...Limitations: Point: main difficulty with the concept of deviation from social norms = varies as time changes Evidence: What is socially accepted now may not have been socially acceptable 50 years ago e.g. homosexuality Explanation: definition will be constantly altered with regards to the prevailing social norms/ attitudes time change = social attitude change no standardised/generalised based on deviation from ‘social norms’. Limitations: Point: main difficulty with the concept of deviation from social norms = varies as time changes Evidence: What is socially accepted now may not have been socially acceptable 50 years ago e.g. homosexuality Explanation: definition will be constantly altered with regards to the prevailing social norms/ attitudes time change = social attitude change no standardised/generalised based on deviation from ‘social norms’. Limitations: Point: attempts to define abnormality influenced by cultural factors (cultural relativism) Evidence: Western European society’s accept sex between consenting adults of any gender where s it may be classified abnormal in a different culture e.g. Sub-Saharan Africa Explanation: different cultures = different standards Limitations: Point: attempts to define abnormality influenced by cultural factors (cultural relativism) Evidence: Western European society’s accept sex between consenting adults of any gender where s it may be classified abnormal in a different culture e.g. Sub-Saharan Africa Explanation:...
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...Inequality and the Sociological Impacts In modern society inequality is an inescapable fact of life; certain social groups are better positioned than others to take advantage of the opportunities, wealth and power of a society. When Australian society is examined it becomes obvious that indigenous people as a social group are faced with a decided disadvantage when it comes to opportunities, wealth and power. This essay intends to focus on the over-representation of indigenous people in the criminal justice system from a sociological viewpoint. This over-representation becomes sociologically significant when it is seen as an expression of inequality meaning that wider social issues are at play that effect indigenous people specifically. The two major reasons or drivers of this over-representation stem from this inequality; the first is an element of institutional discrimination found in both the courts and the police services in Australia which tend to target indigenous people disproportionately with the facilitation of legislation and practices which indigenous people have little to no involvement in formulating. The second is a set of cultural and social norms that exist amongst indigenous people which clash with the norms of the dominant white culture who are responsible for the laws and regulations that all groups in society are meant to abide by. Furthermore social conflict theories on crime such as those formulated by Turk and Sellin provide a rich theoretical support for...
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...clearly has a relationship to cultural rules and norms. What is considered acceptable and appropriate sexual behavior varies significantly according to cultural rules, though some sexual taboos and norms seem to cross cultural lines. The fact that cultural norms impact what sexual behaviors are considered appropriate or inappropriate is significant, because many people argue that certain variants of sexuality are either natural or unnatural. However, if some sexual behavior was inherently unnatural, one would not expect to find sexual behavior that is considered aberrant in some cultures as a normative behavior in other cultures. In fact, it is this diversity of “normal” sexual behavior that is the most informative aspect of learning about sexual behavior in other cultures, because it helps explain that what is considered deviant in some cultures is considered normal in other cultures. Of course, examining diverse cultural sexual norms does not mean that all abnormal sexual practices should be embraced as elements of cultural diversity. The fact that a behavior might be considered normative and may be adapted to further cultural norms does not mean that the behavior is necessarily positively adaptive. For example, child brides are the norm in many cultures. The practice of permitting child brides serves to unite families, shift the financial burden of females to other families, and provide men with wives, so it does serve some positive social roles. However, that does...
