Within the Main Group of Elements, What Do Elements in a Family Have in Common?

Learning Outcomes

• Compare cloth versus nonmaterial civilisation
• Describe cultural values and beliefs

Humans are social creatures. Since the dawn ofHomo sapiensnearly 250,000 years ago, people have grouped together into communities in order to survive. Living together, people course common habits and behaviors—from specific methods of childrearing to preferred techniques for obtaining nutrient. In mod-day Paris, many people store daily at outdoor markets to selection upward what they need for their evening meal, ownership cheese, meat, and vegetables from dissimilar specialty stalls. In the United States, the majority of people store once a week at supermarkets, filling large carts to the brim. How would a Parisian perceive U.South. shopping behaviors that suburban Americans take for granted?

Note that in the to a higher place comparison we are looking at cultural differences on display in 2 distinct places, suburban America and urban France, fifty-fifty though we are examining a behavior that people in both places are engaged in. Information technology's important to note that geographical place is an important gene in civilisation—beliefs and practices, and society—the social structures and organisation of individuals and groups.

Nearly every man behavior, from shopping to marriage to expressions of feelings, is learned. In the The states, people tend to view marriage every bit a choice between two people, based on mutual feelings of love. In other nations and in other times, marriages have been arranged through an intricate process of interviews and negotiations between entire families, or in other cases, through a direct system, such as a "mail lodge bride." To someone raised in New York City, the marriage community of a family from Nigeria may seem strange or even wrong. Conversely, someone from a traditional Kolkata family unit might exist perplexed with the idea of romantic love as the foundation for marriage and lifelong delivery. In other words, the way in which people view union depends largely on what they have been taught.

Beliefs based on learned customs is not a bad thing. Being familiar with unwritten rules helps people feel secure and "normal." Also, perhaps such cultural traditions are comforting in that they seem to have already worked well enough for our forebears to have retained them. Nigh people desire to live their daily lives confident that their behaviors will not exist challenged or disrupted. But even an activity as seemingly elementary as commuting to work evidences a great bargain of cultural propriety and learned behaviors.

Figure 1. How would a visitor from the suburban United States act and experience on this crowded Tokyo train? (Photograph courtesy of simonglucas/flickr)

Take the case of going to piece of work on public transportation. Whether people are commuting in Dublin, Cairo, Mumbai, or San Francisco, many behaviors will exist the same, merely significant differences also arise between cultures. Typically, a passenger will find a marked bus stop or station, expect for his bus or railroad train, pay an agent before or later boarding, and quietly take a seat if one is available. Simply when boarding a double-decker in Cairo, passengers might have to run, considering buses there often do non come to a total stop to have on patrons. Dublin bus riders would be expected to extend an arm to signal that they want the bus to stop for them. And when boarding a commuter train in Bombay, passengers must squeeze into overstuffed cars amongst a lot of pushing and shoving on the crowded platforms. That kind of beliefs would exist considered the height of rudeness in the United States, but in Mumbai information technology reflects the daily challenges of getting around on a train system that is taxed to capacity.

In this case of commuting, culture consists of both intangible things like beliefs and thoughts (expectations most personal space, for example) and tangible things (bus stops, trains, and seating capacity).

The objects or property of a grouping of people are considered fabric civilisation. Metro passes and coach tokens are role of material civilisation, as are automobiles, stores, and the physical structures where people worship, or engage in other recognizable patterns of behavior.

Nonmaterial culture , in contrast, consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a order. Material and nonmaterial aspects of culture are linked, and concrete objects often symbolize cultural ideas. A metro pass is a material object, but it represents a grade of nonmaterial civilisation, namely, commercialism, and the acceptance of paying for transportation. Clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry are part of material civilization, but the ceremoniousness of wearing certain habiliment for specific events reflects nonmaterial culture. A school building belongs to material civilization, but the pedagogy methods and educational standards within it are part of education's nonmaterial culture. These material and nonmaterial aspects of culture can vary subtly or greatly from region to region. Equally people travel farther afield, moving from dissimilar regions to entirely unlike parts of the globe, certain material and nonmaterial aspects of culture become dramatically unfamiliar. What happens when we encounter different cultures? As we interact with cultures other than our ain, we become more enlightened of the differences and commonalities between others' symbolic and textile worlds and our own.

