Culture reading

You can complete this ‘Reading’ by reading the culture chapter in your textbook What new idea did you learn from the assigned readings/topic?

• What sentence, phase, observation, etc. do you consider the most significant? Why?
• Was there anything that you did not agree with? Why?
• Sources? 

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Learning Objectives
3.1 What Is Culture?

Differentiate between culture and society
Explain material versus nonmaterial culture
Discuss the concept of cultural universalism as it relates to society
Compare and contrast ethnocentrism and xenocentrism

3.2 Elements of Culture
Understand how values and beliefs differ from norms
Explain the significance of symbols and language to a culture
Explain the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Discuss the role of social control within culture

3.3 Pop Culture, Subculture, and Cultural Change
Discuss the roles of both high culture and pop culture within society
Differentiate between subculture and counterculture
Explain the role of innovation, invention, and discovery in culture
Understand the role of cultural lag and globalization in cultural change

3.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Culture
Discuss the major theoretical approaches to cultural interpretation

Figure 3.1 People adhere to various rules and standards that are created and maintained in culture, such as giving a high five
to someone. (Photo courtesy of Chris Barnes/flickr)

What are the rules when you pass an acquaintance at school, work, in the grocery store, or in the mall?
Generally, we do not consider all of the intricacies of the rules of behavior. We may simply say, “Hello!” and

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ask, “How was your weekend?” or some other trivial question meant to be a friendly greeting. Rarely do we
physically embrace or even touch the individual. In fact, doing so may be viewed with scorn or distaste,
since as people in the United States we have fairly rigid rules about personal space. However, we all adhere
to various rules and standards that are created and maintained in culture. These rules and expectations
have meaning, and there are ways in which you may violate this negotiation. Consider what would happen if
you stopped and informed everyone who said, “Hi, how are you?” exactly how you were doing that day, and
in detail. You would more than likely violate rules of culture and specifically greeting. Perhaps in a different
culture the question would be more literal, and it may require a response. Or if you are having coffee with a
good friend, perhaps that question warrants a more detailed response. These examples are all aspects of
culture, which is shared beliefs, values, and practices, that participants must learn. Sociologically, we

examine in what situation and context certain behavior is expected, and in which situations perhaps it is
not. These rules are created and enforced by people who interact and share culture.

In everyday conversation, people rarely distinguish between the terms culture and society, but the terms
have slightly different meanings, and the distinction is important to a sociologist. A society describes a

group of people who share a community and a culture. By “community,” sociologists refer to a definable
region—as small as a neighborhood (Brooklyn, or “the east side of town”), as large as a country (Ethiopia,
the United States, or Nepal), or somewhere in between (in the United States, this might include someone
who identifies with Southern or Midwestern society). To clarify, a culture represents the beliefs and practices
of a group, while society represents the people who share those beliefs and practices. Neither society nor
culture could exist without the other. In this chapter, we examine the relationship between culture and
society in greater detail and pay special attention to the elements and forces that shape culture, including
diversity and cultural changes. A final discussion touches on the different theoretical perspectives from
which sociologists research culture.

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Humans are social creatures. Since the dawn of Homo sapiens nearly 250,000 years ago, people have
grouped together into communities in order to survive. Living together, people form common habits and
behaviors—from specific methods of childrearing to preferred techniques for obtaining food. In modern-day
Paris, many people shop daily at outdoor markets to pick up what they need for their evening meal, buying
cheese, meat, and vegetables from different specialty stalls. In the United States, the majority of people
shop once a week at supermarkets, filling large carts to the brim. How would a Parisian perceive U.S.
shopping behaviors that Americans take for granted?

Almost every human behavior, from shopping to marriage to expressions of feelings, is learned. In the
United States, people tend to view marriage as a choice between two people, based on mutual feelings of
love. In other nations and in other times, marriages have been arranged through an intricate process of
interviews and negotiations between entire families. To someone raised in the United States, arranged
marriages may seem strange or even wrong. Conversely, someone whose marriage was arranged might be
perplexed with the idea of people choosing their own spouse without guidance from others. In both cases, a
person from one culture may have misconceptions about the customs of the other. In other words, the way
in which people view marriage depends largely on what they have been taught.

Behavior based on learned customs is not a bad thing. Being familiar with unwritten rules helps people feel
secure and “normal.” Most people want to live their daily lives confident that their behaviors will not be
challenged or disrupted. But even an action as seemingly simple as commuting to work evidences a great
deal of cultural propriety.

Figure 3.2 How would a
visitor from the suburban
United States act and feel
on this crowded Tokyo
train? (Photo courtesy of
simonglucas/flickr)

Take the case of going to work on public transportation. Whether people are commuting in Dublin, Cairo,
Mumbai, or San Francisco, many behaviors will be the same, but significant differences also arise between
cultures. Typically, a passenger will find a marked bus stop or station, wait for his bus or train, pay an agent
before or after boarding, and quietly take a seat if one is available. But when boarding a bus in Cairo,
passengers might have to run, because buses there often do not come to a full stop to take on patrons.
Dublin bus riders would be expected to extend an arm to indicate that they want the bus to stop for them.
And when boarding a commuter train in Mumbai, passengers must squeeze into overstuffed cars amid a lot
of pushing and shoving on the crowded platforms. That kind of behavior would be considered the height of

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rudeness in the United States, but in Mumbai it reflects the daily challenges of getting around on a train
system that is taxed to capacity.

In this example of commuting, culture consists of thoughts (expectations about personal space, for
example) and tangible things (bus stops, trains, and seating capacity). Material culture refers to the objects

or belongings of a group of people. Metro passes and bus tokens are part of material culture, as are
automobiles, stores, and the physical structures where people worship. Nonmaterial culture, in contrast,

consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society. Material and nonmaterial aspects of culture are
linked, and physical objects often symbolize cultural ideas. A metro pass is a material object, but it
represents a form of nonmaterial culture, namely, capitalism, and the acceptance of paying for
transportation. Clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry are part of material culture, but the appropriateness of
wearing certain clothing for specific events reflects nonmaterial culture. A school building belongs to
material culture, but the teaching methods and educational standards are part of education’s nonmaterial
culture. These material and nonmaterial aspects of culture can vary subtly from region to region. As people
travel farther afield, moving from different regions to entirely different parts of the world, certain material and
nonmaterial aspects of culture become dramatically unfamiliar. What happens when we encounter different
cultures? As we interact with cultures other than our own, we become more aware of the differences and
commonalities between others’ worlds and our own.