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...Deviance is defined as the recognized violation of cultural norms. This is an extremely broad definition, and depending on who is explaining it, the above definition can mean a variety of different things. Critically examine the theory of deviance with reference to young people and their membership in deviant subcultures or gangs. Deviance is associated with young people today and is rapidly on the increase within the street and school environment. Young deviants are engaging in gang membership and subcultures with a means of social belonging, social interest and ethnic identity. There are several sociological and subcultural theories which deem to explain deviance. Some of the theories are functionalist pretentious that criminal activity is motivated by economic needs, while others conceive a social class basis for deviance. Deviance sociologically can be defined as a norm or rule-breaking behaviour which in most cases is focused to negative social sanctions. It describes actions or behaviours that violate cultural norms including formally-enacted rules. Examples of this would be crime. Cultural norms are behaviour patterns that are characteristic of specific groups. Such behaviours can be learned from parents, teachers and peers. Some norms are healthy whereas some are not. Unhealthy norms usually proceed to crime. Crime is defined as a behaviour which is prohibited and liable to be punished by law. Deviance is a behaviour not prescribed by law. Deviants are seen...
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...Deviance is defined as as a violation of social norms, in regards to sociology. But what if deviance is actually just the opposite? What if deviance is simply a social norm? Cultural deviance theory suggests that the conformity to cultural norms of lower class societies actually causes crime. Simply stated, if you are in a lower class of society, committing a crime is actually an act of conformity. In the case of these poor societies, it is more obscure to not conform to the consistent lifestyle of crime. Moreover, does deviance really even exist in these societies? Those born into a lower class society, according to the cultural deviance theory, are born into a life of crime. Members of the poor society are expected to commit crimes, due...
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...Running head: FINAL PAPER- DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL Final Paper Deviance and Social Control Sociological Foundations Oklahoma Wesleyan University Matthew Charles Colaw November 16, 2010 Abstract This paper is covering the different forms of deviance and social control. The word deviance is defined by actions or behaviors that violate a cultural norm. Deviance can be a formal crime or an in-formal act that is not perceived as normal in the culture. Each culture or group in this paper has different sets of norms and moral standards. This paper will discuss deviance within cultures and that many cultures can have different views on deviance. Social control is developed within a culture to punish the deviant acts. These topics will be discussed in the paper. Deviance in text book and from the internet source refers to any violation of a culture’s norms. This violation of cultural norms could be as insignificant as simply speeding a few miles an hour over the speed limit or a major crime such as murder. Deviance is further explained when Howard Becker stated, “It is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act, that make something deviant.” Each culture has a set of cultural norms and when an action or behavior causes a negative connotation in this culture it becomes deviant. (Jim Henslin, 2010) (Robert Keel, 2007) In the textbook it discusses different cultures and how certain acts are deviant. The...
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...It is implicit when we consider those things we do, but are unable to explain them, yet we believe them to be so. 4. Culture is ideal and manifest (actual): Ideal culture involves the way people ought to behave or what they ought to do. Manifest culture involves what people actually do. 5. Culture is stable and yet changing: Culture is stable when we consider what people hold valuable and are handing over to the next generation in order to maintain their norms and values. However, when culture comes into contact with other cultures, it can change. However, culture changes not only because of direct or indirect contact between cultures, but also through innovation and adaptation to new circumstances. 6. Culture is shared and learned: Culture is the public property of a social group of people (shared). Individuals get cultural knowledge of the group through socialization. However, we should note that all things shared among people might not be cultural, as there are many biological attributes which people share among themselves (Kottak,...
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...regularized patterns of social interaction. How we structure society constrains the kind of culture we construct. Cultural preferences vary across societies. Virtually all societies share common practices and beliefs known as cultural universals. Some common cultural universals include athletic sports, cooking, funeral ceremonies, medicine, marriage, and sexual restrictions. Expressions of cultural universals vary from one society to another. Sociobiology is the systematic study of how biology affects human behavior, and looks at cultural universals from a biological perspective. Innovation is the process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture. Discovery involves making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. Invention results when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before. With globalization, more and more cultural expressions and practices are crossing national borders through a process known as diffusion. This process results in the melding of cultural traditions, which is not universally welcomed in all nations. Culture consists of both material and nonmaterial elements. Sociologists are more concerned with the nonmaterial elements of culture, which include customs, beliefs, and patterns of communication. Technology is cultural information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires. In its many forms, it has increased the speed of cultural diffusion and broadened...
