CAR M1 - Society & Culture | Identity and Social Formation Keywords

Question 1

Society

Answer 1

In geographical terms, a society is a group of people that originates from a common place or a group that calls a particular location ‘home’. A society can also be defined sociologically as involving the sharing of certain values and attitudes that serve as standards by which behaviours are measured and controlled.

Question 2

Culture

Answer 2

This is the way of life, including aspects of lifestyle, products, ideas and symbols, common to members of a specific society, community or organization.

Question 3

Cultural identity

Answer 3

The feeling of belonging, usually based on one’s self perception, to any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture

Question 4

Shared common purpose

Answer 4

A society can also be defined as a group of people who share common experiences, interests, objectives and values. In the Caribbean, the people of the various territories share a common history of colonialism, slavery or indentured labour systems and the plantation system.

Question 5

Plural society

Answer 5

A society consisting of two or more distinct ethnical or racial groups who retain their cultural traditions and even their own dwelling spaces. Though these groups interact with each other, they retain their separate identities in fundamental areas such as food, religion and family life.

Question 6

Enculturation

Answer 6

The process whereby an individual learns their group’s culture, through experience, observation and instruction, and gradually assimilates its practices and values

Question 7

Socialization

Answer 7

The process through which individuals learn the behaviours required of them from other members of a society (primarily the family) who communicate, express and transmit the society’s values, customs, belief systems and laws.

Question 8

Cultural values

Answer 8

Commonly held standards within a society that dictate what is considered acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. For example, the right to personal property is upheld as a value in the Caribbean and so stealingg is abhorred.

Question 9

Beliefs

Answer 9

These are convictions and are usually based on values, scientific facts, religion, superstition or past experiences. Christianity, for instance, represents a major belief system in the Caribbean.

Question 10

Norms

Answer 10

Common, acceptable and expected ways of behaving that are generally imbued within a society.

Question 11

Societal institutions

Answer 11

Intangible bodies that exist within society and which represent established or standardized patterns of rule-governed bahviour. They include family, education, religion and economic and political institutions.

Question 12

Cultural imperialism

Answer 12

Also referred to as neocolonialism, the culture of a large and powerful country have a great influence on another, less powerful country.

Question 13

Identity

Answer 13

Identity is the recognizable face of something or someone. It comprises the conceptions, qualities, beliefs and expressions that make up a person or group. It can be broken down into types based on membership or affiliations to specific groups such as - cultural identity (based on one’s sense of belonging to a group that has its own culture), social identity (which is based specifically on the social groups one belongs to), ethnic identity, national identity, political identity and so on.

Question 14

Cultural diversity

Answer 14

The existence of a range of cultures, multi-cultures or plurality of cultures within one society or community. Groups of people share similar spaces, but have unique practices and traditions

Question 15

Ethnicity

Answer 15

This is used to describe a distinct group within a community, identifiable by racial origin or cultural background (such as Indo-Trinidadians, Chinese-Caribbeans or Afro-Caribbeans)

Question 16

Race

Answer 16

This refers to the common genetic traits and physical features, such as bone structure and skin, hair or eye colour shared by a group.

Question 17

Social stratification

Answer 17

This refers to the ranking and dividing of groups in society based on ethnicity and race, class, historical background and even naturalization/ citizenship status. The levels of social hierarchy are known as strata. Stratification can also be based on prestige, wealth, age, gender, caste and religion

Question 18

Social mobility

Answer 18

This refers to movement of individuals or groups from one social position to another within the social stratification system in a society. Usually based on wealth, occupation or education

Question 19

Closed system

Answer 19

A social structure in which there is no place for mobility and the pattern of inequality in the society persists from generation to generation. An example is the Indian caste system.

Question 20

Caste system

Answer 20

Social position based on race, colour or ethnicity which is the basis for stratifying the society. As in India, where it was based on lineage (ancestors were born into that group so so were you). In the Caribbean during slavery, it was based on the colour of your skin
* played out during the plantation system

Question 21

Open system

Answer 21

Open system - you can be born in the lower class, but move up through the ranks throughout your life and eventually hit upper class and maybe die there
There is social mobility
The class system is an example of an open system

Question 22

Class system

Answer 22

1) An open form of stratification is based primarily on economic criteria, particularly income or wealth
2) Social position is achieved through one’s efforts.
3) There is opportunity for social mobility as individuals can move up and down the class system / social ladder and therefore their status can improve or retrograde
4) The boundaries between classes are more flexible than with the closed system

Question 23

Ascribed social status

Answer 23

A position in society based on attributes you were born with, such as race, colour and caste

Question 24

Plantocracy

Answer 24

A ruling class, political order or government composed of or dominated by plantation owners

Question 25

Plantation society

Answer 25

A society characterized by the preponderance of agriculture focused on export crops, generally centered on sugar cane, and by a social and power structure directly organized around this dominant activity.