Cultural Universals
Often, a comparison of one culture to another will reveal obvious differences. But all cultures also share
common elements. Cultural universals are patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies. One

example of a cultural universal is the family unit: every human society recognizes a family structure that
regulates sexual reproduction and the care of children. Even so, how that family unit is defined and how it
functions vary. In many Asian cultures, for example, family members from all generations commonly live
together in one household. In these cultures, young adults continue to live in the extended household family
structure until they marry and join their spouse’s household, or they may remain and raise their nuclear
family within the extended family’s homestead. In the United States, by contrast, individuals are expected to
leave home and live independently for a period before forming a family unit that consists of parents and
their offspring. Other cultural universals include customs like funeral rites, weddings, and celebrations of
births. However, each culture may view the ceremonies quite differently.

Anthropologist George Murdock first recognized the existence of cultural universals while studying systems
of kinship around the world. Murdock found that cultural universals often revolve around basic human
survival, such as finding food, clothing, and shelter, or around shared human experiences, such as birth and
death or illness and healing. Through his research, Murdock identified other universals including language,
the concept of personal names, and, interestingly, jokes. Humor seems to be a universal way to release
tensions and create a sense of unity among people (Murdock 1949). Sociologists consider humor necessary
to human interaction because it helps individuals navigate otherwise tense situations.

SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Is Music a Cultural Universal?

Imagine that you are sitting in a theater, watching a film. The movie opens with the heroine sitting
on a park bench with a grim expression on her face. Cue the music. The first slow and mournful
notes play in a minor key. As the melody continues, the heroine turns her head and sees a man

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walking toward her. The music slowly gets louder, and the dissonance of the chords sends a
prickle of fear running down your spine. You sense that the heroine is in danger.

Now imagine that you are watching the same movie, but with a different soundtrack. As the scene
opens, the music is soft and soothing, with a hint of sadness. You see the heroine sitting on the
park bench and sense her loneliness. Suddenly, the music swells. The woman looks up and sees
a man walking toward her. The music grows fuller, and the pace picks up. You feel your heart rise
in your chest. This is a happy moment.

Music has the ability to evoke emotional responses. In television shows, movies, even
commercials, music elicits laughter, sadness, or fear. Are these types of musical cues cultural
universals?

In 2009, a team of psychologists, led by Thomas Fritz of the Max Planck Institute for Human
Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, studied people’s reactions to music that they’d
never heard (Fritz et al. 2009). The research team traveled to Cameroon, Africa, and asked Mafa
tribal members to listen to Western music. The tribe, isolated from Western culture, had never
been exposed to Western culture and had no context or experience within which to interpret its
music. Even so, as the tribal members listened to a Western piano piece, they were able to
recognize three basic emotions: happiness, sadness, and fear. Music, it turns out, is a sort of
universal language.

Researchers also found that music can foster a sense of wholeness within a group. In fact,
scientists who study the evolution of language have concluded that originally language (an
established component of group identity) and music were one (Darwin 1871). Additionally, since
music is largely nonverbal, the sounds of music can cross societal boundaries more easily than
words. Music allows people to make connections, where language might be a more difficult
barricade. As Fritz and his team found, music and the emotions it conveys can be cultural
universals.

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
Despite how much humans have in common, cultural differences are far more prevalent than cultural
universals. For example, while all cultures have language, analysis of particular language structures and
conversational etiquette reveal tremendous differences. In some Middle Eastern cultures, it is common to
stand close to others in conversation. North Americans keep more distance and maintain a large “personal
space.” Even something as simple as eating and drinking varies greatly from culture to culture. If your
professor comes into an early morning class holding a mug of liquid, what do you assume she is drinking?
In the United States, it’s most likely filled with coffee, not Earl Grey tea, a favorite in England, or Yak Butter
tea, a staple in Tibet.

The way cuisines vary across cultures fascinates many people. Some travelers pride themselves on their
willingness to try unfamiliar foods, like celebrated food writer Anthony Bourdain, while others return home
expressing gratitude for their native culture’s fare. Often, people in the United States express disgust at
other cultures’ cuisine and think that it’s gross to eat meat from a dog or guinea pig, for example, while they
don’t question their own habit of eating cows or pigs. Such attitudes are an example of ethnocentrism, or

evaluating and judging another culture based on how it compares to one’s own cultural norms.
Ethnocentrism, as sociologist William Graham Sumner (1906) described the term, involves a belief or
attitude that one’s own culture is better than all others. Almost everyone is a little bit ethnocentric. For
example, Americans tend to say that people from England drive on the “wrong” side of the road, rather than

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on the “other” side. Someone from a country where dog meat is standard fare might find it off-putting to see
a dog in a French restaurant—not on the menu, but as a pet and patron’s companion. A good example of
ethnocentrism is referring to parts of Asia as the “Far East.” One might question, “Far east of where?”

A high level of appreciation for one’s own culture can be healthy; a shared sense of community pride, for
example, connects people in a society. But ethnocentrism can lead to disdain or dislike for other cultures
and could cause misunderstanding and conflict. People with the best intentions sometimes travel to a
society to “help” its people, because they see them as uneducated or backward—essentially inferior. In
reality, these travelers are guilty of cultural imperialism, the deliberate imposition of one’s own cultural

values on another culture. Europe’s colonial expansion, begun in the sixteenth century, was often
accompanied by a severe cultural imperialism. European colonizers often viewed the people in the lands
they colonized as uncultured savages who were in need of European governance, dress, religion, and other
cultural practices. A more modern example of cultural imperialism may include the work of international aid
agencies who introduce agricultural methods and plant species from developed countries while overlooking
indigenous varieties and agricultural approaches that are better suited to the particular region.

Ethnocentrism can be so strong that when confronted with all of the differences of a new culture, one may
experience disorientation and frustration. In sociology, we call this culture shock. A traveler from Chicago

might find the nightly silence of rural Montana unsettling, not peaceful. An exchange student from China
might be annoyed by the constant interruptions in class as other students ask questions—a practice that is
considered rude in China. Perhaps the Chicago traveler was initially captivated with Montana’s quiet beauty
and the Chinese student was originally excited to see a U.S.-style classroom firsthand. But as they
experience unanticipated differences from their own culture, their excitement gives way to discomfort and
doubts about how to behave appropriately in the new situation. Eventually, as people learn more about a
culture, they recover from culture shock.

Culture shock may appear because people aren’t always expecting cultural differences. Anthropologist Ken
Barger (1971) discovered this when he conducted a participatory observation in an Inuit community in the
Canadian Arctic. Originally from Indiana, Barger hesitated when invited to join a local snowshoe race. He
knew he’d never hold his own against these experts. Sure enough, he finished last, to his mortification. But
the tribal members congratulated him, saying, “You really tried!” In Barger’s own culture, he had learned to
value victory. To the Inuit people, winning was enjoyable, but their culture valued survival skills essential to
their environment: how hard someone tried could mean the difference between life and death. Over the
course of his stay, Barger participated in caribou hunts, learned how to take shelter in winter storms, and
sometimes went days with little or no food to share among tribal members. Trying hard and working
together, two nonmaterial values, were indeed much more important than winning.

