2.1: What Is the Relationship Between the Individual and Society Notes:

CULTURE, NORMS, VALUES, ROLES, AND BELIEFS:

CULTURE:

• There are two main definitions for culture:

1. Pop or popular culture which includes art, music, media, etc.

2. The whole way of life of a society (this is the definition that will be discussed throughout the unit)

• A culture includes:

1. What you eat and drink, with whom and when

2. The way you dress and take care of your appearance

3. The language that you use to communicate with others

4. The way you spend your free time

5. The kind of home and family you live in

6. Religious and spiritual beliefs and practices

7. Festivals and celebrations

THE ELEMENTS OF CULTURE: NORMS, VALUES, ROLES, AND BELIEFS:

• Each culture has these 5 elements:

1. Symbols: includes anything that carries a particular meaning to people who share the same culture. Example: a cross sign refers to Christianity 

2. Language: it is a series of symbols with sounds and words that carry a specific meaning. It allows people to communicate with each other. Example: English

3. Values: standards shared by members of a culture used to decide what behavior is right and wrong. Example: being honest and respectful towards others

4. Beliefs: statements that people hold to be true (more specific than values). Example: religious beliefs 

5. Norms: the way society expects someone to behave in a particular situation (i.e. the "normal way" to react). It is divided into mores and folkways. Mores are norms that are widely observed and carry a sense of what is right or wrong such as bribery. Folkways are more of a routine, casual social interaction. When norms are widely accepted and continue over time, it becomes a custom. Norms are reinforced by informal means such as through parental advice

VALUES AND NORMS:

• Values and norms vary from society to society therefore they are social constructions (rules created by societies)

• Values and norms can also change over time. For example, Norbert Elias claimed that it used to be normal for people to eat with their hands and pick their noses during the Middle Ages. However, as time went on and people became more civilized, these actions are found to be unacceptable and only found in the lowest classes

• One distinctive value in modern industrial societies is the desirability to own land. The more you had, the higher status (the position in society one withholds) and respect you received

THE ELEMENTS OF CULTURE: STATUS, ROLE, AND IDENTITY:

• Most norms are associated with status. One can have more than one status. For example, a teacher could have the status of teaching, a parent, and a business owner.

• In traditional societies, most statuses were ascribed (given at birth where the individual does not have a say in the decision). In modern industrial societies, one can choose their own status

• With every status comes a role (the patterns of behavior expected of someone because of their status in society). For example, a teacher's role is to teach, provide notes, and make sure everyone is paying attention. However, the teacher has some choice over how to act the role (s/he can be a hardworking teacher or a lazy one)

SOCIETY VS CULTURE:

• Culture and society cannot exist without each other

• Society is made up of institutions (parts of societies that have their own set of norms and values), both formal such as legal organizations or informal such as families

• Culture is about how these institutions work, setting norms and expectations about the roles people should play

• When looking at the macro level, we talk about culture and society. When looking at the micro level, we talk about individuals and identities.

• The norms and values of our culture are a part of our identity because if we conform we will be seen as good and see ourselves as good

IDENTITIES:

• Our social identity/image of ourselves is formed through the interaction with others. Our gender identity is formed through identifying as male or female. We also develop identities in groups or situations such as work

• Identities connect individuals at the macro level since we can see ourselves in the context of our culture, linking our inner selves (who we think we truly are) with the roles we play within society

• We can also choose to respond to the identities we see ourselves having. For example, a person with a disability may see their disability as an important aspect of their identity because of how differently they are treated

• Stuart Hall argued that people in the 21st century are more uncertain about their identities than ever before. We may also have more roles and more uncertainty would arise from those

CONFORMITY AND NON-CONFORMITY:

THE AGENCIES AND PROCESSES OF SOCIAL CONTROL:

• Nearly all people conform (abide) by the norms and values because through socialization, they internalized the norms and values of their culture. This creates a value consensus (general agreement between people)

• Societies need to have ways of ensuring social conformity (acting in accordance to with norms and value expectations). It is usually done through positive sanctions (rewards) or negative sanctions (punishments)

• Informal social control is done by people who do not have formal authority. This can be seen as ineffective but it is the complete opposite. It can lead to ostracism (excluding someone from a group) in peer groups (people of the same status)

• Types of informal social control:

1. Shame

2. Ridicule

3. Sarcasm

4. Criticism 

• Formal social control (done by people who have formal authority to take action) is applied when informal social control does not work. Agencies of formal social control include the police and the criminal justice system who can apply sanctions such as imprisonment

AGENCIES OF SOCIALIZATION:

• They are institutions in which people are socialized that help people conform to norms and values. If they fail, formal authorities take over.

