1. CHI114/GES104
(Updated on April 4, 2008)

2. 1.
2.
Concepts related to the varying natures of culture: familiar
with the content of such concepts
Examples are very important in understanding and applying
for such concepts
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We can find examples everywhere and from our surroundings
The New Year/Lunar New Year
McDonald
Secondary schools
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be familiar with the content of such concepts
understand and apply such concepts with examples
reflect how culture affects our lives, and we also affect our culture too
appreciate the similarities and differences of cultures in different places
Can make use of what you learned about culture in
matriculation/other course/s
As we are members of society, think of how we are affected
by culture (The followings can be typical examples)
At the end of the topic, you are expected to
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3. Human beings are social beings: we are affected by
the social environment
In a specific environment, culture is a guide of our
values [ 價值觀 ], norms [ 規範 ], judgments, and
behaviors.
Culture embodies social institutions [ 社會制度 ],
conventions [ 慣例 ] mores [ 習俗 ], and laws
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4. 1.
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The total pattern [ 形式 ] of human behavior and its attitudes
and behaviors, embodied in thought, speech, action, and
artifacts [ 人工製品 ].
Is the way of thinking and doing that is passed on from adults
to children, and then the people of a society follow
Include all knowledge, beliefs, art, morals [ 道德 ],
government, law, customs [ 習慣 ], and any other contents
acquired by a human being as a member of society
dependent on the capacity for learning through the use of
tools, language, and systems of abstract thought
Creating humans and human societies: it has evolved through
a long process of change, and is composed over many
generations
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5. 1.
2.
A process in which individuals acquire
their knowledge, skills, customs, ideas,
religion, and morals from their social
environment  shape the
personalities of individuals  can
adjust and become members of society
All people in a culture are not fully
alike in their personalities. We should
consider different family backgrounds
and personal experiences within a
society
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6. 1.
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Is a body of individuals living as members of a
community
Members should have organized their established
relationships
Developed common ideas, interests, and
techniques for living and working together as a
community
is changed or shaped by innovations of people in
different generations
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7. 1.
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Social norms:
 Conventions
 Mores
 Laws
Social institutions
 E.g., schools, families, governments, religions
Cultural objects/products
Language
Social values
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8. 1.
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Conventions:
simple, everyday customs of a group that
represent the usual ways of behaving.
They are persistent and change slowly.
Such established customs are of little moral
significance
e.g., sleep on a bed, eat at a table
Mores:
they are conventions, but people would have
serious consequences if they were violated.
If people break a society’s mores would not
necessarily land a person in jail, it would lead
social/informal punishment in the form of peer
disapproval
e.g., you shared the “shining cards” (=nude
photos) of Edison Chan” to your sisters without
considering their acceptability
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9. Laws:
3.
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are more exact, and generally recorded, codified, and
enforced as a means of securing public obedience.
are the principles and regulations set up in a community by
some authority and applicable to its people.
can be in the form of either legislation or policies recognized
and enforced by judicial decision.
If you break a law, you will receive a severe punishment.
What is against the law and the punishment for violence of
laws vary in different societies
E.g., women will be punished if they do not cover their faces in
some Islamic societies
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10. is an established complex pattern of behavior in
which a number of persons participate in order to
further important group interests. E.g.,
 Government provides the necessary order and coordination
among individuals.
 The church, temple, mosque [ 清真寺 ] and synagogue [ 猶太教
會堂 ] are institutions that enable people to express their
religious beliefs.
 The school provides for formal education for the young.
 The family helps meet many of the needs of daily life (shelter,
food, close companionship, and affection)
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11.  4 elements within social institutions:
1. Personnel: people who are qualified and duly selected to
perform certain functions
2. Equipment: material (e.g., computers) and nonmaterial
(e.g., language, spirit) possessions of the group
3. Organization: refer to various special relationships of
members, and the ways in which equipments are arranged
and used. These are related to authority. Authority is
found in terms of (1) positions of people within the
institution, and (2) the level of influence of such people.
4. Ritual [ 禮儀 ]: customs and regulations that determine the
behavior of members
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12. Material products/cultural objects/cultural artifacts:
Are products of human skill and effort that are
essential to the functioning of a society
Include food, clothing, houses, tools, machines, work
of arts, etc.
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13. Is a body of words and the system for their use
common to a people who are of the same
community or nation, the same geographical area, or
the same cultural tradition
Plays a central role in the development and
transmission of culture: communication, document,
accumulation, and preservation
But it influences the way individuals look at issues
and can incorporate many hidden biases [ 偏見 ]
 E.g., Martin Lee as a traitor or a genuine democrat?
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14. Are motivating power that makes institutions
function effectively
Are the desirable things because people believe that
they contribute to good life and the general welfare
 E.g., honesty, courage, justice, respect for law, and for the rights
of others, financial success, health, higher education
Are relative rather than absolute: vary widely from
one culture to another, and each individual acquires
from his/her own culture ideas of what is
desirable/undesirable, good/bad, right/wrong.
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15. 1.
Cultural universal [ 文化普世性 ]
 is an aspect of culture that is found in all culture
 e.g., religion, education, family
2.
