Society and Culture

• Society: system of interrelationships that connects individuals. Latin for the ties that bind people together. Societas from socius, and french societe which means companion.
• Society characteristics:

  • Organized
  • Dynamic
  • Likeness
  • Differences
  • Interdependence
  • Cooperation
  • Conflict
• Culture: all that human beings learn to do, produce, know, believe, and as they live out their lives in the social groups which they belong.
• Culture: a blueprint for living in a particular society. To sociologist, however, every human being is cultured. All human beings participate to it, it is crucial to human existence
• Characteristics of culture:

  • can be learned
  • can be material or immaterial
  • patterned behavior
  • can be created
  • shared
• Material culture: consists of human technology-all the things human beings make and use, from small, handheld tools to skyscrapers.
• Nonmaterial culture: consists of the totality of knowledge, beliefs, values, and rules for appropriate behavior. Structured by such institution as the family, religion, education, economy, and government.
• Symbols: anything that carried a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture
• Language: a system of symbols that allows people to communicate. Through it, we can transmit culture.
• Norms: acceptable and appropriate within a culture
• Formal norms: important standards of behavior

  • mores: norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance (taboo).
  • laws: officially written set of rules, ratified by the government.
• Informal norms: considered less important but still influence how we behave.

  • folkways: norms of routine or casual interaction (shaking hands, eating styles..)
• Rituals: established procedures and ceremonies that often mark transitions in the life course. Reflect and transmit a culture's norms and other elements from one generation to the next.
• Value: involve judgements of what is good or bad and desirable or undesirable. Shapes its norms.
• Artifacts: material objects that constitute a society's material culture.