D2.Soc.7.9-12: How Culture Influences the Individuals in It
In plain English: D2.Soc.7.9-12 is the C3 Framework sociology indicator for grades 9-12 that asks students to cite examples of how culture influences the individuals in it. Students trace culture into speech, gestures, bodily habits, emotions, tastes and dress, explain how it is learned through imitation, teaching and sanctions, and weigh how far it shapes a person. It is usually taught in a high school sociology course.
Cite examples of how culture influences the individuals in it.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Sociology · Social Structure: Culture, Institutions, and Society · Official standard
D2.Soc.7.9-12 asks students to cite examples of how culture influences the individuals in it. Culture reaches far into a single life: the sounds a person can pronounce easily, how they stand and gesture, when they feel hungry, which emotions they show in public, what they wear and what they take for granted as true. Students learn three ways culture gets into a person: imitation (copying the people around us), teaching (being told what is right) and sanctions (rewards and penalties from others). They also weigh a limit: culture shapes individuals strongly but does not make them all the same.
The anthropologist Franz Boas, writing in 1928, supplies evidence about speech, bodily habits and emotions learned in childhood. The sociologist Georg Simmel, in a 1904 essay on fashion, explains why people both copy others and try to stand apart from them. An invented study with invented data and an invented case of two cousins let students cite and test examples of their own.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Cite specific examples, with evidence, of culture influencing speech, bodily habits, emotions, routines and dress
Explain how culture is learned through imitation, teaching and sanctions, and why early habits are hard to change
Explain Simmel's claim that fashion lets individuals both fit in and stand apart
Compute and interpret simple percentages from invented data about cultural influence
Explain why culture influences individuals strongly without making them identical
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
The major components of culture D2.Soc.6.9-12
How social context influences individuals D2.Soc.3.9-12
"An invented family moves to a town where people greet, eat, joke and show they are upset in different ways from the family's old home. List three things the family might find strange at first. Which would be hardest for the parents to change, and which for a young child?"
Collect a few answers without judging either side of each difference. Point out that the strangeness comes from habits people rarely notice they have until they meet different ones. Today's question: what are some examples of culture shaping a person, and how does it get there?
Direct Instruction20 minutes
Key terms.Socialization is the lifelong process of learning a culture. Enculturation is a related word anthropologists use for learning one's first culture in childhood. A habit becomes automatic when it runs without thought, like the movements of speech. A dialect is the way of speaking a language in one place or group. Conformity means acting like the others in a group.
Read Source 1. Franz Boas (1858-1942) was professor of anthropology at Columbia University when he published Anthropology and Modern Life in 1928, as its title page says. Dated language: Boas writes "man" and "he" for all people, and paragraph 5 uses "pathological individuals" for people with illnesses or disabilities, a term now avoided.
1All this implies that a culture replete with automatically established actions is stable. Every individual behaves according to the setting of the culture in which he lives. When the uniformity of automatic reaction is broken, the stability of culture will be weakened or lost. Conformity and stability are inseparably connected. Nonconformity breaks the force of tradition.
[...]
2Conformity to instinctive activities is enforced by our organic structure; conformity to automatic actions by habit. The infant learns to speak by imitation. During the first few years of life the movement of larynx, tongue, roof of the mouth and lips are gradually controlled and executed with great accuracy and rapidity. If the child is removed to a new environment in which another language is spoken, before the movements of articulation have become stable, and as long as a certain effort in speech is still required, the movements required by the new language are acquired with perfect ease. For the adult a change from one language to another is much more difficult. The demands of everyday life compel him to use speech, and the articulating organs follow the automatic, fixed habits of his childhood. By imitation certain modifications occur, but a complete break with the early habits is extremely difficult, for many well-nigh impossible, and probably in no case quite perfect.
3The same is true in regard to the movements of the body. In childhood we acquire certain ways of handling our bodies. If these movements have become automatic it is almost impossible to change to another style, because all the muscles are attuned to act in a fixed way. To change one’s gait, to acquire a new style of handwriting, to change the play of the muscles of the face in response to emotion is a task that can never be accomplished satisfactorily.
