Concepts Flashcards
Continuity
Social trends that have occurred over a long period of time. The notion of a repetition of patterns of thinking and behavior. e.g. cultural heritage and traditions
Change
Modified and developed social and cultural norms, values and beliefs. Substitution of one thing for another.
Tradition
Customs or practice that has been handed down by generations over time.
Cooperation
Differing groups and/or individuals willingly put aside individual values or wants in favor of consensus or an agreed outcome. Social interaction in which individuals or groups of people engage in joint action to promote common interests or shared goals.
Social and Cultural Literacy
The ability to be both self aware, yet demonstrate a concern for the welfare, rights and dignity of all people. Able to recognize values, customs, beliefs and behaviors different from your own and posses the skills to understand them without making value judgements
Westernisation
A particular form of modernization in which the methods and values of Western industrial capitalism are the basis of the changes that occur
Identity
The understanding that we have regarding our true ‘self’, which is often formed during the socialization process and developed over our lives. It’s about what you have in common with some people and what differentiates you from others.
Industrualisation
The transition in methods of production that has been responsible for the vastly increased wealth creating capacity of modern societies compared with traditional systems e.g. manufacturing, agriculture and admkinistration
Modernisation
A process of social change resulting from the diffusion and adoption of the characteristics of expansive and apparently more advanced societies. Involving social mobilization, growth of a more effective and centralized apparatus of social and political control, the acceptance of scientific rational norms and the transformation of social relations and aesthetic forms
Institutions
The structural components of society through which its main concerns and activities are organised, e.g. church, law, government and family
Heritage
The notion that something has been preserved over time, it can be personal or national
Empowerment
Ability to overcome adverse circumstances to achieve a positive outcome, often referred to in relation to institutions that deal in power and authority and with minorities
Values
Ideals that guide or qualify personal conducts, interactions with others and involvement in a community. They inform us on how we can conduct our life in a meaningful way. Usually shared in a group, so as to be a consensus of morals, principles and standards of behavior.
Cultural Values
The practice of one’s faith and customs, connecting with one’s cultural roots. They help connect to a larger community of people with similar backgrounds
Norms
The behavioral expectations within a society or group. They are the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. May be explicit or implicit.
Customs
The expected ways of behaving within a culture, linked to traditions they are not enforceable (like norms).
Beliefs
A conviction in the truth of a proposition, held without recourse to proof or evidence. Ideas or theories about the natural or supernatural world that are not supported by objective or factual evidence.
Worldview
An organised and accepted set of ideas attempting to explain the social, cultural, physical and psychological world. Linked to values and beliefs.
Rituals
A formalized predetermined set of symbolic actions performed in a particular environment at a regular, recurring interval. These actions often include singing, processions, dances, sacred objects.
Hierarchy
A system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system is subordinate to a single other element.
Ideology
The body of doctrine, myth and symbols of a social movement, a social class or institution. They are represented as universal truths, but are historically specific understandings that obscure and maintain power. The set of beliefs, attitudes and/or practices that overtly or covertly serve the interests of one particular group, government or social class as opposed to serving universal interests. The attempt to fix meanings and worldviews in support of the powerful.
Philosophy
Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means. A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry
Myths
A traditional story of unknown authorship, with a historical basis, serving usually to explain some phenomenon of nature, the origin of humanity, or customs.
Language
Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals.
Globalisation
The emergence of a global culture brought about by a variety of social and cultural development such as: technology, consumption, transnational corporations, world tourism and economic systems. It involves a consciousness of the world as a single place.
Conflict
A disagreement or argument between individuals or groups. Social interaction in which individuals or groups of people struggle with each other for some commonly prized object or value.
Power Structures
The way in which control and status is distributed, enforced by rules and obligations.
Democratic Power Structures
These work on the principle of power coming from the people. Power positions should be open to all and gain legitimacy by the consent of the majority.
Society
A group of people living in the same area. It is made up of people, groups, networks, institutions, organisations and systems.
Culture
The system of values and meanings shared by a group or society. It refers to the knowledge, ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that give each society its coherence
and its distinctive way of life. It is demonstrated by the beliefs, customs, values, laws, arts and technology.
Persons
The different individuals that exist in a society.
Environment
The attitudes and values people have in
regard to it greatly affect interactions between the person, society, culture and environment. It present societies with both opportunities and restraints.
