CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

1.1 EXPLAIN HOW THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE DIFFERS FROM COMMON
SENSE
 Sociology is the systematic study of human society. At the heart of sociology is a special point of
view called the sociological perspective.
SEEING THE GENERAL IN THE PARTICULAR
 Peter Berger (1963) described the sociological perspective as seeing the general in the
particular. By this he meant that sociologists identify general patterns in the behaviour of
particular individuals. While acknowledging that each individual is unique, sociologists recognize
that society acts differently on various categories of people.
 The behaviour of a particular individual must be understood in terms of the social, cultural, and
structural context. Individual life experiences are shaped by the society in which we live—as well
as by the general categories into which we fall.
SEEING THE STRAGE IN THE FAMILIAR
 Using the sociological perspective is seeing the strange in the familiar. Sociological perspective
reveals the initially strange idea that society shapes what we think and do. For example:
 Men and women hold hands in specific ways (men from the front and women from
behind). Hand-holding is very “familiar”: The argument that society determines the way
we hold hands is strange.
SEEING SOCIETY IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES
 Society shapes our personal choices. For example, consider the number of children women
have. In Canada and the United States, the average woman has about two children during her
lifetime. In Honduras, however, the average is about three; in Kenya, about four; in Yeman, five;
and, in Niger, the average woman has more than seven children. Why these striking differences?
Women in poor countries have less schooling and fewer economic opportunities, are more likely
to remain in the home, and are less likely to use contraception. Clearly, society has much to do
with the decisions women and men make about child-bearing.
SEEING SOCIOLOGICALLY: MARGINALITY AND CRISIS
 Anyone can learn to see the world using the sociological perspective. But two situations help
people see clearly how society shapes individual lives: living on the margins of society and living
through a social crisis.
 The greater people's social marginality, the better able they are to use the sociological
perspective. For example, Black youth growing up in the Finch and Dufferin area of Toronto
understand the importance of race in shaping people's lives.
 Just as social change encourages sociological thinking, sociological thinking can bring about
social change. The more we learn about how “the system” operates, the more we may want to
change it in some way. Becoming aware of the power of gender, for example, has encouraged
many women and men to try to reduce gender inequality.
1.2 STATE SEVERAL REASONS FOR IMPORTANCE OF A GLOBAL ERSPECTIVE IN
TODAY’S WORLD
THE IMPORTANCE OF A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
 Global perspective: the study of the larger world and our society's place in it.
  Global awareness is a logical extension of the sociological perspective. Since sociology shows us
that our place in society shapes our life experiences, it stands to reason that the position of our
society in the larger world system affects everyone in Canada
 High-income countries are the nations with the highest overall standards of living.
 Middle-income countries, nations with a standard of living on average for the world as a whole.
 Low-income countries, nations with a low standard of living in which most people are poor.
 The chapter on Global Stratification explains the causes and consequences of global wealth and
poverty. But every chapter of this text makes comparisons between North America and other
world regions for four reasons:
 Where we live shapes the lives we lead
 Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected
 Many of the social problems we face in Canada are far more serious elsewhere
 Thinking globally helps us learn more about ourselves
 In an increasingly interconnected world, we can understand ourselves only to the extent that we
understand others. Sociology is an invitation to learn new ways of looking at the world around
us.
1.3 IDENTIFY THE ADVANTAGES OF SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING FOR DEVELOPING
PUBLIC POLICY, FOR ENCOURAGING PERSONAL GROWTH, AND FOR ADVANCING
IN A CAREER
APPLYING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
 Applying the sociological perspective is useful in many ways. First, sociology is at work guiding
many of the laws and policies that shape our lives. Second, on an individual level, making use of
the sociological perspective leads to important personal growth and expanded awareness. Third,
for anyone, studying sociology is excellent preparation for the world of work.
SOCIOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY
 Sociology has played an important role in the development of Canadian social policy. For
example, sociological research strongly influenced the Royal Commission on Health Services
(1964–1965) from which Canada's medicare system arose.
 Living in a society that stresses individual freedom and responsibility, we grow up thinking that
people are entirely responsible for their lives. The sociological perspective helps us see that the
operation of society, including the way the economy works (or fails to work), can shape the fate
of many people.
SOCIOLOGY AND PERSONAL GROWTH
 By applying the sociological perspective, we become more active, aware, and critical in our
thinking. Using sociology benefits us in four ways:
 The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of “common sense.”
 The sociological perspective helps us see the opportunities and constraints in our lives.
 The sociological perspective empowers us to be active participants in our society.
 The sociological perspective helps us live in a diverse world.
CAREERS: THE “SOCIOLOGY ADVANTAGE”
 In almost any type of work, success depends on understanding how various categories of people
differ in beliefs, family patterns, and other ways of life. Unless you plan to have a job that never
involves dealing with people, you should consider the workplace benefits of learning more
about sociology.
1.4 LINK THE ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY TO HISTORICAL SOCIAL CHANGES
THE ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY
SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIOLOGY
 Three kinds of change were especially important in the development of sociology: the rise of a
factory-based industrial economy, the explosive growth of cities, and the spread of new ideas
about democracy and political rights.
