Cultural Variation: Subculture

Cultural Variation

• Subculture: a smaller culture within the dominant culture of a society, having its own beliefs, interests, and means of interaction, while sharing certain elements of the dominant culture.
• Examples of subcultures: sports fans, teen subculture, LGBTQIA+ subculture.

Counterculture

• A subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the dominant culture, with its own norms, values, and beliefs that may challenge or contradict the widely accepted culture of the society.
• Example: ultraconservative groups, such as terrorist organizations and private militia groups.

Cultural Relativism

• The idea that other cultures must be understood based on their people's own experiences and standards.

Ethnocentrism

• Judging a culture using the viewer's own beliefs, behaviors, values, and traditions, often viewing their own culture as superior to that of others.
• Associated with racism, stereotyping, and xenophobia.
• Introduced by American political scientist William Graham Sumner in his book Folkways (1906).

Sanction

• A mechanism of external social control, which can be either positive (rewards) or negative (punishments).

McDonaldization

• The process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant, particularly McDonald's, come to dominate various sectors of society, including both public and private life.
• Four key principles: Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, and Control.

Mesolithic Period

• A period between 10,000 to 5,000 BCE, characterized by the transition from a nomadic lifestyle to settled farming communities.
• Humans started to practice limited agriculture and fishing, and established semipermanent campsites near water sources.

Neolithic Period

• A period between 10,000 BCE and the advent of metalworking, around 4,000 to 2,000 BCE, characterized by the transition from a nomadic lifestyle to settled farming communities.
• Marked a significant shift in human society, with the development of social hierarchies, specialized occupations, trade networks, and the emergence of early forms of governance.

Sociopolitical Evolution

• The process of restructuring society to address the growing needs and complexities of early communities, as argued by Gerhard Lenski.
• 5 types of societies: Hunting and gathering, Horticultural and Pastoral, Agrarian, Industrial, and Post-industrial.

Sociopolitical Evolution Stages

• Hunting and gathering societies: the oldest and most basic way to economic subsistence.
• Horticultural and Pastoral societies: large-scale cultivation using plows harnessed to animals or more powerful energy sources.
• Agrarian societies: agriculture raises men to a position of social dominance, leading to sociopolitical evolution.

Early Civilizations

• Typically emerged near rivers, which provided a reliable source of water for agriculture and supported the growth of large populations.
• Examples: Mesopotamian Civilization, Egyptian Civilization, Indus Valley Civilization.

Biological Evolution

• The study of changes in the physical body of humans, such as changes in shape and size of bones, brain, dentition, and fingers.

Sociocultural Evolution

• The changes or development in cultures from a simple form to a more complex form of human culture, resulting from human adaptation to different factors like climatic changes and population increase.
• Three periods: Paleolithic Age, Mesolithic Age, and Neolithic Age.

Paleolithic Age

• The Old Stone Age, lasted from around 2.6 million years ago to about 10,000 BCE.
• Characterized by early humans being primarily hunter-gatherers, relying on hunting animals and gathering wild plants for survival.

Mesolithic Age

• The Middle Stone Age, occurred between the end of the Paleolithic period and the beginning of the Neolithic period, around 10,000 to 5,000 BCE.
• Humans started to settle in more permanent locations, establishing semipermanent campsites near water sources, and practicing limited agriculture and fishing.