Sociology 1020 Lecture Notes - Consumerism, Postmodern Culture, Symbolic Interactionism
31 Oct 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Culture as meaning generator: the power of culture is that it makes our sensory experiences meaningful. Culture as problem solving: culture is the means humans use to solve the challenges of life, at the root of culture is solving the problem of meaning. Culture defined: culture: the shared symbols and their definitions that people create to solve real-life problems, symbols: symbols are shared. Material and non-material culture: material culture, non-material culture: Three types of norms which type: folkways: 2. Functionalist analysis: culture and ethnocentrism: people tend to take their culture for granted, the ideas, norms, and techniques of other cultures frequently seem odd, irrational, and even inferior, ethnocentrism: Language and the sapir-whorf thesis: language, sociologists" claim that language is a cultural invention is disputed by some scientists who believe language is instinctual, not cultural. Cultural production and symbolic interactionism: according to symbolic interactionist view, people do not accept culture passively.
