OS Chapter 3: Culture

What is culture 3.1

• Examine the difference between material and nonmaterial culture in your world. Identify ten objects that are part of your regular cultural experience. For each, then identify what aspects of nonmaterial culture (values and beliefs) that these objects represent. What has this exercise revealed to you about your culture?

1. Dogs- Are seen as family and used for protection but in other parts of the world they are killed and seen as food.
2. Cats- Are also seen as family, some call them their fur babies and in other places they will be known as a delicious meal.
3. School- Schools were designed to educate and give most a brighter future, many take advantage and many don't. If they do it's for the wrong reasons, such as some people at delta some bust their ass of to get somewhere in life others just collect a check.
4. Cars- Means of transportation excited to have one yet, you have to keep up with maintenance.
5. Sports- Today sports are very valuable entertainment just look at the salary of some of these players. Many play for sport but then realize they are good and sometimes get (drafted/picked?) from college to sign a contract and go big. They also receive full ride scholarships to go play for certain colleges.
6. Money- Paper with value. Specific paper to be exact, we have built the belief that it has X amount of value when it is in reality it could be just like any other sheet of paper.
7. T.V- Motion picture in a box. There is so much crap in there that we love to watch, its pure entertainment aside of all its down falls it has its perks like watching live news and becoming politically involved, spiritual teachings and even educational.
8. Work- We have set job duties that we have to fulfill but we can have fun and enjoy the moments but not forget our purpose of getting tasks done.
9. Family-  Family are relatives whom we live with and possibly even have the same DNA. They are people who we can count on for support and guidance.
10. Religion/ Catholicism- The belief in a Super Human that is all mighty and designed the world so that we can live our lifes. However our world is constantly changing and we have to live our life differently.  

This exercise revealed to me how diverse my culture is and how simple minded we are and how we are much more materialistic. We give things like paper and cars and entertainments much more importance than family and Religion. 

Elements of culture 3.2

• How do you think your culture would exist if there were no such thing as a social “norm”? Do you think chaos would ensue or relative peace could be kept? Explain.

I think that if there were no such things as norms the world would still be livable and relatively peace. Norms is simply a label on what is right, I believe that somehow norms are just natural, and they would begin to form sooner then later. There will be a need for structure, so that things can be functional and won't get out of control. Rules would form and expectations of behavior and actions will arise. Therefore once again leading to norms, I believe that they are inevitable.

 

Pop Culture, Subculture, and Cultural Change 3.3

• What are some examples of cultural lag that are present in your life? Do you think technology affects culture positively or negatively? Explain.

A cultural lag that is present in my life is cellphones. My mom has used a flip phone her entire life or at least a phone with an actual key pad. Now I can not find one for her through our phone carrier so I was forced to get her a smartphone. She can not function that thing if her life depended on it. It is to complex for her. I have this problem with iPhone updates they change things and I became comfortable with the previous setting now I am uncomfortable because I long for familiarity. Childhood development is a cultural lag because studies show that they may not be developing motor skills like they should be. Not only that, but they are also loosing out on a lot of socialization.

I believe that culture is affected by technology in both a positive and negative manner. Technological advances have facilitated life a great deal. Made saving lives easier and communicating faster. However there are down falls where I believe people have become lazy and children development is possibly becoming stunt. They are not developing at the rate they should.

Theoretical Perspectives on Culture 3.4

• Consider a current social trend that you have witnessed, perhaps situated around family, education, transportation, or finances. For example, many veterans of the Armed Forces, after completing tours of duty in the Middle East, are returning to college rather than entering jobs as veterans as previous generations did. Choose a sociological approach—functionalism, conflict theory, or symbolic interactionism—to describe, explain, and analyze the social issue you choose. Afterward, determine why you chose the approach you did. Does it suit your own way of thinking? Or did it offer the best method to illuminate the social issue?

A social trend that I have witnessed would be poverty. Many people I know are living within poverty level. The method I would choose to analyze this issue would be conflict theory. I would start off by saying that many of these people are in debt because they sometimes purchase things they can't afford. They do this because they are trying to fit in that is the greatest norm of American Society. They can't afford to sometimes pay their bills, they struggle to put food on the table sometimes even clothes themselves. Even transportation becomes an issue when there's no money for gas. Most of the people who are living in poverty are those who are Hispanic 21% and African American 24% these are the two major groups in regards to race. Single parents are also in poverty and single moms come in at 28% in comparison to 15% of single dads. I believe that the reason for these differences is lack of education and resources or the knowledge of resources. Many of these people live in areas that don't promote education and many of these people also work a job in which they pay minimum wage. They also live in this never ending cycle, where instead of going to school sometimes you think your only option is to start working to help out the family. There are also many of unplanned pregnancies in these racial groups. There is also a very big gradient of power over them, these races tend to be sought out to be the dangerous. They are subjected to being inferior, because they are sometimes deemed to be criminals just because of who they are. The reason why I chose conflict theory was because I actually believe that race and sex play a role on how society views you and how you can succeed in society. I also chose it because it highlighted my main point of how certain races are more prone to being in poverty. It has been statistically proven with studies and through census.