SOC 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Dominant Ideology, Cultural Universal, Social Conflict

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 105
• Professor: Mustafa Koc

Document Summary

Human behaviour is shaped by the interaction of variety of biological, psychological and social elements. Sociologists reject determinist arguments that suggest human behaviour or biologically, or genetically pre-programmed. Culture refers to the totality of the various material and non-material aspects of human existence. It includes knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society. Culture brings people together, but it also pulls people apart. Culture is complex, shared, diverse, and cumulative. Culture can vary significantly across time and space. Human beings live in a world not just of objects and action but of meaning. Language: a system of symbols with standard meanings that allows members of a society to communicate with one another. **sapir and whorf: language can also determine our reality. Values: the standards by which members of a culture define right or wrong, what is desirable or undesirable.