Endeavor It

Values and Beliefs

The first, and possibly most crucial, elements of civilization we will discuss are its values and beliefs. Values are a culture's standard for discerning what is good and just in society. Values are deeply embedded and disquisitional for transmitting and teaching a civilisation'due south beliefs. Behavior are the tenets or convictions that people hold to be true. Individuals in a society accept specific beliefs, just they likewise share commonage values. To illustrate the difference, Americans commonly believe in the American Dream—that anyone who works hard enough will be successful and wealthy. Underlying this belief is the American value that wealth is good and important.

Values assist shape a society by suggesting what is good and bad, beautiful and ugly, to be sought or avoided. Consider the value that the United states of america places upon youth. Children stand for innocence and purity, while an adult who is youthful in advent signifies sexual vitality. Shaped by this value, individuals spend millions of dollars each year on cosmetic products and surgeries to look young and cute. The U.s.a. as well has an individualistic civilization, significant people place a high value on individuality and independence. In contrast, many other cultures are collectivist, meaning the welfare of the group and group relationships is a primary value.

Living up to a culture's values can be difficult. It's easy to value good health, but information technology'south hard to quit smoking. Marital monogamy is valued, just many spouses engage in infidelity. Cultural diversity and equal opportunities for all people are valued in the United States, yet the country's highest political offices have been dominated by white men.

Values ofttimes suggest how people should behave, but they don't accurately reflect how people actually do bear. Values portray an platonic civilisation , the standards society would similar to embrace and alive up to. Merely ideal civilization differs from existent culture , the way society really is, based on what occurs and exists. In an ideal culture, there would exist no traffic accidents, murders, poverty, or racial tension. Just in existent civilization, police officers, lawmakers, educators, and social workers constantly strive to preclude or repair those accidents, crimes, and injustices. American teenagers are encouraged to value celibacy. Even so, the number of unplanned pregnancies among teens reveals that not only is the ideal hard to live upwardly to, merely the value solitary is non plenty to spare teenagers the potential consequences of having sexual practice.

Figure ii. In many parts of Africa and the Center East, it is considered normal for men to concur hands in friendship. How would Americans react to these two soldiers? (Photo courtesy of Geordie Mott/Wikimedia Eatables)

I mode societies strive to put values into action is through sanctions: rewards and punishments that encourage people to alive according to their social club'south ideas about what is adept and right. When people find the norms of order and uphold its values, they are ofttimes rewarded. A male child who helps an elderly adult female board a bus may receive a grin and a "cheers." A concern director who raises profit margins may receive a quarterly bonus. People positively sanction sure behaviors by giving their support, approval, or permission, or negatively sanction them past invoking formal policies of disapproval and nonsupport. Sanctions are a form of social control , a mode to encourage conformity to cultural norms. Sometimes people conform to norms in anticipation or expectation of positive sanctions: good grades, for instance, may hateful praise from parents and teachers. From a criminal justice perspective, properly used social command is also inexpensive crime control. Utilizing social control approaches pushes most people to adapt to societal rules, regardless of whether authorisation figures (such as police force enforcement) are present.

When people go against a social club'due south values, they are punished. A boy who shoves an elderly woman aside to board the omnibus start may receive frowns or even a scolding from other passengers. A business manager who drives away customers will likely be fired. Breaking norms and rejecting values can pb to cultural sanctions such every bit earning a negative characterization—lazy, no-good bum—or to legal sanctions, such as traffic tickets, fines, or imprisonment.

Values are not static; they vary across time and betwixt groups as people evaluate, debate, and change collective societal behavior. Values too vary from civilisation to civilisation. For example, cultures differ in their values about what kinds of physical closeness are appropriate in public. Information technology's rare to run across two male friends or coworkers holding hands in the United States where that beliefs oftentimes symbolizes romantic feelings. Only in many nations, masculine physical intimacy is considered natural in public. This difference in cultural values came to light when people reacted to photos of former president George W. Bush holding hands with the Crown Prince of Saudi arabia in 2005. An case of nonmaterial culture, the unproblematic gesture of hand-holding carries great symbolic differences across cultures.

Effort It

Glossary

beliefs:

tenets or convictions that people agree to exist truthful

civilisation:

the shared beliefs, practices, and fabric objects of a group of people

ideal culture:

the standards a society would like to embrace and live up to

real culture:

the way social club really is based on what really occurs and exists

sanctions:

rewards or punishments for accepted behavior; a way to authorize or formally disapprove of sure behaviors

social control:

a manner to encourage conformity to cultural norms

values:

a culture'southward standard for discerning what is proficient and but in guild

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-introductiontosociology/chapter/values-and-beliefs/

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