Ch3: cultures Flashcards
culture
the beliefs and behaviours that a social group shares, lays down set of rules to constrain but also produce innovative solutions that go beyond constraints
society
a group that interacts within a common bounded territory or region
differences between culture and society
culture represents the beliefs, practices, and material artifacts
society represents the social structures, processes, and organization of the people who share those beliefs, practices, and material artifacts (they co-exist)
ethnosphere
the entirety of all cultures’ way of thinking, being, and orienting oneself on the Earth, it is our collective cultural heritage as a species
in what way is culture innovative
- different solutions to real life problems
- existence of different cultures refers to the means by which humans use innovation to free themselves from biological and environmental constraints
in what way is culture restraining
- local cultural forms restrain the changes produced by globalization
- globalization increasingly restrains cultural forms, practices, and possibilities
biological determinism
the forms of human society and behaviour are determined by biological mechanisms like genetics, instinctual behaviours, or evolutionary advantages
sociobiology
provides biological explanations for the evolution of human behaviour and social organization
three sociobiology steps
- identify an universal aspect of human behaviour
- assume that this universal trait must be coded in the DNA of the species
- argue why this behaviour or characteristic increases the chances of survival
cons of sociobiology
it is limited with respect to what it can explain about complex cultural behaviours and practices
eugenics
meaning “well born” in ancient Greek, a social movement that sought to improve the human “stock” through selective breeding and sterilization
Francis Galton’s definition of eugenics
1883, as the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations, either physically or mentally
geneticism
suggests that the qualities of human life are cause by genes
cultural universals
patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies
George Murdock’s discovery of cultural universals
first recognized the existence of cultural universals while studying systems of kinship around the world
ethnocentrism
evaluating and judging another culture based on how it compares to one’s own cultural norms (bias)
cultural imperialism
the deliberate imposition of one’s own cultural values on another culture
culture shock
an experience of personal disorientation when confronted with an unfamiliar way of life
culture lag
the gap of time between the introduction of material culture and nonmaterial culture’s acceptance of it
cultural relativism
the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of one’s own culture (need to be open-minded)
androcentricism
a perspective in which male concerns, attitudes, and practices are presented as normal or define what is significant and valued in a culture while women’s experiences are ignored or marginalized
multiculturalism
refers to both the fact of existence of a diversity of cultures within one territory and a way of conceptualizing and managing cultural diversity
- promote and recognize cultural differences while addressing the inevitability of cultural tensions
interculturalism
Quebec-based concept of multiculturalism, to recognize and respect the diversity of immigrants who seek to integrate into Quebec society
critics of multiculturalism
- only superficially accepts equality of all cultures while limiting actual equality, participant, and cultural expression
- obliges minority individuals to assume the limited cultural identities of their ethnic group, leads to stereotyping minority groups
- causes fragmentation and disunity
- based on recognizing group rights which undermines constitutional protections of individual rights
values
culture’s standard for discerning desirable states in society
help shape what is deem to be good/bad, beautiful/ugly
ideal culture
the standards society would like to embrace and live up to
real culture
the way society actually is, based on what occurs and exists
beliefs
the tenets or convictions that people hold to be true
sanctions
a form of social control, a way to encourage conformity to cultural norms
norms
the visible and invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured (accepted ways of doing things)
formal norms
established, written rules, behaviours worked out and agreed upon in order to suit and serve most people (laws, employee manuals, exam requirements)
informal norms
casual behaviours that are generally and widely conformed to (learned by observation, imitation, and socialization)
folksways
norms without any moral underpinnings, based on social preferences, it directs appropriate behaviour in the daily practices and expressions of a culture
mores
norms that embody the moral views and principles of a group, based on social requirements (serious consequences if violated)
- protected with laws and other formal norms
- guarded by public sentiment (informal norms)
taboos
actions which are strongly forbidden by deeply held sacred or moral beliefs, severe punishment if violated
symbols
tangible marks that stand in for or represent something else, provide clues to understanding the underlying experiences, states, and ideas
detournement
the conscious subversion of messages, signs, and symbols by altering them slightly
language
a symbolic system through which people communicate and through which culture is transmitted