 A new awareness of society - Huge factories, exploding cities, a new spirit of individualism—
these changes combined to make people aware of their surroundings.
SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
 It was the French social thinker Auguste Comte (1798–1857) who coined the term sociology in
1838 to describe a new way of looking at society, but their major goal was to understand how
society actually operates. Comte saw sociology as the product of a three-stage historical
development:
 The theological stage, people took a religious view that society expressed God's will.
 Metaphysical stage of history in which people saw society as a natural rather than a
supernatural system.
 Scientific stage contribution came in applying the scientific approach—first used to
study the physical world—to the study of society.
 Comte's approach, called positivism, is a way of understanding based on science. As a positivist,
Comte believed that society operates according to its own laws, much as the physical world
operates according to gravity and other laws of nature.

CANADIAN SOCIOLOGY: DISTINCTIVE TOUCHES

 Canadian sociology arose from different traditions and continues to be distinct from American
sociology in many ways. As a discipline that reflects a country with two major cultures and
linguistic communities, Canadian sociology includes a unique francophone component.
 French-Canadian sociology was influenced, initially, by the Roman Catholic Church and, in the
longer term, by developments in Europe and France, where sociologists tended to investigate
and compare economic and political trends.
 Harold Innis, a political economist, Marshall McLuhan, media theorist, John Porter, Canada’s
leading sociologist, Erving Goffman one of North America's most influential sociologists,
pioneered micro-analysis, or the study of face-to-face interaction. Dorothy Smith, looked at the
experience of female academics. Raymond Breton an expert on ethnocultural and immigrant
communities, ethnic and linguistic diversity, multiculturalism, French–English relations, Quebec
nationalism, regionalism, national unity, and constitutional issues.
1.5 SUMMARIZE SOCIOLOGY’S MAYJOR THEORETICAL APPROACHES
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
 A theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related. The job of sociological theory
is to explain social behaviour in the real world.
  In building theory, sociologists face two fundamental questions: What issues should we study?
How should we connect the facts? In the process of answering these questions, sociologists look
to one or more theoretical paradigms, or approaches, as “road maps.” Think of a theoretical
approach as a basic image of society that guides thinking and research. Sociologists use three
major theoretical approaches: the structural-functional approach, the social-conflict approach,
and the symbolic-interaction approach.
THE STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL APPROACH
 The structural-functional approach is a framework for building theory that sees society as a
complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. As its name
suggests, this approach points to social structure—any relatively stable pattern of social
behaviour. Social structure gives our lives shape—in families, the workplace, the classroom, and
the community. This approach also looks for a structure's social functions, the consequences of
any social pattern for the operation of society as a whole. All social structure, from a simple
handshake to complex religious rituals, functions to keep society going, at least in present form.
 Social structure probably has many functions, some more obvious than others. He distinguished
between manifest functions, the recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern,
and latent functions, the unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern. For
example, the manifest function of our system of higher education is to provide young people
with the information and skills they need to perform jobs after graduation. Less often
acknowledged is its latent function as a “marriage broker,” bringing together people of similar
social backgrounds. A social dysfunction is any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of
society.
THE SOCIAL-CONFLICT APPORACH
 The social-conflict approach is a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of
inequality that generates conflict and change. Unlike the structural-functional emphasis on
solidarity and stability, this approach highlights inequality and change.
 Sociologists using the social-conflict approach look at ongoing conflict between dominant and
disadvantaged categories of people—the rich in relation to the poor.
FEMINISM AND THE GENDER-CONFLICT APPROACH
 One important type of conflict analysis is the gender-conflict approach, a point of view that
focuses on inequality and conflict between women and men. The gender-conflict approach is
closely linked to feminism, the advocacy of social equality for women and men. The importance
of the gender-conflict approach lies in making us aware of the many ways in which our way of
life places men in positions of power over women.
 Harriet Martineau is regarded as the first woman sociologist
THE RACE-CONFLICT APPROACH
 Race-conflict approach, a point of view that focuses on inequality and conflict between people
of different racial and ethnic categories.
THE SYMBOLIC-INTERACTION APPROACH
 The structural-functional and social-conflict approaches share a macro-level orientation, a
broad focus on social structures that shape society as a whole. Macro-level sociology takes in
the big picture, rather like observing a city from high above in a helicopter and seeing how
highways help people move from place to place or how housing differs from rich to poor
neighborhoods. Sociology also uses a micro-level orientation, a close-up focus on social
interaction in specific situations.
 The symbolic-interaction approach, then, is a framework for building theory that sees society as
the product of the everyday interactions of individuals.
 The symbolic-interaction approach has roots in the thinking of Max Weber

THE POSTMODERN APPROACH

 Postmodernism is an approach that is critical of modernism, with a mistrust of grand theories
and ideologies, that can have either a micro or a macro orientation.
 Postmodernists seek to observe other societies without applying the conceptual baggage of
their own. They observe with the goal of achieving understanding and a vision rather than data
collection. Through deconstruction of existing text, postmodernists can demystify the
assumptions, hierarchies of knowledge, and ideological motivation of the social sciences.
