AIA 1005 Introduction To Anthropology & Sociology PDF

1 AIA 1005 4 INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY & SOCIOLOGY SOCIETY & CULTURE  2 SOCIETY ▪ Society is a collection of interacting individuals sharing the same way of life and living in the same territory. ▪...

1 AIA 1005 4 INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY & SOCIOLOGY SOCIETY & CULTURE  2 SOCIETY ▪ Society is a collection of interacting individuals sharing the same way of life and living in the same territory. ▪ Society, especially the large ones are highly complex. They have so many diverse characteristics – their customs, religions, politics, economics, families, schools and so on.  3 ▪ All societies can carry on in the face of differences and conflicts among their members because they have developed certain building blocks – the foundation of society – called statuses, roles, groups, and institutions.  4 Statuses ▪ To the general public, status often means prestige, but to sociologists, status is a position in society. ▪ People usually behave in accordance with their statuses. Example: the status of being a student differs from the status of being a friend. ▪In our complex society, we have so many statuses that is impossible to name all. Some are born with it, some have to earn it.  5 1. Ascribed status: Born with or inherited. A status that one has no or little control over such as status based on race, gender and age. Associated with ‘closed’ societies with little social mobility. 6  7 Chantelle Brown-Young (America’s Next Top Model 2014)  8 Published on Aug 15, 2014 Chantelle Brown-Young was bullied as a child... a lot. Due to her skin condition, vitiligo, which caused mysterious white patches to appear all over her body, she was called names. “I was called a cow; I was moo-ed at; I was called Zebra,” she told FOX411. Brown-Young, who goes by the nicknames Chantelle Winnie or Winnie Harlow online, first saw a white patch on her skin when she was 4 years old. There is no known cause for vitiligo, and she remembers a childhood plagued by bullies who made her not want to come to school. But the 20-year-old from Toronto managed to overcome her tormenters, and turn her unique look into a booming modeling career that’s landed her a coveted spot as a contestant on “America’s Next Top Model’s” 21st season. She discovered she liked modeling at the age of 16 when a photographer requested she pose for a few pictures. “She had found me on Facebook and she fell in love with my skin and my energy in pictures so she decided she wanted to do a photo shoot with me,” she recalled. After that, her passion for modeling took off. Chantelle’s modeling pics have earned her nearly 200,000 Instagram followers, and she was hard at work on her GED – after she dropped out of high school because other students were picking on her—when she got a phone call from “America’s Next Top Model,” the reality show helmed by Tyra Banks. “There is a lot of positive feedback on the pictures that I post. For example, there was a girl the other day who told me that she lives in Atlanta, and she has never worn shorts, and because of me she is wearing her shorts with her vitiligo… because of me.”  9 2. Achieved status Earned or gained through individual effort. A status that is attained through an individual’s own action. Not necessarily tied to group or class. Associated with ‘open’ society and social mobility is possible.  10 Roles ▪ Every status has rights and obligations. In other words, every status carries with it a role, the expectation of what individuals should do in accordance with their particular status. Thus, status and role seem like two sides of the same coin, but there are distinguishable. ▪ A status is basically static, like a label on a bottle. A role is dynamic, shaped by specific situations and persons. Example: a nurse can be cool and professional with patients, but with doctors they are expected to be obedient.  11 ▪ Prescribed role – the expectation held by society regarding how an individual with a particular status should behave. ▪ Role performance – Actual performance of a role. ▪Role conflict – Conflict between two roles of two different statuses being played simultaneously. ▪Role set – An array of roles attached to one particular status. ▪Role strain – Stress caused by incompatible demands from the role of a single status.  12 Groups ▪ When people interact in accordance with their statuses and roles, they form social group, a collection of people who interact with one another and have certain feeling of unity. A group can be a family or a class. ▪There are two types of groups: ▪Primary group – is a group whose members interact informally, relate to each other as whole persons, and enjoy their relationship for its sake. They are durable and often long lasting. Example: Families, friends and neighbors.  13 ▪ Secondary group – is a group whose members interact formally, relate to each other as players of particular roles, and expect to profit from each other. They are hardly any emotional ties, the communication is bound by formalities, and each person is interested in getting what he or she wants. Once the goal is accomplished, the group dissolves. 14  15 Institutions ▪ Society cannot survive without social institutions. A social institution is a set of widely shared beliefs, norms, and procedures necessary for meeting the basic needs of society. The most important institutions are family, education, religion, economy and politics. ▪In ensuring the survival of society, institutions make life much easier for individuals. Because institutions are so useful, it is not surprising that they tend to be conservative, resisting change and supporting the status quo.  16 ▪ Institutions also tend to be integrated in that they depend on one another as parts of a unified whole. Example: The family and educational institutions.  