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
- if a person cannot describe the experience, the person cannot have the experience
- suggests that the language we speak can influence the way we think and perceive the world around us
linguistic relativity
suggests that language influences our thoughts and perceptions but may not completely determine them. Different languages might predispose their speakers to focus on certain aspects of reality or think about things in particular ways
cultural solutions consists of what two components
thoughts or perceptual orientations and tangible things
material culture
refers to the artifacts, technologies, and products of a group
nonmaterial culture
consists of the knowledge and beliefs, forms of communication, and norms of behaviour of a society
innovations
new objects, ideas, or ways of being introduced to culture for the first time
high culture
- used to describe a form of cultural experience characterized by formal complexity, eternal values, or intrinsic authenticity
- associated with intellectualism, elitism, wealth, and prestige
- a means of maintaining status and power distinctions
cultural capital
the knowledge, skills, tastes, mannerisms, speaking style, posture, material possessions, credentials that a person acquires from their family background
popular culture
- refers to the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in mainstream society
- expressed and spread via media
- known and accessible to most people
postmodern culture
- the form of culture that came after modern culture, becomes more common to find various sorts of mash-ups of high and low
- contemporary popular culture
- culture of quotations, as it recycles and remixes elements of previous culture
subculture
a smaller cultural group within a larger culture that operate smoothly within the society
countercultures
a type of subculture that explicitly reject the larger culture’s norms and values, actively defying larger norms by developing their own sets of norms and beliefs
cults
usually informal, transient religious groups that deviate from orthodox beliefs and often involve an intense emotional commitment to the group
globalization
the integration of market
disffusion
the spread of material and nonmaterial culture
the emergence unregulated market
1970, government began to deregulate social services while granting greater liberties to private business, market became dominated by unregulated, international flows of capital investment
diasporas
the dispersions of a people from their original homeland
hybridity
refers to new forms of culture that arise from cross-cultural exchange, especially in the aftermath of the colonial era
rationalization
the general tendency of modern institutions and most areas of life to be transformed by the application of instrumental reason
iron cage metaphor
Max Weber’s metaphor for the modern condition of life circumscribed by the demand for maximum efficiency
commodity
an object, serve or good that has been produced for sale on the market
commodification
the process through which objects, services, or goods are turned into commodities, becoming more defined in terms of their marketability rather than their intrinsic characteristics
commodity fetishism
regarding commodities as objects with inherent qualities independent of the labour that produced them or the needs they were design to satisfy
consumerism
refers to the way in which we define ourselves in terms of commodities we purchase
functionalist approach to culture
- view society as a system in which all parts function together to create society as whole
latent pattern maintenance
cultural practices that reproduce and circulate symbolic meanings and codes serve the function of maintaining social patterns of behaviour and facilitating orderly pattern change
pre-rational collective consciousness
provides the basis for group solidarity or moral sense of group togetheredness
symbolic interactionist approach to culture
- concerned with face-to-face interactions between members of society
- see culture as being created and maintained by the ways people interact and interpret actions
- culture is perceived as highly fluid and dynamic
critical sociological approach to culture
- view social structure as inherently unequal and based on power differentials related to issues like class, gender, race, and age
- culture is not views as a unified tradition that is experienced the same way
- examine how inequalities and power are maintained by a culture’s value system
breaching experiment
in ethnomethodology, deliberately disruption social norms in order to learn about them
socioeconomic formation
the concrete set of social structures that form around a specific mode of production or economic system
human capital
education, knowledge, and skills
social capital
people that you know
Bourdieu’s work
1960 in France, cultural capital = high culture, if you have access to cultural capital that will translate to economic capital and high states eventually
cultural appropriation
the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own especially without showing understanding or respect
Mores, folkways, and taboos are all classifications of different ways that particular behaviours are viewed and sanctioned in different cultures. The key difference between folkways and the other two concepts is that folkways:
do not involve moral judgements
When a child learns the etiquette involved with meeting and introducing himself to a new person, he is earning:
cultural capital