Time
Human construct to organise past, present and future.
Gender
A term to describe the socially constructed differences between men and women, referring not only to individual identity and personality, but also at the symbolic level to cultural ideals and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity and, at the structural level, to the sexual division of labour in institutions and organisations.
Technology
A branch of knowledge that deals with science and engineering, or its practice, as applied to
industry. It refers to the tools used for producing materials for society and is a term used
frequently today. It has been developed by man for mans use and has been at the catalyst for
change in society.
Power
The capacity to influence or persuade others to a point of view or action to which they would not normally
accede. It can be accessed and used by individuals in the micro world and macro world.
Authority
A concept frequently linked to power, involving the right to determine, adjudicate or otherwise settle issues and disputes in society. It is really the legitimate exercise of power.
Symbols
A thing that stands for or suggests something else by reason of association.
Life Cycle
A model of development which outlines the social changes a person encounters as he/she passes through the stages of childhood, adolescence, mid-life, old age and death. in the contest of the family, it is also a process that includes courtship, marriage, child-rearing, children leaving home and so on.
Access
The means or opportunity to approach or enter a place.
Socialisation
The process by which we learn to become members of society, by internalising the norms and values of society, and learning to perform social roles.
Consumption
The action of using up a resource, acquitting consumer goods.
Institutional Power
It is the power of the government, the churches, the corporations. Corporations in particular wield enormous power over our lives. They control how we spend our working day and how we spend our leisure time. Through the media they control what we consume, how we are entertained, and how we think.
Self
That aspect of the personality consisting of the individual’s awareness and feelings about his/her own personal and social identity. The way we think about ourselves.
Influence
The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself.
Mythology
A body of myths or traditional stories, usually relating to some superhuman being or deity, which tries to explain natural phenomenon and belongs to a particular group of people.
Media
Includes TV, radio, films, magazines, newspapers, and other impersonal means of communication that reach large audiences.
Popular Culture
The meanings and practices produced by popular audiences at the moment of consumption. A shared set of practices and beliefs that have attained global acceptance and which can be normally characterised by: being associated with commercial products; developing from local to national to global acceptance; allowing consumers to have widespread access; constantly changing and evolving.
Enculturation
To learn the ways of society by being emerged in it. The gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person, another culture, etc.
Acculturation
To learn the ways of a society from outside the society and adapting them as your own. Is a process in which members of one cultural group adopt the beliefs and behaviors of another group.
Assimilation
The absorption into the dominant society of the culture and social structure of an incoming group.
Belief System
A shared system of beliefs and values that systematically define a way of perceiving the social, cultural, physical and psychological world.
Capitalism
An economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and organised to accumulate profits within a market framework, and labour is provided by waged workers.
Class
A term used to differentiate the population on grounds of economic considerations.
Consumerism
A culture centred on the promotion, sale and acquisition of consumer goods.
Counter Culture
A culture that acts in opposition to the dominant, mainstream culture.
Cultural Diffusion
The process by which culture traits spread from one group or society to another. It involves the ‘borrowing’ of cultural elements, and the donor society is the ‘inventor’ of that element.
Cultural Identity
A snapshot of unfolding meanings relating to self-nomination or ascription by others. Relates to the main aspects of cultural meaning, most significantly class, gender, race, ethnicity, nation and age.
Cultural Imperialism
The aggresive promotion of Western culture, based in the assumption that its value system is superior and preferable to those of non-Western cultures.
Feminism
A philosophy and a social and political movement, feminism aims to examine the position of women in society and to further their interests.
Imperialism
A common form of Western rule in the late 19th and early 20th century. It is characterised by the extension of power of the state through the acquisition of distant territories, often by force.
Interpersonal Communication
Is two-way, face to face communication, e.g. conversations.
Intrapersonal Communication
Occurs within oneself, e.g. thinking.
Islam
Means peace and submission to God. One of the major religions of the world. Those who believe in the message of Muhammad and that He is the Prophet of God are called Muslims.
Monotheism
The belief in, and worship of, one God.
Ramadan
The ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, during which Muslims are required to fast.
Secular
Nor concerned with religion.
Urbanisation
Refers tot he trend whereby there are large shifts of population from rural areas to the cities.