17 CULTURE ‘By culture we mean all those historically created designs for living, explicit and implicit, rational, irrational, and non- rational, which exist at any given time as potential guides for the behavior of men.’ Kluckhohn, C., & Kelly, W.H. (1945) ‘Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings.’ Useem, J., & Useem, R. (1963) ‘Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.’ Hofstede, G. (1984).  18 Culture is then defined as the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and material objects passed from one generation to the next. It is the shared ways of believing and doing that groups of people create for themselves. We assume that our own culture is normal or natural; in fact, it is not natural, but rather is learned. It penetrates our lives so deeply that it is taken for granted and provides the lens through which we perceive and evaluate things. Sociologists call this "culture within us.“  19 It provides implicit instructions that tell us what we ought to do and a moral imperative that defines what we think is right and wrong. Coming into contact with a radically different culture produces "culture shock"- the challenging of our basic assumptions. A consequence of internalizing culture is ethnocentrism, using our own culture (and assuming it to be good, right, and superior) as a standard to judge other cultures. It is functional when it creates in-group solidarity, but can be dysfunctional if it leads to harmful discrimination.  20 1. Material culture includes such things as jewellery, art, buildings, weapons, machines, clothing, and hairstyles.  21 2. Nonmaterial culture is a group's ways of thinking (beliefs, values, and assumptions) and common patterns of behaviour (language, gestures, and other forms of interaction).  22 Gestures is using one's body to communicate with others, are shorthand means of communication. Gestures are used by people in every culture, although the gestures and the meanings differ; confusion or offense can result because of misunderstandings over the meaning of a gesture or misuse of a gesture. Raising an eye brow: In America: amazed, doubt, uncertainty In Peru: money, ‘pay me’ In Pacific Tonga Island: Yes, I agree  23 In the US: peace, victory In England: challenge, tease In America: okay In France: useless In Mediteranean/Latin countries: threat, blackmail 24  25 Language consists of a system of symbols that can be put together in an infinite number of ways in order to communicate abstract thought. Each word is a symbol to which a culture attaches a particular meaning. It is important because it is the primary means of communication between people.  26 ▪ A non-verbal action is means of changes through non-linguistic forms – 3 types: 1.Paralanguage (voice/high tone/low tone) 2.Kinesics (body movement like hand/ facial expression) 3.Proxemics (distance, body posture) ▪ All is learned and means differently in different society and culture.  27 Culture also includes values, norms, and sanctions. Values are the general standards by which people define good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Every group develops values and expectations about the right way to reflect them. Norms are the specific expectations, or rules of behavior that develop out of a group's values. Sanctions are the positive or negative reactions to the ways that people's behavior reflect norms. Positive sanctions (such as a money reward, a prize, a smile, or even a handshake) are expressions of approval for abiding by norms; negative sanctions (a fine, a frown, or harsh words) denote disapproval for breaking norms.  28 Cultural Relativism Cultural relativism consists of trying to appreciate other groups' beliefs and ways of life in the context in which they exist, without judging them as superior or inferior to one's own. This view helps to avoid "cultural smugness." However, Robert Edgerton argues that those cultural practices that result in exploitation should be judged as morally inferior to those that enhance people's lives. Sub-culture & Counter-culture Subcultures are groups whose values and related behaviors are so distinct that they set their members off from the dominant culture. Each subculture is a world within the larger world of the dominant culture and has a distinctive way of looking at life, but remains compatible with the dominant culture. 29  30 Countercultures are groups whose values set their members in opposition to the dominant culture. While usually associated with negative behavior, some countercultures are not. Countercultures are often perceived as a threat by the dominant culture because they challenge the culture's values; for this reason the dominant culture will move against a particular counterculture in order to affirm its own core values.  31 Culture shock A state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment. 32 33  34 Summary Societies are systems of relationships between people. Shared culture is important in holding a society together. Our cultures are what hold us together, but we must recognize that they are not static. Throughout human history cultures have been changing alongside the many other changes in the structure of social life, and that process will likely continue.