Ch3 Flashcards
Small towns and large towns are examples of what?
Societies
What is culture?
The beliefs and behaviors of a particular social group
What is a society?
A group of people who live in a definable community and who share a culture
A representation of the beliefs and practices if a group
Culture
The people represented in group
Society
A society needs
A culture
Culture needs a
society
What is material culture?
The shared things we all interact with - all material things within a culture
Cultural symbols are a makeup of what two things?
Material and non-material culture
What is nonmaterial culture?
The ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society
Cultural imperialism is what?
The deliberate imposition of one’s own values on another culture
Ethnocentrism is what?
Comparing another culture to ones own, while thinking it’s less than one’s own
e.g. Danish carriage culture
Experiencing disorientation or frustration when in a new culture
Culture shock
Seeing the culture through the culture’s eyes
Cultural relativism
The belief that another culture is superior to one’s own
Xenocentrism
Patterns of traits that are globally common to all societies are called what?
Cultural universals
Anthropologist who first recognized cultural universals
George Murdock
Sports, calendar, government, community organization, customs on puberty, humor, joking, are examples of
Cultural universals
A judgemental perspective on other cultures and thinking one is superior is an example of
Ethnocentralism
Imposing one’s own culture to help out another culture, is an example of
Cultural imperialism
Assessing a culture by its own standards - what we want to actual be able to do when assessing another culture
Cultural relativism
Thinking another culture is superior than one’s own culture is an example of
Xenocentrism
Opposite of ethnocentrism
Xenocentrism
Xenocentrism is the opposite of what?
Ethnocentrism
What is a value?
A cuture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society.
Robert Kohl did what?
Mapped out 13 values of America for foreigners
What are Beliefs?
Tenets or convictions that people hold to be true
What is ideal culture?
Standards that a society would like to embrace and live up to
What is social control?
a way of encouraging conformity to cultural norms
what is real culture?
the way society really is based on and what actually occurs and exists
e.g. how people interact with church
what are sanctions?
a way to authorize or formally disapprove of certain behaviors
e.g. of informal sanctions?
ridicule, sarcasm, criticism, and disapproval - end of up snl skits
what are formal sanctions?
finds, imprisonment, censorships, etc. when someone does something wrong
what are formal norms?
established, written rules
what are informal informal norms?
casual behaviors that are generally and widely conformed to
what is language?
a symbolic system of communication - every culture has one
what are symbols?
gestures and objects that have meanings associated with them and are recognized by a people who share a culture
what is language?
language is a set of symbols that express ideas and enable people to think and communicate with one another
What is ethnomethodology?
deliberately disrupting social norms in order to learn more about them
deliberately disrupting social norms in order to learn more about them, is called what?
ethnomethodology
What are cultural universals?
patterns and traits that are globally common to all societies.
Who is George Murdock?
the anthropologist who first discovered “cultural universals.”
Cultural relativism is what?
the practice of assessing another culture through it’s own standards, and not by it’s own.
What are values?
a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society
a culture’s standard for what is good and just in a society, is called what?
values
What is social control?
A way to encourage conformity to social norms
when people encourage conformity to social norms, they are practicing…
social control
What are “Mores”?
the moral views and principles of a group
the moral views and principles of a group are called what?
mores
what are folkways?
direct appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture
direct appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture, are what?
folkways
what is the sapir-whorf hypothesis?
people understand the world based on their form of language
people understanding the world based on their form of language is what?
the Spir-Whorf Hypothesis
the idea that language shapes thought, is called what?
linguistic relativity - aka sapir-whorf hypothesis
what is high culture?
the cultural pattern’s of a societies elite
what is pop culture?
mainstream, widespread patterns among a societies population
what is subculture?
groups that share specific identification, apart from a societies majority, even as the members exist within a larger society
what is counterculture?
groups that reject and oppose society’s widely accepted cultural patterns.
what are innovations?
new objects or ideas introduced to culture for the first time
what are discoveries?
things and ideas found from what already exists
what are inventions?
a combination of pieces of existing reality into new forms
what is culture lag?
the gap of time between the introduction of material culture and nonmaterial’s acceptance of it
what is globalization?
the integration of international trade and finance markets
what is diffusion?
the spread of material and nonmaterial culture from one culture to another
what are preindustrial societies?
a type of society that existed before the industrial revolution
how many, and what types of societies existed in preindustrial societies?
5, hunter-gatherer, pastoral, horticultural, agricultural, feudal
what are the characteristics of a hunter-gatherer society?
1) strongest dependence on provision from the environment
2) based around kinship or tribes
3) would move to another area when resources were scarce
4) e.g. aborigines of Australia
what are the characteristics of pastoral communities?
