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    13 views16 pages

    3

    Uploaded by

    zain malik

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 16
    eople from one Pr ie those from nt meanings hale may be What seems ordinary. Oa ciety thay seem outla eine ie act can ae differe in different societies. Just as @ W! ae that it floats in seawater, members of a society are generally unaware that they are following belief and custom in their behav- for, They seldom wonder why they belleve and act as they do, Only by imaginatively stepping outside one’s own body of belief and custom can one become aware of its actual nature, From their life experiences people develop a set of rules and procedures for meeting their needs. The set of rules and procedures, together with a supporting set * ; of ideas and values, is called a culture, 1 A. person ‘who is commonly considered “cultured” can identify operatic arias, read a {$4 French menu, and select the right fork, But ) 4) people who are bored by the classics, belch 2); In public, and speak in four-letter words also | have culture, Like most sociological concepts, culture 1s a word with both a popular and a soclological meaning, ‘CULTURE AND SOCIETY The classic definition of culture, framed bj | Sir Edward Tylor (1871, vol.'1, p. 1], reads, "Culture . . | 1 rd ply, culture is everything whi 4S socially learned and shared by- temas society. The individual rereives culture as part } of a social heritage and, in turn, may aura the culture and introduce changes which ye "1 become part of the heritage of SUcceedin, THES 8 generations. opie. Such manufac. f 2 tured oblects ate called genie! In the game Paseball,\for instances the lovee uniforms, and grandstands are a few clements of material culture, The nonmaterial culture would include the rules of the gamgth skis * of the Tayers the concepts of stalegyiand . the: teelona ehavior of players and spec tator Rey material culture 1s yalwa) ‘9, the olitgrowth of ‘the nonmaterial”clilfuregnd is meaningless without it. If the ganie of baseball is"forgotten, a& bat becomes just a stick of wood. Sinceithe most important, part yo turevis the heritage) of ideas, Ahis nonmaterial culture will be the major emphasis of this book, 7 Culture is often confused with society, but the t different meanings. Whereas i d values, 2) Scanned with CamScanner imals DOIN resemure airs wre: « aah Kuklin/Photo Researchers, Inc.) & ‘ ; jate é people who confuse, % 3 aying effort infuriated many peor used which, ig another way ot Prot statistical with cultural norms. "1 afi 3 a shaking hands, we extend the right hand; this is proper in our culture. For scratching our heads we may use either hand; our culture has no norm for head scratching. Ulfure and the cultura D he and several degrees of compulsion, as culture. Often people do not distinguish be- in the following classification. Most tween the two norms. The famous Kinsey concepts were developed by the Studies sought to find some statistical norms ologist William Graham Sumne of sexual behavior in the United States. ‘The wuys, published in 1906 lebthiceh alone. thine loro : cig pt ae Scanned with CamScanner polkways Social life everywhere is ful) of ‘ow to wrest a living from fat Problems— it ure, divide the fruits of toil or goog eee to to relate ourselves agreeably to one aoe day ters, Hunan bigs se have tried every possible Way of deg such problems. Different societies ae sind wide variety of workable atterns, A grou; “ay at once Bice, oF sereT ign SP day; they may eat While standing, seated in chairs, oF squatting on the ground; they may. eat together, or each may eat iri Privacy; they may eat with their fingers or use Sine kind of utensils; they may start with wine and end wih fish, start with fish and end with wine, or reject both. And so it goes for thousands of items of behavior. Each trait is a selection from a number of possibilities, all of which are more or less workable. Through trial and error, sheer accident, or some unknown in- fiuence, a group arrives at one of these pos- sbilties,, repeats it, and accepts it as the is of meeting a particular need, Jt _ Wearing neckties on some occasions and sport _ shirts on others, ‘on the right-hand side of the street, and eating toast for breakfast _ ea few of our many American folkways: exposure of the face, ~ husband 0 Wah a fortune as an YS, even 1 1OUgh her ose Mores | Some folkwa ers. Ifone u: this is not Society, \ys are more important than oth: 'sethe Wrong fork for on’ ta very important, but i, in ue Woman chooses anyone but her ind to sire her child, many aspects of financial obligation, Property inheritance rights; family relationships, and sentimental linkage pecome disrupie, We tl ognize Ses wal which should be lien Siete manners and polite behavior’ and (2 those which must be followed because“they are believed essential to group welfare. Thesé ideas of tight and_wrong which attach to i fll eae P ‘wrong tohleht require cert (Mores is the plural of the Li but the singular form farely appears in so- iological literature.) Members of a society normally share 3 ime faith that violation of their marys wil bring disaster upor. them, Outsiders, how- ever, often see thatat least some of the group's ‘mores are irrational. They may include f taboos which make cattle, hogs, or horses infit to eat; modesty taboos which forbi aoe the ankle, the west the ‘whatever is considered “immod- rena or sage taboos which forbid misuse of h group"Welfare. ne rabiadet | hs Scanned with CamScanner Scanned with CamScanner umstances). All known socie etigped an incest taboo, disapproving of Sex- vetntercourse between close blood relatives, alumably becauise they found that sexus} Peevetition within. the family was too dis. Con SE All morestare ideas which approve cufain acts andl forbid others yn belif that croup weltare is being protect Sometimesy Ge belies are! grounalesssiece Somietinies aie Tilly Justa tesa Dries are not deliberate ought up or worked out because someone ae ded they would be a good idea, They tees ¢ gradually out of the Customary prac- Le oy people, largely without conscious eels or intention. Mores arise from a group ee ef that a particular act seems to be harmful det rast beiforbiddentiee conversely, that : particular act is so. necessary that ib must ired). Originally, then, mores were a isn eae about group welfare, SSO aappose that through some coincidence, several