I Vocabulary. to occupy – занимать inhabitant – житель, обитатель culture – культура to include – включать в себя

1. to occupy – занимать
2. inhabitant – житель, обитатель
3. culture – культура
4. to include – включать в себя, содержать
5. creation – создание, формирование
6. to exist – существовать
7. artifact – артефакт
8. to involve – привлекать, вовлекать
9. relevant – релевантный, значимый, существенный

II Comprehension check

1. What is society?
2. What is culture?
3. What does cultural knowledge include?
4. What do we mean by values?
5. What does every culture have?
6. What do communal societies value?
7. What do more independent societies value?
8. What are values preserved through?
9. How do societies and cultures interact?
10. What do such concepts as society and culture describe?
11. What is the major engine of change in modern era?
12. Who creates technology?

Text 2

Explaining culture: Nature or Nurture?

There has been a continual debate in the social sciences concerning the relative importance of biology in explaining human social and cultural changes. Biological reductionism refers to the tendency to explain social phenomena in terms of biological causes, such as physiology and genetics. Cultural determinism is the opposite, insisting that culture explains everything. Some scholars in the past have tried to explain various types of criminal behavior by differences in the structure of chromosomes or even the shape of the head or body type. There have been recent efforts to explain same-sex preference in terms of chromosome differences. Prominent psychologist Arthur Jensen of the University of California published the article “How far can we boost intelligence and IQ?” which occupied an entire issue of the Harvard Educational Review. He argued that genetic differences explained why blacks did more poorly than whites in urban education settings. According to Jensen, greater efforts at improving certain aspects of education cannot benefit people who are genetically programmed for the acquisition of a different, more practical type of knowledge. Stephen Gould, a Harvard evolutionary biologist, and a long list of sociologists have demonstrated the flaws in Arthur Jensen’s arguments. Research that claims genetic explanations for certain behaviors attracts much media attention, while the rebuttals are frequently less publicized. If behavior can be explained biologically, present social arrangements are more difficult to challenge.