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Saluting the flag, saying a blessing before meals, flashing someone an obscene gesture, and a football coach signaling what defensive formation to run for the next play are all acts with symbolic meaning. In the case of the salute and the prayer, the acts undergird a belief about the nation or about a higher spiritual presence. In each case something is communicated, yet each of these acts refers to something more abstract than any material object.

▲ Coaches and players use hand signals to cue each other into an upcoming play or to convey what defense or offense to set up—an example of nonverbal communication.

© Reuters/Matt Sullivan

Nonmaterial culture refers to the thoughts, language, feelings, beliefs, values, and attitudes that make up much of our culture. It is the invisible and intangible parts of culture that involve society’s rules of behavior, ideas, and beliefs that shape how people interact with others and with their environment. Although we cannot touch the nonmaterial components of our culture, they pervade our life and influence how we think, feel, and behave. Nonmaterial culture is complex, comprising four main elements: values, beliefs, norms or rules, and language.

Values are shared judgments about what is desirable or undesirable, right or wrong, and good or bad. They express the basic ideals of any group of people. In industrial and postindustrial societies, for instance, a good education is highly valued. That you are in college shows you have certain values toward learning and education. Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish sociologist and observer of U.S. culture, referred to the U.S. value system as the American creed, so much a part of the way of life that it acquires the power of religious doctrine (Myrdal 1964). We tend to take our core values for granted, including freedom, equality, individualism, democracy, free enterprise, efficiency, progress, achievement, and material comfort (Williams 1970).

At the meso and macro level, conflicts may arise between groups in society because of differing value systems. For example, there are major differences between the values of various Native American groups and the dominant culture—whether that dominant culture is in North, Central, or South America (Lake 1990; Sharp 1991). Consider the story in the Sociology Around the World above about Rigoberta Menchú Tum and the experiences of Native American populations living in Guatemala.

Sociology Around the World

Social Justice in a Guatemalan Village

In her 57 years, Rigoberta Menchú Tum experienced the closeness of family and cooperation in village life. These values are important in Chimel, the Guatemalan hamlet where she lived. She also experienced great pain and suffering with the loss of her family and community. A Quiche Indian, Menchú became famous throughout the world in 1992, when she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work to improve conditions for Indian peoples.

Guatemalans of Spanish origin hold the most power in Guatemala and have used Indians almost as slaves. Some of the natives were cut off from food, water, and other necessities, but people in Menchú’s hamlet helped support each other and taught children survival techniques. Most people had no schooling. Menchú’s work life in the sugarcane fields began at age 5. At 14, she traveled to the city to work as a domestic servant. While there, she learned Spanish, which helped her be more effective in defending the rights of the indigenous population in Guatemala. Her political coming of age occurred at age 16, when she witnessed her brother’s assassination by a group trying to expel her people from their native lands.

▲ Rigoberta Menchú Tum

© Getty Images/Bloomberg

Menchú’s father started a group to fight the repression of the indigenous and poor, and at 20, Menchú joined the movement, Comité de Unidad Campesina (CUC, meaning “Peasant Unity Committee”), which the government claimed was communist inspired. Her father was murdered during a military assault, and her mother was tortured and killed. Menchú moved to Mexico with many other exiles to continue their nonviolent fight for rights and democracy.

The values of the native population represented by Menchú focus on respect for and a profound spiritual relationship with the environment, equality of all people, freedom from economic oppression, the dignity of her culture, and the benefits of cooperation over competition. The landowners tended to stress freedom of people to pursue their individual self-interests (even if inequality resulted), the value of competition, and the right to own property and to do whatever one desired to exploit that property for economic gain. Individual property rights were thought to be more important than preservation of indigenous cultures. Economic growth and profits were held in higher regard than religious connectedness to the earth.

The values of the native population and those of the landowners are in conflict. Only time will tell if the work of Indian activists such as Rigoberta Menchú Tum and her family will make a difference in the lives of this indigenous population.

