SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Heavy Metal Music, Cultural Relativism, Ethnocentrism
4 Jul 2018
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Cultural Diversity
Many people mistakenly use such phrases as “American culture,” “white culture,” or “Western
culture,” as if such large, common, and homogenous cultures exist in the United States today.
These people fail to acknowledge the presence of cultural diversity, or the presence of
multiple cultures and cultural differences within a society. In reality, many different cultural
groups comprise the United States.
Subcultures
Smaller cultural groups that exist within but differ in some way from the prevailing culture
interest sociologists. These groups are called subcultures. Examples of some subcultures
include “heavy metal” music devotees, body‐piercing and tatoo enthusiasts, motorcycle gang
members, and Nazi skinheads. Members of subcultures typically make use of distinctive
language, behaviors, and clothing, even though they may still accept many of the values of the
dominant culture.
Ethnic groups living in the United States—such as Greek Americans, Italian Americans,
Irish Americans, Mexican Americans, and African Americans—may also form
subcultures. Most of these adjust to mainstream America, but may still retain many of
their cultural customs and in some cases their native ethnic language.
Countercultures
A counterculture comes about in opposition to the norms and values of the dominant culture.
Members of countercultures—such as hippies and protest groups—are generally teenagers and
young adults, because youth is often a time of identity crisis and experimentation. In time many,
but not all, members of countercultures eventually adopt the norms and values of the dominant
culture.
Assimilation and multiculturalism
Many people see the United States as “a melting pot” comprised of a variety of different cultural,
subcultural, and countercultural groups. When the mainstream absorbs these groups, they have
undergone assimilation. However, people today increasingly recognize the value of coexisting
cultural groups who do not lose their identities.
This perspective of multiculturalism respects cultural variations rather than requiring
that the dominant culture assimilate the various cultures. It holds that certain shared
cultural tenets are important to society as a whole, but that some cultural differences are
important, too. For example, children in schools today are being taught that the United
States is not the only culture in the world, and that other viewpoints may have
something to offer Americans.
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Many people mistakenly use such phrases as american culture, white culture, or western culture, as if such large, common, and homogenous cultures exist in the united states today. These people fail to acknowledge the presence of cultural diversity, or the presence of multiple cultures and cultural differences within a society. In reality, many different cultural groups comprise the united states. Smaller cultural groups that exist within but differ in some way from the prevailing culture interest sociologists. Examples of some subcultures include heavy metal music devotees, body piercing and tatoo enthusiasts, motorcycle gang members, and nazi skinheads. Members of subcultures typically make use of distinctive language, behaviors, and clothing, even though they may still accept many of the values of the dominant culture. Ethnic groups living in the united states such as greek americans, italian americans, Irish americans, mexican americans, and african americans may also form subcultures.