 Michel Foucault most influential postmodernists
1.6 APPLY SOCIOLOGY’S MAJOR THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE TOPIC OF
SPORTS

CHAPTER 2 SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

2.1 EXPLAIN HOW SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OFTEN CHALLENGES COMMON SENSE
 Sociological investigation starts with two simple requirements. The first is Apply the sociological
perspective. This point of view reveals curious patterns of behaviour all around us that call for
further study, which leads to the second requirement: Be curious and ask questions. These two
requirements—seeing the world sociologically and asking questions—are fundamental to
sociological investigation.
SCIENCE AS ONE TYPE OF TRUTH
 Saying that we “know” something can mean many things. claim to believe in the existence of
God. Few would assert that they have direct contact with God, but they are believers all the
same. We call this kind of knowing “belief” or “faith.”
 A second kind of truth rests on the pronouncement of some recognized expert. Parents with
questions about raising their children, for example, often consult child psychologists or their
pediatricians about which practices are “right.”
 A third type of truth is based on simple agreement among ordinary people. Everyone “knows”
that sex between adults and 10-year-old children is wrong.
 Science, then, represents a fourth way of knowing. Science is a logical system that bases
knowledge on direct, systematic observation. Standing apart from faith, the wisdom of experts,
and general agreement, scientific knowledge rests on empirical evidence, which is information
we can verify with our senses.
2.2 DESCRIBE SOCIOLOGY’S THREE RESEARCH ORIENTATIONS
SCIENTIFIC SOCIOLOGY
 Scientific sociology, then, is the study of society based on systematic observation of social
behaviour. The scientific orientation to knowing, called positivism, assumes that an objective
reality exists “out there.”
 The job of the scientist is to discover this reality by gathering empirical evidence, facts we can
verify with our senses by “seeing,” “hearing,” or “touching.”
CONCEPTS, VARIABLES, AND MEASUREMENT
 A basic element of science is the concept, a mental construct that represents some part of the
world in a simplified form. Sociologists use concepts to label aspects of social life, including “the
family” and “the economy,” and to categorize people in terms of their “gender,” “ethnicity,” or
“social class.”
 A variable is a concept whose value changes from case to case. The familiar variable “price,” for
example, changes from item to item in a supermarket.
 The use of variables depends on measurement, a procedure for determining the value of a
variable in a specific case.
 Sociologists face another interesting problem in measuring variables: dealing with huge
numbers of people. Therefore, sociologists use statistical measures—like mode, mean, and
median—to describe people or communities.
DEFINING CONCEPTS
 Good research, therefore, requires that sociologists operationalize a variable, which means
specifying exactly what is to be measured before assigning a value to a variable.

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

 For a measurement to be useful, it must be reliable and valid. Reliability refers to consistency in
measurement. A measurement is reliable if repeated measurements give the same result time
after time. But consistency does not guarantee validity, which means actually measuring exactly
what you intend to measure.
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG VARIABLES
 Once measurements are made, investigators can pursue the real payoff: seeing how variables
are related. The scientific ideal is cause and effect, a relationship in which change in one
variable causes change in another. Example, studying hard for an exam results in a high grade.
 The variable that causes the change (in this case, how much you study) is called the
independent variable. The variable that changes (the exam grade) is called the dependent
variable. The value of one variable, in other words, depends on the value of another.
 Correlation is a relationship in which two (or more) variables change together.
 Spurious correlation, an apparent but false relationship between two (or more) variables that is
caused by some other variable.
 Exposing a correlation as spurious requires a bit of detective work, assisted by a technique called
control—holding constant all variables except one in order to see clearly the effect of that
variable.
 To sum up, correlation means only that two (or more) variables change together. To establish
cause and effect, three requirements must be met:
 A demonstrated correlation
 An independent (or casual) variable that occurs before the dependent variable, and
 No evidence that a third variable could be causing a spurious correlation between the
two
THE IDEAL OF OBJECTIVITY
 Social scientists need to study this reality without changing it in any way, and so they strive for
objectivity—personal neutrality in conducting research. Objectivity means that researchers
carefully hold to scientific procedures, not letting their own attitudes and beliefs influence the
results
 One way to limit distortion caused by personal values is replication, repetition of research by
other investigators.
SOME LIMITATIONS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIOLOGY
 Human behaviour is too complex for sociologists to predict any individual's actions precisely.
 Because humans respond to their surroundings, the mere presence of a researcher may affect
the behaviour being studied.
 Social patterns change; what is true in one time or place may not hold true in another.
 Because sociologists are part of the social world they study, they can never be 100 percent
value-free when conducting social research.
INTERPRETIVE SOCIOLOGY
 Interpretive sociology is the study of society that focuses on the meanings people attach to
their social world.
 Interpretive sociology differs from scientific, or positivist, sociology in three ways. First, scientific
sociology focuses on action, or what people do, whereas interpretive sociology deals with the
meaning attached to behaviour. Second, while scientific sociology sees an objective reality “out
there,” interpretive sociology sees reality as being constructed by people themselves in the
course of their everyday lives. Third, while scientific sociology tends to make use of quantitative
data, interpretive sociology relies on qualitative data.
 In sum, the scientific or positivist approach is well suited to research in a laboratory, where
investigators observe while taking careful measurements. The interpretive approach is better
suited to research in a natural setting where investigators interact with people, learning how
they make sense of their everyday lives.
CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY
 There is a third methodological orientation in sociology. Like the interpretive orientation, critical
sociology developed in reaction to the limitations of scientific sociology. Critical sociology, by
contrast, is the study of society that focuses on the need for social change.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE
 Sociologists using the critical orientation seek to change not just society but the character of
research itself.
SOCIOLOGY AS POLITICS
 Generally speaking, scientific sociology tends to appeal to researchers with non-political or
conservative political views; critical sociology appeals to those whose politics range from liberal
to radical left.
 Critical sociologists reply that all research is political or biased—either it calls for change or it
does not.
RESEARCH ORIENTATIONS AND THEORY
 Scientific sociology corresponds to the structural-functional approach, interpretive sociology is
related to the symbolic-interaction approach, and critical sociology is linked to the social-conflict
approach.

2.3 IDENTIFY THE IMPORTANCE OF GENDER AND ETHICS IN

SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
GENDER AND RESEARCH
 Sociologists have become aware that research is affected by gender, the personal traits and
social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male.
 Margrit Eichler identifies five ways in which gender can shape research:
  Androcentricity: refers to approaching an issue from a male perspective. Gynocentricity
—seeing the world from a female perspective—can also limit good sociological
investigation.
 Overgeneralizing. This problem occurs when researchers use data drawn from people of
only one sex to support conclusions about “humanity” or “society.”
 Gender blindness. Failing to consider the variable of gender at all is called gender
blindness.
 Interference. Another way that gender can distort a study is if a subject reacts to the sex
of the researcher, interfering with the research operation.
WOMEN AS METHODOLOGISTS
 Sociology's attention to men in the past has prompted some contemporary researchers to make
special efforts to investigate the lives of women. Feminist researchers embrace two key tenets:
(1) their research should focus on the condition of women in society and (2) their research must
be grounded in the assumption that women generally experience subordination.
RESEARCH ETHICS
 The prime directive is that sociologists strive to be both technically competent and fair-minded
in conducting their research. Sociologists must disclose all of their findings, without omitting
significant data, and they are ethically bound to make their results available to other
sociologists, some of whom may wish to replicate the research. Sociologists also must strive to
ensure the safety of their subjects.
 Another important guideline concerns funding. Sociologists must include in their published
results the sources of any and all financial support.
2.4 EXPLAIN WHY A RESEARCHER MIGHT CHOOSE EACH OF SOCIOLOGY’S
RESEARCH METHODS
 A research method is a systematic plan for doing research. The remainder of this chapter
introduces four commonly used methods of sociological investigation: experiments, surveys,
participant observation, and the use of existing data.
TESTING A HYPOTHESIS: THE EXPERIMENT
 The logic of science is most clearly found in the experiment, a research method for investigating
cause and effect under highly controlled conditions. Experimental research is explanatory; that
is, it asks not just what happens but why. Typically, researchers devise an experiment to test a
hypothesis, a statement of a possible relationship between two (or more) variables. A
hypothesis typically takes the form of an if/then statement: If one thing were to happen, then
something else would result.
 An experiment gathers the evidence needed to reject or not reject the hypothesis in four steps:
(1) specify the independent variable (the “cause”) as well as the dependent variable (the
“effect”); (2) measure the initial value of the dependent variable; (3) expose the dependent
variable to the independent variable (the “treatment”); and (4) measure the dependent variable
to see what change, if any, took place. If the expected change did occur, the experiment
supports the hypothesis; if not, the hypothesis must be rejected (or modified).
THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT
 Hawthorne effect to refer to a change in a subject's behaviour caused simply by the awareness
of being studied.
ASKING QUESTIONS: SURVEY RESEARCH
 A survey (most widley used of all research methods) is a research method in which subjects
respond to a series of statements or questions in a questionnaire or an interview.
  Surveys are especially good for studying attitudes—such as beliefs about politics, religion, or
race—since there is no way to observe directly what people think. Sometimes surveys provide
clues about cause and effect, but typically they yield descriptive findings, painting a picture of
people's views on some issue.
POPULATION AND SAMPLE
 A survey targets some population, the people who are the focus of research. Researchers collect
data from a sample, a part of a population that represents the whole. Random sampling, in
which researchers draw a sample from the population randomly so that every person in the
population has an equal chance to be selected.
USING QUESTIONNAIRES
 Most surveys use a questionnaire for this purpose. A questionnaire is a series of written
questions that a researcher presents to subjects.
 One type of questionnaire provides not only the questions but also a selection of fixed
responses (similarly to a multiple-choice examination). This closed-ended format
 A second type of questionnaire, using an open-ended format, allows subjects to respond freely,
expressing various shades of opinion. The drawback of this approach is that the researcher has
to make sense out of what can be a very wide range of answers.
 Most often, researchers use a self-administered survey, mailing or emailing questionnaires to
respondents and asking them to complete the form and send it back.
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS
 An interview is a series of questions a researcher asks respondents in person.
 Conducting a good interview means standardizing the technique—thereby treating all subjects
in the same way.
IN THE FIELD: PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
 Participant observation, a research method in which investigators systematically observe
people while joining them in their routine activities.