During his time with the Inuit tribe, Barger learned to engage in cultural relativism. Cultural relativism is the

practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of one’s own
culture. Practicing cultural relativism requires an open mind and a willingness to consider, and even adapt
to, new values and norms. However, indiscriminately embracing everything about a new culture is not
always possible. Even the most culturally relativist people from egalitarian societies—ones in which women
have political rights and control over their own bodies—would question whether the widespread practice of
female genital mutilation in countries such as Ethiopia and Sudan should be accepted as a part of cultural
tradition. Sociologists attempting to engage in cultural relativism, then, may struggle to reconcile aspects of
their own culture with aspects of a culture that they are studying.

Sometimes when people attempt to rectify feelings of ethnocentrism and develop cultural relativism, they
swing too far to the other end of the spectrum. Xenocentrism is the opposite of ethnocentrism, and refers

to the belief that another culture is superior to one’s own. (The Greek root word xeno, pronounced “ZEE-
no,” means “stranger” or “foreign guest.”) An exchange student who goes home after a semester abroad or

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a sociologist who returns from the field may find it difficult to associate with the values of their own culture
after having experienced what they deem a more upright or nobler way of living.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for sociologists studying different cultures is the matter of keeping a
perspective. It is impossible for anyone to keep all cultural biases at bay; the best we can do is strive to be
aware of them. Pride in one’s own culture doesn’t have to lead to imposing its values on others. And an
appreciation for another culture shouldn’t preclude individuals from studying it with a critical eye.

SOCIOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD

Overcoming Culture Shock

During her summer vacation, Caitlin flew from Chicago to Madrid to visit Maria, the exchange
student she’d befriended the previous semester. In the airport, she heard rapid, musical Spanish
being spoken all around her. Exciting as it was, she felt isolated and disconnected. Maria’s mother
kissed Caitlin on both cheeks when she greeted her. Her imposing father kept his distance. Caitlin
was half asleep by the time supper was served—at 10 p.m.! Maria’s family sat at the table for
hours, speaking loudly, gesturing, and arguing about politics, a taboo dinner subject in Caitlin’s
house. They served wine and toasted their honored guest. Caitlin had trouble interpreting her
hosts’ facial expressions, and didn’t realize she should make the next toast. That night, Caitlin
crawled into a strange bed, wishing she hadn’t come. She missed her home and felt
overwhelmed by the new customs, language, and surroundings. She’d studied Spanish in school
for years—why hadn’t it prepared her for this?

What Caitlin hadn’t realized was that people depend not only on spoken words but also on subtle
cues like gestures and facial expressions, to communicate. Cultural norms accompany even the
smallest nonverbal signals (DuBois 1951). They help people know when to shake hands, where to
sit, how to converse, and even when to laugh. We relate to others through a shared set of cultural
norms, and ordinarily, we take them for granted.

For this reason, culture shock is often associated with traveling abroad, although it can happen in
one’s own country, state, or even hometown. Anthropologist Kalervo Oberg (1960) is credited with
first coining the term “culture shock.” In his studies, Oberg found that most people found
encountering a new culture to be exciting at first. But bit by bit, they became stressed by
interacting with people from a different culture who spoke another language and used different
regional expressions. There was new food to digest, new daily schedules to follow, and new rules
of etiquette to learn. Living with this constant stress can make people feel incompetent and
insecure. People react to frustration in a new culture, Oberg found, by initially rejecting it and
glorifying one’s own culture. An American visiting Italy might long for a “real” pizza or complain
about the unsafe driving habits of Italians compared to people in the United States.

It helps to remember that culture is learned. Everyone is ethnocentric to an extent, and identifying
with one’s own country is natural.

Caitlin’s shock was minor compared to that of her friends Dayar and Mahlika, a Turkish couple
living in married student housing on campus. And it was nothing like that of her classmate Sanai.
Sanai had been forced to flee war-torn Bosnia with her family when she was fifteen. After two
weeks in Spain, Caitlin had developed a bit more compassion and understanding for what those
people had gone through. She understood that adjusting to a new culture takes time. It can take

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weeks or months to recover from culture shock, and it can take years to fully adjust to living in a
new culture.

By the end of Caitlin’s trip, she’d made new lifelong friends. She’d stepped out of her comfort
zone. She’d learned a lot about Spain, but she’d also discovered a lot about herself and her own
culture.

Figure 3.3 Experiencing new
cultures offers an opportunity to
practice cultural relativism. (Photo
courtesy of OledSidorenko/flickr)

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Values and Beliefs
The first, and perhaps most crucial, elements of culture we will discuss are its values and beliefs. Values are

a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society. Values are deeply embedded and critical
for transmitting and teaching a culture’s beliefs. Beliefs are the tenets or convictions that people hold to be

true. Individuals in a society have specific beliefs, but they also share collective values. To illustrate the
difference, Americans commonly believe in the American Dream—that anyone who works hard enough will
be successful and wealthy. Underlying this belief is the American value that wealth is good and important.

Values help shape a society by suggesting what is good and bad, beautiful and ugly, sought or avoided.
Consider the value that the United States places upon youth. Children represent innocence and purity, while
a youthful adult appearance signifies sexuality. Shaped by this value, individuals spend millions of dollars
each year on cosmetic products and surgeries to look young and beautiful. The United States also has an
individualistic culture, meaning people place a high value on individuality and independence. In contrast,
many other cultures are collectivist, meaning the welfare of the group and group relationships are a primary
value.

Living up to a culture’s values can be difficult. It’s easy to value good health, but it’s hard to quit smoking.
Marital monogamy is valued, but many spouses engage in infidelity. Cultural diversity and equal
opportunities for all people are valued in the United States, yet the country’s highest political offices have
been dominated by white men.

Values often suggest how people should behave, but they don’t accurately reflect how people do behave.
Values portray an ideal culture, the standards society would like to embrace and live up to. But ideal

culture differs from real culture, the way society actually is, based on what occurs and exists. In an ideal

culture, there would be no traffic accidents, murders, poverty, or racial tension. But in real culture, police
officers, lawmakers, educators, and social workers constantly strive to prevent or repair those accidents,
crimes, and injustices. American teenagers are encouraged to value celibacy. However, the number of
unplanned pregnancies among teens reveals that not only is the ideal hard to live up to, but the value alone
is not enough to spare teenagers the potential consequences of having sex.

