Culture groups
1. Description: Describe the cultural group you chose to explore and explain why
you choose this group. Details matter here.
2. Reflection: Read through your field notes and reflect on your experience, telling us
what your “observations” have taught you (and can teach us!) about societal structures,
norms, expectations, and agents of socialization of the subculture you have chosen to
concentrate on. In your reflection you should consider the following questions:
• What aspects of material culture did you notice in “the setting”? This can include
physical surroundings, architecture, equipment, clothing, artwork, food, or other
objects. Can you explain the meaning, function, or purpose of particular items of
material culture?
• What did you notice about the language in the setting? Are there any particular words,
terms, mottos, or sayings that are commonly used among members? What else did
you notice about talk and interaction in the setting? Were there any signs or other
written materials associated with the setting?
• What aspects of symbolic culture are part of this subculture? Describe values that
members of the group uphold, listing at least three values that are key to the group’s
culture. What are the group’s ideas, beliefs, or attitudes? Does the group have a mission?
• What kinds of social norms guide the behavior of individuals, and how are these norms
relate to group values? What are the folkways of the group? How do these folkways
shape what members do or say? What are some of the rules governing members? Why
are they important?
• Are any rituals, celebrations, or observations, that are important to this group? What do
these events teach us about subculture values?
• What did you observe in the setting that seemed especially familiar or unfamiliar to
you? Was there anything that surprised you? What insights were you able to gain by
suspending ethnocentrism and practicing cultural relativism?
• How do your subculture’s practices map against dominant cultural expectations?