4What is true of the handling of the body is equally true of mental processes. When we have learned to think in definite ways it is exceedingly difficult to break away and to follow new paths. For a person who has never been accustomed as a young child to restrain responses to emotions, such as weeping or laughing, a transition to the restraints cultivated among us will be difficult. The teachings of earliest childhood remain for most people the dogma of adult life, the truth of which is never doubted. Recently the importance of the impressions of earliest childhood have been emphasized again by psychoanalysts. Whatever happens during the first five years of life sets the pace for the reactions of the individual. Habits established in this period become automatic and will resist strongly any pressure requiring change.
5It would be saying too much to claim that these habits are alone responsible for the reactions of the individual. His bodily organization certainly plays a part. This appears most clearly in the case of pathological individuals or of those unusually gifted in one way or another; but the whole population consists of individuals varying greatly in bodily form and function, and since the same forms and faculties occur in many groups, the group differences must be due to habits that determine behavior in adult life. Automatic habits are one of the most important sources of conservatism.
Franz Boas, Source 1: Boas on habits learned in childhood (1928) (1928). Public domain (published 1928). Source text.
Then read Source 2, two paragraphs from an earlier chapter of the same book.
1In more complex mental and social phenomena this adjustment of different types to a common standard is of frequent occurrence. The pronunciation of individuals in a small community is so uniform that an expert ear can identify the home of a person by his articulation. Anatomically the forms of the mouth, inner nose and larynx of all the individuals participating in this pronunciation vary considerably. The mouth may be large or small, the tongue thin or thick, the palate arched or flat. There are differences in the pitch of the voice and in timbre. Still the dialect will be the same for all. The articulation does not depend to any considerable extent upon the form of the mouth, but upon its use.
2In all our everyday habits imitation of habits of the society to which we belong exerts its influence over the functioning of our minds and bodies and a degree of uniformity of thought and action is brought about among individuals who differ considerably in structure.
Franz Boas, Source 2: Boas on dialect and everyday habits (1928) (1928). Public domain (published 1928). Source text.
Culture in speech: Source 2, paragraph 1
What does Boas's example of pronunciation in a small community show about culture and the individual?
Result: People in the community have mouths, tongues and palates of many shapes, yet "the dialect will be the same for all," and "an expert ear can identify the home of a person by his articulation." Each speaker's pronunciation comes from the group's way of speaking, learned and practiced, not from the shape of the mouth: "not ... upon the form of the mouth, but upon its use."
Culture in emotions: Source 1, paragraph 4
What example does Boas give of culture shaping how people show feelings, and why is it hard to change as an adult?
Result: A person "never been accustomed as a young child to restrain responses to emotions, such as weeping or laughing" finds "the restraints cultivated among us" difficult. Habits learned early become automatic and, as the paragraph goes on to say, "resist strongly any pressure requiring change."
Culture in a classroom (invented example)
Invented: a student moves at 15 from a school where everyone stands when a teacher enters to one where nobody does. On the first day, she stands alone. Which ways of learning culture are at work?
Result: Imitation: standing was copied from classmates for years until it became automatic. Sanction: classmates' stares at her new school are a mild penalty that pushes her to change. Teaching: her old school had a rule, so she was also told it was right. The old habit and the new norm pull in opposite directions.
Counting an influence (invented data)
Invented: in a sample of 50 students who moved to a new country, 32 say they still eat dinner at the hour their first home did. What percent is that, and what does it show?
Result: 32 / 50 = 0.64, or 64%. Many habits about time and food outlast a move, which fits the idea that culture is built into daily routines. The number is invented and from one small sample, so it shows the kind of evidence to look for, not a real finding.
Influence is not destiny
If culture shapes speech, gestures and emotions, are all members of a culture alike?
Result: No. Members of one culture share many habits but differ in personality, talents and choices, and people who live between cultures often combine habits from both. Sociologists describe culture as a strong influence on individuals, not as a script that decides everything.
Close the segment: Name a habit that people often think they chose for themselves, such as a favorite breakfast or a way of laughing. Could it have come from the people around them? Take two or three answers and ask the class which way of learning (imitation, teaching or sanctions) might lie behind each.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read Source 4 together. It is an invented study with invented data. Diagram 1 shows its results.
