ch.3 culture Flashcards
What is culture?
Its the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior
What does culture include?
It includes ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people
Culture does not refer to what?
It does not refer to fine arts or refined intellectual taste
What is the largest form of human group?
Society
What is cultural universal?
Certain common practices and beliefs that all societies have developed
What is ethnocentrism?
Its the tendency to assume that ones own culture and way of life represents the norm or is superior to others
In ethnocentrism how are other cultures viewed as?
They are viewed as deviations from the normal
How is the view of the world influenced?
Its influenced by the society we were raised in
What is cultural relativism?
Its viewing and understanding peoples behaviors from the perspective of their own culture
Different social contexts give rise to
Different norms and values
What is language?
Is one of the major elements of culture the foundation of every culture
Language is an important component of which capital?
Its an important component of cultural capital
What shapes language?
Culture and reality
What is Sapir-Whorf hypothesis for language?
That language shapes the interpretation of reality
How does our culture shape our language?
- Culture has an important effect on the development of language
- As culture changes our language changes too
According to Sapir-Whorf hypothesis language precedes thought therefore
- Language shapes our interpretation of reality
- Grammar and symbols(words) organize the world for us
What are symbols?
They form the basis for human communication like words, objects, gestures
What are norms?
They are established standards of behavior maintained by a society
What are the types of norms?
- Formal norms
- Informal norms
- Mores
- Folkways
What are formal norms?
They are well described written norms their violation is usually strictly sanctioned (laws are formal norms)
What are informal norms?
They are generally understood but not precisely recorded (standards of proper dress)
What are mores?
They are norms that are deemed highly necessary for the welfare of the society, their violation can lead to serious penalty (murder, child abuse)
What are folkways?
They are norms governing everyday life. violation may be more often, does not raise serious concern
What are sanctions?
They are rewards and penalties for social behavior regarding a social norm
There are positive and negative sanctions like what?
Pay raise, medal, word of gratitude, fame, fines, threats, imprisonment, humiliation
What are values?
They are collective conceptions of what is considered good, proper, desirable, or bad, improper or undesirable
How do values influence peoples behaviors?
They influence peoples behaviors and are used in evaluating others behaviors
There are two types of values?
- General values
- Specific values
What are general values?
Love, democracy, health
What are specific values?
Respecting parents, owning a home
What is culture war?
Its the polarization of society over controversial cultural elements
What is dominant ideology?
Its a set of cultural beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful interests
What are the set of beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful interests?
- Social interests
- Economic interests
- Political interests
What is dominant perspective?
Its a dominant ideology that has major social significance
What are the two social processes where cultures develop and change through?
- Innovation
- Diffusion
What is innovation?
Its a process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture
What is diffusion?
Its a process by which cultural items spread from group to group
What is discovery?
Its making known or sharing existence of an aspect of reality like the DNA molecule
What is invention?
Its existing cultural items combined into a form that didnt exist before like the automobile, factory production, democracy
What are the different means diffusion can occur through?
Exploration, military conquest, missionary work, influence of mass media, tourism, internet, fast food restaurants
What is McDonaldization?
Its a process through which principles of fast-food industry have been dominating increasingly more sectors in the society like marketing techniques
What is Globalization?
Its a series of processes that work to make modern nations and people increasingly interlinked and mutually dependent
What are examples for globalization?
- Economic and political forces
- Long-distance communication
- Local people must increasingly cope with forces generated by progressively larger systems
What is technology?
Information about how to use material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires
Technology does not only accelerate diffusion of scientific innovations but also transmits culture globally
English language and North American culture dominate the internet such dominance influences the direction of cultural diffusion
What is material culture?
Physical or technological aspects of our daily lives including food houses factories and raw materials
What is nonmaterial culture?
It refers to ways of using material objects, as well as to customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication
What is culture lag?
Its the period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions
What are dominant cultures?
A segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of customs, rules, and traditions that differs from the pattern of the larger society
What are subcultures?
A small culture that exists within a larger, dominant culture
Countercultures
Deliberately oppose aspects of the larger culture, usually among the young
What is culture shock?
The feeling of surprise, disorientation and uncertainty (even fear) experienced by a person in a culture that is different from their own
