Violation is not
considered quite serious in a particular culture.

20.

Social Control
Various means by which members of society
encourage conformity to norms.
Guilt
A negative judgment we make about
ourselves.
Shame
The painful sense that others disapprove of
our actions.

21.

Ideal Versus Real Culture
Ideal culture
– The way things should be.
– Social patterns mandated by values and norms.
Real culture
– The way things actually occur in everyday life.
– Social patterns that only approximate cultural
expectations.

22.

Culture and Language

23.

Language
How many languages can
you speak ?

24.

Language
Language is a system of verbal (and written
representations)
learned
within
a
particular culture.
Language is a system of associations of
signs with our mental picture of objective
reality.

25.

HOW LANGUAGE SHAPES THE WAY WE
THINK
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKK7
wGAYP6k

26.

Language
A system of symbols that allows people to
communicate with one another.
Cultural transmission
– The process by which one generation
passes culture to the next.
Sapir-Whorf thesis
– People perceive the world through the
cultural lens of language.

27.

Language
Gender differences (+ age)
Cultural differences
Community differences
Economic differences

28.

Gender Differences
People of different gender make different
use of language.
Cultural Differences
(“Blue” – «голубой», «синий»)

29.

Сommunity Differences
jargons/ living vs. working environment/
style
Economic Differences
Language programs in developed countries

30.

Culture Shock
–Disorientation due to the
inability to make sense out
of one’s surroundings.
• Domestic and foreign travel
Sociology, 12th Edition by
John Macionis
Copyright 2008 Prentice
Hall, a division of Pearson