One way societies strive to put values into action is through rewards, sanctions, and punishments. When
people observe the norms of society and uphold its values, they are often rewarded. A boy who helps an
elderly woman board a bus may receive a smile and a “thank you.” A business manager who raises profit
margins may receive a quarterly bonus. People sanction certain behaviors by giving their support, approval,

or permission, or by instilling formal actions of disapproval and nonsupport. Sanctions are a form of social

control, a way to encourage conformity to cultural norms. Sometimes people conform to norms in

anticipation or expectation of positive sanctions: good grades, for instance, may mean praise from parents
and teachers. From a criminal justice perspective, properly used social control is also inexpensive crime
control. Utilizing social control approaches pushes most people to conform to societal rules, regardless of
whether authority figures (such as law enforcement) are present.

When people go against a society’s values, they are punished. A boy who shoves an elderly woman aside to
board the bus first may receive frowns or even a scolding from other passengers. A business manager who
drives away customers will likely be fired. Breaking norms and rejecting values can lead to cultural sanctions
such as earning a negative label—lazy, no-good bum—or to legal sanctions, such as traffic tickets, fines, or
imprisonment.

Values are not static; they vary across time and between groups as people evaluate, debate, and change
collective societal beliefs. Values also vary from culture to culture. For example, cultures differ in their values
about what kinds of physical closeness are appropriate in public. It’s rare to see two male friends or

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coworkers holding hands in the United States where that behavior often symbolizes romantic feelings. But
in many nations, masculine physical intimacy is considered natural in public. This difference in cultural
values came to light when people reacted to photos of former president George W. Bush holding hands with
the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in 2005. A simple gesture, such as hand-holding, carries great symbolic
differences across cultures.

Figure 3.4 In many parts of Africa and the Middle East, it is
considered normal for men to hold hands in friendship. How
would Americans react to these two soldiers? (Photo
courtesy of Geordie Mott/Wikimedia Commons)

Norms
So far, the examples in this chapter have often described how people are expected to behave in certain
situations—for example, when buying food or boarding a bus. These examples describe the visible and
invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured, or what sociologists call norms. Norms

define how to behave in accordance with what a society has defined as good, right, and important, and
most members of the society adhere to them.

Formal norms are established, written rules. They are behaviors worked out and agreed upon in order to

suit and serve the most people. Laws are formal norms, but so are employee manuals, college entrance
exam requirements, and “no running” signs at swimming pools. Formal norms are the most specific and
clearly stated of the various types of norms, and they are the most strictly enforced. But even formal norms
are enforced to varying degrees and are reflected in cultural values.

For example, money is highly valued in the United States, so monetary crimes are punished. It’s against the
law to rob a bank, and banks go to great lengths to prevent such crimes. People safeguard valuable
possessions and install antitheft devices to protect homes and cars. A less strictly enforced social norm is
driving while intoxicated. While it’s against the law to drive drunk, drinking is for the most part an acceptable
social behavior. And though there are laws to punish drunk driving, there are few systems in place to
prevent the crime. These examples show a range of enforcement in formal norms.

There are plenty of formal norms, but the list of informal norms—casual behaviors that are generally and

widely conformed to—is longer. People learn informal norms by observation, imitation, and general
socialization. Some informal norms are taught directly—“Kiss your Aunt Edna” or “Use your napkin”—while
others are learned by observation, including observations of the consequences when someone else violates
a norm. But although informal norms define personal interactions, they extend into other systems as well. In
the United States, there are informal norms regarding behavior at fast food restaurants. Customers line up
to order their food and leave when they are done. They don’t sit down at a table with strangers, sing loudly

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as they prepare their condiments, or nap in a booth. Most people don’t commit even benign breaches of
informal norms. Informal norms dictate appropriate behaviors without the need of written rules.

SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Breaching Experiments

Sociologist Harold Garfinkel (1917–2011) studied people’s customs in order to find out how
societal rules and norms not only influenced behavior but also shaped social order. He believed
that members of society together create a social order (Weber 2011). His resulting book, Studies
in Ethnomethodology, published in 1967, discusses people’s assumptions about the social
makeup of their communities.

One of Garfinkel’s research methods was known as a “breaching experiment,” in which the
researcher behaves in a socially awkward manner in order to test the sociological concepts of
social norms and conformity. The participants are not aware an experiment is in progress. If the
breach is successful, however, these “innocent bystanders” will respond in some way. For
example, if the experimenter is, say, a man in a business suit, and he skips down the sidewalk or
hops on one foot, the passersby are likely to stare at him with surprised expressions on their
faces. But the experimenter does not simply “act weird” in public. Rather, the point is to deviate
from a specific social norm in a small way, to subtly break some form of social etiquette, and see
what happens.

To conduct his ethnomethodology, Garfinkel deliberately imposed strange behaviors on
unknowing people. Then he observed their responses. He suspected that odd behaviors would
shatter conventional expectations, but he wasn’t sure how. For example, he set up a simple game
of tic-tac-toe. One player was asked beforehand to mark Xs and Os not in the boxes but on the
lines dividing the spaces instead. The other player, in the dark about the study, was flabbergasted
and did not know how to continue. The second player’s reactions of outrage, anger, puzzlement,
or other emotions illustrated the existence of cultural norms that constitute social life. These
cultural norms play an important role. They let us know how to behave around each other and
how to feel comfortable in our community.

There are many rules about speaking with strangers in public. It’s OK to tell a woman you like her
shoes. It’s not OK to ask if you can try them on. It’s OK to stand in line behind someone at the
ATM. It’s not OK to look over his shoulder as he makes his transaction. It’s OK to sit beside
someone on a crowded bus. It’s weird to sit beside a stranger in a half-empty bus.

For some breaches, the researcher directly engages with innocent bystanders. An experimenter
might strike up a conversation in a public bathroom, where it’s common to respect each other’s
privacy so fiercely as to ignore other people’s presence. In a grocery store, an experimenter might
take a food item out of another person’s grocery cart, saying, “That looks good! I think I’ll try it.”
An experimenter might sit down at a table with others in a fast food restaurant or follow someone
around a museum and study the same paintings. In those cases, the bystanders are pressured to
respond, and their discomfort illustrates how much we depend on social norms. Breaching
experiments uncover and explore the many unwritten social rules we live by.

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Norms may be further classified as either mores or folkways. Mores (mor-ays) are norms that embody the

moral views and principles of a group. Violating them can have serious consequences. The strongest mores
are legally protected with laws or other formal norms. In the United States, for instance, murder is
considered immoral, and it’s punishable by law (a formal norm). But more often, mores are judged and
guarded by public sentiment (an informal norm). People who violate mores are seen as shameful. They can
even be shunned or banned from some groups. The mores of the U.S. school system require that a
student’s writing be in the student’s own words or use special forms (such as quotation marks and a whole
system of citation) for crediting other writers. Writing another person’s words as if they are one’s own has a
name—plagiarism. The consequences for violating this norm are severe and usually result in expulsion.

