Chapter 3: Cultural Conformity and Adaption

Every society develops norms that reflects their culture. A society will only work if these norms are enforced and upheld. It is important for a culture to be able to adapt to other cultures while still remaining as a separate culture.

Internalization is the process by which a norm becomes a part of an individual's personality, thus conditioning that individual to conform to a society's expectations. Some people must be reenforced by sanctions, which are rewards or punishments used to enforce conformity to norms. An action that rewards a particular kind of behavior is a positive sanction. Society also employs negative sanctions, which are punishments or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity. A formal sanction is a reward or punishment given by a formal organization or regulatory agency, such as a school, business, or government. An informal sanction is a spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval given by an individual or group. The enforcing of norms through either internal or external means is called social control.

All cultures change over time. Some cultures change faster than others. There are a few sources of social change, which can cause the culture to change. An ideology is a system of beliefs of ideas that justifies the social, moral, religious, political, or economic interests held by a group or society. A social movement is a long-term conscious effort to promote or prevent social change. The knowledge and tools people use to manipulate their environment is called technology.

A change in size of population could bring about social change. The process of spreading culture traits from one society to another is known as diffusion. Adapting borrowed culture traits is called reformulation. The physical environment provides conditions that may encourage or discourage cultural change. Natural disasters can also produce social and cultural change. Wars and conquests are not as common as the other sources of social change but they bring about the greatest change in the least amount of time.

These are people though, who do not want change to occur and therefore resist cultural change. Ethnocentrism is when people think their ideas or their culture is better than others and so they reject any other idea that is not the same as theirs. Some cultural traits change at the same rate, while others change rapidly, and the transformation of others may take a longer amount of time. This situation is known as cultural lag. A person who is satisfied with the way things are may be resistant to change. They will resist any change that threatens their security or standard of living, they have a vested interest to protect.

All cultures are different. Some take longer to change. But all are capable of change and adaption. It just takes time, even though some will not want the change, sometimes the change is good.

Sometimes the change can cause the culture to expand and become greater.