Chapter 2

Question 1

What is Culture?

Answer 1

complex & elaborate system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a group

Question 2

What do you need to remember about culture?

Answer 2

it is …

• shared
• learned
• taken for granted
• symbolic
• varies form one group to another

Question 3

How do sociologists define norms?

Answer 3

rules of social behavior that guid every situation and may be formal or informal

Question 4

How do sociologists define beliefs?

Answer 4

strongly shared ideas about the nature of social reality

Question 5

What happens when norms are violated?

Answer 5

social sanctions are applied

Question 6

What are values?

Answer 6

abstract concepts in a society that define the worth of different things and ideas

Question 7

what is the significance of diversity in human cultures

Answer 7

societies develop and get more complex = cultural diversity,
the dominant culture holds the power and the subcultures dont

Question 8

What is the sociological significance of popular culture

Answer 8

have effect on beliefs, practice, and everyday traditions

Question 9

What does Functionalist theory reveal about culture?

Answer 9

emphasizes the influence of values, norms and beliefs ion the whole society

Question 10

how do conflict theorists see culture?

Answer 10

influenced by economic interests and power relations within society

Question 11

What does Symbolic interaction emphasize about culture?

Answer 11

that it is socially constructed

Question 12

How do cultures change?

Answer 12

sources of cultural change

• societal conditions
• cultural diffusion
• innovation
• imposition of change by dominant culture

Question 13

Beliefs

Answer 13

shared ideas held collectively by people within a culture

Question 14

Countercultures

Answer 14

subcultures created as a reaction against values of dominant culture

Question 15

Cultural capital

Answer 15

aka social capital

cultural resources that are designated as being worthy socially and given advantages

Question 16

Cultural Diffusion

Answer 16

transmission of cultural elements form one society/group to another

Question 17

Cultural Hegemony

Answer 17

pervasive and excessive of influence of one culture throughout society

Question 18

Cultural Relativism

Answer 18

idea that something can be understood and judged only in relationship to the cultural context in which it appears

Question 19

culture

Answer 19

complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a given group

Question 20

Cultural lag

Answer 20

the delay in cultural adjustments to changing social conditions

Question 21

Culture shock

Answer 21

feeling disoriented when encountering a new or rapidly changing cultural situation

Question 22

dominant culture

Answer 22

most powerful

Question 23

ethnocentrism

Answer 23

belief that one group is superior to all other groups

Question 24

ethnomethodology

Answer 24

technique for studying human interaction by disrupting social norms and observing how people try to restore normalcy

Question 25

Folkways

Answer 25

general standards of behavior adhered to by a group

Question 26

Global Culture

Answer 26

diffusion of a single culture throughout the world

Question 27

Laws

Answer 27

written set of guidelines that define what is right and wrong within a society

Question 28

mass media

Answer 28

channels of communication that are available most of the population

Question 29

material culture

Answer 29

objects created in a given society

Question 30

mores

Answer 30

strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior

Question 31

non material culture

Answer 31

the norms, laws, customs, ideas, and beliefs

Question 32

reflection hypothesis

Answer 32

idea that mass media reflect the values of the general pop

Question 33

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 33

theory that language determines other aspects of culture bc language provides categories through which social reality is defined and perceived

Question 34

social sanctions

Answer 34

mechanism of social control that enforces norms

Question 35

taboos

Answer 35

behavior that bring the most serious sanctions