• Agencies of socialization include:

1. FAMILIES:

• The family is the primary agency of socialization (the first and most important period of socialization where someone learns the basic norms of behavior)

• Children are raised to internalize guilt if they break norms that are based on them

2. SCHOOLS:

• Children are controlled by being told what to do and how to do it most of the time (explored more in unit 5)

• Learning to obey school rules and conform to education is significant for children as learning knowledge and skills

3. RELIGION:

• It provides a guide to life by knowing what is right and what isn't. The values of a society are often based on the main religion

4. THE MEDIA:

• Offers role models who speak about what is right and what is not and reminders of sanctions

5. WORKPLACES:

• There are rules and regulations at places of work that people will need to learn them before settling into their new job

6. PEER GROUPS:

• These are powerful since the fear of being excluded is powerful. When someone is pushed into acting in a specific manner to appeal to their peer group, this is known as peer pressure

FUNCTIONALIST AND MARXIST VIEWS ON SOCIAL CONTROL:

• One way of viewing social control is to convince people it is the right thing to do since people may internalize them. Functionalists find this effective due to the continued stability of society whereas Marxists find this ineffective/negative because it allows the ruling class to remain in power

• For functionalists like Emile Durkheim, societies need a set of shared values to hold them together and prevent anomie (individuals lack guidance and cannot regulate their behavior). Thus, they need a collective conscience shared by all in order for societal bonds to not break down 

• For Marxists like Louis Althusser, he saw schools, religions, and the media as ideological state apparatus (institutions that make people believe it is right to conform). The norms and values they conform to are the ones that keep the ruling class in power

• Example of Marxist view: people who are born in the working class will achieve a form of brainwashing where they believe that people who are born in the ruling class deserve their position and status which creates a false consciousness 

EXAMPLES OF REWARDS AND SANCTIONS IN DIFFERENT SOCIETIES: 

1. IN SCHOOLS:

• In modern industrial societies, rewards are emphasized more than sanctions since schools find that they get better behavior when rewards are reinforced

• Rewards: verbal praise (e.g.: good job), positive comments on written work, stickers, certificates, success on exams, etc. 

• Sanctions: looks of disapproval by teachers, detention, contacting their parents, etc.

2. IN WORKPLACES:

• Rewards: pay increase, promotion, performance-related pay, etc.

• Sanctions: loss of pay, demotion, getting fired, etc.

3. IN TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES:

• Rewards: respect, status, gifts, etc.

• Sanctions can be extreme such as a death penalty or public sanctions such as throwing rotten fruit at the offender. It can also include being shunned or expelled by the community or having your possessions taken away

• Collective sanctions was also incorporated, meaning that any offense will not only affect the individual but their family as well

4. IN MODERN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES:

• Social orders (the ways in which societies remain stable over time) depends on a complicated system of formal sanctions. Sanctions include:

1. Discharge: when individuals are found guilty but are not punished

2. Fine: the offender is punished financially according to the severity of the offense and their ability to pay (e.g.: driving offenses)

3. Community service: offenders do not go to prison but are required to perform certain things (e.g.: unpaid work) or their actions will be restricted

4. Prison sentence: for serious offenses and can vary in length

• Sanctions done in the past that are unacceptable today in the UK include:

1. Execution

2. Transportation (form of exile)

3. The pillory and the stocks

THE FORMATION AND EXISTENCE OF SUB-CULTURES:

• Sub-cultures are a group of people in a culture whose norms and values are different in some ways from the overall culture

• This can be shown from the different way they dress and behave as well as their music taste

• Members of sub-cultures are influenced by the culture and their position in it but rebel against certain aspects of it

1. YOUTH SUB-CULTURES:

• Mainly associated with groups of young people who adopt a style and culture that is particularly at odds with the main culture

• Examples: skinheads, hippies, punks, goths, and emo 

• These youth sub-cultures were identified as a threat because their behavior was seen as deviant

• From a functionalist POV, sub-cultures act as a safety valve for people who are growing up due to them craving independence and turning to people their own age

• Employment, marriage, and adult responsibilities allow people to leave sub-cultures

• Marxists saw youth-subcultures as a way of the working class rebelling against capitalism. This approach is different than the functionalists since it does not include the transition from childhood to adulthood, but rather with the economic system and class culture

• Sociologists tried to understand why girls do not conform to sub-cultures the same why boys do (sub-cultures were mainly male-dominated). One way to explain this was that parents kept greater control over girls than boys. Another way to explain this was from Angela McRobbie's suggestion of the bedroom sub-culture where girls would meet each other at their homes and experiment with makeup, listen to music, and talk to each other

2. OTHER SUB-CULTURES:

• They include:

1. Religious

2. Ethnic minority groups

3. Class sub-cultures

4. Sub-cultures based on interests

• Sub-cultures have the ability to go global due to the availability of online platforms

DIVERSITY AND CULTURAL VARIATION IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR:

