Chapter 3

Question 1

beliefs

Answer 1

convictions/opinions that people accept as true

Question 2

Conflict Perspective on Culture

Answer 2

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

Question 3

How do cultures change?

Answer 3

subcultures, countercultures, and multiculturalism

> change over time

> new innovations

> diverse interactions

Question 4

objects and artifacts

Answer 4

the physical items that are created and associated with a culture

Question 5

behavior

Answer 5

the actions associated with a group that help reproduce a distinct way of life

Question 6

norms

Answer 6

rules and expectations for “appropriate” behavior

Question 7

knowledge

Answer 7

info, awareness, and understanding that helps people navigate the world

Question 8

Symbolic Interaction Perspective of Culture

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

symbols

Answer 9

anything - a sound, gesture, image, object- that represents something else

Question 10

in what ways are cultures similar and different?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Building blocks of culture (8)

Answer 11

Values
Beliefs
knowledge
norms
behaviors
objects and artifacts
symbols
language

Question 12

language

Answer 12

an elaborate system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another in complex ways

Question 13

Functionalist Perspective on Culture

Answer 13

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)

Question 14

how do cultures persist?

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Values

Answer 15

deeply held principles/standards by which people make judgements about the world, especially in terms of what is desirable/worthwhile

Question 16

what is culture?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

how are we influenced by popular culture?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Feminism Perspective of Culture

Answer 18

View that there is a “female nature” or “female essence” or related attempts to revalidate attributes ascribed to femaleness