Society, Culture & Norms

• Society is a product of social construction.

Culture

• Culture encompasses the shared beliefs, practices, and material objects that shape a society's way of life.
• Durkheim emphasized culture's role in creating social cohesion.
• Weber highlighted the impact of ideas on shaping economic and social structures.

Norms

• Norms are the expected behaviors within a society.
• Norms can be formal (laws) or informal (customs).
• Parsons considered norms essential for maintaining social order.

Values

• Values are deeply held beliefs about what is right and wrong in a society.
• Functionalists believe shared values create social stability.
• Marxists view shared values as a reflection of ruling-class interests.

Customs

• Customs are long-established social practices, such as traditions and rituals, which reinforce social cohesion.

Roles

• Roles are the behaviors expected from individuals based on their social position.
• Goffman's dramaturgical approach explains how people "perform" roles in different social settings.

Status (Achieved/Ascribed)

• Status refers to a person's social standing.
• Status can be ascribed (given at birth, e.g., royalty) or achieved (earned through effort, e.g., a career).
• Weber distinguished between status and class in social stratification.

Stereotypes

• Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about groups, often reinforcing social inequalities.
• Feminists argue that gender stereotypes maintain patriarchal structures.

The Social Construction of Our Identity: The Nature-Nurture Debate

• Centers on whether human behavior is primarily shaped by biological factors (nature) or social influences (nurture).
• Sociobiologists like Wilson argue that genetics influence behavior.
• Social constructionists emphasize the role of socialization.
• Mead's symbolic interactionism suggests that identity is developed through social interactions, which reinforces the importance of nurture.
• Twin studies indicate that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to human development.

The Relativity of Culture

• Cultural norms and values vary across societies and time periods, demonstrating that they are socially constructed rather than universal.
• Margaret Mead's research on Samoan adolescence challenged Western assumptions about gender roles.

Socialization

• Socialization is the process through which individuals learn cultural norms and values.
• Primary socialization occurs within the family.
• Secondary socialization happens in institutions like schools and workplaces.
• Durkheim stressed socialization's role in social integration.

Norms and Values

• Norms are the specific rules governing behavior.
• Values are broader principles that underpin norms.
• The value of respect manifests in norms such as addressing elders politely

Symbolic Interactionalism

• It is a micro-level sociological perspective.
• It focuses on how individuals create meaning through social interactions.
• Theorists like Mead and Blumer developed it.
• People act based on the meanings they ascribe to objects, events, and other people.
• Meanings are shaped through communication and socialization.
• Mead's concept of the "self" explains how identity is formed through interactions.
• Identity is distinguished between the "I" (the spontaneous, individual self) and the "me" (the socialized self that considers societal expectations).
• Blumer expanded on Mead's work, outlining three key principles: people act based on meanings, meanings arise from social interactions, and meanings are modified through interpretation.
• Cooley's looking-glass self suggests that individuals develop their self-concept by imagining how others perceive them.
• Goffman's dramaturgical approach compares social life to a theatrical performance, where individuals present different "selves" depending on the social setting.
• Symbolic interactionism highlights the fluid, negotiated nature of identity and challenges deterministic views of human behavior.