Unlike mores, folkways are norms without any moral underpinnings. Rather, folkways direct appropriate

behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture. They indicate whether to shake hands or
kiss on the cheek when greeting another person. They specify whether to wear a tie and blazer or a T-shirt
and sandals to an event. In Canada, women can smile and say hello to men on the street. In Egypt, that’s
not acceptable. In regions in the southern United States, bumping into an acquaintance means stopping to
chat. It’s considered rude not to, no matter how busy one is. In other regions, people guard their privacy
and value time efficiency. A simple nod of the head is enough. Other accepted folkways in the United States
may include holding the door open for a stranger or giving someone a gift on their birthday. The rules
regarding these folkways may change from culture to culture.

Many folkways are actions we take for granted. People need to act without thinking in order to get
seamlessly through daily routines; they can’t stop and analyze every action (Sumner 1906). Those who
experience culture shock may find that it subsides as they learn the new culture’s folkways and are able to
move through their daily routines more smoothly. Folkways might be small manners, learned by observation
and imitated, but they are by no means trivial. Like mores and laws, these norms help people negotiate their
daily lives within a given culture.

Symbols and Language
Humans, consciously and subconsciously, are always striving to make sense of their surrounding world.
Symbols—such as gestures, signs, objects, signals, and words—help people understand that world. They

provide clues to understanding experiences by conveying recognizable meanings that are shared by
societies.

The world is filled with symbols. Sports uniforms, company logos, and traffic signs are symbols. In some
cultures, a gold ring is a symbol of marriage. Some symbols are highly functional; stop signs, for instance,
provide useful instruction. As physical objects, they belong to material culture, but because they function as
symbols, they also convey nonmaterial cultural meanings. Some symbols are valuable only in what they
represent. Trophies, blue ribbons, or gold medals, for example, serve no other purpose than to represent
accomplishments. But many objects have both material and nonmaterial symbolic value.

A police officer’s badge and uniform are symbols of authority and law enforcement. The sight of an officer in
uniform or a squad car triggers reassurance in some citizens, and annoyance, fear, or anger in others.

It’s easy to take symbols for granted. Few people challenge or even think about stick figure signs on the
doors of public bathrooms. But those figures are more than just symbols that tell men and women which
bathrooms to use. They also uphold the value, in the United States, that public restrooms should be gender
exclusive. Even though stalls are relatively private, most places don’t offer unisex bathrooms.

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Figure 3.5 Some road signs are universal. But how
would you interpret the signage on the right? (Photo (a)
courtesy of Andrew Bain/flickr; Photo (b) courtesy of
HonzaSoukup/flickr)

Symbols often get noticed when they are out of context. Used unconventionally, they convey strong
messages. A stop sign on the door of a corporation makes a political statement, as does a camouflage
military jacket worn in an antiwar protest. Together, the semaphore signals for “N” and “D” represent nuclear
disarmament—and form the well-known peace sign (Westcott 2008). Today, some college students have
taken to wearing pajamas and bedroom slippers to class, clothing that was formerly associated only with
privacy and bedtime. Though students might deny it, the outfit defies traditional cultural norms and makes a
statement.

Even the destruction of symbols is symbolic. Effigies representing public figures are burned to demonstrate
anger at certain leaders. In 1989, crowds tore down the Berlin Wall, a decades-old symbol of the division
between East and West Germany, communism, and capitalism.

While different cultures have varying systems of symbols, one symbol is common to all: language.
Language is a symbolic system through which people communicate and through which culture is

transmitted. Some languages contain a system of symbols used for written communication, while others
rely on only spoken communication and nonverbal actions.

Societies often share a single language, and many languages contain the same basic elements. An alphabet
is a written system made of symbolic shapes that refer to spoken sound. Taken together, these symbols
convey specific meanings. The English alphabet uses a combination of twenty-six letters to create words;
these twenty-six letters make up over 600,000 recognized English words (OED Online 2011).

Rules for speaking and writing vary even within cultures, most notably by region. Do you refer to a can of
carbonated liquid as “soda,” pop,” or “Coke”? Is a household entertainment room a “family room,” “rec
room,” or “den”? When leaving a restaurant, do you ask your server for a “check,” the “ticket,” or your
“bill”?

Language is constantly evolving as societies create new ideas. In this age of technology, people have
adapted almost instantly to new nouns such as “e-mail” and “Internet,” and verbs such as “downloading,”
“texting,” and “blogging.” Twenty years ago, the general public would have considered these nonsense
words.

Even while it constantly evolves, language continues to shape our reality. This insight was established in the
1920s by two linguists, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf. They believed that reality is culturally
determined, and that any interpretation of reality is based on a society’s language. To prove this point, the

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sociologists argued that every language has words or expressions specific to that language. In the United
States, for example, the number thirteen is associated with bad luck. In Japan, however, the number four is
considered unlucky, since it is pronounced similarly to the Japanese word for “death.”

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is based on the idea that people experience their world through their

language, and that they therefore understand their world through the culture embedded in their language.
The hypothesis, which has also been called linguistic relativity, states that language shapes thought (Swoyer
2003). Studies have shown, for instance, that unless people have access to the word “ambivalent,” they
don’t recognize an experience of uncertainty from having conflicting positive and negative feelings about
one issue. Essentially, the hypothesis argues, if a person can’t describe the experience, the person is not
having the experience.

In addition to using language, people communicate without words. Nonverbal communication is symbolic,
and, as in the case of language, much of it is learned through one’s culture. Some gestures are nearly
universal: smiles often represent joy, and crying often represents sadness. Other nonverbal symbols vary
across cultural contexts in their meaning. A thumbs-up, for example, indicates positive reinforcement in the
United States, whereas in Russia and Australia, it is an offensive curse (Passero 2002). Other gestures vary
in meaning depending on the situation and the person. A wave of the hand can mean many things,
depending on how it’s done and for whom. It may mean “hello,” “goodbye,” “no thank you,” or “I’m royalty.”
Winks convey a variety of messages, including “We have a secret,” “I’m only kidding,” or “I’m attracted to
you.” From a distance, a person can understand the emotional gist of two people in conversation just by
watching their body language and facial expressions. Furrowed brows and folded arms indicate a serious
topic, possibly an argument. Smiles, with heads lifted and arms open, suggest a lighthearted, friendly chat.

SOCIAL POLICY AND DEBATE

Is the United States Bilingual?