 Participant observation has two sides. On one hand, getting an insider's look depends on
becoming a participant in the setting. Compared to experiments and survey research,
participant observation has fewer hard-and-fast rules.
USING AVAILABLE DATA: EXISTING SOURCES
 Not all research requires investigators to collect their own data. Sometimes sociologists analyze
existing sources—meaning data that are already collected by others—through what is often
referred to as secondary analysis.
 Since use of available data—government statistics or the findings of individual researchers—
saves researchers time and money, this approach holds special appeal to sociologists with low
budgets. The quality of government data is generally better than that of any data even well-
funded researchers could hope to obtain on their own.
 Still, despite its usefulness, secondary analysis has inherent problems. For one thing, available
data may not exist in precisely the form one might wish: You may know the average income of
Métis people but nothing about the income gap between Métis men and women. Furthermore,
there may be questions about the meaning and accuracy of work done by others.
CONTENT AN ANALYSIS
 Another type of secondary analysis is called content analysis. This entails the counting or coding
of the content of written, aural, or visual materials, such as television and radio programming,
novels, magazines, and advertisements.
TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH
 New information technology has changed our lives considerably, and this applies to the practice
of research as well. Personal computers—which have been on the scene only since the early
1980s—now give individual sociologists remarkable technical ability to randomly select samples,
perform complex statistical analysis, and prepare written reports.
 Contemporary sociologists are capable of building networks throughout the country and around
the globe, which will facilitate collaboration and prompt comparative research.
THE INTERPLAY OF THEORY AND METHOD
 No matter how sociologists collect their data, they have to turn facts into meaning by building
theory. They do this in two ways: through inductive logical thought & deductive logical thought.
 Inductive logical thought is reasoning that transforms specific observations into general
theory.
 A second type of logical thought moves “downward,” in the opposite direction:
Deductive logical thought is reasoning that transforms general theory into specific
hypotheses suitable for testing.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: 10 STEPS IN SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
 What is your topic?
 What have others already learned?
 What, exactly are your questions?
 What will you need to carry our research?
 Are there ethical concerns?
 What method(s) will you use?
 How will you record the data?
 What do the data tell you?
 What are your conclusions?
 How can you share what you’ve learned?

CHAPTER 3 CULTURE
3.1 EXPLAIN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE AS A HUMAN STRATEGY
FOR SURVIVAL
WHAT IS CULTURE?
 Culture refers to the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together
form a people's way of life. Thus, it includes our thoughts, our actions, and our possessions.
 To fully understand culture, we must consider both thoughts and things. Nonmaterial culture
refers to the ideas created by members of a society, ideas that range from art to the Canadian
constitution. Material culture, by contrast, refers to the physical things created by members of a
society, everything from beavertail doughnuts to satellites in space.
 Culture shock, personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life.
 Only humans rely on culture rather than on instinct to create a way of life and to ensure survival
CULTURE, NATION, STATE, AND SOCIETY
 Culture refers to the ideas, values, and artifacts that make up a shared way of life. Nation is
commonly used to refer to a political entity—a state or country; however, it also refers to a
people—or even an ethnic group—who share a culture (including language), ancestry, and
history. A state is a political entity in a territory with designated borders, such as Argentina or
Zimbabwe. Society refers to the organized interaction of people—within a nation, state, or
other boundary—who share a culture.
3.2 IDENTIFY COMMON ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
SYMBOLS
 Humans transform elements of the world into symbols, anything that carries a particular
meaning recognized by people who share culture.
 Culture shock is a two-way process: It is something that the traveller experiences when
encountering people whose way of life is unfamiliar, and it is also what the traveller inflicts on
others by acting in ways that might offend them. For example, because North Americans
consider dogs to be beloved household pets, travellers to northern regions of China may be
appalled to find people roasting dogs for dinner. On the other hand, travellers may inflict culture
shock on others by acting in ways that are considered inappropriate or offensive (e.g., kissing in
public). Indeed, travel abroad provides endless opportunities for misunderstanding.
 Symbolic meanings vary even within a single society. For example, the Canadian flag, which to
many Canadians embodies national pride, may symbolize oppression of the Québécois to
separatists. Cultural symbols also change over time. Blue jeans were created more than a
century ago as sturdy, inexpensive clothing for people engaged in physical labour.
 In sum, symbols allow people to make sense of their lives, and without them human existence
would be meaningless. Manipulating symbols correctly allows us to engage others within our
own cultural system.
LANGUAGE
 Language, the key to the world of culture, is a system of symbols that allows people to
communicate with one another.
 Language not only allows communication but also is the key to cultural transmission, the
process by which one generation passes culture to the next.
 Language sets humans apart as the only creatures who are self-conscious, aware of our
limitations and ultimate mortality, yet able to dream and to hope for a future better than the
present.
 Formally, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that people perceive the world through the cultural
lens of language.
VALUES AND BELIEFS
 Values, culturally defined standards that people use to decide what is desirable, good, and
beautiful, and that serve as broad guidelines for social living. Values are standards that people
who share a culture use to make choices about how to live.
 Values are broad principles that support beliefs, specific statements that people hold to be true.