Thinking Sociologically

The experiences of Rigoberta Menchú Tum provide some examples of clashes between dominant and less powerful groups within a single nation. What are some examples of cultural conflict among groups in your society? Which (if any) reflect the types of cultural clashes experienced by Rigoberta? How do these conflicts impact the stability of the overall society? Why?

The conflict in values between First Nations and the national cultures of Canada, the United States, and many Latin American countries has had serious consequences. For example, cooperation is a cultural value that has been passed on through generations of Native Americans. Their survival has always depended on group cooperation in the hunt, in war, and in daily life. The value of cooperation can place native children at a disadvantage in North American schools that emphasize competition. Native American and Canadian First Nations children experience more success in classrooms that stress cooperation and sociability over competition and individuality (Lake 1990; Mehan 1992).

Beliefs are ideas we hold about life, about the way society works, and about where we fit into the world. They are expressed as specific statements that we hold to be true. Many Hindus, for example, believe that fulfilling behavioral expectations of one’s own social caste will lead to rewards in one’s next birth, or incarnation. In the next life, good people will be born into a higher social status. In contrast, some Christians believe that one’s fate in the afterlife depends on whether one believes in certain ideas—for instance, that Jesus Christ is one’s personal savior. Beliefs come from traditions established over time, sacred scriptures, experiences people have had, and lessons given by parents and teachers or other individuals in authority. Beliefs, based on values, influence the choices we make. For example, one value might be that the environment is worth preserving. A belief based on that value would be that humans should make efforts to curb climate change.

Values and beliefs, as elements of nonmaterial culture, are expressed in two forms: an ideal culture and a real culture. Ideal culture consists of practices, beliefs, and values regarded as most desirable in society, and are consciously taught to children. Not everyone, however, follows the approved cultural patterns, even though people may say they do. Sometimes our values contradict one another. Real culture refers to the way things in society are actually done. For example, family time and money are both highly valued in U.S. society. However, in order to make money, we often have to sacrifice time with our families.

Norms are rules of behavior shared by members of a society and rooted in the value system. Examples include our rather routine behaviors, from saying “Hi” to people we meet to obeying traffic signs. Norms range from religious warnings such as “Thou shalt not kill” to the expectation in many societies that young people will complete their high school education. Sometimes the origins of particular norms are clear. Few people wonder, for instance, why there is a norm to stop and look both ways at a stop sign. Other norms, such as the rule in many societies that women should wear skirts but men should not, have been passed on through the generations and have become unconsciously accepted patterns and a part of tradition. Sometimes we may not know how norms originated or even be aware of norms until they are violated.

Norms generally fall into two categories—folkways and mores—based largely on their importance and people’s response to the breach of those norms. Folkways are customs and usually desirable behaviors, but they are not strictly enforced. Examples of folkways include responding appropriately and politely when introduced to someone, speaking quietly in a library, not scratching your genitals in public, using proper table manners, and covering your mouth when you cough. Violation of these norms causes people to think you are weird or even uncouth but not necessarily immoral or criminal.

Mores are norms that most members observe because they have great moral significance in a society. Conforming to mores is a matter of right and wrong, and violations of many mores are treated very seriously. The person who deviates from mores is considered immoral or criminal. Being faithful in a marriage has been among the stronger mores in U.S. society, though this has been gradually changing with high-profile cases in the news. Table 3.3 provides examples of violations of folkways and mores.

▼ Table 3.3

Taboos are the strongest form of mores. They concern actions considered unthinkable or unspeakable in the culture. For example, most societies have taboos that forbid incest (sexual relations with a close relative) and prohibit defacing or eating a human corpse. Taboos are most common and numerous in societies without centralized governments to establish formal laws and to maintain jails.

