Sanctions
Sanctions are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. The sanctions that are associated with formal norms tend to be formal as well. But sanctions for violations of informal norms can vary. The entire fabric of norms and sanctions in a culture reflects that culture's values and priorities. The most cherished values will be most heavily sanctioned; maters regarded as less critical will carry light and informal sanctions.
Values
Though we each have our own personal set of standards, we also share a general set of objectives as members of a society. Cultural values are these collective conceptions of what is considered good or bad. Values can be specific, such as honoring one's parents, or may be more general, such as health, love and democracy.
Values influence people's behavior and serve as criteria for evaluating the actions of others. The values, norms and sanctions of a culture are often directly related. The values of a culture may change, but most remain relatively stable during any one person's lifetime. For example, during the 1980s and 1990s, support for values having to do with money, power and status grew. At the same time, support for certain values having to do with social awareness and altruism, such as helping others, declined.
Sociologist Robin Williams has offered a list of basic values. It includes achievement, efficiency, material comfort, nationalism, equality, and the supremacy of science and reason over faith.
Culture and the Dominant Ideology
Both functionalist and conflict theorists agree that culture and society reinforce each other, but for different reason. Functionalists maintain that stability requires a consensus and the support of society's members; thus the need for strong central values and common norms.
Conflict theorists agree that a common culture may exist, but they argue that it serves to maintain the privileges of certain groups. The term dominant ideology describes the set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interest. From conflict perspective, the dominant ideology has major social significance. Not only do a society's most powerful groups and institutions control wealth and property; even more important, they control the means of producing beliefs about reality through religion, education, and media.
Cultural Variation
Each culture has unique character. Cultures adapt to meet specific sets of circumstance such as climate, level of technology, population, and geography.
Aspects of Cultural Variation
Subcultures
A subculture is a segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the pattern of the larger society. Usually, a subculture will develop argot, or specialized language, that distinguishes it from the wider society. Argot allows the member of subculture to understand the word with special meanings, and establish pattern of communication that outsiders can't understand.
Subcultures develop in a number of ways. Subcultures may be based on common age, region, ethnic heritage, occupation, beliefs or hobby.
Functionalists view subcultures as variation of particular social environments and as evidence that differences can exist within a common culture. Conflict theorists suggest that variation often reflect the inequality of social arrangements within a society.
Counter cultures
When a subculture consciously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture, it is known as a counterculture. Frequently people become disenchanted with the policies of their own country and a few take very violent steps.
Culture shock
Anyone who feels disoriented, uncertain or even fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture may be experiencing culture shock.
Attitude toward Cultural Variation
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is refer to the tendency to assume that one's own culture and way of life represent the norm or is superior to all others. Conflict theorist point out that ethnocentric value judgments serves to devalue groups and to deny equal opportunities. Functionalists point out that ethnocentrism serve to maintain a sense of solidarity by promoting group pride.
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism views people's behavior from the perspective of their own culture. Cultural relativism stresses that different social context give rise to different norms and values.
An interesting extension of cultural relativism is xenocentrism. Xenocentrism is the belief that products, styles, or ideas of one's society are inferior to those that originate elsewhere.