1Invented study summary, written for this page. A researcher recorded 40 adults reading the same short paragraph aloud in English. All of them had moved from the invented country of Corvia to the same English-speaking city, some as young children and some as adults, and all had lived there for at least 15 years.
2Ten listeners who knew nothing about the speakers heard each recording and answered one question: does this person sound like someone who grew up here? A speaker counted as "local-sounding" if at least 8 of the 10 listeners said yes.
3The invented results, by age at the move, with 10 speakers in each group: moved at 0-6 years old, 9 were local-sounding; at 7-12, 7 were; at 13-17, 3 were; at 18 or older, 1 was.
4Researcher's note: the speakers were volunteers from one city, and those who moved young had also spent more years in English-speaking schools.
SVHS (invented scenario), Source 4: Accent and age at moving (invented study with invented data) (2026). Original passage written for this page.
Read the method. What counted as "local-sounding," and who decided?
Look at the pattern. Using Diagram 1, describe how the count of local-sounding speakers changes with age at the move.
Connect to Boas. Which sentence in Source 1, paragraph 2 predicts this pattern?
Be careful. Use the researcher's note to give one reason other than age at the move that could explain the pattern. Sample warning: 40 volunteers from one invented city are far too few to stand for all people who move.
Independent Practice15 minutes
Students read Sources 3 and 5 on their own and use all five sources for the quiz and homework. Source 3 is a 1904 essay; Source 5 is an invented case with invented countries. Dated language: in Source 3, paragraph 1, "our race" means the human race.
1The vital conditions of fashion as a universal phenomenon in the history of our race are circumscribed by these conceptions. Fashion is the imitation of a given example and satisfies the demand for social adaptation; it leads the individual upon the road which all travel, it furnishes a general condition, which resolves the conduct of every individual into a mere example. At the same time it satisfies in no less degree the need of differentiation, the tendency towards dissimilarity, the desire for change and contrast, on the one hand by a constant change of contents, which gives to the fashion of to-day an individual stamp as opposed to that of yesterday and of to-morrow, on the other hand because fashions differ for different classes—the fashions of the upper stratum of society are never identical with those of the lower; in fact, they are abandoned by the former as soon as the latter prepares to appropriate them. Thus fashion represents nothing more than one of the many forms of life by the aid of which we seek to combine in uniform spheres of activity the tendency towards social equalization with the desire for individual differentiation and change. [...]
2Fashion, as noted above, is a product of class distinction and operates like a number of other forms, honor especially, the double function of which consists in revolving within a given circle and at the same time emphasizing it as separate from others. [...] Thus fashion on the one hand signifies union with those in the same class, the uniformity of a circle characterized by it, and, uno actu, the exclusion of all other groups.
Georg Simmel, Source 3: Simmel on fashion, imitation and distinction (1904) (1904). Public domain (published 1904). Source text.
1Invented case, written for this page. Ana and Mira are cousins, born the same year to two sisters. Ana grew up in the invented country of Lusa. Mira grew up in the invented country of Teral, where her parents moved before she was born. The cousins met for the first time at 16, at a family reunion.
2At the airport, Ana kissed Mira on both cheeks; Mira, expecting a hug, bumped her nose. At dinner, Mira looked each relative in the eye when she spoke, as she had been taught that this shows honesty. Ana kept her eyes lowered when the grandparents spoke, as she had been taught that this shows respect. Each later admitted she had found the other a little rude.
3Ana was used to eating dinner at nine at night; Mira was hungry by six. Mira called her teachers by their first names, and Ana never had. When a younger cousin won a prize, Mira's side of the family cheered loudly, while Ana's side praised the winner quietly and changed the subject, so as not to seem boastful.
4By the end of the week, the cousins agreed that they liked the same music and laughed at the same jokes. Mira said they were "the same person in two different costumes," alike in tastes but different in habits neither of them had chosen.
SVHS (invented scenario), Source 5: Two cousins meet (invented case) (2026). Original passage written for this page.
Task: make a three-column chart with the headings Example, Source and paragraph, and How culture got into the person (imitation, teaching or sanction). Fill at least five rows from at least three sources.
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: "Cite one example, from a source or an Activity 1 scenario, of culture influencing an individual. Name the habit, the culture it came from, and how it was learned."
