SOCIOL 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Alien Abduction, Erving Goffman, Social Reality
Document Summary
Culture encompasses the ideas, values practices, and material objects that allow a group of people, even an entire society, to carry out their collective lives in relative order and harmony (ritzer) Culture has both a immaterial and material basis: particular combinations of cultural elements - prevalent among a people - promote a distinctive way of life". Taking symbolic elements of values, beliefs, norms, and combine it with material elements of culture. Cultural sociologists focus on what holds society together, unites individuals, makes them distinctive. Important to pay attention to material things (think about sense of group membership you need things to sustain the identity) Eg: identity of musician is sustained by the instrument. Values: refer to the relative worth or importance that people assign to things. Hierarchy of valuing things; differences in terms of preferences. Beliefs: refer to statements or ideas that people accept as true or real. Norms: refer to informal rules that guide people"s everyday conduct.
