Sociology

Sociology Study Guide

Americans. Occasionally, it is hard to distinguish whether a cultural belief is a folkway or a more. It is possible that over time, the significance of something changes from a more serious more into a folkway – a preferred, but not mandated way of life. • A law is a standard that is formally enacted by the political authority of a community. The power of the state is behind a law. Specific punishments are outlined for violators of laws. Every member of the community is expected to know and follow the list of codified laws. Often, laws are enacted to support strongly held norms of a society. Sometimes, laws change the norms, like the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s did. Generally, each society has some type of social control that enables the ruling authority to ensure that the population is following the laws. Conformity of all norms – codified or not – is rewarded by positive sanctions; nonconformity is punished by negative sanctions. (Sanctions will be discussed more in a later chapter). Societies also share values, shared ideas of what is good, right, and desirable. While norms are specific and concrete, values are abstract in nature. Values influence a society’s norms. American values are freedom, success, achievement, individualism, and progress. Different cultures value different ideals and solve problems in different ways. is arguably the most important symbol of any culture. The written and spoken forms of human speech are essential to a society’s health and well-being. Language permits the continuation of a culture. Without language, history and knowledge are lost. Sociological Perspectives on Culture Sociologists each view culture through a different lens, depending on which perspective they typically use in their sociological studies. • Functionalist Perspective: Functionalists view society and culture as an organism with interdependent parts; each part meets some specific need of the entire community. Functionalists realize that some parts may be missing in some cultures, creating unique cultures with unique components. The one downfall to this perspective is the likelihood that cultural changes are often overlooked. • Conflict Perspective: Conflict theorists view society as in a constant state of conflict, generally caused by competition and struggle between groups. Ideologies, cultural beliefs that justify one group’s goals, are at the root of such conflict. Cultural change, according to the conflict perspective, occurs when different groups within a society rise to power or fall from it. When a new group rises to power, their norms become the norms and values of the whole. The Arts Along with norms, the artistic output of a culture is unique. Across the globe, there are a multitude of forms of artistic expression, each complimenting and reflecting the native culture of the artist. Norms and values are often associated with a symbol, an agreed upon representation of something else. For example, the nation is represented by its flag. Freedom is represented by the eagle. Language

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