Teacher notes. (1) Boas's book also has chapters on race, eugenics and nationalism; this lesson uses only its passages on habit and speech. His word choices ("man," "pathological") are of their time. (2) Simmel's essay describes class differences in 1904 European and American society; students can test whether the pattern still holds without naming classmates' families or incomes. (3) Students are not asked about their own lives or families: examples come from the sources, the invented cases and scenarios, or widely shared customs described in general terms. Keep discussion to customs of groups rather than judgments of any family. (4) Sources 4 and 5 are invented and describe invented countries; so are the examples in Direct Instruction marked invented.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a chart with the five areas (speech, body, emotions, routines, dress) and one source sentence already placed in each
Pre-highlight the sentence in each Boas paragraph that names a habit
Provide the frame: "Culture influences ___ because ___; for example, Source ___ says ___."
For Advanced Students
Explain how Simmel's two forces could make a style spread and then disappear, step by step
Design, on paper only, a better version of Source 4 that separates age at moving from years of schooling
Find a sentence in Source 1, paragraph 5 where Boas limits his own claim, and explain why that matters
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong answers name a specific habit, the culture behind it and the way it was learned, and support each with a quotation or a number. Watch for students who treat culture as fate, who describe a group's custom as a flaw, or who confuse a correlation in invented data with proof.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Culture in Everyday Life: Six Stations
15 minGroups of 4, rotating
Six stations each hold one invented scenario about a person whose behavior shows a cultural influence. At each station, groups write the habit, the component of culture behind it, and whether it was most likely learned by imitation, teaching or sanction, with one sentence of reasoning.
The 6 Station Scenarios (invented)
A boy raised on a farm wakes at five every morning, even on vacation in a city.
A girl who grew up speaking two languages counts in her first language when she does mental math.
A new employee notices that nobody at her office eats lunch at a desk, and by the second week she eats in the break room too.
A teenager laughs loudly at a movie and sees her grandmother frown; she laughs more quietly the next time.
A runner who learned to swim in a lake keeps lifting his head to look ahead, even in a pool with lane lines.
A student wears a style of sneakers that most of his friends wear, but in a color none of them has.
Debrief Questions
Which scenarios show a habit that would be hard to change, and why?
Which scenario shows a sanction at work?
Which scenario fits Simmel's idea that people want to fit in and stand out at once?
Teacher Note
Several answers can be defended. Station 6 is the clearest case of Simmel's two forces; station 4 shows an informal sanction; stations 1, 2 and 5 show automatic habits of the kind Boas describes.
2
Two Mechanisms: Habit and Imitation
20 minPairs
Pairs compare Boas (Sources 1 and 2) and Simmel (Source 3). For each author they record how culture gets into individuals, what kind of behavior he studies, and how much room he leaves for individual choice. Then they find one present-day example that fits each author better than the other.
Two Mechanisms Organizer
The author's main example of culture influencing a person
How the influence works: habit formed early, copying others, or both
Who is doing the influencing: family, community, class or peers
How easy the author thinks it is to change
A present-day example, described without naming any classmate
Teacher Note
Boas stresses habits fixed in childhood, which explains stability; Simmel stresses imitation and distinction among adults, which explains change. Good pairs notice that the two ideas fit together: early habits are slow to change, while fashions change quickly.
3
Evidence Chain: Culture Shapes the Habits We Think Are Ours
15 minIndividuals, then pairs
Each student writes a claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph supporting or qualifying the claim "Culture shapes even the habits we think are our own." The paragraph must cite at least two sources by paragraph number and one general everyday example, a widely shared custom described without reference to the student's own family. Pairs then trade paragraphs and mark each piece of evidence as strong or weak.
Evidence-Chain Frame
Claim, supported or qualified
Evidence 1, with source and paragraph
Evidence 2, from a different source
Evidence 3, a general everyday example
Reasoning: how the evidence shows influence, and one limit
Variation
Assign half the class to support the claim and half to qualify it, then pair one of each to find what they agree on.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
1 diagrams
Diagram 1: Local-Sounding Speakers by Age at the Move (Invented Data)
Invented data from Source 4: of 10 speakers in each group, the number who met the study's rule for sounding local. The groups are tiny and made of volunteers from one invented city, so the chart shows a pattern to discuss, not a real finding.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
Homework: Citing Examples of Cultural Influence
Directions: Part 1 uses Sources 1, 3 and 4. Quote every source you use with its paragraph number and show your computations. Part 2 asks you to plan and write on paper only: do not interview or record anyone.
