Culture -Week 3

Question 1

What is Culture ?

Answer 1

comprised of both material / non-material culture

Question 2

What is material culture?

Answer 2

includes things you can taste,touch, feel

Ex. buildings, cars,computers,clothing,crafts and artifacts

Question 3

What is nonmaterial culture?

Answer 3

also known as symbolic culture includes the nonphysical products of society
ex language, values,norms,laws, symbols & signs

Question 4

What is Ideal vs. real culture ?

Answer 4

ideal- what society claims to value
real-what society actually values

Question 5

What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis? What are the 2 key points?

Answer 5

the structure of a language determines a native speaker’s perception and categorization of experience

1. The difference in the structure of language parallel differences in the thinking of the people who speak the language
2. The structure of a language strongly influences the speaker’s worldview

ex. Sweden’s term “lagom” just enough, is the Swedish way, their world view. This concept explains Sweden’s long-standing practice of socialism

Question 6

What is cultural transmission?

Answer 6

the fact that culture passes from one generation to another through language. Cultures are therefore able to use information others have learned. also helps spread technology (think internet).

Question 7

What is cultural lag?

Answer 7

occurs when social and cultural changes occur at a slower pace than technological changes. Cultural lag often occurs when new technology enters and changes the society

Question 8

What are values? What is value pairs/ value clusters

Answer 8

s represent cultural standards by which we determine what is good or bad, right or wrong

value pairs - help us define values, usually in terms of opposites

value clusters-are two or more values that support each other

Question 9

What are norms?

Answer 9

rules developed for appropriate behavior based on specific values that are conditional, they can vary from place to place. They provide the justification for sanctions There are two types of norms that govern any society.

Question 10

What are mores ?

Answer 10

norms represent a community’s most important values. In written-based cultures (like ours) societies’ mores are often written into the code of law.

people are given more serious sanctions than folkways when violating

ex. stealing

Question 11

What are folkways?

Answer 11

informal norms. They are based on social expectations. Folkways often involve etiquette and manners. the sanctions applied are less severe than for other types of norms
interesting-we conforms to them without much thought

ex. boys shouldn’t wear barrettes negative sanctions are applied to his behavior, informal

Question 12

What is taboo?

Answer 12

an act that is socially unacceptable, is the strongest form of norms, these are prohibitions viewed as essential to the well being of the community. Takes on a greater level of intensity than mores.

Question 13

What are symbols?

Answer 13

represent, suggest, or stand for something more
ex. national flags, religious symbols (cross star of david)
what we attach meaning to the symbol. it can represent an ideology or philosophy

Question 14

what are gestures?

Answer 14

are symbols we make using our bodies. Gestures differ according to different cultures.

include: facial expression
hand movements
eye contact
other types of body language

Question 15

What are sanctions?

Answer 15

a prize or punishment you receive when you either abide by a norm or violate it.
can be positive reinforcements or negative deterrence of behavior.
If you do what you are supposed to do, you get a positive sanction.

If you break the rules (norms) you earn a negative sanction.

Sanctions can be informal or formal.
ex postive pat on the back (informal), promotion at work (formal)

ex negative speed ticket(formal), bullying (informal)

Question 16

What are terms of responses

Answer 16

Ethnocentrism, Xenophobia, Cultural relativism

Question 17

What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 17

when a person uses his or her own culture to judge another culture. Is potentially dangerous when it leads to forcing one’s way of life on other cultures

Question 18

what is Xenophobia ?

Answer 18

to fear and hostility toward people who are from other countries or cultures
ex. World War II , Pearl harbor Japanese Americans were locked in internment camps, often without cause

Question 19

What is culture relativism ?

Answer 19

deliberate effort to appreciate a group’s ways of life in its own context without prejudice. a practice that respects differences, however, there are situations in which some groups argue that there are universal human rights and values which should be used to evaluate cultures and that the violating of these universal rights justifies action to end such practices

Question 20

What is the difference between culture shock and re-entry shock?

Answer 20

Culture shock- when a person encounters a culture foreign to his or her own and has an emotional response to the differences b/t the cultures
ex. a U.S. soldier sent to Iraq who feels disoriented by the unfamiliar way of life

Re-entry or reverse culture shock- occurs when one returns to their home culture and have difficulty in re-adjusting

Question 21

Subgroups of culture terms

Answer 21

Dominant Culture, Subcultures,
Counter Cultures, Multiculturalism, Assimilation

Question 22

What is dominant culture?

Answer 22

refers to the values, norms, and practices of the group within society that is most powerful in terms of wealth, prestige, status, and influence.

Question 23

What are subcultures ?

Answer 23

groups with a common interest that has distinct values, beliefs and norms
ex. religious groups, ethnic groups

Question 24

what are countercultures?

Answer 24

subcultures that express values or beliefs in direct opposition to the dominant group’s values

Question 25

What is multiculturism?

Answer 25

a concept that supports the inherent value of different cultures within society. Proponents of multiculturalism believe immigrants and ethnic groups should be able to maintain aspects of their original culture such as religion, language, cultural beliefs and traditions.

Question 26

What is Assimilation?

Answer 26

Contrast to multiculturalism, the process by which minority groups adopt the patterns of the dominant culture, can be forced or voluntary

Question 27

Theory and Culture

Answer 27

Symbolic interactionism
structural functionalism
conflict theory

Question 28

Symbolic interactionism and theory?

Answer 28

Symbolic Interactionists explore how language, gestures, or values affect a culture. Symbolic interactionists ask questions such as

How are values defined in the U.S.?
Are U.S. values weakening?
Is the U.S. experiencing a moral decline?

Question 29

Structural Functionalists
and theory?

Answer 29

When functionalist analyze culture they ask how culture works to hold society together. Functionalists ask questions such as

What relationships are necessary to hold society together?
To what degree is a sense of community necessary for the operation of society?
To what degree are common values necessary?

Question 30

Conflict theory and culture?

Answer 30

Conflict theorists suggest that society is united in a struggle for scarce resources. There are winners and losers in society. Conflict theorists would ask questions such as

Who benefits from the arrangements of the society?
What groups are winners or losers in the society?
How does the culture promote inequality in the society?