1. Culture and the Sociological Perspective
1.1. Concept- Culture: The artifacts and ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are part of any society
1.2. Culture and Biology
1.2.1. Concept- Sociobiology: The view that genes and other aspects of human biology influence human behavior and values.
1.2.2. Concept- Eugenics: The view, popular in the early 20th century, that certain categories of people were biologically inferior and hence should be sterilized.
2. Cultural Diversity
2.1. Concept- Counterculture: A subculture whose norms and values directly oppose those of the larger culture.
2.2. Concept- Cultural Diversity: Variation in the elements of culture from one society to the next.
2.3. Concept- Subculture: A smaller culture within a larger culture with distinctive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.
2.4. Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism
2.4.1. Concept- Cultural Relativism:The belief that no culture’s norms, values, or practices are superior or inferior to those of any other culture.
2.4.2. Concept- Ethnocentrism:The tendency to judge another culture by the standards of our own, and the belief that our own culture is superior to another culture.:
2.4.2.1. ]
3. Social Issues in the News
4. Elements of Culture
4.1. Changing Norms and Beliefs
4.2. Concept- Nonmaterial Culture:The symbols, language, norms, and values that constitute a major part of a society’s culture.
4.3. Concept- Material Culture:An element of culture consisting of society’s material objects, or artifacts.
4.4. Symbols
4.4.1. Concept- Symbols: Things that stand for something else and that often evoke various reactions and emotions.
4.4.2. Concept- Gestures: Movements of the hands, arms, head, and other parts of the body that are meant to convey ideas or emotions nonverbally.
4.5. Language
4.5.1. Concept- Sapir-WhorfhypothesisThe view that language influences the thoughts and perceptions of people in a society.:
4.6. Sociology Making a Difference
4.7. Norms
4.7.1. Concept- Norms: Socially acceptable ways of behaving
4.7.2. Concept- Formal Norms: Norms that are very important and usually written down; also called laws and mores.
4.7.3. Concept- Informal norms:Relatively unimportant norms, often unwritten, that still affect people’s behavior.
4.8. Rituals
4.8.1. Concept- Rituals: Established procedures and ceremonies that often mark transitions in the life course.
4.9. Values
4.9.1. Concept- Values: Criteria of what is desirable or undesirable and right or wrong.
4.10. Individualism in the United States
4.11. The work Ethic
4.12. Artifacts
4.12.1. Concept- Artifacts: The material objects that constitute a society’s material culture.