Part 1: Sources and Data (Problems 1-3)
Boas writes in Source 1, paragraph 2 that "The infant learns to speak by imitation." Describe two other habits, not about speech, that people usually learn by imitation before they can choose them. For each, explain how it shows culture influencing an individual.
Using Source 4, find the percent of local-sounding speakers in each of the four age groups and in all 40 speakers together. Describe the pattern in one sentence, and give one explanation for it other than age at the move.
Simmel wrote about clothing in 1904 (Source 3). Choose another area where his idea could apply today, such as music, slang or hairstyles, and explain how it shows culture influencing individuals, quoting both paragraphs of Source 3.
Part 2: Planning and Writing (Problems 4-6)
Plan, on paper only, an interview study of adults who moved to a new country at different ages. Write four questions about which habits they kept and which they changed, say how you would choose whom to interview, and explain how you would protect their privacy.
Write a paragraph citing three examples of culture influencing individuals, each from a different area of life (for example speech, the body, emotions, meals or dress) and each from a different source on this page.
Describe a custom at a school, club or team (real or invented) that newcomers must learn, without naming anyone. Explain how newcomers learn it (imitation, teaching or sanction) and how it changes what they do.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Examples
Each example names a specific habit and the culture behind it
Examples general or one does not show influence
No real examples
Evidence
Quotations with source and paragraph numbers, or correct figures, support each claim
One claim unsupported
No evidence
Mechanism
Explains how the influence works: imitation, teaching or sanction
Mechanism named but not explained
Mechanism missing
Fairness and limits
Neutral language; notes that individuals differ; plans stay on paper
One overgeneralization
Stereotypes a group or treats culture as fate
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Sources 1 and 2 are printed in Direct Instruction, Source 4 in Guided Practice, and Sources 3 and 5 in Independent Practice. Source 1 is used in Questions 1-5, 15, 18, 19 and 20; Source 2 in Questions 6 and 15; Source 3 in Questions 7-9 and 16; Source 4 in Questions 10-12 and 18; and Source 5 in Questions 13, 14, 17 and 19. Questions 1-14 are multiple choice; 15-20 are short answer.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 1, what happens to a culture when the uniformity of automatic reaction is broken?
Answer: B
Boas writes: "When the uniformity of automatic reaction is broken, the stability of culture will be weakened or lost." A reverses the claim. C and D are not in the source; Boas says "Nonconformity breaks the force of tradition," not that a new culture appears at once.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 1, paragraph 2, why does Boas say a young child can learn a new language "with perfect ease" but an adult cannot?
Answer: A
A child picks up a new language easily while articulation is not yet "stable," but the adult's "articulating organs follow the automatic, fixed habits of his childhood." B is the opposite of Boas's point in Source 2 that the form of the mouth matters little. C and D are not in the source.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which pair of habits does Boas give in Source 1, paragraph 3 as nearly impossible to change once automatic?
Answer: C
"To change one's gait, to acquire a new style of handwriting, to change the play of the muscles of the face in response to emotion is a task that can never be accomplished satisfactorily." A, B and D are not in the paragraph, which is about "the movements of the body."
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 4, what happens to "the teachings of earliest childhood" for most people?
Answer: B
"The teachings of earliest childhood remain for most people the dogma of adult life, the truth of which is never doubted." A and C reverse the point. D misreads the mention of psychoanalysts, who are cited as having stressed early childhood, not as parents.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
What does Boas concede in Source 1, paragraph 5?
Answer: D
"It would be saying too much to claim that these habits are alone responsible for the reactions of the individual. His bodily organization certainly plays a part." He still concludes that "the group differences must be due to habits." A contradicts "Automatic habits are one of the most important sources of conservatism." B overstates his mention of unusual individuals. C reverses his conclusion.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, paragraph 2, what brings about "a degree of uniformity of thought and action" among people whose bodies differ?
