Ch.2 Culture

Question 1

Culture shock

Answer 1

When someone is transported to a completely different culture

Question 2

Ethnocentrism

Answer 2

the idea that your culture is superior to another’s

Question 3

Cultural relativism

Answer 3

understanding cultures on their own terms

Question 4

What is an example of cultural relativism?

Answer 4

bull-fighting has a different meaning in Spanish culture than in American culture

Question 5

Culture

Answer 5

the language, beliefs, values, etc that characterize a group and are based from one generation to the next

Question 6

Material culture

Answer 6

material objects that distinguish a culture

Question 7

Nonmaterial culture

Answer 7

a groups way of thinking

Question 8

What are gestures?

Answer 8

convey messages without words

Question 9

Are there universal gestures?

Answer 9

This is debated upon because some sociologists say that the expressions that we have when feeling emotions are examples that there are universal gestures but others argue that that does not fall under gestures

Question 10

What are positives of language?

Answer 10

• allows cumulative human experience
• provides shared past/future
• allows shared perspective
• allows complex, shared, goal-oriented behavior

Question 11

What did Sapir-Wharf conclude?

Answer 11

language shapes the way we think and perceive

Question 12

Values

Answer 12

what is desirable in life

Question 13

Norms

Answer 13

expectations or rules for behaviors

Question 14

Sanctions

Answer 14

reactions to the following or breaking norms

Question 15

What can act as an exception to norms?

Answer 15

moral holidays

Question 16

Folkways

Answer 16

norms not strictly enforced

Question 17

Mores

Answer 17

norms strictly enforced

Question 18

Taboos

Answer 18

norms extremely enforced

- severe sanctions if violated

Question 19

Subculture

Answer 19

• a world within a larger world of the dominant culture

- have their own lingo, gestures, meanings

Question 20

Counterculture

Answer 20

Groups whose values and norms place them at odds with the dominant culture

Question 21

Symbolic Culture

Answer 21

another word for non-material culture

Question 22

Positive sanction

Answer 22

reward or positive reaction for following norms

Question 23

Negative sanction

Answer 23

expression of disapproval for following norms

Question 24

Value clusters

Answer 24

values come together to form larger wholes

Question 25

What is an example of a value cluster

Answer 25

education, hard work, individualism, and material comfort = success

Question 26

Value contradictions

Answer 26

values change over time

Question 27

Pluralistic society

Answer 27

a society made up of many groups

Question 28

What are values a response to?

Answer 28

change in society

Question 29

What occurs when values clash?

Answer 29

• challenges to core values are met with resistance

- can sometimes lead to culture wars

Question 30

Culture wars

Answer 30

traditionalists v. change

Question 31

What can values act as

Answer 31

• can act as blinders when referring to other cultures

Question 32

What are some cultural universals?

Answer 32

• marriage, funerals, games,etc. occur in every society but how they occur differs

Question 33

Cultural lag

Answer 33

some areas change while others do not

Question 34

Cultural-leveling

Answer 34

societies are becoming more alike

Question 35

How do subcultures and countercultures differ?

Answer 35

a subculture is a group whose values and related behaviors distinguish its members from general culture while a counterculture holds values that stand in opposition to those of a dominant culture

Question 36

Why do sociologists consider genes to be an inadequate explanation of human behavior?

Answer 36

culture overrides genetic influences

Question 37

How is technology changing culture?

Answer 37

• cultural diffusion is occurring rapidly

- could lead to cultural leveling