5 COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

TECHNOLOGY

• Society doesnt onlu make physical objects
• Includes rules on how to use those objects
• Sociologists aren't only interested in skill
• They are also interested in acceptable behavior while using materials

LANGUAGES

• Organization of written or spoken symbols into a standard system
• Words are used to express an idea
• Most people in the U.S. learn to speak an American form of English
• Most obvious aspect of culture

SYMBOLS

• Very basis of human culture
• How people communicate to a group
• Anything that represents something else

NORMS

• Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in some situations
• Expectations for behavior, not the actual behavior
• Folkway is a norm that doesn't have moral significance
• Mores is a norm that has great moral significance

VALUES

• Shared beliefs on what is good or bad
• Right or wrong
• Desirable or undesirable
• Help determine character of the people and kinds of material/nonmaterial culture they create