Answer: A
"In all our everyday habits imitation of habits of the society to which we belong exerts its influence," bringing "a degree of uniformity of thought and action" among individuals "who differ considerably in structure." B names formal rules, which the paragraph does not mention. C and D are not in the source.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, paragraph 1, what gives "the fashion of to-day an individual stamp"?
Answer: D
Fashion satisfies the desire for change "by a constant change of contents, which gives to the fashion of to-day an individual stamp as opposed to that of yesterday and of to-morrow." Today's style stands out because it differs from the last one. A, B and C are not in the source.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 3, paragraph 1, when does Simmel say the upper stratum abandons a fashion?
Answer: C
The fashions of the upper stratum "are abandoned by the former as soon as the latter prepares to appropriate them." A fashion stops marking a group once others copy it. A, B and D are not in the passage.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, paragraph 2, what two things does fashion signify at once?
Answer: C
"Fashion on the one hand signifies union with those in the same class, the uniformity of a circle characterized by it, and, uno actu, the exclusion of all other groups." (Uno actu is Latin for "in one act.") A, B and D are not in the source.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 4, how many percentage points higher is the share of local-sounding speakers among those who moved at 0-6 than among those who moved at 13-17?
Answer: B
0-6: 9 of 10 = 90%. 13-17: 3 of 10 = 30%. 90 - 30 = 60 percentage points. A, 30, is the 13-17 share itself. C, 80, compares the 0-6 group with the 18-or-older group (90 - 10). D, 6, subtracts the counts (9 - 3) without turning them into percentages.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which reason in Source 4's researcher's note suggests that something besides age at the move could explain the pattern?
Answer: D
Speakers who moved young "had also spent more years in English-speaking schools," so schooling, not age alone, could explain their accents. A and B are strengths of the design, not alternative explanations. C describes all speakers equally, so it cannot explain a difference between groups.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 4, what counted as a "local-sounding" speaker?
Answer: C
A speaker counted as local-sounding "if at least 8 of the 10 listeners said yes." A confuses the speakers' views with the listeners' judgments. B is a group in the study, not the definition. D is true of every speaker, so it cannot sort them.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
What does the eye-contact scene in Source 5, paragraph 2 show?
Answer: A
Mira looks people in the eye because she was taught it "shows honesty"; Ana lowers her eyes because she was taught it "shows respect." Each found the other "a little rude." C judges one custom as worse, which the case does not support. B and D are not in the source, and D is what the scene disproves.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 5, paragraph 3, why does Ana's side of the family praise the winner quietly?
Answer: B
Ana's side "praised the winner quietly and changed the subject, so as not to seem boastful," a norm built on a value of modesty. A, C and D are not in the source.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Cite two examples from Boas (Sources 1 and 2) of culture influencing an individual, one about the body or speech and one about emotions or beliefs. Quote each and explain how the influence works.
Model answer: Speech: in a small community, people with differently shaped mouths share one dialect, so "an expert ear can identify the home of a person by his articulation" (Source 2, paragraph 1); the pronunciation is learned by imitation and becomes automatic. Emotions: a person not taught "as a young child to restrain responses to emotions, such as weeping or laughing" finds restraint hard later (Source 1, paragraph 4); habits of feeling set in early childhood "resist strongly any pressure requiring change." Rubric: 1 point for each example with a quotation; 1 point for explaining the mechanism.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Explain how Simmel's account of fashion (Source 3) shows culture influencing individuals in two opposite directions. Give a present-day example, described without naming anyone.
Model answer: Fashion pulls individuals toward others, because it is "the imitation of a given example" that "leads the individual upon the road which all travel," and pushes them apart, because it meets "the need of differentiation" and marks a group off from "all other groups." Example: students in one friend group wear the same style of jacket, which joins them to each other and sets them apart from other groups; when many others adopt it, the group drops it. Rubric: 1 point for each direction with a quotation; 1 point for a fitting example.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Using paragraphs 2 and 3 of Source 5, cite three examples of culture influencing Ana or Mira, other than eye contact and the prize, and name the part of culture each shows.
