Chapter 3 Terms

Question 1

argot

Answer 1

specialized language used by members of a group or subculture

Question 2

bilingualism

Answer 2

the use of two languages in a particular setting, such as the workplace or schoolroom, treating each language as equally legitimate

Question 3

counterculture

Answer 3

a subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture

Question 4

cultural genocide

Answer 4

the systematic destruction of a group’s culture

Question 5

cultural relativism

Answer 5

the viewing of people’s behavior from the perspective of their culture

Question 6

cultural universal

Answer 6

a common practice or belief found in every culture

Question 7

culture

Answer 7

the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects and behavior

Question 8

culture industry

Answer 8

the worldwide media industry that standardizes the goods and services demanded by consumers

Question 9

culture lag

Answer 9

a period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions

Question 10

culture shock

Answer 10

the feeling of surprise and disorientation that people experience when they encounter cultural practices that are different from their own

Question 11

culture war

Answer 11

the polarization of society over controversial cultural elements

Question 12

diffusion

Answer 12

the process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society

Question 13

discovery

Answer 13

the process of making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality

Question 14

dominant ideology

Answer 14

a set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic and political interests

Question 15

ethnocentrism

Answer 15

the tendency to assume the one’s culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to others

Question 16

folkway

Answer 16

a norm governing everyday behavior whose violation raises comparatively little concern

Question 17

formal norm

Answer 17

a norm that has been written down and that specifies strict punishment for violators

Question 18

genocide

Answer 18

the deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation

Question 19

informal norm

Answer 19

a norm that is generally understood but not precisely recorded

Question 20

innovation

Answer 20

the process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture through discovery or invention

Question 21

invention

Answer 21

the combination of existing cultural items into a form that did not exist before

Question 22

language

Answer 22

an abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture; includes gestures and other nonverbal communication

Question 23

law

Answer 23

governmental social control

Question 24

material culture

Answer 24

the physical or technological aspects of our daily lives

Question 25

mores

Answer 25

norms deemed highly necessary to welfare of society

Question 26

nonmaterial culture

Answer 26

ways of material objects, as well as customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and pattern of communication

Question 27

norm

Answer 27

an established standard of behavior maintained by a society

Question 28

sanction

Answer 28

a penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norms

Question 29

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 29

a hypothesis concerning the role of language in shaping our interpretation of reality; it holds that language in culturally determined

Question 30

society

Answer 30

a fairly large number of people who live in same territory, are relatively independent of people outside their area, and participate in common culture

Question 31

sociobiology

Answer 31

a systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior

Question 32

subculture

Answer 32

a segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of customs, rules, and traditions that differ from the pattern of a larger society

Question 33

symbol

Answer 33

a gesture, object, or words that forms the basis of human communication

Question 34

technology

Answer 34

cultural information about the ways in which the material resources of the environment may be used to satisfy human needs and desires

Question 35

value

Answer 35

a collective conception of that is considered good, desirable, and proper – or bad, undesirable, and improper – in a culture