members of a tribe have nasty accidents after swimming in a certain 1,,The tribe comes to believe that there is eatuingaanercd about the pool When all members of the tribe ba te pepe Fara lanaomimaeeirc the mores have defined this act as eons. F vie att im in the pool thereafter are like yp epest BuetEing and others who know of anes wll wale tae how Dee ee Ts. ihnent and will relnforer these mors, Be gotten an - Ee dpind ee a cs being Baten and of itself not just because a perc this way, mew Cte rc 7 2 kat ions, beliefs about the effects of pie aes which into absolutes—int Mania wrong ite right because they are right ties have de. ly invented or ~ equally odd to members | y ceties} Mores are taught to the OuNS not as absolutes aePmtiens but an ela tenclutes. They must be internalized. To in. fernalize means to lear, F Accept something $0 completely that it becomes an, automatic, unthinks M8 Part of our resporises When fully internal: ized, \mores control behavior by “making it Psychologically very difficult to commit the fi fact, For example, we do not refrain ting our children. or. ou ‘ause of an intellectual. decisio T ‘enemies n that can- Ribalism is impractical Lor wasteful but because unable to eat human flesh even if we tried to do'so, Mores function by making their violation emotion- ally impossible. In a society with a dearly defined, firmly implanted Set of mores, there is very little personal misconduct. Hl Some people claim that mores are fat Sroup opinions and are not the same as a ight and wrong. They argue for absolute standerds of morality, claiming that the na- ture of the universe makes certain setions definitely wrong and soeras enna nent regardless of time, place, af eee ‘iis is, an, important ethical i : ah usually has meaning only for pris: hers and theologians. As faras the nv Sehase people is concerned, * noreea alenplyanothed wera tenga paiay ioe eared Stats (96 as baa m pes can make SOVInELE) S es of con- oof ation of anything. Examples heb yee numerous. Some of the erased mores, are numerous} Soe ; vi te utah defecate public. oe Gren the Balinese Bacar eatin nthe Bae cae tally a ee ne ale oe ‘Some Western. mort e phens, 1970]. f pore ena eR it right for thr: Chin res made it rig! shaig waits sitution and even ie _ Medieval mo! to tolerate pros checking accounts, and eat markets, amen, ‘are economic institutions y Ve Most ofthe Reformation gered, bargaining Tr re" arter thousands nf hich both Catholi¢/and Fronearel ewer vt pena possed through many stages ae | f here a eh thro : } es the torture and burning nd often kindly °Er pment, Ani institutios an shee inet SQ), Ee | “cruel or evil but were decent 200 i time a set.of behavior. patterns: lave men who did what the mot four recent dardized; ((2)/a set-of suppor * Mores 0! hly-stan Portin Ee etea Tabor, slavery, and tnores-atitudesrand valuescand Bya boas past have appr oe ® fam, woman suffrage, and Sex Creer and other paraphernaiie of - "Atall times and places good people AN Te ne will be treated in deta - sel pere coe righteous when following ‘Melt Tt ters but are introduced here becatise mores, whatever they may be the concept must be used throughout oy discussion. ; astitutions Some clusters of folkways and mores are Morea} ays important than others; for example, those concemed with forming families and raising pares ice Sly ae children are more important than those con’ are fsa strong tendency for them to becors erned with playing football. Organized clus- pee At into the laws of @ ay om _ fea fay nd mores deing wth EPL wil obey mores automatealy or tear ieiutincof re cocc Incttotions cause they want to do the “right” thing. 4 sera ratitations of he society. Institutions few people, however, are tempted to violate eeeapacmatatlaccal yeiaiis mores. These people may be forced to con and systems of social relationships. For a ‘ 4 con. formal definition we suggest: An institution fot by the threat of legal punishment. Thi, : 2 ‘a the law serves to reinforce the moresgTheee So Ena who still will’ not ‘conform’ are = tnd mecis cerais base tools eet, imprisoned, or even executed. Sometines a Jaws are passed which do not really harmo- pre mapa nize with mores, and their enforcement then becomes difficult or even impossible, One example of this is the Eighteenth __‘sinstittionalized. Beyond these, the concept mendment, passed in 1919, which cutlawed ; _jbpes off into less significant clusters of th manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquor. Svar tes lke those suroundng : __ baseball, B, or beekeeping, which a {sometimes loosely ‘called insets bat _ Probably should not be included because they >, __#€ So much less important, 7 ‘Or example, investment = & SOtporate enterprise Sometimes laws do not harmonize with the mores. Scanned with CamScanner T p P ® ‘ ; No legislation, for instance, 7 decreed the end | of corsets for women. i 1 te law was bitrerly opposed by a sizeable popottion of the population and was re- i, Pied in 1933 when it became obvious that Forcement was impossible. Many people tpday would say the same is true of laws prohibiting the sale and possession of mari- jaana. Laws against ethnic discrimination did | tot rofect everyone's views when they were but are defended on the ground that they “educate” and thus promote a change in the mores which leads to an eventual wilingness to observe such laws, Mores’ dol/change,fand the, actions they one era, they may forbid in N fa: gradjial ; Sum- 940, omen; they xed Ife~ of. ing the mo’ N is) seldom de: develop it - Would’a return to the “s! Values Mores are ideas about w1 t or wrong. Values are des shat alone cet Tlences are important or unimportant, For a ample theres no moral debate about whether classical music is right or wrong. But while some people consider hearing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony one of life's great experi- ences, for others it is a crashing bore. People who highly value physical fitness will exercise regularly and watch their food and drink. Values thus guide a persons’ judgments and behavior. In eacH society, some values are prized more highly than others. Punctuality, mate- rial progress, and competition are major val- ues in American society, while none of these «is important to the Hopi Indians. The mem- bers of a simple society generally are closely. agreed_upon_a single set of values, wh

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