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SOCL 205: Minority Groups, Norms, and Culture

Minority Groups

What does James Cameron’s Avatar have to say about race and minority groups? When analyzing the plot of the movie, it is easy to see how the movie could be seen as a parallel to historical oppression of minorities. Some people claim that plot is about the mistreatment of minority groups told from the perspective of white people. But why is this the case? Can the fictional native peoples--the Na’vi-- even be considered a minority group? To answer these questions, it would be helpful to understand what defines a minority group and like concepts. A minority group “describes a group that is subordinate, or lacking power in society regardless of skin color or country of origin” (11.1). It is important to understand that the term minority is not characterized by a numerical value but rather by discrimination, and in sociology, the term subordinate and minority can be used interchangeably while dominant and majority are also treated as synonyms. This helps describe the concept behind that dominant groups hold the most power in a society whereas subordinate groups lack the same power that the dominant group has. This all being said, one could make the argument that the Na’vi are a minority group, despite them being inhabitants of their own planet and arguably the numerical majority when being compared to the humans. Furthermore, they were assumed to be barbaric savages who were inferior to humans--only a few scientists, doctors, and soldiers saw things differently because of group mindset that was implanted by the human leaders. One of those soldiers by the name of Jake Sully felt pity for his fellow man’s mistreatment of the Na’vi. While this may seem surprising to some, it has happened several times throughout history. The human invasion of Pandora, along with their claim of dominance and superiority, while taking a native people's’ land is very similar to how Europeans came to the New World and did the same to the Native Americans living there.

Norms

What are norms, and what do they mean? In sociology, norms are rules about behavior that have been established by the given society. They are also a part of non-material culture, meaning that norms are not tangible but rather cultural ideas and practices. There are also different levels of norms, the most trivial of which might result in a glance of disapproval, the most extreme of which might be punishable by outrage, arrest, and sometimes even death. Since norms are not always defined by laws or written rules, “the way to judge the importance or a norm (and even whether it exists) is to observe how people respond to behavior” (7). There are three different levels of norms: folkways, mores, and taboos. Folkways are casual norms. Violations to these norms are not taken seriously. For violating a folkway, at most you might receive a few uncomfortable looks or whispers. Mores are much less casual than folkways. They reflect important rules about behavior for members of a society. Sometimes these rules are defined by law, or they may just be commonsensical for members of that particular society. Punishment for violating mores might include a slap on the wrist or verbal warning. In more extreme cases, violating mores might result in getting in trouble with the law. The last type of norm, taboos, are taken very seriously in any society. Taboos are such a sensitive topic that even the thought or mention of violating them makes people upset. Violating taboos will, at the very least, result in arrest and legal trouble; in extreme cases it can result in capital punishment or death by mob rule. An example of the violation of a norm in our Western society, specifically in the United States, is the consumption of marijuana. Despite support from millions of Americans, there is still a huge stigma around the drug because of its status as a schedule I narcotic. As a result of this, it is highly illegal in most states, and indefinitely illegal at the federal level. From personal experience as a National Guardsman and federal employee, I have witnessed first-hand the effect that this has on talented and brave young men and women who enjoy smoking weed in their free time. Many are turned away from the service or dishonorably discharged if they are bold enough. Because the use of marijuana is widely accepted despite the stigma, it would be classified as a more because the punishment for violating this norm is generally harsh and can even ruin lives.

Culture

Culture is a very broad term that covers a lot about the shared habits of members of a given society or group. “The first thing that must be said about culture is that it’s big… I cannot escape from culture; it surrounds me, it’s inside of me, and I take it wherever I go. In short, culture is ubiquitous” (17). Culture impacts every aspect of the individual’s life. It influences habits such as what a person eats, how they speak, what they believe, how they behave, and what they value. Culture defines people's’ behaviors and interactions with one another. Culture is divided into two categories: material and non-material. Non-material culture is the more inclusive category because it is made up of intangible things, ranging from simple to complex. Cultural elements such as values, norms, symbols, language, and ideology are all part of non-material culture. Whereas material culture includes physical things such as clothing. Values are ideas that are held in high regard by members of a group. Values can be shared among members of the group or held by an individual. For example, many Americans hold shared values such as freedom, democracy, equality, and progress. Norms, as defined in the previous article, are rules about behavior that are established by the group. There are different categories of norms and violations ranging from trivial to severe. Symbols are things that carry a certain meaning. Like values, symbols mean different things to different groups and individuals. A symbol that carries great meaning for one group might be meaningless to another. Language is fairly self-explanatory: it is an organized set of symbols that allow individuals within a group to effectively communicate with one another. Language is much more complex than just words, dialects, and accents; many sociologists argue that we would not have culture without language. Finally, ideas and beliefs, or simply ideology, are “people’s ideas of what is real and not real” (17). Ideology is something that people will accept as truthful or factual and oftentimes get very defensive when confronted with an opposing viewpoints. In the photo above, two related (yet very different) popular subcultures are depicted. “There are groups of people within society whose shared values, norms, beliefs, or use of material culture set them apart from other people in that society; these groups are subcultures” (17). Then man on the right represents the “emo” or “scene” subculture while the two men on the right represent the 1980’s thrash metal subculture. The point of the meme is to show how vastly different two cultures can be, even if they are actually related to each other. This is due to the group’s differences in values, norms, beliefs. These changed the course of three decades to result in two very different styles of music, but more importantly two very different subcultures.