Chapter 3 - Cultural Conformity and Adaptation

On every society they develop their own norms and values that reflect their cultural values that members considered important. They are two basic means through which norms are enforced: internalization and sanctions. Internalization is the process by which a norm becomes part of an individual personality. When people come to believe that a particular norm is good, useful, and appropriate, they generally follow it and expect others to do the same. For instance, when the traffic light is on red, you will stop your car before thinking it twice. You have internalized societies norms concerning on driving. You take this action because you fear being punished.

The other basic mean in which norms are enforced is by sanctions. Sanctions are the rewards or punishment used to enforce conformity to norms. Many people from society follow norms without conscious thought. They are different types of sanctions. First we have the positive sanction, this sanction reward a particular kind of behavior. People are introducing into positive sanctions since early life, because most of the parents praise their children for a good behavior. Positive sanctions are also common outside of the family in school for example, a teacher reacts favorable if it turns a good work, sanction him with good grades. As they say there is always a negative part in everything, by this I mention the negative sanctions, society employs these negative sanctions to discourage undesired behavior. A negative sanction is a punishment or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity. When your car has been towed is because you parked in a no parking zone, the threat or punishment is to tow your car, but that is not enough the actual punishment for human is to pay fines and been ridiculed in the street, so by this punishment you will remind not to park again in those zones.

Sanctions can be formal or informal also. A formal sanction is a reward or punishment given by a formal organization or regulatory agency, such as schools, business, or government. And they are negative low sanctions such as low grades, suspensions from school, and fines. The last sanction is the informal sanction that is a spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval given by an individual or a group.

 Example of a positive and formal sanction, a reward given by a organization by winning a bicycle race.

All cultures change over time. Yet some cultures more than others. Each minute the technology is advancing and inventing new more ideas. A change in one aspect of society produces change throughout the system. But this change brings changes also in values and belief of our time that change the ideology of what we think now. An ideology is a system of beliefs or ideas that justifies the social, moral, religious, political, and economical interest held by a group or a society. That is why they are different social movements in a single society and these social movements want to prevent social change in large number of people because they are against or with the change in their society.  Social change also occurs when people find new ways to manipulate their environment. The knowledge and tools to manipulate their environment is called technology. Two ways that new technologies arise are through discovery and invention. A change also in population size can cause change in culture. For example the population in the Earth has increased rapidly the past 10 years. But the increasing and decreasing of population affect the economy by increasing the demand for goods and services. But is not always are humans that make social change the environment has a paper also on it. Natural disasters such as droughts, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and tidal can also produce social and cultural change these change are called physical environment. Ideas, beliefs, and material that people borrow from other societies by spreading their culture traits from one society to another is diffusion and this cause a more obvious social change. Wars and conquests are no common as other sources of social change. However they cause a big change by many losses of lives in war and the destruction of property and leads to a rise of new cities.

Earthquake "El Mitch" in Honduras made a big social change by all the disaster and the homeless people.

Cultural change rarely occurs without some opposition. For each change introduced in society, there are usually people who strongly oppose it. Ethnocentrism, cultural lag, and vest interest are among the reasons that people resist cultural change. Ethnocentrism is the change that comes from outside a society. People tend to believe their own ideas and ways of doing the best. But not all cultural traits change at the same rate. Some traits change rapidly than others, and the transformation of others take considerable time this is called cultural lag. One culture is more developed than other as the Central American countries are not much developed as European countries. And the vested change is a person who most likely is satisfied with the way thing is now to resist change.

Societies have been changing over time and this brings a cultural and society change by the transformation of the cultures and the advancing technology and ideas we create. But there is always a good and bad way in which will affect or benefit a culture that’s why each culture have their norms and way of thinking of the world and the other cultures and these norms and ideas are changing now.