THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

SOCI1001A Introduction to Sociology

2020-2021 First Semester

Topic 2: Understanding social life: Culture, structure, and power

Culture
- the collection of values, beliefs, knowledge, norms, language, behaviours, and material
objects shared by a people and socially transmitted from generation to generation
- changes over time and different across societies
- values: principles or standards about what is desirable or undesirable
- norms: rules and expectations for appropriate social behaviour

Culture and power

- dominant ideology: a widely held and regularly reinforced set of assumptions that
generally support the current social system and serve the interests of authorities
- dominant culture: a culture that permeates the society and that represents the ideas and
practices of those in positions of power
- subculture: cultures associated with smaller groups in society that have distinct norms,
values, and lifestyles setting them apart from the dominant culture

Cultural diversity
- ethnocentrism: the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own
- cultural relativism: the practice of understanding a culture by its own standards

Social structure & action

- structure: recurring patterns of behaviour
- institutions: the major arenas of social life in which durable routines and patterns of
behaviour take place
- action (and agency): the ability to behave independent of social constraints
- they dynamics between structure and action is a central issue in sociology
- Weber and 3 types of human action: traditional, affective and rational

McDonaldization of society
- efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control
- to impose standardised, efficient structures on all aspects of our lives
- yet inefficient and dehumananizing
Power
- the ability to bring about an intended outcome, even when opposed by others

Hegemony
- a condition that exists when those in power have successfully spread their ideas—and
marginalized alternative viewpoints—so that their perspectives and interests are
accepted widely as being universal and true

References:

Croteau, D. & Hoynes, W. 2020. Experience Sociology (4/e). New York: McGraw-Hill.
ch.3-5

Lawson, H.M. & Leck, K. 2011. Hooking Up on the Internet. In Henslin, J.M. Life in Society:
Readings to Accompany Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
pp.37-49.

Zimbardo, P. 2011. The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. In Matson, R.
ed. The Spirit of Sociology: A Reader. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. pp.145-156.