Culture and Identity Flashcards
1
Q
High Culture?
A
- linked with the elite, upper class in society, those families/individuals with an ascribed status position.
- associated with the arts such as opera, ballet and classical music and sports such as polo and lacrosse.
2
Q
Folk Culture?
A
- the culture of ordinary people (pre-industrial societies)
- traditional folk songs, traditional stories handed down from generation to generation.
3
Q
Mass Culture?
A
- seen as inferior
- created by commercial organisations.
- passive - consumers lack critical judgement of the society in which they live.
- often ‘dumbed down’ with simple goodies and baddies stereotypes associated with industrial societies.
- produced for profit - false needs are created through advertising inauthenticity.
e. g TV soap opera, popular feature films.
4
Q
Popular Culture?
A
- associated with activities enjoyed and accessed by the masses.
- argued that popular culture at times borrows an idea from high culture and popularises it making it available to the masses.
e. g. Vanessa May, Burberry check. - STRINATI (1995) argues that the media are largely responsible for creating popular culture in the contemporary UK and that the material goods people buy and use plays a key role in popular culture.
- reflects the norms/values/institutions/activities of the majority culture of the working class than the ruling class.
5
Q
Global Culture/Globalisation?
A
- process by which events in one part of the world come to influence what happens elsewhere in the world.
- world has become increasingly interconnected , socially/politically/economically.
- trends and fashions in large cities socially spread quickly to other cities.
- emerged due to migration, international travel and the media.
- concept of McDonaldisation have been used to raise possibility that global culture is basically American culture.
6
Q
Socialisation?
A
- babies born into pre existing world.
- way of thinking, feeling, behaving and being.
- new members need to learn this in order to interact.
- life long process
- uses family, peers, institutions and different cultures.
- family socialisation provides us with an identity - young person has no life apart from its role in the family.
- social roles by parents provide a blueprint for action (copy).
7
Q
Primary socialisation?
A
- first few years
- how to interact
- learn roles: mum, dad, siblings
- acquire human skills: love, sadness, humour, appropriate emotional response in certain situations
- empathy and self awareness
- profound effect on child’s learning
8
Q
Secondary socialisation?
A
- takes place outside the home.
- uses school, peer, media and religion.
9
Q
Socialisation and social control?
A
- socialisation involves social control and conformity.
- sanctions: parents reinforce and reward ‘appropriate’ behaviour, discipline and punish deviant behaviour
- praise : sweets, toys
- punish : smacking, grounding, threat of withdrawal of love.
- children internalise cultural expectations.
10
Q
Functionalism?
A
- claims that gender identity reflects the norms and values of the society we live in
- value consensus and that we learn roles through primary/secondary socialisation
- family make a significant contribution to the development of gender identity e.g girls copy mum’s behaviours.
11
Q
Functionalism (family) ?
A
- “personality factory” Parsons
- moulds the child: blank canvas
- shared cultural norms/value consensus
- internalise these values
- sense of belonging to society
12
Q
Functionalism (education) ?
A
- secondary socialisation
- transmits shared cultural values
- produces conformity
- sense of pride in historical and religious achievement of their nation
- reinforces their sense of belonging to society.
13
Q
Marxism? (family)
A
- critical of functionalist view that socialisation is a benefit to society as a whole.
- socialisation serves the interests of the ruling class
- family is used by the capitalist class to instil values such as obedience and respect for authority (both useful for capitalist class)
- ensures individuals can be exploited
- people are socialised in the view that power, authority and inequality are normal/natural.
14
Q
Nature/Nurture Debate?
NATURE!
A
- Sociobiologists claim that people inherit characteristics such as intelligence, personality, gendered behaviour, aggressive tendencies.
- e.g., many biologists believe that males and females have a biologically determined predisposition to behave in masculine/feminine ways due to hormonal differences.
15
Q
Nature/Nurture Debate?
NURTURE!
A
- feminists are critical of sociobiology, argue that if gender roles are bio determined, men/women would behave the same way in all societies.
- HOWEVER, this is not the case, significant cultural variations across the world in gender behaviour
- people are not born with cultural values/social skills. they’re learned and differ over time and across world.
- socialisation within the same society may differ according to social class, ethnicity, religion and gender.
