Culture and Society in a Changing World.
LO 1
Define culture and explain why it is important in helping people in their daily life.
What is culture?
Material Culture and Non material Culture
LO 2
Analyze material and non material cultures, and give examples of each.
Cultural Universals
LO 3
Explain what is meant by the term cultural universal and provide three recent examples.
Food is a universal type of material culture, but what people eat and how they eat it vary widely, as shown in these cross-cultural examples from the United Arab Emirates (top), Holland (middle), and China (bottom). What might be some reasons for the similarities and differences that you see in these photos?
The customs and rituals associated with weddings are one example of non material culture. What can you infer about beliefs and attitudes concerning marriage in the societies represented by these photographs?
Would you expect the user of this device to be impoverished or affluent? What do possessions indicate about their owner’s social class?
Main content
3-2b
Language and Social Reality
Does language create reality or simply communicate reality?
Language and Gender
How are language and gender related? What cultural assumptions about women and men does language reflect?
States with Official English Laws
Why do some states have official English laws while others do not? How does the composition of the population in each state affect the passage of laws regarding language? Do you see any similarities in the states that have official English laws versus those that don’t? What conclusions can you draw from this map?
Core American Values
Do we have shared values in the United States?
Ideal Culture Versus Real Culture
What is the relationship between values and human behavior?
Cultural Diversity: A Nation Growing More Diverse Every 10 Years
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Fact Finder, 2012.
Do you believe that people can overcome these feelings in a culturally diverse society such as the United States?
Culture Shock
LO 7
Explain the concepts of culture shock, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism, and provide one example of each.
Even as global travel and the media make us more aware of people around the world, the distinctiveness of the Yanomamö in South America remains apparent. Are people today more or less likely than those in the past to experience culture shock upon encountering diverse groups of people such as these Yanomamö?