In 1991, when she was six years old, Lucy Alvarez attended a school that allowed for the use of
both English and Spanish. Lucy’s teacher was bilingual, the librarian offered bilingual books, and
many of the school staff spoke both Spanish and English. Lucy and many of her classmates who
spoke only Spanish at home were lucky. According to the U.S. Census, 13.8 percent of U.S.
residents speak a non-English language at home. That’s a significant figure, but not enough to
ensure that Lucy would be encouraged to use her native language in school (Mount 2010).

Lucy’s parents, who moved to Texas from Mexico, struggled under the pressure to speak English.
Lucy might easily have gotten lost and left behind if she’d felt the same pressure in school. In
2008, researchers from Johns Hopkins University conducted a series of studies on the effects of
bilingual education (Slavin et al. 2008). They found that students taught in both their native tongue
and English make better progress than those taught only in English.

Technically, the United States has no official language. But many believe English to be the rightful
language of the United States, and over thirty states have passed laws specifying English as the
official tongue. Proponents of English-only laws suggest that a national ruling will save money on
translation, printing, and human resource costs, including funding for bilingual teachers. They
argue that setting English as the official language will encourage non-English speakers to learn
English faster and adapt to the culture of the United States more easily (Mount 2010).

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) oppose making English the official
language and claim that it violates the rights of non-English speakers. English-only laws, they

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believe, deny the reality of our nation’s diversity and unfairly target Latinos and Asians. They point
to the fact that much of the debate on this topic has risen since 1970, a time when the United
States experienced new waves of immigration from Asia and Mexico.

Today, a lot of product information gets written in multiple languages. Enter a store like Home
Depot and you’ll find signs in both English and Spanish. Buy a children’s product, and the safety
warnings could be presented in multiple languages. While marketers are financially motivated to
reach the largest number of consumers possible, this trend also may help people acclimate to a
culture of bilingualism.

Studies show that most U.S. immigrants eventually abandon their native tongues and become
fluent in English. Bilingual education helps with that transition. Today, Lucy Alvarez is an
ambitious and high-achieving college student. Fluent in both English and Spanish, Lucy is
studying law enforcement—a field that seeks bilingual employees. The same bilingualism that
contributed to her success in grade school will help her thrive professionally as a law officer
serving her community.

Figure 3.6 Nowadays, many signs—on streets and in
stores—include both English and Spanish. What effect
does this have on members of society? What effect
does it have on our culture? (Photo courtesy of
istolethetv/flickr)

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It may seem obvious that there are a multitude of cultural differences between societies in the world. After
all, we can easily see that people vary from one society to the next. It’s natural that a young woman from
rural Kenya would have a very different view of the world from an elderly man in Mumbai—one of the most
populated cities in the world. Additionally, each culture has its own internal variations. Sometimes the
differences between cultures are not nearly as large as the differences inside cultures.

High Culture and Popular Culture
Do you prefer listening to opera or hip hop music? Do you like watching horse racing or NASCAR? Do you
read books of poetry or celebrity magazines? In each pair, one type of entertainment is considered high-
brow and the other low-brow. Sociologists use the term high culture to describe the pattern of cultural

experiences and attitudes that exist in the highest class segments of a society. People often associate high
culture with intellectualism, political power, and prestige. In America, high culture also tends to be
associated with wealth. Events considered high culture can be expensive and formal—attending a ballet,
seeing a play, or listening to a live symphony performance.

The term popular culture refers to the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in mainstream

society. Popular culture events might include a parade, a baseball game, or the season finale of a television
show. Rock and pop music—“pop” is short for “popular”—are part of popular culture. Popular culture is
often expressed and spread via commercial media such as radio, television, movies, the music industry,
publishers, and corporate-run websites. Unlike high culture, popular culture is known and accessible to
most people. You can share a discussion of favorite football teams with a new coworker or comment on
American Idol when making small talk in line at the grocery store. But if you tried to launch into a deep
discussion on the classical Greek play Antigone, few members of U.S. society today would be familiar with
it.

Although high culture may be viewed as superior to popular culture, the labels of high culture and popular
culture vary over time and place. Shakespearean plays, considered pop culture when they were written, are
now part of our society’s high culture. Five hundred years from now, will our descendants associate
Breaking Bad with the cultural elite?

Subculture and Counterculture
A subculture is just what it sounds like—a smaller cultural group within a larger culture; people of a

subculture are part of the larger culture but also share a specific identity within a smaller group.

Thousands of subcultures exist within the United States. Ethnic and racial groups share the language, food,
and customs of their heritage. Other subcultures are united by shared experiences. Biker culture revolves
around a dedication to motorcycles. Some subcultures are formed by members who possess traits or
preferences that differ from the majority of a society’s population. The body modification community
embraces aesthetic additions to the human body, such as tattoos, piercings, and certain forms of plastic
surgery. In the United States, adolescents often form subcultures to develop a shared youth identity.
Alcoholics Anonymous offers support to those suffering from alcoholism. But even as members of a
subculture band together, they still identify with and participate in the larger society.

Sociologists distinguish subcultures from countercultures, which are a type of subculture that rejects some

of the larger culture’s norms and values. In contrast to subcultures, which operate relatively smoothly within
the larger society, countercultures might actively defy larger society by developing their own set of rules and
norms to live by, sometimes even creating communities that operate outside of greater society.

Cults, a word derived from culture, are also considered counterculture groups. The group “Yearning for
Zion” (YFZ) in Eldorado, Texas, existed outside the mainstream and the limelight, until its leader was

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accused of statutory rape and underage marriage. The sect’s formal norms clashed too severely to be
tolerated by U.S. law, and in 2008, authorities raided the compound and removed more than two hundred
women and children from the property.

BIG PICTURE

The Evolution of American Hipster Subculture

Skinny jeans, chunky glasses, and T-shirts with vintage logos—the American hipster is a
recognizable figure in the modern United States. Based predominately in metropolitan areas,
sometimes clustered around hotspots such as the Williamsburg neighborhood in New York City,
hipsters define themselves through a rejection of the mainstream. As a subculture, hipsters spurn
many of the values and beliefs of U.S. culture and prefer vintage clothing to fashion and a
bohemian lifestyle to one of wealth and power. While hipster culture may seem to be the new
trend among young, middle-class youth, the history of the group stretches back to the early
decades of the 1900s.

Where did the hipster culture begin? In the early 1940s, jazz music was on the rise in the United
States. Musicians were known as “hepcats” and had a smooth, relaxed quality that went against
upright, mainstream life. Those who were “hep” or “hip” lived by the code of jazz, while those
who were “square” lived according to society’s rules. The idea of a “hipster” was born.

The hipster movement spread, and young people, drawn to the music and fashion, took on
attitudes and language derived from the culture of jazz. Unlike the vernacular of the day, hipster
slang was purposefully ambiguous. When hipsters said, “It’s cool, man,” they meant not that
everything was good, but that it was the way it was.

