Chapter 3 Flashcards
Culture
Culture
a system of behaviors, beliefs, knowledges, practices, values, concrete materials including buildings, tools, and sacred items
2 types of cultures and 2 central oppositions
- Dominant culture vs. subculture and counterculture
- high culture vs. popular and mass culture
Dominant culture
the culture that is able to impose its values, language , and ways of behaving and interpreting behaviour in a given society
Dominants
people who are closely linked with the cultural mainstream
Minority Cultures
cultures what fall outside the cultural mainstream. includes 2 subcategories: counterculture and subculture
counterculture
minority cultures that feel the power of the dominant culture and exist in opposition to it (e.g. clothing styles or sexual norms)
subcultures
minority cultures that differ in some way from the dominant culture but don’t directly oppose it
high culture
the culture of the elites, a distinct minority. it is often associated with the arts (e.g. theatre, opera, ballet, etc)
social capital
consists of the economic resources garnered from human interactions. the resources tangible and non-tangible assets, such as info, etc
popular culture
the culture of the majority. especially those who do not have much social power
mass culture
e.g. big companies dictate what people watch, buy, value or believe), created by those in power for the masses
Norms
the rules or standards of behaviour that are expected of a group, society, or culture
sanctions
rewards and punishment in response to a particular behaviour (includes positive and negative sanctions)
positive sanctions
rewards for doing the right thing (e.g. smiles, high fives, bonus)
Negative sanctions
reactions to tell offenders they have violated a norm (e.g. a glare, eyeroll, fine, etc)
the 3 kinds of norms
- Folkways (etiquette like when to wear a hat, not double-dipping chips, etc)
- Mores (formalized norms such as not stealing, lying, bullying, etc)
- Taboos (norms deeply ingrained in society that causes disgust or revulsion when broken- incest, child pornography, etc)
Symbols
cultural items that hold significance for a culture or subculture (flags, songs, events, etc)
Values
standards used by a culture to describe abstract qualities such as goodness, beauty, and justice to assess the behaviour of others
ideal culture
is what people believe in (e.g. environmentalism)
actual culture
what really exists (e.g. driving large SUVs)
Ethnocentrism
occurs when someone holds up one culture as being the standard by which all cultures are to be judged (product of a lack of knowledge or ignorance)
Cultural Globalization
the intensification and expansion of cultural flows across the globe (e.g. The “Americanization” of the world)
Cultural relativism
an approach to studying and understanding an aspect of another culture within its proper social, historical, and environment context
presentism
the act of judging historical figures by todays standards
sociolinguistics
- the study of language as part of culture
- sociolinguistics look at language in relation to sociological factors as race, ethnicity, age, gender, and region
Dialect
a variety of a language that differs from others in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar (not the same thing as an accent)
Linguistic determinism
the theory that the way an individual understands the world is shaped by the language they speak. the concerns with this theory is the suggestion that some groups are capable of more complex thought than others
linguistic relativity
the view that language and culture have a unique relationship in each society (emphasizes culture, or environment and upbringing, over nature and innate capability