In other words, values are abstract standards of goodness, and beliefs are particular matters
 that individuals consider to be true or false. Cultural values and beliefs not only colour how we
perceive our surroundings but also form the core of our personalities.
 Particular values and beliefs thus operate as a form of “cultural capital” that can spark in some
people the optimistic determination to pursue success and, in others, a sense of hopelessness
that little will ever change
NORMS
 Norms, rules and expectations by which a society guides the behaviour of its members. Some
norms are proscriptive, stating what we should not do, as when health officials warn us to avoid
casual sex. Prescriptive norms, on the other hand, state what we should do, as when our schools
teach “safer sex” practices. The most important norms in a culture apply everywhere and at all
times. For example, parents expect obedience from young children regardless of the setting.
 Some norms are more important to our lives than others. Sumner coined the term mores
(pronounced “more-rays”) to refer to norms that are widely observed and have great moral
significance. Mores, or taboos, include our society's insistence that adults not engage in sexual
relations with children. People pay less attention to folkways, norms for routine or casual
interaction. Examples include ideas about appropriate greetings and proper dress. In short,
mores distinguish between right and wrong, and folkways draw a line between right and rude.
 Social control, attempts by others to regulate people's thoughts and behaviour.
IDEAL AND REAL CULTURE
 Ideal culture, social patterns mandated by cultural values and norms, is not the same as real
culture, actual social patterns that only approximate cultural expectations.
MATERIAL CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
 In addition to symbolic elements such as values and norms, every culture includes a wide range
of physical human creations, which sociologists call artifacts. For example, Chinese eat with
chopsticks rather than knives and forks.
 Material culture also reflects a society's technology, knowledge that people use to make a way
of life in their surroundings.
 Technology is a very important element of culture. Some sociologists claim that a society's level
of technology determines its overall way of life.
NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE
 Many rich nations, including Canada, have entered a post-industrial phase based on computers
and new information technology. Industrial production is centred on factories and machinery
that generate material goods. In contrast, post-industrial production is based on computers and
other electronic devices that create, process, store, and apply information. In this new
information economy, workers need symbolic skills in place of the mechanical skills of the
industrial age. Symbolic skills include the ability to speak, write, compute, design, and create
images in such fields as art, advertising, entertainment, and education.
3.3 DISCUSS DIMENSIONS OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
HIGH CULTURE AND POPULAR CULTURE
 Sociologists use the shorthand term high culture to refer to cultural patterns that distinguish a
society's elite; popular culture, then, designates cultural patterns that are widespread
throughout society.
SUBCULTURE
 The term subculture refers to cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society's
population. Almost everyone participates simultaneously in numerous subcultures, to which we
have various levels of commitment.
MULTICULTURALISM
 Multiculturalism is embodied in social policy designed to encourage ethnic or cultural
heterogeneity. Eurocentrism, the dominance of European cultural patterns.
 While few deny that our culture has multiple roots, multiculturalism generates controversy
because it requires a rethinking of core norms and values. One area of debate involves language.
 First, proponents defend multiculturalism as a way to capture a more accurate picture of our
past. Second, multiculturalism allows us to come to terms with our current diversity. Third,
proponents assert that multiculturalism is a way to strengthen the academic achievement of
children of immigrants, most of whom are from visible minorities, and others who find little
personal relevance in our traditional educational programs. Fourth, proponents see
multiculturalism as worthwhile preparation for all people in Canada to live in a world that is
increasingly interdependent.
COUNTERCULTURE
 Cultural diversity also includes outright rejection of conventional ideas or behaviour.
Counterculture refers to cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a
society.
CULTURAL CHANGE
 Cultural change is not only continuous, but change in one dimension is usually associated with
other transformations. For example, increased labour-force participation among women occurs
along with changing family patterns, including a later age at first marriage, fewer births, more
divorce, and more children being raised in households without fathers. Such connections
illustrate the principle of cultural integration, the close relationship among various elements of
a cultural system.
CAUSES OF CULTURAL CHANGE
 Cultural change is set in motion in three ways. The first is invention, the process of creating new
cultural elements. Discovery, a second cause of cultural change, involves recognizing and
understanding something not fully understood before—from a distant star to the foods of
another culture. The third cause of cultural change is diffusion, the spread of cultural traits from
one society to another.
ETHNOCENTRISM AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM
 Ethnocentrism, the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own.
 The logical alternative to ethnocentrism is cultural relativism, the practice of judging a culture
by its own standards.
A GLOBAL CULTURE?
 Societies now have more contact with one another than ever before, involving the flow of
goods, information, and people:
 Global economy: the flow of goods
 Global communications: the flow of information
 Global migration: the flow of people
 These global links make the cultures of the world more similar. But there are three important
limitations to the global culture thesis.
 First, the global flow of goods, information, and people are uneven.
 Second, the global culture thesis assumes that people everywhere are able
to afford various new goods and services.
 Third, while many cultural practices are now found throughout the world, people
everywhere do not attach the same meanings to them.
3.4 APPLY SOCIOLOGY’S MACRO-LEVEL THEORIES TO GAIN GREATER
UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURE
THE FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE: STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
 If cultures are strategies for meeting human needs, we would expect to find many common
patterns around the world. The term cultural universals refers to traits that are part of every
known culture. Jokes are another cultural universal, serving as a safe means of releasing social
tensions.
