Cultural Diversity in the United States. 2014, 2012, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights...

Cultural Diversity in the United States

© 2014, 2012, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

An Overview of U.S. Values

Achievement and SuccessIndividualismHard WorkEfficiency and PracticalityScience and TechnologyMaterial ComfortFreedom


An Overview of U.S. Values Continued

DemocracyEqualityGroup SuperiorityEducationReligiosityRomantic Love


Value Clusters: Values are not independent units; some cluster together to form a larger whole.

Success Education Hard work Material comfort Individualism


Value Contradictions -Sometimes, some of our values contradict other

valuesU.S. values group superiority?Change over time


An Emerging Value Cluster

LeisureSelf-fulfillmentPhysical FitnessYouthfulnessConcern for the Environment

Physical fitness is part of an emerging value cluster.


When Values Clash

When values clash between traditionalists and those advocating change, we might describe these clashes as “culture wars,” even if an overstatement.


Values as Distorting Lenses

What society “ought” to be like

Values, both those held by individuals and those that represent a nation or people, can undergo deep shifts. It is difficult for many of us to grasp the pride with which earlier Americans destroyed trees that took thousands of years to grow, are located only on one tiny speck of the globe, and that we today consider part of the nation’s and world’s heritage. But this is a value statement, representing current views. The pride expressed on these woodcutters’ faces represents another set of values entirely.


“Ideal” Versus “Real” Culture

Ideal: What a group considers worth aiming for

Real: What people actually do


Cultural Universals

Some Activities are Universal − Courtship, Marriage, Funerals, Games

Present in all cultures, but the specific customs differ from one group to another What are some examples of activities that you think

might differ from culture to culture? What activities might be the same?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBDIsU3wAg

Unlike this beautiful ant, we humans are not controlled by instincts. Sociobiologists, though, are exploring the extent to which genes influence our behavior.


The New Technology

Technology can be equated with tools.

New technology refers to that which has had a significant impact on social life.

Technology sets the framework for a group’s nonmaterial culture.

Language is the basis of human culture around the world. The past decade has seen major developments in communication—the ease and speed with which we can talk to people across the globe. This development is destined to have vital effects on culture. This photo of teens texting was taken in a village in Ethiopia.


Cultural Lag and Cultural Change

Cultural Lag: human behavior sometimes lags behind technological innovations

Not all parts of culture change at the same pace. A group’s material culture usually changes first, with the nonmaterial culture lagging behind.

School being nine months

Technological advances are now so rapid that there can be cultural gaps between generations.


Technology and Cultural Leveling

Cultural leveling is a process by which cultures become similar to one another, especially as Western culture is being exported and diffused into other nations.

Cultural leveling is occurring rapidly, with some strange twists. These men from an Amazon tribe, who have just come back from a week hunting in the jungle, are wearing traditional headdress and using traditional weapons, but you can easily spot something else that is jarringly out of place.

Cultural Diversity in the United States. 2014, 2012, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights...

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Transcript of Cultural Diversity in the United States. 2014, 2012, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights...