Culture

Question 1

Define culture

Answer 1

Symbols and definitions manifested by the collective human intellect

Question 2

What is low culture?

Answer 2

Pop culture - mass appeal

Question 3

What is high culture?

Answer 3

Upper class culture that appeal to a small part of the population

Question 4

What are the 3 tools that form culture?

Answer 4

1. Abstraction
2. Cooperation
3. Production

Question 5

What is Abstraction? Give an example.

Answer 5

General concepts that add meaning to real, sensory experiences
- beliefs

Question 6

What is Cooperation? Give an example.

Answer 6

Creation of social life based on established norms and values
- norms and values

Question 7

What is Production? Give an example.

Answer 7

The human capacity to create and use tools
- material culture

Question 8

Name the 4 types of norms.

Answer 8

1. Folkways
2. Mores
3. Taboos
4. Laws

Question 9

What is a folkway?

Answer 9

Traditional behaviour that is least important and has the least punishment

Question 10

What is a mores?

Answer 10

Core norms that people believe are essential for survival

Question 11

What is a taboo?

Answer 11

Strongest norm that usually evokes revulsion when violated

Question 12

What is a law?

Answer 12

Norms that are enforced by the state

Question 13

Which of the 4 theories does ethnocentrism fit in?

Answer 13

Functionalist

Question 14

Which of the 4 theories do right revolutions fit in?

Answer 14

Conflict Theory

Question 15

What does Symbolic Interactionism say about culture?

Answer 15

People actively produce and interpret culture.

Question 16

What does feminist or postmodernist theory say about culture?

Answer 16

People are more likely to challenge authority and be critical of established social structures

Question 17

What are the 4 main constraints in culture?

Answer 17

1. Rationalization
2. Countercultures
3. Cultural Capital
4. Virtual culture

Question 18

What is rationalization? Give examples.

Answer 18

most efficient means to achieve goals (intended or unintended)
- consumerism and subcultures

Question 19

What is consumerism?

Answer 19

The tendency of people to define themselves by the goods they consume

Question 20

What are subcultures?

Answer 20

Smaller cultures that have a set values and norms within a larger culture

Question 21

What are countercultures? Give an example.

Answer 21

Subversive cultures that oppose dominant values and seek to replace them.
- culture Jamming

Question 22

What is culture jamming?

Answer 22

A way to resist mainstream cultures. Usually through parody and satire

Question 23

What is cultural capital? Give an example.

Answer 23

The use of cultural norms in order to gain advantage or show hierarchy within that culture/social structure
- behaviour expectations within cultures
- wearing a suit to a corporate interview

Question 24

What is good and bad about virtual culture?

Answer 24

Good - limitless access to information
Bad - Mental health concerns