Chapter 4 Flashcards
Culture
The way of life of a particular group. Includes those characteristics of a group or society that make them distinct from other groups and societies. We are products of our culture. Food, clothes, biases, values.
Symbols
cultural representations of social realities, could be a word, fist, flashing red light, it’s a social construct, they don’t have inherit meaning until given one
Cultural Transmission
passing on learned parts of culture
Language
can be verbal or nonverbal (body language), affects how we view our world
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Our understandings and actions emerge from language, access to more words/language allows you to express how you feel and the world around you
Culture and Language
Our language is tied to cultural objects and practices. When a language is lost, we lose more than just language, we lose culture, meaning, history, and diversity
Material culture
Includes everything that is a part of our constructed environment, we learn that chairs are meant for sitting
Non-material culture
Includes those things we cannot touch, values, beliefs, language, behaviors, and norms. Commonly interconnected with material culture. Flags are material, but they hold a value.
Norms
rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members, about conduct that upholds values
Mores
norms that are widely observed and have great moral
significance, murder=bad
Folkways
Rules of behavior for (more) routine interactions. Violations are considered less serious than mores. Say “bless you”
Values
the general standards in society that define ideal principles, like those governing notions of what is right or wrong, can play a critical role in the social integration of a society
Cultural Inconsistency
ideal culture v real culture
Ideal Culture
values, norms, and behaviors that people in a given
society profess to embrace
Real Culture
values, norms, and behaviors that people in a given
society actually embrace and exhibit
Cultural Relativism
cultures cannot be ranked as better or worse than others, acknowledge differences across cultures without judging
Ethnocentrism
the belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others and the tendency to view all cultures from the
perceptive of one’s own, our’s is “normal”, others’ are inferior
Etic Perspective
outside perspective of a culture
Emic Perspective
inside perspective of a culture
Subcultures
Cultural groups that exist within another, larger culture, accept the main values of large culture, have some characteristics that make them unique
Countercultures
rules, values, and beliefs conflict with mainstream culture, directly oppose
High Culture
music, theater, literature, “culture of the elites”, wealthy, appreciated by society
Popular Culture
entertainment and athletic tastes shared by the masses, accessible to everyone, cheaper, shape values of society
Cultural Capital
wealth in the form of knowledge, ideas, verbal skills, and ways of thinking and behaving
Social Capital
who you know
Social Class
the one you are born into is the one you’re more than likely to stay in
Cultural Capital
Academic Achievement
Economic Capital
Class Reproduction
Generalized Other
our perceptions of the attitudes of the whole community, “no one does that”
Beliefs
what a person believes to be true, Auburn is the best football team, all values are beliefs, not all beliefs are values
Multiculturalism
people respect differing cultures in a society and honor their unique contribution to a larger “umbrella” culture that incorporates multiple subcultures
Cultural Universals
cultural practices that exist in most or all societies, part of the human way of doing things no matter how or where you grew up