Question 26

Mulatto

Answer 26

A person of mixed African and European ancestry. Mulattoes were the result of sexual relations between white slave owners and female slaves. Many were freed by their fathers and educated. mulattoes formed a kind of buffer zone between white slave-owning Europeans and black enslaved Africans in a society that was designed to be bipolar: white and black, free and unfree, powerful and powerless.

Question 27

Chattel

Answer 27

Personal property that can be traded, bought and sold

Question 28

Hybridisation

Answer 28

The deliberate or unintentional development of new cultural forms out of the integration of cultures; in the case of the Caribbean, imported through the migration of the Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. Another term for this is syncretism

Question 29

Creolization

Answer 29

A term specific to the Caribbean, used to describe a kind of fusion of ideas, beliefs, culture, customs and traditions and even people, resulting from hybridization. Creole forms can appear to be very similar to or different from the original, but they will always differ in essence, nature and context.

Question 30

Acculturation

Answer 30

This is the imposition of a dominant group’s ways of life on another group so that the latter becomes assimilated into the life of the dominant group.

The changes identified in a group of people as a result of the merging of cultures, caused by living in a shared community over time. It involves the dominance of one culture over the other(s). In the Caribbean, it has been used specifically to distinguish the absorption of ‘foreign’ culture traits into Creole society.

Question 31

Interculturation

Answer 31

This refers to the cultural mixing that occurs in a plural society where ethnic groups may live with limited mixing, yet elements of their culture become incorporated into each other’s way of life.

The mixing of cultures between groups living together in a community or society that celebrates the interaction between individuals of different ethnicities, religions and cultural practices

Question 32

Enculturation

Answer 32

A process of socialization whereby one learns and absorb’s one’s own culture or becomes part of another culture

Question 33

Creolization

Answer 33

Creolization is defined as the meeting and mixing of cultures to produce something new out of this fusion. Creolization is a term that tends to be specifically used to refer to Caribbean processes of mixing

Question 34

Assimilation

Answer 34

The process through which a dominant culture is accepted by different groups in a society. The dominant culture is usually the result of the merging of different cultures within the society

Question 35

Plural society (more in depth)

Answer 35

The existence of separate and distinct ethnic or racial communities within a society, which may come together for a number of common functions such as work or recreation, but which preserve their own societal institutions, especially language, the family and religion.
This concept also involves cultural pluralism.
In a plural society, ethnic groups are able to peacefully coexist out of mutual respect and acceptance, but tensions and rivalries can emerge where they share societal institutions such as the political system.

Question 36

Cultural pluralism

Answer 36

This is when discrete cultures exist side by side with little or no mixing. Cultural pluralism accepts a multiplicity of values and practises, provided they are consistent with the laws and values of the wider society.

Question 37

Mulatto

Answer 37

Term used to describe Caribbean people of mixed race background

Question 38

Mestizo

Answer 38

Term used predominantly in Latin America to describe people of mixed European (originally Spanish) and Amerindian ancestry

Question 39

Garifuna (or Black Caribs)

Answer 39

Term used to describe people of mixed African and Amerindian descent. More specifically, it can be used to refer to the mixed race people of St Vincent, expelled from the island by the British in 1797 and exiled to various parts of Central America (Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua)

Question 40

Dougla (or Dugla)

Answer 40

Term historically used, especially by people of Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago to describe offspring of East Indian indentured labourers and an African enslaved or freed laborer.

Question 41

Cultural retention

Answer 41

The preservation of an aspect of culture. The aspect does not need to survive in its original intact form. For example, vestiges of indigenous culture, such as elements of language, survive in various parts of the Caribbean. The barbecue has been inherited from the Tainos and, although the principles of using herbs and spices and grilling meat over a fire survive, the exact recipe and the method used by the Tainos have been eroded and altered over time and replaced by newer versions.

Question 42

Cultural renewal

Answer 42

The return to, or rediscovery and refreshing of elements of culture that have been forgotten, suppressed or ignored.

Eg: resurgence in interest in the African legacy and African culture, as well as Africa itself in the 20th century. This developed through Garveyism and the rise of black consciousness in the form of négritude.

A visual element to this has been the popularization of African dress and the learning of African languages

Question 43

Cultural erasure

Answer 43

The dying out of cultural practises.

It can be argued that a culture in its entirety can never be completely erased because of the process of hybridization that naturally occurs to varying degrees with cultures coexist. Thus, unidentifiable vestiges of a culture may survive unbeknownst to those who practise them.