Taboos and other moral codes are of the utmost importance to a group because they provide guidelines for what is right and wrong. Yet behaviors that are taboo in one situation may be acceptable at another time and place. The incest taboo is an example found in most cultures, yet the application of the incest taboo varies greatly across cultures. Ivory Coast and China have no laws forbidding incest except in special cases, and many countries qualify what blood relatives can marry under what circumstances (Quora 2016). In medieval Europe, if a man and a woman were within seven degrees of relatedness and wanted to marry, the marriage could be denied by the priest as incestuous. (Your first cousin is a third degree of relatedness from you.) Of course, in Europe, exceptions were made for the royal families, where cousins often married. By contrast, the Balinese sometimes permit twins to marry because it is believed they have already been intimately bonded together in the womb (Henley 2008; Leslie and Korman 1989). In some African and Native American societies, one cannot marry a sibling but might be expected to marry a first cousin. As Table 3.4 illustrates, the definition of what is and what is not incest varies even from state to state in the United States (Greenspan 2018).

▼ Table 3.4

Source: Wikipedia 2018.

Laws are norms formally encoded by those holding political power in society, such as laws against stealing property or killing another person. The violator of a law is likely to be perceived not just as a weird or an immoral person but also as a criminal who deserves formal punishment. Many mores are passed into law, and some folkways are also made into laws with formal punishments imposed for their violation. Behaviors may be folkways in one situation and mores or laws in another, with gradually more serious consequences. For example, nudity or various stages of near nudity may be only mildly questionable in some social settings (the beach or certain fraternity parties) but would be offensive in others (a four-star restaurant or a house of worship) and against the law in some situations, incurring a penalty or sanction.

Sanctions reinforce norms through rewards and penalties. Sanctions vary with the importance of the norm and can range from a parent frowning at a child who fails to use proper table manners to a prison term or death sentence. Formal sanctions are rewards or punishments conferred by recognized officials. Fines for parking illegally, failing grades for plagiarism, and expulsion for bringing drugs or weapons to school are formal negative sanctions your school might impose. Positive sanctions include honors and awards.

Informal sanctions are unofficial rewards or punishments such as smiles, frowns, gossip, or ignoring someone. A private word of praise by your professor after class about how well you did on your exam would be an informal positive sanction; gossip or ostracism by other students because of the clothes you wear would be an informal negative sanction. Most often, adherence to norms is ingrained so deeply that our reward is simply “fitting in.”

Language is the foundation of every culture. It conveys verbal, written, and nonverbal messages among members of society. The mini-drama between infant and adult is played out every day around the world as millions of infants learn the language of the adults who care for them. In the process, they acquire an important part of culture, which is learned. Although many animals can communicate with a limited repertoire of sounds, the ability to speak a language is unique to humans (Phillips 2013). Transport a baby from France to the Arapesh tribe in New Guinea and another baby from New Guinea to France, and each will learn to speak the language and adhere to the culture in which it is brought up. Language conveys verbal, written, and nonverbal messages among members of society. Simply put, without language there would be little, if any, culture. Through the use of language, members of a culture can pass on essential knowledge to children and can share ideas with other members of their society. Work can be organized, and the society can build on its experiences and plan its future. Through language, members express their ideas, values, beliefs, and knowledge, a key ingredient in the ability of humans to sustain social life.

Language takes three primary forms: spoken, written, and nonverbal. There are over 7,100 languages spoken in the world. About 3,700 language groups are small, with fewer than 10,000 native speakers. The most common first languages are shown in Figure 3.4. English is the top Internet language around the world with 1.05 billion users. Chinese is next with 804 million users, Spanish with 516 million, and Arabic with 436 million users (Internet World Stats 2017).

Description

▼ Figure 3.4 The World’s Most Spoken Languages (in Millions)

Source: From “The World’s Most Spoken Languages,” Niall McCarthy, February 12, 2018, Statista. https://www.statista.com/chart/12868/the-worlds-most-spoken-languages.

Note: Each language also includes associated member languages and varieties.

Written language enables humans to store ideas for future generations, accelerating the accumulation of ideas on which to build. It also makes possible communication over distances. Members of a society learn to read these shared symbols.

