Culture

Question 1

Define culture

Answer 1

A complex collection of values, beliefs, behaviours, and material objects shared by a group passed on from one generation to the next

Question 2

What are the six defining features of culture?

Answer 2

1) It is learned (from the day you are born-table manners)
2) It is shared (through interactions, shared understanding- we all understand what beauty is)
3) It is transmitted (through generations)
4) It is cumulative (altered over time)
5) It is human
6) It is pattern (share an understanding of when an appropriate time is for what)

Question 3

What are the 3 reasons we can’t determine when culture began?

Answer 3

1) very little material evidence
2) non-material therefore we cannot peserve it for future generations to study
3) many of the developments that enabled our ancestors to become cultural were all interconnected and integral for the emergence of culture

Question 4

What is material culture?

Examples?

Answer 4

Tangible artifacts, physical objects, and items found in a given culture (in society)

ex. clothes, wedding rings, cars

*They all have meanings associated with each object**

Question 5

What is non material culture?

Examples?

Answer 5

Society’s intangible and abstract components

Values, norms, sanction, beliefs

*all passed on from generation to generation*

Question 6

Define Values

Answer 6

Beliefs about ideal goals and behaviours that serve as standards for social life

• Freedom

*teaching value of order- lining up*

Question 7

Define Norms

Answer 7

Cultural rules that outline appropriate behaviour

• unwritten

*how we should act*

Question 8

Define Sanction

Answer 8

Anything that rewards appropriate behaviour or penalizes inappropriate behaviour

Question 9

Sanctions:

Define Folkways

Answer 9

Folkways - do not inspire severe moral condemnation when violated
- informal norms that suggest customary ways of behaving

* least sever sanction if custom is not followed*
EX.burping then say excuse me and its fine

Question 10

Sanctions:

Define Mores

Answer 10

Mores - Norms that carry a strong sense of social importance and necessity
- inspire strong moral condemnation

*frowned upon by society*

EX. extramarital affairs, prego women drinking

Question 11

Define Cultural Universals

Answer 11

Customs and practices that occcur across all societies

EX. given name (culturally specific)

Question 12

Define Ethnocentrism

Example

Answer 12

The tendency to view one’s own culture as superior to all others

• judging another culture exclusively by the standards of one’s own

*we try to avoid this*

EX. In england we say they are driving on the wrong side because its different then what we do.

Question 13

Define Cultural Relativism

Answer 13

Appreciation that all cultures have intrinsic worth and should be evaluated and understood on their own terms

*Avoid judging other culture’s cutoms and traditions before trying to understand them*

Question 14

Define culture shock

Answer 14

The feeling of disorientation, alienation, depression, and loneliness experienced when entering a culture very different from one’s own

• Dont have to adapt to it, but have to understand it

EX. clothing, hair color, kissing in public

Question 15

Define re-entry shock

Answer 15

Going back to your country after being away for a long time

Question 16

Define symbol

Answer 16

Something that stands for or represents something else

Question 17

Define language

Answer 17

A shared symbol system of rules and meanings that governs the production and interpretation of speech.

• key identifier of cultural boundaries
• shared cultural symbols allow us to interact

Question 18

When a ________ dies, a little bit of ______ dies with it

Answer 18

When a language dies, a little bit of culture dies with it

Question 19

Define the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 19

The assertion that language influences how we perceive the world

Question 20

Define linguistic determinism

Answer 20

Language determines how we perceive the world

Question 21

Define linguistic relativism

Answer 21

Language reflects how we perceive the world

Question 22

What is non-verbal communication ?

Answer 22

Using body language, eye contact, proximity and micro-expression that reveal your true emotions and feelings

Question 23

Define a subculture

Example?

Answer 23

A group within a population whose values, norms, folkways, or mores set them apart from the mainstream culture

• Often based on race, ethnicity and religion

EX. chinatown in vancouver

Question 24

Define a counterculture

Ex. Hippies

Answer 24

A type of subculture that strongly opposes the widely held cultural patterns of the larger population

EX. Hippies, Hells angels

Question 25

Who believes that Canada’s adaptation to a harsh physical environment has defined its culture, and to some extent has defined what it means to be Canadian?

Answer 25

Margaret Atwood

Question 26

What are some Canadian values?

Answer 26

• Belief in equality and fairness
• Importance of accommodation and tolerance
• Support for diversity
• Compassion and generosity
• Commitment to freedom and peace

Question 27

What are the three sources for inspiring cultural changes?

Answer 27

1) Discovery (of something new that has cultural applications)
2) Invention/innovation (modification of cultural item to produce something new)
3) Diffusion (transmitted from one group to another)

Question 28

What are Veblen and Bourdieu’s contributions?

Answer 28

The 3 different cultural variations; High, Popular, and Cultural Capital

Question 29

Define High culture

Examples?

Answer 29

The set of preferences, tastes and norms that are supported by high status groups

EX> designer brands, fancy restaurants, vacations

Question 30

Define Popular Culture

Answer 30

The culture of ordinary people

*nothing but the choices of society**

EX. Buying the next new trend, increase consumption, globalization

Question 31

What is Cultural Capital?

Examples?

Answer 31

A body of knowledge and interpersonal skills that helps people to get ahead socially

• It’s a tool that is not available to everyone, it moves you up the social ladder

EX. dress for success

Question 32

Define Functionalism

Answer 32

Relationship between the parts of society, how aspects of society are functional

Question 33

Define Conflict theory

Answer 33

Competition for scarce resources; how the elite control the poor and the weak

Question 34

Define Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 34

Use of symbols in face-to-face interactions

Question 35

A group of women playing recreational hockey is an example of what type of culture?

Answer 35

A subculture; there is no threat to social stability

Question 36

A outlaw biker gang is an example of what type of culture?

Answer 36

Counterculture; challenges the larger society’s laws, values, and beliefs

Question 37

What is the Functionalist approach Culture? (3)

Answer 37

• Culture allows us to have certain values and beliefs which make it easy to have laws
• We wouldnt be able to function as a society without culture
• Culture plays a part in helping people to meet needs

Question 38

How does the Conflict theory approach Culture? (2)

Answer 38

• Those who hold power define and perpetuate a culture’s ideology
• Values and norms allow people to be empowered and wealthy… which leads to social inequality

Question 39

How does Symbolic Interactionism approach Culture?

Answer 39

• Culture is the set of symbols to which we collectively assign values and the result of our active engagement with those around us
• How culture is created and recreated through social interactions
• Gestures alter our lives

EX. someone smiles, you smile back = good reaction

VS. Someone smiles, you flip them off = bad reaction

Question 40

What does functionalism not take into account for culture?

Answer 40

The tension from subcultures and countercultures