The document discusses symbolic culture, which comprises nonmaterial cultural elements that help in communication and societal interaction. Key components include gestures, language, values, norms, sanctions, folkways, and mores, each contributing to how individuals express and understand their cultural context. It highlights the significance of language in distinguishing human communication and the varying degrees of enforcement associated with different social norms.

1. COURSE: GLOBAL STUDIES II
YEAR: 2015
University of South East- Asia
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2. Chapter 1: CONCEPTS OF
CULTURE
UNIT 2: COMPONENTS OF SYMBOLIC
CULTURE

3. Components of SYMBOLIC
CULTURE
Terminology:
 symbolic culture
another term for nonmaterial
culture
 symbol
something to which people
attach meanings and then use
to communicate with others
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4. 7 COMPONENTS OF
SYMBOLIC
CULTURE
1. GESTURES
2. LANGUAGE
3. VALUES
4. NORMS
5. SANCTIONS
6. FOLKWAYS
7. MORES
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5. 1. GESTURES
 The ways in which people use their
bodies to communicate with one
another.
 Gestures can differ in meanings
around the world.
 It is important to learn the gestures of
another culture if you want to get
along fine with that culture.
 Some fundamental emotions are
inborn 5

6. 2. LANGUAGE
 A system of symbols that can be
combined in an infinite number of
ways and can represent not only
objects but also abstract thoughts.
 The primary way in which people
communicate with one another.
 This separates humans from animals
in terms of communication
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7. Some properties of language
 Language allows human experience to
be cumulative
 Language provides a social or shared
past
 Language provides a social or shared
future
 Language allows shared perspectives or
understandings
 Language allows complex, shared, goal-
directed behavior 7

8. 3. VALUES
 The standards by which people define
what is desirable or undesirable, good
or bad, beautiful or ugly
 Values underlie our preferences, guide
our choices, and indicate what we
hold worthwhile
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9. 4. NORMS
 The expectations, or rules of behavior,
that develop out of values
 It describes what are acceptable and
usually-followed actions or behavior
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10. 5. SANCTIONS
 An expression of approval or
disapproval given to people for
upholding or violating norms
 Positive or negative reactions to the
ways in which people follow norms
There are two types of sanctions;
1) Positive sanction
2) Negative sanction
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11.  Positive sanction
a reward given for following norms,
ranging from a smile to a prize
 Negative sanction
an expression of disapproval for
breaking a norm, ranging from a mild,
informal reaction such as a frown to a
formal prison sentence or an
execution 11

12. 6. FOLKWAYS
 Norms that are not strictly enforced
 These are the actions that we can
allow to occur
 Examples:
People picking their nose in public
Spitting on the street
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13. 7. MORES
 Norms that are strictly enforced
because they are thought essential to
core values.
Examples of mores:
Societies do not accept or do not take
lightly on:
 A person who steals, rapes, and kills
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14. Folkways vs. Mores
“ A man who walks down a street wearing
nothing on the upper half of his body is
violating a folkway; a man who walks
down the street wearing nothing on the
lower part of his body is violating one of
our most important mores, the
requirement that people cover their
private parts in public.’
Ian Robertson (1987)
sociologist
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15.  TABOO
a norm so strong that it brings
revulsion if violated
Examples:
Eating human flesh
Having sexual relationship with own
parents
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