SYG2000Principles of Sociology Spring 2010 - Online : SYG2000Principles of Sociology Spring 2010 - Online Dr. Kristin E. Joos
ufsyg2000kristin@gmail.com
TA: Geovanny Perez
g8eo3@ufl.edu
Week 5: Culture : Week 5: Culture Agenda
Announcements
What's up on Campus & in the Community?
Service Learning Ethics Forms due!
Questions?
Review: Ethnomethodology
Culture, Values, and Norms
Miner's Body Rituals of the Nacerima
Popular Culture in the Media
Week 5 –Announcements : Week 5 –Announcements Announcements
-Kristin’s Office Hours: Wed 8th online & Thurs 4th-5th in-person in 3231 Turl. :)
-Geovanny's Office Hours: Wed 6th online & in person and Thurs 5-6th in person in 3309 Turl. :)
Reminders:
Ethics Forms must be uploaded in Elearning by 9pm Thursday (tomorrow)
Exercise 5 due on Friday at 2pm
Discussion 5 – make follow up posts by 2pm Sunday
Next Week: Assessment #1 – 1:55-2:05pm Wed. 2/10, Peer Evaluation of Discussion
What's up on Campus & in the Community
-Gator Non-Profit Professionals general meeting, today 2/3 at 6:30 pm in Matherly 113
-Hoggetowne Medieval Fair, Fri. 2/5- Sun. 2/7 beginning at 10am at Alachua County Fairgrounds
-TEDx is coming to Gainesville!, Sat. 2/6 *Visit www.TEDxUF.com for more info
-Gators for ASHA & Children Beyond Our Borders Awareness Week:
-Panel discussion: “Children in Developing Nations,” Mon. 2/8 at 6 pm in Pugh Ocora
-Film screening: War Dance, Tue. 2/9 at 7 pm in Reitz Theatre
-Black History Month Film screening: Dare Not Walk Alone, Mon. 2/8 at 8 pm at the CMC
-Mission International Rescue fundraiser, Tue. 2/9 from 5-9 pm at Sweet Dreams Icecream
-Off Campus Life's Lunch Series “Dating & Roommating: Creating & Maintaining Healthy Relationships,” Wed. 2/10 from 11:45-12:35 pm in Reitz 284
-Questions?
Review – Ethnomethodology & the Social Construction of Reality : Review – Ethnomethodology & the Social Construction of Reality Ethnomethodology: study of the commonsense knowledge that people use to understand everyday situations. Also, examining the “taken-for-granted” surface of daily life. (remember: we defined "realities" as systems of taken-for-granted beliefs & assumptions, shared by a group of people)
Discuss Exercise #4
One of the best ways to understand the collective, shared understanding of social life is to break them.
Your assignment was to break a social norm, role, or expected behavior
what did you learn?
CULTURE, VALUES, AND NORMS : CULTURE, VALUES, AND NORMS Culture: meanings and ways of life that characterize a society
Nonmaterial Culture: Nonphysical products
examples:
Material Culture: Physical artifacts
examples:
Subculture: values, behaviors, and artifacts of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture.
Counterculture: group that strongly rejects dominant societal values & norms & seeks alternative lifestyles
Elements of Culture : Elements of Culture 2 Elements of Culture:
Beliefs: definitions & explanations about what is assumed to be true within a given culture
examples:
Values: social agreements about what is considered good and bad, right and wrong, desirable & undesirable
examples
How are Values transmitted in our Culture? : How are Values transmitted in our Culture? Norms: culturally defined rules of conduct (expectations for social order )?
Institutional Norm: pattern of behavior that has become widely accepted and taken for granted in society
Prescriptive Norms: appropriate behavior
“thou shall”
Proscriptive Norms: inappropriate behavior
“thou shall not”
Remember: PRO = NOOO!
How do norms function in society? : How do norms function in society? Sanctions: social consequences for conforming to or violating norms
positive sanctions if conform
negative sanctions if not
Violation of norms:
Folkway: (informal norms) customs & manners
Law: norms that are formalized & backed by political authority
More: norms that have a strong moral basis; produce shock/horror
*your book doesn’t differentiate between laws & mores*
Review: Culture, Values, Norms : Review: Culture, Values, Norms What is the purpose of Institutions?
We are learn the appropriate ways to behave through socialization which teaches us norms
How do we learn the rules?
sanctions
Socialization (we'll talk more about this in two weeks)?
Miner's: Body Ritualsof the Nacerima : Miner's: Body Ritualsof the Nacerima 1. What are your impressions of this culture? How would you feel if you were placed in the town where this culture was described?
2. Did you feel that this piece made value judgements or was it impartial in its description of another culture? Do you agree with the judgements it made?
3. What are some reasons why this culture may have so many body rituals? Do any of them seem unnecessary? Do any seem like good ideas, or something that would be helpful? Do any seem harmful?
4. Is there anything the author missed or should have gathered more evidence on before writing his description of the culture?
Miner's: Body Ritualsof the Nacerima : Miner's: Body Ritualsof the Nacerima Nacirema is "American" spelled backwards. This description is how Americans might appear to an anthropologist from another culture. The facts are accurate but the assumptions and interpretations may seem distorted, from our perspective.
All of the terms refer to American culture:
Notgnihsaaw = Washington
shrine = bathroom
box or chest = medicine cabinet
medicine men = doctors
herbalist = pharmacist
font = bathroom sink
bundle of hog hairs = toothbrush
So, how did we get to this “reality” (where people are obsessed with their appearances & possessions, etc.) in America today? : So, how did we get to this “reality” (where people are obsessed with their appearances & possessions, etc.) in America today? Weber's Protestant Ethic
showed link between early American Protestantism & emerging capitalism
1. Work as a calling: work is ordained by God
2. Success is a sign of grace: if you do well at your work, it must be a sign of divine favor & inner virtue
3. Individuality: personal responsibility for one’s actions.
if you’re a failure, its you’re fault.
So, how did we get to this “reality” (where people are obsessed with their appearances & possessions, etc.) in America today? : So, how did we get to this “reality” (where people are obsessed with their appearances & possessions, etc.) in America today? So what?... this had the effect of:
convincing workers that laboring all day in filthy factories for survival wages is God’s will.
Success reflects moral superiority
Pull yourself up from your bootstraps
Early Protestants stressed simplicity in lifestyle
worldly asceticism: live as if taken a vow of poverty
Continued success of profit-making resulted in the opposite of asceticism: culture of materialism
Now, part of contemporary American value system is to want things.
Popular Culture & the Media : Popular Culture & the Media Popular Culture: includes the beliefs, practices, and objects that are part of everyday traditions
mass-produced, mass-consumed
Ex: Mass media
Ex: Role of TV (“national religion”)?
most American leisure time is dominated by TV
98% of all homes have at least 1 TV (more than people who have phones)?
average person watches TV for 31 hrs/week
young people between 5-18yrs spend more time watching TV than in school
people in mid-twenties, TV is 3rd most time consuming activity (second to work & sleep)?
media shapes public opinion & behavior
Exercise 5 : Exercise 5 Exercise 5: Merchants of Cool - due Fri. at 2pm
Provide detailed responses to the following questions:
1. What are our culture’s values, both explicitly stated (by Rushkoff, the narrator of the film) & implicit in the messages from the media?
2. What is cool hunting? What does it mean that it kills what it finds?
3. What were the 3 methods used to collect research mentioned in the film, name them each & explain what they entailed?
4. What is a mook? What is a mid-drift? Do they exist in "reality"?
5. What is the “feedback loop”?
Extra Credit 2 - due Monday