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...The Future -Social and cultural changes in human values and norms of behavior in businesses I think that first of all what we call a future could be happening in the next coming years or decades, since new types of technology and crazy touch-screen or laser objects are being used every day in our daily lives, even worst by children about 5 or 6 years old. Technology is not the only thing that has changed and is changing every day, something that we should really worry about is our own human values. This is our own social and cultural values, everything we have had since the moment we are born and also our norms in daily business that have been established year and years ago based on errors and important historical events, and by important business man and multinationals that had gave us the opportunity to experience what we are experiencing today. To answer the million dollar question we need to break it down into two separate parts; social and cultural changes; and norms of behavior in the world of business. The question is how these two factors will change in the future and how businesses will be done by that time. First, we need to determine our social and cultural values and those can be referred or seen as our ethical actions, and are our base of integrity in society. The way we think, act, behave, from a greeting to an interview or negotiation, these values or personal beliefs are definitely changing and even becoming extinct. Our values is the most fundamental thing...
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...PART I: CHAPTER OUTLINE I. What is Culture? A. Culture and Human Intelligence B. Culture, Nation, and Society II. The Components of Culture A. Symbols B. Language 1. Language and Cultural Transmission 2. Is Language Uniquely Human? 3. Does Language Shape Reality? C. Values and Beliefs 1. Key Values of U.S. Culture 2. Values: Inconsistency and Conflict 3. Values in Action: The Games People Play A. Norms 1. Mores and Folkways 2. Social Control A. "Ideal" and "Real" Culture B. Material Culture and Technology C. New Information Technology and Culture I. Cultural Diversity: Many Ways of Life In One World A. High Culture and Popular Culture B. Subculture C. Multiculturalism D. Counterculture E. Cultural Change 1. Cultural Lag 2. Causes of Cultural Change A. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity B. A Global Culture? I. Theoretical Analysis of Culture A. Structural-Functional Analysis B. Social-Conflict Analysis C. Sociobiology I. Culture and Human Freedom A. Culture As Constraint B. Culture As Freedom I. Summary II. Key Concepts III. Critical-Thinking Questions IV. Applications and Exercises V. Sites to SeePART II: LEARNING OBJECTIVES * To begin to understand the sociological meaning of the concept of culture * To consider the relationship between human intelligence and culture...
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...interactionist C. social control D. functionalist Right Points Earned: 1/1 Your Response: D 3. The emergence of Starbucks in China represents what aspect of culture? A. innovation B. globalization C. diffusion D. cultural relativism Wrong Points Earned: 0/1 Your Response: C 4. What term did William Ogburn introduce to refer to the period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still adapting to new material conditions? A. culture lag B. cultural relativism C. ethnocentrism D. diffusion Right Points Earned: 1/1 Your Response: A 5. What term do sociologists use to refer to the process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society? A. innovation B. globalization C. diffusion D. cultural relativism Right Points Earned: 1/1 Your Response: C 6. The process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture is known as A. innovation. B. diffusion. C. globalization. D. cultural relativism. Right Points Earned: 1/1 Your Response: A 7. Sociobiologists apply ______________ principle of natural selection to the study of social behavior. A. Herbert Spencer's B. Charles Darwin's C. Karl Marx's D. William Ogburn's Wrong Points Earned: 0/1 Your Response: A 8. An American touring different parts of China wants local meat for dinner, but is shocked to learn that the specialty in one restaurant is dog meat. This feeling illustrates A. a counterculture. B. a dominant ideology. C. a cultural universal. ...