• Human cultures are very diverse (what is normal in one culture may be strange in another). Areas of cultural variation include:

1. Language (e.g.: Arabic)

2. Norms of dress and appearance (e.g.: Shalwar Kameez in Pakistan)

3. Food and drinks (e.g.: eating insects) 

4. Traditions (e.g.: Quinceanera) 

5. Ideas about morality (e.g.: homosexuality)

• Global village: knowledge about other cultures spread rapidly and we now live in a diverse multicultural world. Very few groups carry out a traditional lifestyle (the typical way of life an individual or a group live)

• Influences from the West seems to create culture uniformity instead of diversity

CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND MULTICULTURALISM: 

1. CULTURAL RELATIVISM:

• It includes considering all cultures on their own terms rather than from a Western POV and not judging their differences

• When sociologists write about cultures that aren't their own, it is crucial not to be ethnocentric (comparing other cultures to their own)

2. MULTICULTURALISM AND OTHER RESPONSES TO DIVERSITY:

• Due to people moving from country to country, this created several nations with different cultures

• Assimilation and integration occur when immigrants lose their identity to become a part of the dominant one, conforming to the dominant's norms and values

• The USA in the 18th and 19th century was described as a "melting pot" which means that all immigrants gradually became more American than their national origin

• Multicultural societies (different cultures/sub-cultures co-exist) were introduced in order to not lose important aspects of one's culture. Multicultural countries include India and Mauritius. Their diversities included:

1. Religion: most of the Indians are Hindus however Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists exist as well

2. Regions: because of India's big size, there are great differences in cultures in different states

3. Languages: their main language is Hindi but over 30 native languages are spoken fluently

MODERN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES VS MULTICULTURALISM:

• There has been movement away from multiculturalism due to concerns about immigration (some politicians argued about having distinct ethnic cultures in a nation-state)

• Criticisms of multiculturalism include:

1. It gives too many rights to minority groups

2. Minority groups may stay too separate from the host community

3. It is too idealistic

4. Conflicts may occur

5. The host culture just becomes one of many cultures

• Other ways that countries moved towards assimilation than multiculturalism:

1. Citizenship tests: for example, if someone wanted to live in the UK, they will have to be examined on British history, culture, and English language

2. Community cohesion: refers to attempts to integrate minority groups by involving them in community programs

3. Acting against the expression of some aspects of minority groups: for example, in 2010, France banned the wearing of the niqab which affected the Muslim culture

4. Increasing nationalism: can come in the form of opposing immigration and wanting to expel minorities which can result in ethnic cleansing (expulsion of an ethnic group and its culture)

GLOBALIZATION AND GLOBAL CULTURE:

• Globalization is used to describe the process in which geography ceases to be a limitation on human behavior and people become increasingly aware of it

• People and cultures all over the world have contact with one another

• Examples of cultural globalization include:

1. World information systems such as satellites and the internet

2. Global mass media such as the news

3. Global patterns of consumptions such as lifestyles

4. Global sports such as the Olympics

5. World tourism such as touring Greece

6. Clothing and appearance such as wearing jeans and baseball caps

7. Food such as sushi being available in every country not just Japan

8. Brand names such as McDonald's

IS GLOBALIZATION WESTERNIZATION?

• This can be seen as good since it spreads awareness about human rights, freedom, and gender equality of bad since it leads to exploitation and the end of local cultures 

• When it is seen as bad, this is known as cultural imperialism which means that rich countries dominate the world through their cultural influence

• Those who oppose Westernization believe that the values the West brings are destructive. For example, by watching American movies, one may get the feeling that drinking water in the morning is not as "cool" as drinking alcohol. This may have long term health consequences

• Some sociologists describe what is happening as creating hybrid cultures (when two cultures meet, a new culture emerges)

Credits to the image: Sociology Coursebook Cambridge IGCSE

AGE GROUP AS AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION:

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS:

• Different societies divide their members into age groups in different ways and the roles assigned to them vary and are not always linked to their biological abilities

• For example, in some societies children start to work at an earlier age and there isn't a specific retirement age unlike other societies where people start to work at 15 or 16 and retire by 65

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF CHILDHOOD:

• We say that childhood is socially constructed because it differs between societies

• The French historian Philippe Aries argued that during the Medieval Period, children were not seen as any different from adults - they were exposed to violence, death, and sex. There was no set age for when they become adults

• Nowadays, modern industrial societies became child-centered (a society in which children are highly valued and a lot of time and effort is devoted for their well-being). Children go to school and stay longer there and are not exposed to the harshness of the world early on like the Medieval Period

• Neil Postman has developed Aries' ideas and argued that due to television programs and the internet, children are exposed to the adult world at an early age. Postman cites an increase in crime by children and their tendency to dress and behave like adults as evidence that childhood is changing as society is changing

NOTES DONE BY FARIDA SABET

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