Non-Material Elements Of Culture

Over the last 75 years, the world has seen an explosion of technology that has resulted in our world being connected in ways never before conceived. People can communicate with others across the globe in a matter of minutes. We can “visit “other countries by way of video streaming and observe how others live their day to day lives. We wear clothes made by children in other countries, eat foods on a daily basis that are not indigenous to where we live and hear multiple languages in our local businesses and schools. We can now travel the world with relative ease interacting and observing how other nationalities live while immersing ourselves in environments completely different than our own. This has resulted in societies across the world …show more content…
Systems of symbols form the languages used by people to communicate with each other. The Sapir-Whorf thesis contends that people perceive the world through the cultural lens of language. This thesis has been criticized and it is now thought that language doesn’t determine reality in the way they claimed but does affect it (Macionis 2014). Language also links us to our past through spoken traditions and provides a way for us to compile wisdom through the ages. “Language is the key that unlocks centuries of accumulated wisdom (Macionis, 2014; 56). Other non-material elements are values and norms. The values a culture uses determines what people see as good, bad, attractive or desirable. They are broad guidelines for how to live. The norms are rules that guide society’s members. Norms that have great importance are mores and include taboos such as incest. Other norms are routine behaviors or Folkways (Macionis 2014). These non-material concepts vary around the world and are impacted by income levels. Lower-income countries are often conservative, and their people are concerned with physical and economic safety where higher income countries tend to be worldlier and less focused on family and religion (Macionis …show more content…
“Gerhard Lenski argued that a society’s level of technology is crucial in determining what cultural ideas and artifacts emerge or are even possible (Nolan & Lenski, 2010).” The material artifacts impact the material culture of a society. Material culture was greatly affected by the evolution of agriculture in many cultures and the subsequent industrialization of many societies resulted in social and economic changes. Living conditions changed with people living in closer proximity, improvement in education, more personal choices and exposure to cultural diversity. Overall, everyone’s quality of life improves with industrialized society, however; the gap between rich and poor also greatly