Culture and Society PDF
Culture and Society PDF
Culture and Society PDF
• Culture is Social
because it is the
product of behavior
• Culture varies from
society to society
• Culture is shared
• Culture is learned
• Culture is transmitted among members
of society
• Culture is continuous and cumulative
• Culture is gratifying and idealistic
• Culture provides proper opportunities for the satisfaction of our needs and
desires
These characteristics revolve around three essences of
culture as a system:
a. Super-organic
-A culture has a “life of its own” which is symbolic
rather than genetic. In this way it is a “living” thing.
b. Integrated
-It has an order and a system
c. Pervasive
-It is spreading and pervades social activities and
institutions.
Functions of Culture
Culture…
• Defines Situations
• Defines attitudes, values and goals
• Defines myths, legends and the supernatural
• Provides behavior patterns
Ethnocentrism
• Coined by William Graham Sumner
• Belief that your culture is the most superior.
• This leads one to making incorrect
assumptions about other’s behavior based on
your own norms, values and beliefs. (P.62)
Cultural Relativism
• All norms, beliefs and values are dependent on
their cultural context and should be treated as
such.
• When looking at a culture, nobody is in a
neutral position. One must encounter the
culture first.
• We must interpret actions of other groups in
the light of their motives, habits and values if
we are to understand them.
• In other words, right and wrong are culture-
specific
Xenocentrism and Xenophobia
• Xenocentrism: Preference of foreign or strange
culture