Sociology of Culture Overview

Culture

• Culture is defined as the ways of thinking, acting, and material objects that shape a people's way of life (Macionis 2007, p.40).
• Culture is symbolic and learned, non-biological aspects of human societies.
• It distinguishes civilized from nature.
• Culture and structure are seen as "cement".
• Culture and material are linked, with material often shaping culture.
• Culture is internally inconsistent and situationally specific (Lamont/Thévenot 2000).
• Culture can be stable — with shared latent processes linking beliefs to actions — or dynamic, using toolkits or inconsistent narratives for sense-making (Polavieja 2015).

Priority Reading

• Students should consult Terrible, Magnificent Sociology...
• Becker, H.S. (1982) "Culture: a sociological view," in Yale Review, 71(4), 513–27.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand culture from a sociological perspective.
• Understand why culture matters.
• Understand the concept of culture shock.
• Understand subcultures.
• Understand cultural diversity and diffusion.

Types of Culture

• "High" culture refers to the arts and is typically associated with elites.
• Folk or "low" culture refers to crafts and is usually associated with ordinary people.
• Pop culture is popular, not highbrow, arguably emerging from "below".
• How do association/proximity to certain cultures influence perceptions?

Consuming Culture

• The rise of "cultural omnivores" who consume a wide variety of culture, encompassing both highbrow and middle-lowbrow forms (Chan/Turner 2017; Fishmann/Lizardo 2013).
• Example: attending opera and watching "Love Island" or a football match.

Importance of Culture

• Culture provides the shared knowledge that enables successful social interaction.
• Culture significantly influences our ideals.
• Culture shapes the social rules governing our behavior and interactions.
• Culture impacts our creation of goods and our evaluations of other cultures.

Aspects of Culture

• Culture includes language, symbols, values, beliefs, norms, practices, and artifacts.

Cultural Universals

• Cultural universals include language, family systems, marriage, religious rituals, property rights, and incest prohibitions.
• Other universals include art, dance, bodily adornment, games, gift-giving, joking, and rules of hygiene.

Cultural Diversity

• Diverse human cultures exhibit variability in material and non-material aspects.
• Culture shock arises from disorientation when encountering an unfamiliar way of life (Macionis 2007, 41).
• Cultural diversity exists both across and within societies.

Subcultures

• A subculture is a smaller group within a larger, dominant or mass culture.
• Subcultures are characterized by specific values, attitudes, beliefs, tastes, and behavior patterns that distinguish them from the mainstream (Bruce and Yearly 2006, p.298).
• Subcultures share some similarities with the dominant culture but differ in values, norms, and language.
• Subculture members often feel a sense of belonging and identity.

Culture in Datasets

• Culture is reflected in sociological studies through interests in music, attendance at concerts/museums/sports, tastes in food (e.g., organic), and attitudes towards politics, work, environment, and reading.

Culture and Lifestyles

• Reflect on cultural consumption versus cultural production.
• How are certain lifestyles valued in Irish society?
• Major contributors to lifestyle valuation include the state, media, and education.

Cultural Sociology

• Symbolic boundaries define social groups (see Michèle Lamont's work).
• "Cultural repertoires" are readily available based on national contexts.
• Cultural schemas (mental maps) are defined by cognitive frameworks learned through interaction (DiMaggio 1997).
• Note cultural variations in descriptions of action, such as civic/moral versus market, comparing France and the US (Lamont/Thévenot 2000).

Next Lecture

• The next lecture will cover values and norms.

Additional Recommended Readings

• Includes various books on sociology, cultural theory, subcultures, and related topics from various authors.

This quiz explores the sociological aspects of culture, including its definitions, functions, and significance within society. Key concepts such as culture shock and subcultures are also examined. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how culture shapes human behavior and social structures.