Figure 3.7 In the 1940s, U.S. hipsters
were associated with the “cool” culture of
jazz. (Photo courtesy of William P.
Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin
Fund Collection, Music Division, Library
of Congress)

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By the 1950s, the jazz culture was winding down and many traits of hepcat culture were
becoming mainstream. A new subculture was on the rise. The “Beat Generation,” a title coined by
writer Jack Kerouac, were anticonformist and antimaterialistic. They were writers who listened to
jazz and embraced radical politics. They bummed around, hitchhiked the country, and lived in
squalor.

The lifestyle spread. College students, clutching copies of Kerouac’s On the Road, dressed in
berets, black turtlenecks, and black-rimmed glasses. Women wore black leotards and grew their
hair long. Herb Caen, a San Francisco journalist, used the suffix from Sputnik 1, the Russian
satellite that orbited Earth in 1957, to dub the movement’s followers “Beatniks.”

As the Beat Generation faded, a new, related movement began. It too focused on breaking social
boundaries, but it also advocated freedom of expression, philosophy, and love. It took its name
from the generations before; in fact, some theorists claim that Beats themselves coined the term
to describe their children. Over time, the “little hipsters” of the 1970s became known simply as
“hippies.”

Today’s generation of hipsters rose out of the hippie movement in the same way that hippies rose
from Beats and Beats from hepcats. Although contemporary hipsters may not seem to have
much in common with 1940s hipsters, the emulation of nonconformity is still there. In 2010,
sociologist Mark Greif set about investigating the hipster subculture of the United States and
found that much of what tied the group members together was not based on fashion, musical
taste, or even a specific point of contention with the mainstream. “All hipsters play at being the
inventors or first adopters of novelties,” Greif wrote. “Pride comes from knowing, and deciding,
what’s cool in advance of the rest of the world. Yet the habits of hatred and accusation are
endemic to hipsters because they feel the weakness of everyone’s position—including their own”
(Greif 2010). Much as the hepcats of the jazz era opposed common culture with carefully crafted
appearances of coolness and relaxation, modern hipsters reject mainstream values with a
purposeful apathy.

Young people are often drawn to oppose mainstream conventions, even if in the same way that
others do. Ironic, cool to the point of noncaring, and intellectual, hipsters continue to embody a
subculture, while simultaneously impacting mainstream culture.

Figure 3.8 Intellectual and trendy,
today’s hipsters define themselves

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through cultural irony. (Photo
courtesy of Lorena
Cupcake/Wikimedia Commons)

Cultural Change
As the hipster example illustrates, culture is always evolving. Moreover, new things are added to material
culture every day, and they affect nonmaterial culture as well. Cultures change when something new (say,
railroads or smartphones) opens up new ways of living and when new ideas enter a culture (say, as a result
of travel or globalization).

Innovation: Discovery and Invention

An innovation refers to an object or concept’s initial appearance in society—it’s innovative because it is

markedly new. There are two ways to come across an innovative object or idea: discover it or invent it.
Discoveries make known previously unknown but existing aspects of reality. In 1610, when Galileo looked

through his telescope and discovered Saturn, the planet was already there, but until then, no one had
known about it. When Christopher Columbus encountered America, the land was, of course, already well
known to its inhabitants. However, Columbus’s discovery was new knowledge for Europeans, and it opened
the way to changes in European culture, as well as to the cultures of the discovered lands. For example,
new foods such as potatoes and tomatoes transformed the European diet, and horses brought from Europe
changed hunting practices of Native American tribes of the Great Plains.

Inventions result when something new is formed from existing objects or concepts—when things are put

together in an entirely new manner. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, electric appliances were invented at
an astonishing pace. Cars, airplanes, vacuum cleaners, lamps, radios, telephones, and televisions were all
new inventions. Inventions may shape a culture when people use them in place of older ways of carrying out
activities and relating to others, or as a way to carry out new kinds of activities. Their adoption reflects (and
may shape) cultural values, and their use may require new norms for new situations.

Consider the introduction of modern communication technology, such as mobile phones and smartphones.
As more and more people began carrying these devices, phone conversations no longer were restricted to
homes, offices, and phone booths. People on trains, in restaurants, and in other public places became
annoyed by listening to one-sided conversations. Norms were needed for cell phone use. Some people
pushed for the idea that those who are out in the world should pay attention to their companions and
surroundings. However, technology enabled a workaround: texting, which enables quiet communication and
has surpassed phoning as the chief way to meet today’s highly valued ability to stay in touch anywhere,
everywhere.

When the pace of innovation increases, it can lead to generation gaps. Technological gadgets that catch on
quickly with one generation are sometimes dismissed by a skeptical older generation. A culture’s objects
and ideas can cause not just generational but cultural gaps. Material culture tends to diffuse more quickly
than nonmaterial culture; technology can spread through society in a matter of months, but it can take
generations for the ideas and beliefs of society to change. Sociologist William F. Ogburn coined the term
culture lag to refer to this time that elapses between the introduction of a new item of material culture and

its acceptance as part of nonmaterial culture (Ogburn 1957).

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Culture lag can also cause tangible problems. The infrastructure of the United States, built a hundred years
ago or more, is having trouble supporting today’s more heavily populated and fast-paced life. Yet there is a
lag in conceptualizing solutions to infrastructure problems. Rising fuel prices, increased air pollution, and
traffic jams are all symptoms of culture lag. Although people are becoming aware of the consequences of
overusing resources, the means to support changes takes time to achieve.

Figure 3.9 Sociologist Everett Rogers (1962) developed
a model of the diffusion of innovations. As consumers
gradually adopt a new innovation, the item grows
toward a market share of 100 percent, or complete
saturation within a society. (Graph courtesy of
Tungsten/Wikimedia Commons)

Diffusion and Globalization

The integration of world markets and technological advances of the last decades have allowed for greater
exchange between cultures through the processes of globalization and diffusion. Beginning in the 1980s,
Western governments began to deregulate social services while granting greater liberties to private
businesses. As a result, world markets became dominated by multinational companies in the 1980s, a new
state of affairs at that time. We have since come to refer to this integration of international trade and finance
markets as globalization. Increased communications and air travel have further opened doors for

international business relations, facilitating the flow not only of goods but also of information and people as
well (Scheuerman 2014 (revised)). Today, many U.S. companies set up offices in other nations where the
costs of resources and labor are cheaper. When a person in the United States calls to get information about
banking, insurance, or computer services, the person taking that call may be working in another country.

