ucsp: defining society and culture

• Culture


  refers to the way of life of a social group or a society and of a country
• Society


  refers to a group of people sharing a common culture
• Society may defined as an organized group of people who generally share a common territory, language, and culture, and act together for collective survival and well-being
• Raymond Williams defined culture in three general categories


  A process

  An activity recorded human perfection and learned

  A description of a particular way of life
• Raymond Williams believed that culture is not just a set of artistic expressions, but also a way of life that encompasses the values, beliefs, and practices of a society.
• Culture is not static but rather constantly evolving and shaped by social and historical contexts.
• Dominant, Residual, and Emergent Culture

  Dominant - dominant culture represents the values and beliefs of the ruling class

  Residual - residual culture refers to the remnants of past cultural practices

  Emergent - emergent culture represents new ideas and practices that challenge the dominant culture
• Structure of Feeling


  describe the collective emotional and affective experiences of a particular historical period
• Ideology and Hegemony


  These ideologies shape the way stories are told, characters are portrayed, and social issues are addressed. By examining the movie's narrative, themes, and character development, we can identify the underlying ideologies and hegemonic forces at play
• Cultural Materialism


  a materialist approach to culture, which emphasizes the material conditions and economic factors that shape cultural production
• Marxist Theoretical Framework


  Cultural similarities and differences as well as models for cultural change within a societal framework consisting of three distinct levels:  infrastructure, structure, and superstructure
• Tangible Heritage 


  Objects or belongings of a group of people
• Intangible Heritage


  Composed of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society
• Characteristics of Culture

  It is dynamic, flexible, and adaptive

  It is shared and contested; it is composed of patterned social interactions; integrated and, at time, unstable

  It is learned and transmitted through socialization or enculturation

  It requires language and other forms of communication
• Cultural Universals


  Human needs such as food, shelter, clothing, music and arts, sports courtship and marriage, and rituals and feasts
• Iceberg Theory by Edward T. Hallin


  Surface Culture is explicitly learned by an individual and taught by society

  Deep Culture is implicitly learned and unconsciously learned; therefore it can be difficult to change
• Deep Culture is implicitly learned and unconsciously learned; therefore it can be difficult to change
• Surface Culture is explicitly learned by an individual and taught by society
• Language refers to a system of communication that humans use to express values, beliefs, and ideas, as well as to forge relationships and establish some sort of binding understanding between and among each other.
• A symbol is any object, body language/gesture, or even abstract concept but it has no significant meaning to the outsiders, or to the people within a culture
• Norms are acceptable actions within boundaries set by society or culture
• Formal norms are the rules and regulations established by social institutions and governments for the people to comply with
• Values are abstract concepts that make judgments on and/or determine what is good and desirable, and what is bad and undesirable within a culture
• A subculture is a smaller culture within the culture of a society
• Cultural Variation


  A counterculture is a subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the dominant culture
• Cultural Relativism


  refers to the idea that other cultures must be understood based on their people’s own experiences and standards
• Ethnocentrism


  to judge a culture using the viewer's own   beliefs,   behaviors,   values,   and   traditions
• Ethnocentrism comes from the word ‘ethnos’, meaning “nation” and ‘kentron’, meaning ‘center'
• Socialization


  process of learning various cultural patterns that are accepted by the culture
• Agents of Socialization

  Family

  School

  Peer Group

  Media & Technology

  Religion & State
• Social Strain Theory by Robert Merton


  Deviance is behaviour that violates the standards of norms of the culture
• Five Types of Deviance

  Conformity

  Innovation

  Ritualism

  Retreatism

  Rebellion
• Conformity


  most common type of behavior that refers to individuals who accept both the cultural goals and the means to achieve those goals as defined by society
• Innovation


  occurs when individuals accept the cultural goals of society but reject or lack access to the legitimate means to achieve those goals
• Ritualism


  refers to individuals who reject the cultural goals of society but continue to follow the prescribed means to achieve those goals
• Retreatism


  individuals reject both the cultural goals and the means to achieve those goals, and they withdraw from society and may adopt unconventional lifestyles or engage in self-destructive behavior
• Rebellion


  individuals who reject both the cultural goals and the means to achieve those goals but actively seek to replace them with alternative goals and means
• Social Control


  the practice of preventing deviant behavior in society