Chapter 4: Cultural Beliefs Flashcards
What are CULTURAL BELIEFS?
the predominant beliefs in a culture about right and wrong, what is most important in life, and how life should be lived; may also include beliefs about where and how life originated and what happens after death
What is SYMBOLIC INHERITENCE?
the set of ideas and understandings, both implicit and explicit, about people, society, nature, and divinity that serve as a guide to life in a particular culture; expressed symbolically through stories, songs, rituals, sacred objects and places
What are ROLES in the context of culture and socialization?
defined social positions in a culture, containing specifications of behaviour, status, and relations with others
gender roles, age-related roles, social status or class roles
What are GENDER ROLES?
cultural beliefs about the kinds of work, appearance, and other aspects of behaviour that are associated with a particular gender
What is SOCIALIZATION?
the process by which people acquire the behaviours and beliefs of the culture in which they live
What is SELF-REGULATION?
the capacity for self-control to restrain one’s impulses and comply with social norms
What is ROLE PREPARTION?
an outcome of socialization that includes preparation for occupational roles, gender roles, and roles in institutions like marriage and parenthood
What are SOURCES OF MEANING?
ideas and beliefs about what is important, what is to be valued, what is to be lived for, and how to explain and offer consolation for the individual’s mortality
What is the INTERDEPENDENT SELF?
in which the self is seen as defined by roles and relationships within the group
values: cooperation, mutual support, harmonious social relations, contributions to the group
What is the INDEPENDENT SELF?
the self is seen as existing independently of relations with others
values: self-determination, individual freedoms, individual achievement
What is BROAD SOCIALIZATION?
the process by which people in an individualistic culture come to learn individualism, including values of uniqueness, independence and self-expression
What is NARROW SOCIALIZATION?
the process by which people in a collectivistic culture come to elarn collectivism, including values of obedience and conformity
What is a CUSTOM COMPLEX?
a customary practice and the beliefs, values, sanctions, rules motivations, and satisfactions associated with it; a normative practice in a culture and the beliefs that provide the basis for that practice
EX: dating in Western society
Describe Kohlberg’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory (re: moral reasoning).
moral reasoning changes in predictable ways as cognitive abilities develop, regardless of culture
consists of 3 levels: preconventional reasoning, conventional reasoning, and postconventional reasoning
Describe PRECONVENTIONAL REASONING
moral reasoning is based on the needs and interest of the self, including perceptions of the likelihood fo avoiding punishment and obtaining rewards
Describe CONVENTIONAL REASONING
moral reasoning is less self-centred, emphasizes conforming to the moral expectations of others, including rules estbalished by tradition and authority
Describe POSTCONVENTIONAL REASONING.
moral reasoning is based on a person’s autonomous perceptin of universal principles pertaining to justice and rights of individuals rather than self-centered considerations or the standards of the group
What is a WORLDVIEW?
a set of cultural beliefs taht explain what it means to be human, how human relations should be conducted, and how human problems should be addressed; provides the basis for moral reasoning
What are TEMPLATES in the context of developmental trajectories for ethics?
the basic human pattern of moral development for the 3 ethics (autonomy, community, divinity), subject to variation depending on the beliefs and values of a specific culture
What is HETERONOMOUS MORALITY?
morality imposed from the outside; children regard morality as obeying other people’s rules which cannot be changed; associated with Piaget’s pre-operational stage
What is AUTONOMOUS MORALITY?
the realization that rules are social conventions that can be changed; morality becomes more complex and adolescents take into account the motivations behind an event
What is MORAL IDENTITY?
a person’s commitment to positive moral ideals in thought and behaviour
