SOC103H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Symbolic Interactionism, Protestant Work Ethic, Cultural Capital
Document Summary
Culture: human-created environment; memory that structures a person"s perception of world and shapes behaviour. People are able to create a huge variety of social relationships and forms of social organization. Organizational culture: the way an organization deals with its environment (distinct norms and values) Human: change environment, learn from experiences, and pass on knowledge; change social structure. Athletic sports (harmless exercise/competition), bodily adornment (indicating status and selfhood), cooking, dancing (feeling throng movements), funeral ceremonies (handling death and corpses), gift giving (showing gratitude), language. Culture itself: (macro-level) dominant value of a culture is expressed in its social institutions (micro-level) culture shapes personalities through socialization. Culture has an integrative role in a society - organizes behaviour, explain consensus and stability. Functionalists: culture elements (norms, values, and beliefs) signify consensus stable and coherent society. Focus on group differences in power and belief (e. g. strongly stated values often indicate a conflict between two groups within the society)