Alongside the process of globalization is diffusion, or the spread of material and nonmaterial culture. While

globalization refers to the integration of markets, diffusion relates to a similar process in the integration of
international cultures. Middle-class Americans can fly overseas and return with a new appreciation of Thai
noodles or Italian gelato. Access to television and the Internet has brought the lifestyles and values
portrayed in U.S. sitcoms into homes around the globe. Twitter feeds from public demonstrations in one
nation have encouraged political protesters in other countries. When this kind of diffusion occurs, material
objects and ideas from one culture are introduced into another.

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Figure 3.10 Officially patented in 1893 as the “clasp locker” (left),
the zipper did not diffuse through society for many decades.
Today, it is immediately recognizable around the world. (Photo (a)
courtesy of U.S. Patent Office/Wikimedia Commons; Photo (b)
courtesy of Rabensteiner/Wikimedia Commons)

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Music, fashion, technology, and values—all are products of culture. But what do they mean? How do
sociologists perceive and interpret culture based on these material and nonmaterial items? Let’s finish our
analysis of culture by reviewing them in the context of three theoretical perspectives: functionalism, conflict
theory, and symbolic interactionism.

Functionalists view society as a system in which all parts work—or function—together to create society as a
whole. In this way, societies need culture to exist. Cultural norms function to support the fluid operation of
society, and cultural values guide people in making choices. Just as members of a society work together to
fulfill a society’s needs, culture exists to meet its members’ basic needs.

Functionalists also study culture in terms of values. Education is an important concept in the United States
because it is valued. The culture of education—including material culture such as classrooms, textbooks,
libraries, dormitories—supports the emphasis placed on the value of educating a society’s members.

Figure 3.11 This statue of Superman stands in
the center of Metropolis, Illinois. His pedestal
reads “Truth—Justice—The American Way.”
How would a functionalist interpret this statue?
What does it reveal about the values of
American culture? (Photo courtesy of David
Wilson/flickr)

Conflict theorists view social structure as inherently unequal, based on power differentials related to issues
like class, gender, race, and age. For a conflict theorist, culture is seen as reinforcing issues of “privilege” for
certain groups based upon race, sex, class, and so on. Women strive for equality in a male-dominated
society. Senior citizens struggle to protect their rights, their health care, and their independence from a
younger generation of lawmakers. Advocacy groups such as the ACLU work to protect the rights of all races
and ethnicities in the United States.

Inequalities exist within a culture’s value system. Therefore, a society’s cultural norms benefit some people
but hurt others. Some norms, formal and informal, are practiced at the expense of others. Women were not
allowed to vote in the United States until 1920. Gay and lesbian couples have been denied the right to
marry in some states until 2015. Racism and bigotry are very much alive today. Although cultural diversity is
supposedly valued in the United States, many people still frown upon interracial marriages. Same-sex
marriages are banned in most states, and polygamy—common in some cultures—is unthinkable to most
Americans.

At the core of conflict theory is the effect of economic production and materialism: dependence on
technology in rich nations versus a lack of technology and education in poor nations. Conflict theorists
believe that a society’s system of material production has an effect on the rest of culture. People who have

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less power also have less ability to adapt to cultural change. This view contrasts with the perspective of
functionalism. In the U.S. culture of capitalism, to illustrate, we continue to strive toward the promise of the
American dream, which perpetuates the belief that the wealthy deserve their privileges.

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective that is most concerned with the face-to-face
interactions between members of society. Interactionists see culture as being created and maintained by
the ways people interact and in how individuals interpret each other’s actions. Proponents of this theory
conceptualize human interactions as a continuous process of deriving meaning from both objects in the
environment and the actions of others. This is where the term symbolic comes into play. Every object and
action has a symbolic meaning, and language serves as a means for people to represent and communicate
their interpretations of these meanings to others. Those who believe in symbolic interactionism perceive
culture as highly dynamic and fluid, as it is dependent on how meaning is interpreted and how individuals
interact when conveying these meanings.

We began this chapter by asking what culture is. Culture is comprised of all the practices, beliefs, and
behaviors of a society. Because culture is learned, it includes how people think and express themselves.
While we may like to consider ourselves individuals, we must acknowledge the impact of culture; we inherit
thought language that shapes our perceptions and patterned behavior, including about issues of family and
friends, and faith and politics.

To an extent, culture is a social comfort. After all, sharing a similar culture with others is precisely what
defines societies. Nations would not exist if people did not coexist culturally. There could be no societies if
people did not share heritage and language, and civilization would cease to function if people did not agree
on similar values and systems of social control. Culture is preserved through transmission from one
generation to the next, but it also evolves through processes of innovation, discovery, and cultural diffusion.
We may be restricted by the confines of our own culture, but as humans we have the ability to question
values and make conscious decisions. No better evidence of this freedom exists than the amount of cultural
diversity within our own society and around the world. The more we study another culture, the better we
become at understanding our own.

Figure 3.12 This child’s clothing may be
culturally specific, but her facial expression is
universal. (Photo courtesy of Beth
Rankin/flickr)

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beliefs

tenets or convictions that people hold to be true

countercultures

groups that reject and oppose society’s widely accepted cultural patterns

cultural imperialism

the deliberate imposition of one’s own cultural values on another

culture

cultural relativism

the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards, and not in comparison to another culture

cultural universals

patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies

culture

shared beliefs, values, and practices

culture lag

the gap of time between the introduction of material culture and nonmaterial culture’s acceptance of it

culture shock

an experience of personal disorientation when confronted with an unfamiliar way of life

diffusion

the spread of material and nonmaterial culture from one culture to another

discoveries

things and ideas found from what already exists

ethnocentrism

the practice of evaluating another culture according to the standards of one’s own culture

folkways

direct, appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture

formal

norms

established, written rules

globalization

the integration of international trade and finance markets

high culture

the cultural patterns of a society’s elite

ideal culture

the standards a society would like to embrace and live up to

informal norms

casual behaviors that are generally and widely conformed to

innovations

new objects or ideas introduced to culture for the first time

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inventions

a combination of pieces of existing reality into new forms

language

a symbolic system of communication

material culture

the objects or belongings of a group of people

mores

the moral views and principles of a group

nonmaterial culture

the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a

society

norms

the visible and invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured

popular culture

mainstream, widespread patterns among a society’s population

real culture

the way society really is based on what actually occurs and exists

sanctions

a way to authorize or formally disapprove of certain behaviors

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

the way that people understand the world based on their form of language

social control

a way to encourage conformity to cultural norms

society

people who live in a definable community and who share a culture

subcultures

groups that share a specific identification, apart from a society’s majority, even as the members exist within
a larger society

symbols

gestures or objects that have meanings associated with them that are recognized by people who share a
culture

values

a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society

xenocentrism

a belief that another culture is superior to one’s own