Definitions Flashcards
Culture
The values, norms, meanings, beliefs and customs of society. This could be high culture - produced by a talented few and enjoyed by a sophisticated minority, or low culture - popular culture of the masses.
Meanings
Things which give sense and significance to people’s experiences. Stuart Hall (97) describes some of the key features of cultural meaning. Firstly, it is largely thanks to language that humans are able to create meanings. Secondly, culture is about shared meanings.
Norms
Social expectations,detailed guides to behavior. For example you should hold the door open for others, you shouldn’t grad the last biscuit. There are different rules for different situations.
Values
General standards or ethical principles which are highly prized. Love in obvious example, others are religious convictions and political loyalties.
Subculture
Certain norms, values and meanings which are distinctive to a particular group within society. For example, within Britain today, there are groups who share many aspects of mainstream culture, but also have certain beliefs, attitudes and ways of behaving on their own. Skinheads and Punks are 2 examples.
Social status
A position in society e.g. a teacher, student, mother etc. Status can be ascribed - largely fixed and unchangeable, or achieved status - involve some degree of choice - a person chooses to get married.
Social role
A set of expectations attached to a particular social status. We expect a nun to be ‘holy’ and unselfish. A soldier is required to be brave and disciplined.
Social institution
Social roles tend to attach themselves in clusters, with each role having a strong connection with related roles e.g.t he roles or a patients, nurse, GP are interlinked. When roles group up like this they make up social institution.
Social structure
Social structure of society is the collection of social institutions in a society. these institutions are interrelated. For example, the education system trains people in literacy, numeracy and knowledge and this ensures a supply of educated workers for the economy.
Social Control
Social control refers to the methods employed to ensure people comply with society’s rules and regulations. Peter Berger (1966) identifies some of the more common methods of social control as physical violence against them who offend them and economic pressure - people may conform for threat they may lose their job.
Primary socialization
Intimate and influential socialization, usually from parents, in the early years of life. This is when we are in intimate and prolonged contact with our parents and they have a significant influence on us.
Secondary socialization
Socialization that comes later in life from various sources. These include peer groups, teachers, and media. Sometimes they play a supportive role adding to primary socialization and sometimes they have a significant influence on us.
Anticipatory socialization
In many cases we have already ‘rehearsed’ roles before we taken them on. We imagine ourselves in them. For example, the young person enters the medical school and already knows a bit about life of a doctor through personal experience or watching shows like Casualty.
Sanctions
Rewards or punishments such as stickers to reward for behavior and grounding to punish bad behavior.
Role Models
People who give us ideas how to play particular social roles such as people on TV programmes or people in higher authority than you in a certain role.
Hegemonic masculinity
Dominant style of masculinity which stresses toughness, competition, hierarchy and aggression. Connell (95) came up with this and it crowds out other masculine styles such as artistic and gay masculine identities.
Gender
A set of cultural expectations about how males and females should behave. For example men are expected to be tough and aggressive where as females are expected to be kind and sensitive.
Ethnic Group
A group with a shared culture based on a sense of common origin. For example, the identities of African-Caribbean people in Britain are shaped by many things including their age and social class. They are considered as prizing their body over mind more whereas Asians are considered as being hard working.
Hybrid identities
Identities which draw two or more ethnic traditions. for example. Les Back (96) found that new hybrid identities were forming among young people in two council estates in South London. Back found a great deal of interracial friendship interaction and a great deal of cultural borrowing from oher groups.
Social class
A group which occupies a particular social and economic position in society. This consists of upper class, middle class, working class or lower class.
Consumption
How people spend their money, This is how people may once have organized their identities around work and production but nowadays their lives are more likely to be centered on leisure and the things they spend their money on.