1) rely on the domestication of animals as their means to survive
2) domesticated and tamed animals
3) cultivated their own plants
what are the characteristics of horticultural societies?
1) formed in areas where rainfall and other conditions allowed them to grow stable crops
2) developed around the same time as pastoral societies
3) because they didn’t have to move to survive, they could create permanent settlements
what are the characteristics of an agricultural society?
1) relied on permanent tools for survival
2) experienced the “agricultural revolution” - the expansion of tool technology
3) human settlements grew into towns and cities, and became centers of trade and commerce
what was the dawn of civilization, and when did it occur?
- a time in which people had the time and comfort to do more thoughtful things, like art and philosophy.
- It occurred in the agricultural age
what is a nomadic society?
a society that is constantly moving. Pastoral societies were constantly moving because they were forced to follow their animals to fresh feeding grounds.
what are the characteristics of a feudal society?
1) came to rise in the 9th century
2) contained a strict hierarchal system of power based on landownership and protection.
what are industrial societies?
societies that were around during the industrial revolution - and all it’s change.
what are postindustrial societies?
aka information societies, or digital societies, based on the production of information and services
what is collective conscience?
the communal beliefs, morals, and attitude of a society, given by Emilé Durkheim.
what is social integration?
the strength of ties that people have to their social groups.
something Durkeim believed and thought was a key factor in social life.
what is mechanical solidarity?
a type of social order maintained by the collective conscience of a culture.
-Durkheim believed this is what held together pre-industrial societies
what is organic solidarity?
social order based around an acceptance of economic and social differences
- Durkheim thought this is what replaced mechanical solidarity in industrial societies.
- this allows people to coexist even when they are so different.
what is anomie?
what can happen during a time of transition, a situation where society no longer has the support of a firm collective consciousness.
Emilé Durkheim coined what terms?
collective conscious, social integration, mechanical solidarity, organic solidarity, anomie
Karl Marx’s theory is called what, and had a conflict between who?
Conflict theory,
the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat
the Bourgeoisie are who?
the owners of the means of production
the Proletariat are who?
the larborers
what is alienation?
the condition in which the individual is isolated and divorced from his or her society, work, or the sense of self.
how many types of alienation are there?
4 types
1) alienation from the product of one’s labor
2) alienation from the process of one’s labor
3) alienation from others
4) alienation from one’s self
what is false consciousness?
an idea Marx came up with to state the condition in which the beliefs, ideals, or ideology of a person are not in the person’s best interest. i.e. the ideology of the dominant class imposed on the proletariat.
what is class consciousness?
the awareness of one’s rank in society
Karl Marx coined what concepts?
Conflict Theory, Bourgeoisie, Proletariat, Alienation - 4 types, False Consciousness, Class Consciousness
what is rationalization?
a belief that modern society should be around logic and efficiency rather than morality and tradition
Weber believed these things were the foundation of society?
status and class
rationalization is attributed to which thinker?
Max Weber
what is the iron cage?
a situation in which the individual is trapped by social institutions
symbolic interactionism theory is based the who’s thoughts?
Max Weber
habituation is what?
the idea that society is constructed by us and by those before us, and its followed like a habit
institutionalization is what?
the act of implanting a convention or norm into society. -e.g. we all agree a school is a school
Thomas Theorem is what?
how a subjective reality can drive events to develop in accordance with that reality, despite being originally unsupported by objective reality
what is self-fulfilling prophecy?
an idea that becomes true when acted upon
what are roles?
patterns of behavior that are representative of a person’s social status
what is status?
the responsibilities and benefits that a person experiences according to their rank and role in society
ascribed status is..
the status outside of an individual’s control, like sex, race, etc.
achieved status is…
the status a person chooses, such as level of education or income
status mobility is…
our status moves or changes?
role expectations are…
a group of society’s definition of the way a specific role should be
role-set is
an array of roles attached to a particular status
role strain is..
stress that occurs when too much is required of a single role
role conflict is
when one or more of an individual’s roles clash
role performance is..
the expression of a role
looking-glass self is…
our reflection of how we think we appear to others
social structure is…
a stable pattern of social relationships that exist within a certain group or society
social marginality is…
state of being part insider and part outsider in the social structure
stigma is…
showing disapproval towards someone’s identity
Master status is…
the most important status a person occupies
a status symbol is…
a symbol to “telegraph information” to others about us…
role exit is…
when people disengage social roles that have been central to their self-identity
cultural change is…
when new things are added to material culture, they affect nonmaterial culture too - when something new enters society
what is the one value that differs in America compared to other countries?
privacy
what are some modern day examples of symbols used in language?
texting abbreviation, and emoticons