Nonverbal language consists of gestures, facial expressions, and body postures. Communications scholars say this mode carries 93% of the message—55% in the facial expressions and 38% in the voice (vocal elements and intonation). That leaves 7% of the message coming from the actual words said (Debenham 2014; Fields 2015; Mehrabian 1972). Every culture uses nonverbal language to communicate, and just like verbal language, those cues may differ widely among cultures.

The power to communicate nonverbally is illustrated in American Sign Language, designed for the hearing challenged and the mute. Complex ideas can be transmitted without vocalizing a word. Indeed, one can argue that the deaf have a distinctive culture of their own rooted in large part in the unique sign language that serves them (discussed in Sociology in Our Social World on page 82). In addition, technology has aided communication among the hearing impaired through text messaging.

Thinking Sociologically

Think about a time when you were trying to understand what someone was saying and you could not hear the words (at a concert, a bar, or a loud party). Did you rely on the other person’s nonverbal communication to interpret what he or she was trying to convey? Explain.

Our language also plays a critical role in our perceptions of our world and organization of our thoughts, according to many linguists. The linguistic relativity theory posits that the people who speak a specific language make interpretations of their reality based on the language—they notice certain things and may fail to notice certain other things. Language is influenced by history and sociopolitical factors, and the structure of the language affects how people conceptualize their world (Sapir 1929, 1949; Whorf 1956). Think about this: “A person’s ‘picture of the universe’ or ‘view of the world’ differs as a function of the particular language or languages that person knows” (Kodish 2003:384). Most current linguistic scholars agree that, although language does not totally determine thinking, it does influence thinking (Casasanto 2008; Levinson 2000; Wolff and Holmes 2011). For example, recent research confirms that in some Native Alaskan cultures where life depends on the elements, there are more than 50 words for snow, each giving members of the group a description that could mean life or death—wet snow, dry snow, heavy snow, melting snow, and so forth (Krupnik et al. 2010; Robson 2013). The Inuit also have 17 words for various types of ice, for they must be able to distinguish types of solidified water (Ice 2015). Children in different cultures will learn about the world within the framework provided by their language.

In the English language people tend to associate colors with certain qualities in a way that may add to the problem of racist attitudes (Levinson 2000). The definition of the word black includes “dismal,” “boding ill,” “hostile,” “harmful,” “inexcusable,” “without goodness,” “evil,” “wicked,” “disgrace,” and “without moral light.” The word white, on the other hand, is defined as “honest,” “dependable,” “morally pure,” “innocent,” and “without malice” (Merriam-Webster 2014; Webster’s Unabridged English Dictionary 1989). If the linguistic relativity thesis is correct, it is more than a coincidence that bad things are associated with the black sheep of the family, the blacklist, or Black Tuesday (when the U.S. stock market dropped dramatically and crashed in 1929).

This association of blackness with negative images and meanings is not true of all languages. The societies that have negative images for black and positive images for white are the same societies that associate negative qualities with people of darker skin. Blackness associated with something evil is not true of many African languages (Jordan 2012). The use of white as a synonym for good or innocent—as in reference to a white noise machine or a white lie—may contribute to a cultural climate that devalues people of color. In essence, the language may influence our perception of color in a manner that contributes to racism. Interestingly, there is empirical evidence supporting this claim of color symbolism. Athletic teams that wear black uniforms have more penalties called on them than teams with lighter-colored uniforms (De los Santos 2017; Frank and Gilovich 1988).

▲ White and black colors have symbolic meaning—with phrases like “blackballed from the club” or “black sheep of the family” indicating negative judgment associated with blackness. Research shows that teams wearing black are called for more fouls than teams wearing white.

© Courtesy of Hanover College

When grouped together, material and nonmaterial components form cultural patterns. People’s lives are organized around these patterns. For example, family life includes patterns of courtship, marriage, child-rearing, and care of the elderly.

We have seen that material artifacts and nonmaterial beliefs, values, norms, and language compose the basic components of culture. Next, we explore the theoretical explanations for culture.