Ch. 12- Culture, Demographics, and Inequality Flashcards
culture
the common practices and shared understandings that bind us together in a human society
material culture
our stuff/physical artifacts of culture
symbolic culture
everything about culture that’s not physical (beliefs, values, rituals, symbols)
beliefs
general cultural consensus of how the world works
values
convictions about how the world should be, how people should act, and what should be prioritized
rituals
actions that have a script
symbols
a “shorthand” method of conveying the meaning of something
language
means through which we communicate about various cultural concepts
subcultures
groups of people in a larger framework of people that have either additional cultural practices/norms, or certain cultural traits that are at odds with the surrounding society
countercultures
subcultures in opposition to the surrounding culture (ie. hippies)
mass media
radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, internet, etc. broad diffusion of messages.
popular/pop culture
uses mass media to centralize and standardize culture
culture lag
changes in material culture (ie. technology) can happen more quickly than society can keep up with
culture shock
disorienting experience of immersion in a new culture
assimilation
integration into the predominant culture
multiculturalism
preservation of previous cultures when you’re put into a new culture
cultural transmission
cultural elements are transferred from one generation to the next
cultural diffusion
cultural elements may be passed from one population to another
examples of demographic categories include? (7)
age (absolute years and age cohorts/generations), sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, immigration status
gender roles
norms and expectations for a certain gender
gender schema
how we cognitively organize information about gender, and how we perceive the world through the lens of gender
gender script
expectations about how the different genders should act in situations
gender segregation
social institutions where people are separated by gender (ie. bathrooms)
race
physical characteristics associated with descent from certain populations
racialization
when a racial identity is externally imposed on someone
race formation theory
racialization is used by power structures to reach political or social goals
ethnicity
someone’s cultural background
demographic transition
society transfers from a pattern of high deathrate/high birthrate to low deathrate/low birthrate.
demographic transition stage 1
high death rate and high birth rate
(stable or slightly increasing population)
demographic transition stage 2
death rate decreases but birth rate remains high (population spike)
demographic transition stage 3
slow decrease in death rate, drop in birth rate (slower population expansion)
demographic transition stage 4
both birth rate and death rate are low
(stable population)
demographic transition stage 5
lower birth rate than death rate (decreasing population)
what options are there for immigration status?
citizen, permanent resident, visa, or undocumented
stage 1 population pyramid points
sharp, curved pyramid with a tiny top and wide base
stage 2 population pyramid points
regular triangular pyramid
stage 3 population pyramid points
straight base with pyramid on top
stage 4 population pyramid points
bullet-shaped dome
stage 5 population pyramid points
base becomes narrower than the top
dependency ratio
ratio of dependents to working class providers (higher ratio = population aging)
how are birth rate and death rate usually reported?
by births or deaths per 1,000, can be age- or sex-specific
how are fertility rates usually reported?
by births per year per woman of reproductive age, can also be age-specific.
emigration
moving out of a country (affected by push factors)
immigration
moving into a country (affected by pull factors)
push factors
factors that lead people to emigrate from countries (war, poverty, violence)
pull factors
factors that lead people to immigrate to countries (economic prosperity, social stability)
world systems theory
created to understand globalization/increasing links between geographically distant countries. it divides countries into core, semi-peripheral, and peripheral nations.
core nations
high-skill labor, requires intensive capital investment (US, Canada, Western Europe, Australia)
semi-peripheral nations
not quite core and not quite peripheral nations (China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa)
peripheral nations
lower-skilled labor and natural resources (most of the developing world)
urban decay
people moving out of cities
urban renewal
people moving back into cities
gentrification
people moving back into cities and displacing lower-income, working-class communities from their established neighborhoods
proactive social movements
seek to make a certain kind of change happen
reactive social movements
seek to prevent change
relative deprivation
a person doesn’t have things other people around them do, or doesn’t have things they’re used to having.
class systems
formed based on income, mobility between them is possible
caste system
hereditary assignment of social status
social capital
“wealth” you have through social network and contacts
cultural capital
the traits signaling membership in a higher class of society
class consciousness
you identify as a member of a class and advocate for the interests of that class
false consciousness
focusing on other parts of their identity so much you forget about class, and may buy into incorrect ideas about social class or mobility
power
the ability to get things done, influence others, or to shape the world the way you want.
prestige
signals that appear to be associated with power (ie. a degree, type of school, car, etc.)
privilege
favorable assumptions/advantages due to features such as race, sex, and physical characteristics
intersectionality
experiences of an individual are more than the sum of the component demographics
absolute poverty
insufficient means to subsist
relative poverty
poorer than the surrounding community
marginal poverty
caused by a lack of stable employment
structual poverty
caused and enforced by overall economic structure
residential segregation
clustering of demographic groups
social reproduction
passing on social status to the next generation (especially poverty/inequality)
global inequalities
differences between countries
prevalence
how many people in a population have a condition at a given time
incidence
how many individuals in a population are newly diagnosed with a condition over a given time frame
intergenerational mobility
ability for successive generations to rise or fall in status or class
intragenerational mobility
events within a person’s lifetime that change their status or class
vertical mobility
rise or fall in income
horizontal mobility
keeping the same income but changing occupation (or losing occupation altogether)
meritocracy
promotion, advancement, and success are based on an individual’s capabilities
socioeconomic status
how affluent or poor you are
exchange mobility
views basic socioeconomic structure as being stable, so if you move up, someone else has to move down.
structural mobility
views basic socioeconomic structure as not stable, so moving people up or down can cause many people to be enriched or impoverished at the same time (ie. Great Depression)
