6.5 Conclusion
Let us return to riot grrrl. How can we understand it given what we have discussed in this chapter? It should now be clear that it was a subculture, with its own unique set of symbols, cultural objects, norms, values, style, and habits that challenged dominant American culture. The subculture developed a cultural toolkit combining feminism with punk rock. To some extent, mainstream media othered and drew symbolic boundaries against the people associated with the subculture. However, some scholars have expressed concerns that riot grrrl engaged in some boundary drawing of its own, particularly regarding race and sexuality. The focus of the subculture was mainly on the concerns of cisgender, middle-class women even though the subculture aspired to be inclusive of people of color and combat classism (Perry 2015). Overall, riot grrrl subculture shows the importance of resistance and incorporating cultural objects and ideas that might be seen as controversial to the dominant culture. By challenging dominant culture, they made it easier for others to follow in their footsteps.
In this chapter, we explored how the social sciences approach the study of culture and how the approach differs from the humanities approach. We then discussed what makes up culture, specifically focusing on symbolic and material culture, values and norms, cultural toolkits and subcultures. We ended the chapter by examining how culture can be connected to the creation of inequalities. We specifically focused on cultural capital, taste patterns, boundary drawing, and othering. Next, in Chapter 7, we focus on the concepts of deviance and social control by examining theories of deviance and the criminal justice system.
Review of Learning Objectives
Key Terms
- Argot: the special vocabulary and language of a subculture and how it’s delivered.
- Cultural capital: the resources and power derived from being familiar with high (or legitimated) culture.
- Cultural diamond: a framework for understanding culture that focuses on specific cultural objects, how they are created and received, and the embeddedness of these patterns within society.
- Cultural omnivore: someone who appreciates a wide range of cultural activities and genres. Often associated with eliteness.
- Cultural relativism: the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards and not in comparison to another culture.
- Cultural univore: someone who appreciates a narrow range of cultural activities and genres.
- Declarative culture: culture that is verbally expressed.
- Dominant culture: the values, norms, meanings, and practices of the group within society that is the most powerful.
- Ethnocentrism: to evaluate and judge another culture based on one’s own cultural norms. Ethnocentrism is believing your group is the correct measuring standard, and if other cultures do not measure up to it, they are wrong.
- Folkways: loosely enforced norms; the ordinary conventions of everyday life.
- High culture: forms of cultural expression associated with elite groups.
- Homology argument: the argument that consumption patterns and cultural tastes are associated with specific occupations and class fractions.
- Individualization argument: the argument that consumption patterns are no longer determined by class.
- Material culture: anything physical or tangible that people create, use, or appreciate that has meaning attached to it.
- Mores: norms that carry moral significance. We are expected to conform to them.
- Nondeclarative culture: deeply internalized and unconscious culture.
- Norms: the social expectations of how to behave in a situation.
- Othering: the process by which a powerful group defines into existence a group they construct as an “other.” The powerful group does this by attributing negative characteristics to the “other” and deems the less powerful group to be inferior.
- Popular culture: the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in mainstream society.
- Subculture: a group within society that is differentiated by its distinctive values, norms, and lifestyle.
- Symbolic boundaries: conceptual distinctions made by people to categorize social things.
- Symbolic culture: ways of thinking, beliefs, values, and assumptions, including language and gestures.
- Taboos: the most powerful type of norm.
- Taste culture: areas of culture that share aesthetics and standards of beauty.
- Value orientations: systems of linked values.
- Values: shared beliefs about what a group considers worthwhile or desirable.
Discussion Questions
- Pick a cultural object. How might you analyze it in terms of the cultural diamond? How do you think the social world influenced its creation and reception?
- How can our culture influence what we taste, hear, and smell?
- Make a list of what you think are core American values. Do you think other societies may have similar values? Why or why not? Is America exceptional?
- How closely do you think social class is tied to taste patterns? Which argument about taste patterns did you find most convincing? Why?
- What type of symbolic boundaries do those in your community draw? Who is typically included? Who is excluded?
- What are other examples of othering? How can you challenge this process?
Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
Open Content, Original
“Conclusion” by Matthew Gougherty is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Sociology of Culture Question Set” was created by ChatGPT and is not subject to copyright. Edits for relevance, alignment, and meaningful answer feedback by Colleen Sanders are licensed under CC BY 4.0.
a group within society that is differentiated by its distinctive values, norms, and lifestyle.
the social expectations of how to behave in a situation.
shared beliefs about what a group considers worthwhile or desirable.
a perspective based on the idea that women and men should have equal legal and political rights. Feminism views the systematic oppression of people based on gender as problematic and something that should be changed. Also discussed as a feminist movement or a series of political campaigns for reform on a variety of issues that affect women’s quality of life
conceptual distinctions made by people to categorize social things.
a category of identity that ascribes social, cultural, and political meaning and consequence to physical characteristics.
the sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions and behaviors individuals have toward other people.
people who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth are often referred to as cisgender, utilizing the Latin prefix cis-, which means “on the same side.”
a set of people who share similar status based on factors like wealth, income, education, family background, and occupation.
the values, norms, meanings, and practices of the group within society that is the most powerful.
anything physical or tangible that people create, use, or appreciate that has meaning attached to it.
the resources and power derived from being familiar with high (or legitimated) culture.
the process by which a powerful group defines into existence a group they construct as an “other." The powerful group does this by attributing negative characteristics to the “other” and deems the less powerful group to be inferior.
a violation of contextual, cultural, or social norms.
the regulation and enforcement of norms.
an organization that exists to enforce a legal code, which in the United States includes the police, courts, and corrections system.