The Social Construction of Culture
- Created by: lucybutler99
- Created on: 21-03-17 19:39
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- The Social Construction of Culture
- Culture is a term used to describe the way of life of a group of people who share certain norms and values.
- Non-material culture is ideas that people share, rules, language, traditions and history. It helps people to understand their social world.
- Material culture is physical things that people attach a deeper meaning to, e.g. cars, houses, clothes, food
- A collectivist culture means that belonging to the group is more important than personal freedom, e.g. China, Japan
- An individualistic culture emphasises personal freedom & gain. They relate more to independence, e.g. Europe, North America
- Aspects of Culture
- Different cultures eat different foods, e.g. Vietnam eats dog/Britain eats lamb
- Different cultures wear different clothing, e.g. Kimono in Japan/Kaftan in Africa
- Different cultures speak different languages, e.g. Spanish in Spain/Welsh in Wales
- Rules are created and followed by members of a culture. People who don't follow these rules, e.g. criminals, drug users, are called deviants. Deviants are controlled by punishments called sanctions.
- Formal control is made up of institutions that force people to behave in a certain way, e.g. legal system, police
- Informal control refers to the use of the infliction of morals and peer pressure to influence the behaviour of an individual.
- Norms are expected behaviours, e.g. queueing, manners
- Roles are the expected behaviours for a situation, e.g. a teacher is expected to tell children off.
- Mores are ways of behaving that are viewed as good, or moral.
- Values are basic rules that reflect what people feel should happen in society, e.g. LGBT, free education & healtchcare
- Beliefs are personal, but can be influenced by religion or culture.
- Status is a persons position in society, e.g. doctors are so respected that we allow them to inject us
- Functionalists view social change as a problem, however Marxists and Feminists see it as normal.
- Nativism
- They argue that the social characteristics of people have arisen through evolution.
- For example, people with Downs syndrome are loving and people with William's syndrome are very sociable.
- Nurture theory
- The theory that society and culture over-ride human genetics and instincts.
- Feral Children
- Feral children is one of the strongest arguments in favour of the nurture theory.
- Feral children are children who haven't been properly socialised. Nature theories suggest they should act like humans, but they are actually severely damaged.
- Feral children do not develop speech and rarely behave according to the cultural norms for their society.
- Oxana Malaya was found as an 8-year-old feral child. She was raised by dogs and had developed several dog-like habits, e.g. growling, sniffing at food, barking and crouching.
- Culture is a term used to describe the way of life of a group of people who share certain norms and values.
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