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...questions to light, with its clever plot of flash back on flash back and the clear illustration of themes and morals in the novel. The novel is said to be the best of the author, Buchi Emecheta’s collection. Nnu ego, the main character of the novel shows us the unfamiliar side where the relationship of females to motherhood, and how our cultural norms provide basics for judgement by humans. The novel rejects the feminist codes normally associated with motherhood. In the world we live in, we come across different societal cultures and norms, in this very essay we discuss the negative aspects of women adhering to societal norms and how women all round the world are likely to end up like Nnu Ego. Nigeria is a larger country with different cultures where some believe the first born child must be a girl, while others also believe in sending off their female children as soon as their ready for marriage. Such actives have been responsible for many societal problems faced in Nigeria. The novel by Buchi Emecheta shows us the violence that our culture causes makes people to develop some kind of violence against people who do not follow cultural norms, a good example was when it was time for Agunwa to be buried, Nwokocha Agbadis eldest wife who is said to have died due to the unpleasant scene of her husband and Ona. It’s a culture in their land that the personal slaves of Agunwa be buried with her as she will need them in her afterlife, they have a belief that good slaves will jump into...
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...Intercultural Ethics 1 Intercultural Ethics: A Constructivist Approach Richard Evanoff This article originally appeared in the Journal of Intercultural Communication 9:89-102 (2006), published by the Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research (SIETAR)–Japan. Copyright © 2011 Richard Evanoff. Abstract While a considerable amount of research in the field of intercultural communication has been devoted to empirical and theoretical studies on cultural differences, comparatively little work has been devoted to normative studies which consider how problems which arise because of cultural differences might be resolved (see, however, Evanoff 2004 for a bibliography of recent publications in this area). Normative research differs both from empirical research, which is basically concerned with describing existing patterns of beliefs, values, and behavior through the use of statistical data, interviews, case studies, and the like, and from theoretical studies, which attempt to make generalizations about cultural differences and how people respond to them by abstracting from such data. The methodology of ethics is neither empirical nor theoretical, but rather normative, which means that it basically concerns itself with a consideration of what beliefs, values, and forms of behavior might be plausibly adopted. Metaethics concerns itself with broader issues of how such decisions can be reasoned about, justified, and, indeed, debated across cultures. Intercultural Ethics ...
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...3: Culture While this Hong Kong pedestrian appears not to notice the Nike billboard behind him, featuring NBA star LeBron James wearing the Air Zoom sneaker, the Chinese people certainly did notice. The Oregon-based Nike corporation was forced to pull its “Chamber of Fear” promotion, based on a Bruce Lee movie, after an outraged public objected to the image of a U.S. athlete defeating a kung fu master. In the global marketplace, cultural differences can undermine even the most elaborate promotional campaign. inside Culture and Society Development of Culture around the World Elements of Culture Culture and the Dominant Ideology Case Study: Culture at Wal-Mart Cultural Variation Social Policy and Culture: Bilingualism Boxes Sociology in the Global Community: Life in the Global Village Sociology in the Global Community: Cultural Survival in Brazil Sociology on Campus: A Culture of Cheating? “Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people's time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associated philosophy are unique. The fundamental belief underlying the whole...
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...culture: Virtually culture is a coalescence of stable discrete behavioural norms and cognitions shared by individuals within some definable proportion and that are distinct from other populations. These norms are stable and last long because these are continuously transmitted to new cultural members of the group through different means. Apparently different psychological needs and their consequences led to the creation of cultural norms. There are different perspectives; one aspect is that culture emerged to serve as a psychological buffer against existential anxiety. Another approach suggests that culture arises in part from an epistemic need for verifiable knowledge, and for certainty and confidence in our perceptions of the world around us. The creation of a shared reality, a common set of beliefs, expectations and rules for interpreting the world, helps fulfill this need to validate one’s own construction of reality. A very different perspective on the origins of culture implies that cultures and the specific norms that define these cultures emerge as unintended byproducts of interpersonal interaction. The contents of these communications and interactions are constrained by psychological considerations and thus exert consequences on culture. As social influence attends any act of communication and because individuals communicate more regularly with others who are closer to them in geographic or social space, a dynamic process is set in motion in which neighboring individuals...
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