Culture Flashcards
What is culture?
Encompasses ideas, values, norms, ideologies, beliefs, languages, practices, and material objects that peopl create, connects people in a society
Give an example for the two types of changes to culture.
Internal changes: e.g. average age of group
External changes: e.g. technological changes
What are 5 elements of culture?
Values, norms, beliefs, symbols, rituals
Define values
Moral beliefs of what group/society considers good or important, expresses ideals, guides behaviours
Define symbols and rituals
Symbols: material or non-material objects to which cultures assign meaning
Rituals: important, routinized group activities
A) Define beliefs
B) Define ideology
A) conventions people believe to be true, aligns with norms and values
B) Set of shared beliefs that explain social world and guide behaviour
Define norms
Rules and expectations, based on values, that guid behaviour (often informal)
Define material culture
Encompasses all physical goods or artefacts that manifest/reflect culture
Define symbolic culture
Encompasses nonmaterial aspects of culture, aspect that influence beliefs, values, norms, language
Define culture wars
Friction between cultures, can be conflict with subculture/counterculture against dominant culture
Define ideal and real culture
Ideal culture: how we think people should behave and think
Real culture: how people actually behave and think
Example: Canadians value democracy but very few vote
Define high and low culture
High culture: tends to be associated with societal elites, aesthetically rich
Low culture: associated with masses, product of massive corporations (e.g. One Direction)
Define subcultures
Groups that accept much of dominant culture, but are set apart by one or more significant values of characteristics
Define countercultures
Norms and values oppose/incompatible with most of dominant culture, reject mainstream norms
Define multiculturalism
Environment where cultural differences are accepted and appreciated
Define assimilation
Integrating minority group into the mainstream (e.g. early Europe immigrants now reg Canadians)
Define identity politics
Groups assert their right to retain their distinctive culture and not assimilate, use their power to strengthen the position of the cultural group they identify with
Define cultural relativism
Aspects of culture (norms/values) need to be understood within context of one’s own culture, there are no cultural universals, no one culture’s values are better than the other (e.g. Islam head scarves and US crop tops)
Define ethnocentrism
Belief that norms, values, traditions, of one’s culture are better than those of other cultures
Define globalization
Exchanges of cultural ideas and values between cultures around the world
Most supported argument of existence of global values?
Global values is traceable to process of globalization. Global flow of products and people produce similar realities across the world, so it seems likely that what people value would become similar.
Define cultural imperialism
Imposition of one’s dominant culture on other cultures, tends to destroy local cultures, can be intentional or unintentional
Define americanisation
Exports of many cultural elements closely associated with United States
Define anti-americanism and cultural hybrids
Anti-Americanism: aversion to America and influence of its culture
Cultural hybrids: local cultures modify inputs and impositions from other cultures to create cultural hybrids that combine elements of both.
