soci 2

SOCI201-012

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Culture and Consumption

Culture

Culture

· The defining features of a particular social group

· Passed down from generation to generation

· Both material and symbolic

· Material: Physical things that make up a culture:

· Non-material (symbolic): A group’s way of thinking about or doing things

Material Culture

Physical things that make up a culture:

· jewelry/clothing/hairstyles

· art

· architecture

· technological devices

· leisure activities (sports)

· food

· media

Consumption

· How we utilize material culture

· material culture is directly related to our consumption as a society

· Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929)

· Sociologist and economist

· Wealth is seen as a status symbol

· Conspicuous leisure

· Conspicuous consumption

· Pecuniary emulation

Consumption

Dr. Juliet Schor (1955-)

· Professor in Sociology at Boston College

· There has been a shift in culture between:

· Horizontal emulation: “people are aspiring to lifestyles like other people in their economic bracket” (p. 589)

· Vertical emulation: aspiring to be like those above your economic bracket; “in which a high-end, affluent, media driven norm of consumption prevails” (p. 589)

“People have to consume. Consuming is a very legitimate, and very important, life activity. The literature has been very polarized into very pro- and anti-consumer society and culture positions: the formulation in the literature is that you’ve got the critics and you’ve got the defenders. But really the question is: what kind of consumers do we want to be? And that’s a better articulation, I think, because people are identified so much with being consumers. The possibility of not being a consumer no longer really exists. So I think the questions that we want to be asking are: where is my clothing coming from? What is its symbolic meaning?” (Schor, 2008:594)

Technology and Material Culture

Technology has impacted culture in 2 specific ways:

· Cultural Diffusion

· Sites for new aspects of culture to emerge

Non-Material (Symbolic) Culture

A group’s way of thinking about or doing things:

· Language

· Gestures

· Values

· Norms

· Sanctions

· Folkways

· Mores

· Taboos

Are there any universal norms?

· Murder?

· Pedophilia

· Cannibalism?

· Treason?

Key Aspects of Culture

· There is nothing “natural” about either material or non-material culture

· Culture is deeply ingrained

· Culture becomes a base for our decision-making process

· Material and non-material culture often interact with one another

Culture in the U.S.

· Achievement and success, especially through hard work

· Freedom, democracy, and equality

· Efficiency and rational thought

· Devotion to country and Patriotism

· Value clusters

· Value contradiction

Regional Differences in Culture

Select one of the regions listed on the map. Then, in groups of 1-3 people, answer the following questions:

1. What are your perceptions of the culture (material and non-material) of the region? What are some of the stereotypes of that culture and how have they been presented to you? (5 things)

2. Conduct an internet search and make a list of the most common cultural traits (material and non-material) discussed online (5 things)

Key Aspects of Culture

· Ethnocentrism: using one’s own culture as the comparison for the cultures of other individuals or societies; it often leads to a negative evaluation of their values, norms, and behaviors

· Culture shock: the jarring feeling when experiencing a culture different than your own

· Cultural relativism: examining a culture on its own without evaluating it against other cultures