Sociology101

             The beginning of chapter two begins to discuss the definition of culture. It is much easier to grasp through description rather than definition. Everyone possess culture in one way or another. Weather its from the cloths they wear, things they believe in, the language they speak or even possessions past on down through each generation as a family heir loom. There is several different types of culture. One of them is nonmaterial culture which is peoples behavior patterns. Another is material culture which is cloths, tools, buildings and art. There is also something called Ideal culture which is a group of peoples goals and ideal values. There is also Real culture which reflects on their actual behavior. As we move on they begin to go over cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. Cultural relativism is where someone respects someone and there culture which goes along with there own beliefs. Ethnocentrism is where someone believes that their culture should be the only culture and compare everyone else's culture to their own.
             The components of nonmaterial culture is symbols. Through symbols such as values, norms, sanctions, gestures and folkways, people will use them to communicate with others. Language is one of the most significant symbols to culture. Language allows us to be goal-directed and cooperative. Language even shapes our thoughts and perceptions according to Sapir-Whorf. Everyone has values which are standards that the group classifies as either desirable or not desirable. In order for the group to show approval of following their norms, they use positive and negative sanctions. There are two different kind of norms. One of which are called mores which are enforced heavily because they reflect core values within the group. On the other end of the spectrum there are the norms called folkways. which are the norms that are not strictly enforced at all. As the book moves onto subcultur...

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