Cultural integration [ 文化整合 ]
 Is the degree to which a culture is internally consistent and
homogenous (similar)
 e.g., MacDonald’s foods & drinks, logo, slogan, and its
management
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16. 3.
Cultural relativism [ 文化相對主義 ]
 All cultures are for the most part equally valid.
 Cultures are not as a whole good, bad, right, or wrong; they
simply exist and must be judged relative to their own value
system
 To understand other cultures, we must try to look at them
through the eyes of those who have grown under their
influence, rather than through our own eyes
 e.g., Eating dogs is acceptable in Chinese culture, but is appalling
in Western culture because dogs are seen as loyal friends
 Watch http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=cDzqxKE1NDQ for
discussion and reflection
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17. 4.
5.
Cultural alternatives [ 文化選擇 ]
 Those cultural characteristics that are not necessarily shared by
other cultures
 E.g., respecting (western) VS looking down (Asian) women
Ethnocentrism [ 我族中心主義 ]
 A tendency to judge other cultures by a person’s own culture
and its standard
 a belief of a group that its people and its way of life are superior
to all others
 e.g., Chinese in Qing dynasty, Japanese before the World War
Two
 Positive: contribute to the cohesion, understanding and
cooperation of a society, people and nations
 Negative: misunderstanding, prejudice, ill feeling and conflict
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18. What forces cause cultural changes?
1. Technological development
 Begins with discovery and invention
 Discovery [ 發現 ] : is learning something about the physical or
social environment that was not known before
 E.g., explorers, astronomers, anthropologists, scientists
 Invention [ 發明 ] : is a new way of doing something, a new
object, or mechanical device to serve as some specific purpose.
It may be either material (objects) or nonmaterial (methods,
systems, ideas, etc).
 An invention is really a special kind of discovery. Inventions
bring about changes in technology. In modern societies,
technological change has been a powerful force behind social
change (e.g., computers).
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19. 2.
Cultural diffusion [ 文化傳播 ]
 Spread of cultural traits from one social
group to another.
 Not all the elements found in the culture
were invented or developed within that
group. In most cases, the greater part of
the content of any culture has been
borrowed from other cultures.
 E.g., Alphabet, 漢字平假名 ;
 pigeon English: 「溫」（ one ），「拖」
（ two ），「夫里」（ three ），「科」
（ four ），「快夫」（ five ），「昔
士」（ six ），「舍焚」（ seven ），
「噎」（ eight ），「乃吾」（ nine ），
「吞」（ ten ）。
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20. 3.
New ideas and ideologies
 Ideas may result in inventions that are accepted and become a
recognized part of the cultural pattern. Such ideas relate to
important changes in social attitudes and basic social values
 When such ideas are well established in society, they become a
powerful force continuing social change
 The role of ideology: as a composite of ideas, values, and
emotions, it is an organized system of ideas for remodeling
society so as to bring it “nearer to the heart’s desire”.
 E.g., Fascism [ 法西斯主義 ], communism [ 共產主義 ],
socialism [ 社會主義 ], democracy, liberalism
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21. 4.
Collective action
 Usually refer to a planned government/group action because the
government is the only agency that can make and enforce rules
that in theory apply to the whole social group (e.g., Meiji Reform
in Japan)
 In democratic countries, legislation and reform are the common
ways to drive social changes with popular support
 In non-democratic countries, the government takes the radical
ways to drive social changes (e.g., nationalization, political
campaigns)
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22. 1.
Stability of social norms
 Human beings appear to be basically conservative despite
progress. When they acquire certain beliefs, attitudes and
patterns of behaviors, they have difficulty changing them.
 Our beliefs and attitudes may allow some changes, but only
within limits.
1.
Habit
 ways of behaving that have been learned so well they can be
carried out without conscious attention.
 Once acquired, they are difficult to change because they become
a part of the individual’s personality.
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23. 3.
Value attachment [ 依附價值 ]
 when we believe that the established patterns of behavior have
high moral values and when they arouse us strong emotions,
then patterns become difficult to change
 A vested interest [ 既得利益 ]: a power, privilege or advantage
that an individual enjoys because of the status quo [ 維持現狀 ].
The people oppose the introduction of new elements into their
culture
 E.g., some scientists or theologians have opposed the new ideas
and knowledge for fear that their own established beliefs and
theories would be discredited
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24.  Social problems meet 2 beliefs
 Some condition adversely affects the welfare of a significant number of
people (e.g., the salary cut but heavy workload)
 Condition can and should be changed (e.g., poor management,
leadership should be removed)
 It is uneasy to have any simple or complex solution for a
major social problem (e.g., Language problems of local
students, poverty, class polarization) because
 Complex causes: PCS model advocated by Thomson (1997): Personal,
cultural and structural problems
 difficult to find or carry out practical remedies
 public indifference [ 冷漠 ] or ignorance [ 忽視 ]
 the opposition of vested interests
 Cultural lag [ 文化滯後 ]: the slowness in the rate of change on one
part of culture in relation to another, resulting in a maladjustment
within society
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