Culture 13 Flashcards
CULTURE AS AN INTEGRATED WHOLE
- Cultures are systems in which all the parts are related to one another.
- If one part of the culture changes, this necessitates change in all other related parts.
CULTURE OF DISCONTENT
- A level of aspirations that far exceeds the bounds of an individual’s local opportunities.
- Also discussed as the gap between expectations and the ability to meet these expectations.
CULTURE SHOCK
- A state of distress and tension with possible physical symptoms after a person relocates to an unfamiliar cultural environment.
- This term was used by social scientists in the 1950s to describe, the difficulties of a person moving from the country to a big city but now the meaning has changed to mean relocating to a different culture or country.
- One of the first recorded use of the term was in 1954 by the anthropologist Dr. Kalervo Oberg who was born to Finnish parents in British Columbia, Canada. While giving a talk to the Women’s Club of Rio de Janeiro, August 3, 1954, he identified four stages of culture shock-the honeymoon of being a newcomer and guest, the hostility and aggressiveness of coming to grips with different way of life, working through feelings of superiority and gaining ability to operate in the culture by learning the language and finally acceptance of another way of living and worldview.
CURER
- A specialist who heals with herbal preparations and magic learned through apprenticeships.
- Are usually part-time specialists who are paid for their services and are also called shamans.
DATA (plural of datum)
- Refers to a record of an observation.
- Can be numerical (and hence quantitative) or consist of words or images (hence qualitative).
- A distinction is sometimes made between naturally occurring data - such as tape recordings of conversations that would have occurred whether a researcher was present or not - and data generated in research settings, as in interviews or on questionnaires.
- Quantitative data are often arranged in a data matrix for ease of analysis.
DATA ARCHIVES
Can be distinguished from the more general term ‘archive’ in that they contain quantitatively coded material from surveys, or qualitative material collected as part of social research studies, made available through the archive for secondary analysis.
DAUGHTER LANGUAGES
Are languages developing out of the same parent language; for example, French and Spanish are daughter languages of Latin or Bengali and Hindi are daughter languages of Sanskrit.
DEBRIEFING
Open discussion at the end of a study or experiment when the researcher reveals the complete procedure and background to the subject and explains the reasons for any possible deceptions that may have taken place and were necessary for the success.
DECONSTRUCTION
Is an approach to social analysis that undermines claims to authority by exposing rhetorical strategies used by social actors, including the authors of research reports themselves.
DEINDIVIDUATION
A state of relative anonimity in which a member of a group does not feel indentifiable or singled out.
DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS
Explicit and implicit perceptual cues, which communicate what behaviour is expected in any particular situation.
DEMARGINALIZATION
The process which facilitates a marginal or stigmatized space becoming ‘normalized’ so that its population is incorporated into the mainstream.
DENOTATION
The explicit meaning of a word or expression.
DEPENDANT VARIABLE
- A measure of a particiapnt’s responses in a research situation.
- In a scientifically controlled experiment, changes in the dependant variable are presumed to be caused by the independant variable.
DESCENT GROUP
- Is a permanent social unit whose members claim common ancestry.
- Usually this is fundamental to tribal society.