 The strength of the structural-functional approach is that it shows how culture operates to meet
human needs. Yet by emphasizing a society's dominant cultural patterns, this approach largely
ignores cultural diversity. Also, because this approach emphasizes cultural stability, it downplays
the importance of change. In short, cultural systems are not as stable as, or subject to as much
agreement as, structural functionalism leads us to believe.
INEQUALITY AND CULTURE: SOCIAL-CONFLICT ANALYSIS
 The social-conflict approach stresses the link between culture and inequality. Any cultural trait,
from this theoretical point of view, benefits some members of society at the expense of others.
 Social-conflict analysis ties our cultural values of competitiveness and material success to our
country's capitalist economy, which serves the interests of the nation's wealthy elite. The
culture of capitalism further teaches us to think that rich and powerful people work harder or
longer than others and, therefore, deserve their wealth and privileges. It also encourages us to
view capitalism as somehow “natural,” discouraging us from trying to reduce economic
inequality.
GENDER AND CULTURE: FEMINIST THEORY
 Feminists agree with Marx's claim that culture is an arena of conflict, but they see this conflict as
being rooted in gender. Gender refers to the personal traits and social positions that members
of a society attach to being female or male.
 Feminists claim that our culture is “gendered.” This means that our way of life reflects the ways
in which our society defines what is male as more important than what is female.
 Social conflict theory suggests that cultural systems do not address human needs equally,
allowing some people to dominate others. Thus, we should consider both social-conflict and
structural-functional insights for a fuller understanding of culture.
EVOLUTION AND CULTURE: SOCIOBIOLOGY
 A third theoretical approach, standing with one foot in biology and one in sociology, is
sociobiology, a theoretical approach that explores the ways in which human biology affects how
we create culture.
 Sociobiology has generated intriguing theories about the biological roots of some cultural
patterns. But the approach remains controversial for two main reasons.
 First, some critics fear that sociobiology may revive biological arguments from a century
ago that claimed the superiority of one race or gender.
 Second, say the critics, sociobiologists have little evidence to support their theories.
3.5 CRITIQUE CULTURE AS LIMITING OR EXPANDING HUMAN FREEDOM
CULTURE AS CONSTRAINT
 We may be the only animals who name ourselves, but living in a symbolic world means that we
are also the only creatures who experience alienation. In addition, culture is largely a matter of
habit, which limits our choices and drives us to repeat troubling patterns, such as racial
prejudice and sex discrimination, in each new generation.
CULTURE AS FREEDOM
 Biological instincts create a ready-made world; culture, in contrast, forces us to choose as we
make and remake a world for ourselves. No better evidence of this freedom exists than the
cultural diversity of our own society and the even greater human diversity around the world.

CHAPTER 4 SOCIETY
4.1 DESCRIBE HOW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT HAS SHAPED THE
HISTORY OF
SOCIO-CULTURAL EVOLUTION
THE LIMITS OF TECHNOLOGY
 More complex technology has made life better by raising productivity, reducing infectious
disease, and sometimes just relieving boredom. But technology provides no quick fix for social
problems. Poverty, for example, remains a reality for millions of women and men in Canada and
a billion people worldwide.
 Technology also creates new problems that our ancestors could hardly imagine. Industrial and
post-industrial societies give us more personal freedom, but they cannot provide the sense of
community that was part of pre-industrial life.
  Advancing technology also threatens the natural or physical environment.
4.2 ANALYZE THE IMPORTANCE OF CLASS CONFLICT TO THE HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN SOCIETIES
KARL MARX: SOCIETY AND CONFLICT
 At the heart of Marx's thinking is the idea of social conflict, the struggle between segments of
society over valued resources. Social conflict can take many forms: Individuals quarrel, colleges
have long-standing sports rivalries, and nations go to war. For Marx, however, the most
important type of social conflict was class conflict arising from the way a society produces
material goods.
SOCIETY AND PRODUCTION
 Living in the nineteenth century, Marx observed the early decades of industrial capitalism in
Europe. This economic system, Marx explained, turned a small part of the population into
capitalists, people who own and operate factories and other businesses in pursuit of profits. A
capitalist tries to make a profit by selling a product for more than it costs to produce. Capitalism
turns most of the population into industrial workers, whom Marx called proletarians, people
who sell their labour for wages.
 All societies are composed of social institutions, the major spheres of social life, or societal
subsystems, organized to meet human needs. Examples of social institutions include the
economy, political systems, family, religion, and education.
 False consciousness, explanations of social problems as the shortcomings of individuals rather
than as the flaws of society. Marx was saying, in effect, that it is the system of capitalist
production and not people who make society so unequal. False consciousness, he continued,
hurts people by hiding the real cause of their problems.
CONFLICT AND HISTORY
 For Marx, conflict is the engine that drives social change. While some societies change at slow,
evolutionary rates, others erupt in rapid, revolutionary change.
CAPITALISM AND CLASS CONFLICT
 Marx used the term class conflict (and sometimes class struggle) to refer to conflict between
entire classes over the distribution of a society's wealth and power.
