BLAW 2301 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: William Graham Sumner, Meritocracy, Symbolic Culture
Document Summary
Knowledge of a shared culture leads people to behave in similar ways and to adopt a similar way of looking at the world. Bloods (red) vs. crips la (blue), street gangs - now nationwide. As an outsider, the symbols will not have any meaning. Internal changes - when younger people come in and older leave, there changes within the culture. Older people watch older shows, younger people watch younger pen. Older people have to adapt, or learn how to text. Smaller cultures sometimes don"t follow the bigger culture even though they know its better for them. Values - general and abstract standards defines what a society as a whole considers good, desirable, right, or important. Ex: us create democratic government in iraq and afghanistan. Proven to be difficult because their values are different. Norms - informal rule that guides what a member does in a given situation and how the person lives.