Model answer: Greeting: Ana kisses on both cheeks while Mira expects a hug (paragraph 2), a folkway each learned at home. Meal times: Ana is used to dinner at nine and Mira is hungry by six, a routine built into the body by culture (paragraph 3). Forms of address: Mira calls teachers by first names and Ana never has, a norm about respect for authority (paragraph 3). Rubric: 1 point for each example with the part of culture named.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
How does the pattern in Source 4 fit Boas's claim in Source 1, paragraph 2, and why can't the invented study prove that claim?
Model answer: Boas says a child who moves "before the movements of articulation have become stable" acquires a new language "with perfect ease," while an adult's speech follows "the automatic, fixed habits of his childhood." In Source 4, 9 of 10 who moved at 0-6 sounded local but only 1 of 10 who moved at 18 or older did, which fits. It cannot prove the claim: the data are invented, the 40 speakers were volunteers from one city, and those who moved young also had more years in English-speaking schools. Rubric: 1 point for the fit with numbers; 1 point for quoting Boas; 1 point for two limits.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Using Source 1, paragraph 5 and the last paragraph of Source 5, explain why culture influences individuals strongly but does not make all members of a culture the same.
Model answer: Boas says habits are not "alone responsible for the reactions of the individual"; "bodily organization certainly plays a part," and individuals vary greatly. In Source 5, the cousins differ in habits learned in their two countries but "liked the same music and laughed at the same jokes": culture shaped their greetings, meal times and manners, but their tastes and personalities overlap. Culture is a strong influence, not a script. Rubric: 1 point for each source used correctly; 1 point for the conclusion.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Invent a teenager (no real names) and describe, in general terms, one cultural norm or habit that influences how that teenager acts. Explain how the teenager most likely learned it, using an idea from Boas or Simmel.
Model answer (one of many): An invented teenager grew up in a home where everyone takes off their shoes at the door, and she does it automatically even at friends' houses. She learned it by imitation before she could choose, which fits Boas's point that "Whatever happens during the first five years of life sets the pace for the reactions of the individual" (Source 1, paragraph 4). Rubric: 1 point for a specific example; 1 point for the way it was learned; 1 point for a correct link to a source.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D2.Soc.7.9-12 mean?
D2.Soc.7.9-12 asks high school students to cite examples of how culture influences the individuals in it. It belongs to the C3 sociology companion's group on social structure: culture, institutions and society (Appendix C).
What counts as an example for D2.Soc.7.9-12?
A good example names a specific habit or choice, the culture it comes from and how it was learned, with evidence. "People in one town share a dialect even though their mouths differ" is an example; "culture affects people" is not.
How is D2.Soc.7.9-12 different from D2.Soc.6.9-12?
D2.Soc.6.9-12 asks students to identify the parts of culture, such as values, norms and symbols. D2.Soc.7.9-12 asks how those parts shape a person's actions, body, feelings and beliefs.
How does culture get into a person?
Through imitation of the people around us, through direct teaching of what is right, and through sanctions, the rewards and penalties others give. Habits learned early often become automatic.
Does culture decide everything about a person?
No. Culture is a strong influence, but individuals differ in temperament, talents and choices, and many people combine habits from more than one culture.
Why does this lesson use sources from 1904 and 1928?
Franz Boas and Georg Simmel described cultural influence through concrete examples: accents, habits of the body, and the way fashion spreads. Their dated word choices are pointed out where they appear.
Is it stereotyping to say a culture shapes its members?
It can be, if a pattern is applied to every member. Sociologists describe common patterns in groups and expect individuals to vary. Describing a custom is not the same as ranking it or assuming every member follows it.
Can students use examples from their own lives?
The lesson does not ask for them: examples come from the sources, the invented cases and widely shared customs described in general terms. If a student volunteers one, keep it general and avoid naming or judging any family.
What is a common student mistake with this indicator?
A common mistake is giving a definition of culture instead of an example of its influence on a person. Another is treating a difference between cultures as a sign that one is better.
How does D2.Soc.7.9-12 connect to later sociology indicators?
It leads to D2.Soc.11.9-12 on the agents of socialization, such as family, school and peers, and D2.Soc.12.9-12 on the social construction of the self.
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Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to D2.Soc.7.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Analyze the primary agents of socialization and why they are influential
Lesson coming soon
D2.Soc.12.9-12Next step
Explain the social construction of self and groups
Lesson coming soon
Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.