 This means that false consciousness must be replaced with class consciousness, workers'
recognition of themselves as a class unified in opposition to capitalists and ultimately to
capitalism itself.
CAPITALISM AND ALIENATION
 Marx also condemned capitalist society for producing alienation, the experience of isolation and
misery resulting from powerlessness.
 Marx noted four ways in which capitalism alienates workers:
 Alienation from the act of working.
 Alienation from the product of work.
 Alienation from other workers.
 Alienation from human potential.
REVOLUTION
 The only way out of the trap of capitalism, argued Marx, is to remake society. He imagined a
system of production that could provide for the social needs of all people. He called this system
socialism.
4.3 DEMONSTRATE THE IMPORTANCE OF IDEAS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF
HUMAN SOCIETIES
MAX WEBER: THE RATIONALIZATION OF SOCIETY
 Weber understood the power of technology, and he shared many of Marx's ideas about social
conflict. But he disagreed with Marx's philosophy of materialism. Weber's philosophical
approach, called idealism, emphasized how human ideas—especially beliefs and values—shape
society. He argued that societies differ not in terms of how people produce things but in how
people think about the world. In Weber's view, modern society was the product of a new way of
thinking. Weber compared societies in different times and places. To make the comparisons, he
relied on the ideal type, an abstract statement of the essential characteristics of any social
phenomenon.
TWO WORLD VIEWS: TRADITION AND RATIONALITY
 Weber focused on ways that people think about their world: Members of pre-industrial societies
are bound by tradition, and people in industrial-capitalist societies are guided by rationality.
 By tradition, Weber meant values and beliefs passed from generation to generation. In other
words, traditional people are guided by the past.
 People in modern societies, however, favour rationality, a way of thinking that emphasizes
deliberate, matter-of-fact calculation of the most efficient way to accomplish a particular task.
 Weber viewed both the Industrial Revolution and the development of capitalism as evidence of
modern rationality. Such changes are all part of the rationalization of society, the historical
change from tradition to rationality as the main mode of human thought.
IS CAPITALISM RATIONAL?
 Is industrial capitalism a rational economic system? Here again, Weber and Marx came down on
different sides. Weber considered industrial capitalism to be highly rational, because capitalists
try to make money in any way they can. Marx, however, thought capitalism irrational because it
fails to meet the basic needs of most of the people
RATIONAL SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
 According to Weber, rationality is the basis of modern society, giving rise to both the Industrial
Revolution and capitalism. He identified seven characteristics of rational social organization:
 Distinctive social institutions.
 Large-scale organizations.
 Specialized tasks.
 Personal discipline.
 Awareness of time
 Technical competence
 Impersonality.
 Weber considered the growth of large, rational organizations to be one of the defining traits of
modern societies. Another term for this type of organization is bureaucracy. Weber believed
that bureaucracy has much in common with capitalism—another key factor in modern social life
4.4 CONTRAST THE SOCIAL BONDS OF TYPICAL OF TRADITIONAL AND
MODERN SOCIETIES
EMILE DURKHEIM: SOCIETY AND FUNCTION
 Émile Durkheim's great insight was recognizing that society exists beyond ourselves. Society is
more than the individuals who compose it. Society was here long before we were born; it
shapes us while we live; and it will remain long after we are gone. Patterns of human behaviour
—cultural norms, values, and beliefs—exist as established structures, or social facts, that have
an objective reality beyond the lives of individuals.
  Durkheim claimed, society takes on a life of its own and demands a measure of obedience from
its creators.
FUNCTION: SOCIETY AS SYSTEM
 Having established that society has structure, Durkheim turned to the concept of function. The
significance of a social fact, he explained, is that it is greater than the sum of individual
experience: Social facts contribute to the operation of society as a whole.
PERSONALITY: SOCIETY IN OURSELVES
 Our actions, thoughts, and feelings are derived from the society that nurtures us. Society shapes
us in another way, as well—by providing the moral discipline that guides our behaviour and
controls our desires. Durkheim believed that humans need the restraint of society because, as
creatures who want more and more, we are in constant danger of being overpowered by our
own desires
MODERNITY AND ANOMIE
 Durkheim acknowledged the advantages of modern-day freedom, but he warned of increased
anomie, or normlessness, a condition in which norms and values are so weak and inconsistent
that society provides little moral guidance to individuals.
EVOLVING SOCIETIES: THE DIVISION OF LABOUR
 Durkheim used the term mechanical solidarity to refer to strong social bonds, based on
common sentiments and shared moral values, among members of pre-industrial societies. In
practice, mechanical solidarity is based on likeness. Durkheim called these bonds “mechanical”
because people are linked together in lockstep, with a more or less automatic sense of
belonging together and acting alike.
 Durkheim called this new social integration organic solidarity, defined as social bonds based on
specialization and interdependence that are strong among members of industrial societies. The
solidarity that was once rooted in likeness is now based on differences among people who find
that their specialized work—as plumbers, students, midwives, or sociology instructors—makes
them rely on other people for most of their daily needs.
 For Durkheim, then, the key to change in a society is an expanding division of labour, or
specialized economic activity.
 “Durkheim's dilemma”: The technological power and greater personal freedom of modern
society come at the cost of declining morality and the rising risk of anomie.