Chapter 3 Flashcards
beliefs
convictions/opinions that people accept as true
Conflict Perspective on Culture
Culture is seen as reinforcing issues of “privilege” for certain groups based upon race, sex, class, and so on.
Inequalities exist within a culture’s value system. Therefore, a society’s cultural norms benefit some people but hurt others
How do cultures change?
subcultures, countercultures, and multiculturalism
> change over time
> new innovations
> diverse interactions
objects and artifacts
the physical items that are created and associated with a culture
behavior
the actions associated with a group that help reproduce a distinct way of life
norms
rules and expectations for “appropriate” behavior
knowledge
info, awareness, and understanding that helps people navigate the world
Symbolic Interaction Perspective of Culture
Culture as being created and maintained by the ways people interact and in how individuals interpret each other’s actions.
View culture as highly dynamic and fluid, as it is dependent on how meaning is interpreted and how individuals interact when conveying these meanings.
symbols
anything - a sound, gesture, image, object- that represents something else
in what ways are cultures similar and different?
Through cultural universals:
> Which are elements, patterns, traits, or institutions that are common to all human cultures worldwide.
> The expression of the universals in each society can differ
Building blocks of culture (8)
Values Beliefs knowledge norms behaviors objects and artifacts symbols language
language
an elaborate system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another in complex ways
Functionalist Perspective on Culture
Cultural norms function to support the fluid operation of society, and cultural values guide people in making choices.
Studied in terms of values. (The culture of education)
how do cultures persist?
Culture is transmitted to new generations.
New behaviors and beliefs adapt to existing ones through cultural integration.
Life would be chaotic and unpredictable without cultural integration.
Cultural and Technology: Culture is both stable and dynamic.
Values
deeply held principles/standards by which people make judgements about the world, especially in terms of what is desirable/worthwhile
what is culture?
an essential part of social life.
the collection of values, beliefs, knowledge, norms, language, behaviors, and material objects shared by peoples and socially transmitted from generation to generation
help define our identities and our relationship with various communities
how are we influenced by popular culture?
transmitted via mass media and aimed particularly at younger people
> builds and strengthens interactions with people who are also into the same kind of things (unifying)
> helps people grow and be more accepting the diverse amount of representation throughout the various societies (expand creativeness/imagination)
> used as a tool for bringing to light various social issues that run rampant but are ignored
Feminism Perspective of Culture
View that there is a “female nature” or “female essence” or related attempts to revalidate attributes ascribed to femaleness
