Exam 2 Flashcards
Five problems each culture must address:
What is the
- Human orientation to activity?
- Relationship of humans to each other?
- Nature of Human beings?
- Relationship of humans to the natural world?
- Orientation of humans to time?
Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck four conclusions about the functions of cultural patterns
- People in all cultures face common human problems for which they must find solutions.
- The range of alternative solutions to a cultures problems is limited.
- Within a given culture, there will be preferred solutions, which most people within the culture will select, but there will also be people who choose other options.
- Over time, the preferred solutions shape the cultures basic assumptions about beliefs, values, norms, and social practices
Activity Orientation
How the people of a culture view human actions and the expression of self through activities
Social Relations Orientation
How the people in a culture organize themselves and relate to one another
Self Orientation
How peoples identities are formed, wether the culture views the self as changeable, what motivates the individuals actions, and the kinds of people who are valued and respected
World Orientation
Cultural patterns that tell people how to locate themselves in relation to the spiritual world, nature, and other living things
Time Orientation
How people conceptualize time
Cultural Differences (Hofstede)
An approach to understanding the range of cultural differences. Based on the assertion that people carry mental programs or “software of the mind”
Power Distance
The degree to which the cultures believes that institutional and organizational power should be distributed unequally and the decisions of the power holders should be challenged or accepted
Uncertainty-Avoidence
Extent by which the culture feels threatened by ambiguous, uncertain situations and tries to avoid them by establishing more structure
Masculinity-Femininity
Indicates the degree to which a culture values “masculine” behaviors, such as assertiveness and acquisition of wealth, or “feminine” behaviors such as caring for others and the quality of life
Individualism- Collectivism
Degree to which a culture relies on and has allegiance to the self or the group
Indulgence
View that pleasure and the enjoyment of life are very desirable, puts focus on happiness as a way of life
Restraint
Focuses on self discipline and believe that individuals should curb their urges and desires for unrestrained fun
High-context Cultures
Used in high-context cultures, in which most of the meaning is either implied by physical setting or is presumed to be part of the individuals internalized beliefs, values, norms, and social practices
EX: Japanese, African American, Mexican
Low-context Cultures
Used in low-context cultures, in which a majority of the information is vested in the explicit code
EX: German, Swedish, American
Unexamined Cultural Identity
Stage where One’s cultural characteristics are taken for granted, and consequently there is little interest in exploring cultural issues
Cultural Identity Search
A process of exploration and questioning about ones culture in order to learn more about it and to understand the implications of membership in that culture
Cultural Identity Achievement
A clear, confident acceptance of oneself and an internalization of ones cultural identity
Ethnocentrisim
To draw from personal experiences to understand and evaluate the motivations of others
Stereotyping
Information Processing results in a simplification of the world, so that prior experiences are used as the basis for determining both the categories and the attributes of the events
Prejudice
Negative attributes toward other people that are based on faulty and inflexible stereotypes
Discrimination
“Prejudice in action”
Racism
To categorize people who are culturally different in terms of their physical traits, such as skin color, hair color, and texture, facial structure, and eye shape
Levels of Racism
Individual and Institutional Level
Symbolic Racism
“Modern racism” members of a group with political and economical power believe that members of some other group threaten their traditional values
Tokenism
When individuals do not perceive themselves as prejudiced because they make small concessions to, while holding basically negative attitudes toward, members of the other group
Aversive Racism
Negative beliefs and feelings about members of a particular race, often as a result of childhood socialization experiences
General Likes and Dislikes
Can form as a basis for a prejudicial attitude simply because the group displays behaviors that another group does not like
Degree of Unfamiliarity
Simply responding to unfamiliar people may create negative attitudes because of lack of experience with the characteristics of their group
Cultural Identity
Ones sense of belonging to a particular culture or ethnic group
Social Identity
Develops as a consequence of memberships in particular groups within one’s culture
Personal Identity
Based on peoples unique characteristics, which may differ from those of others in their cultural and social groups
Verbal
“Consisting of words”
Verbal Code
A set of rules about the use of words in the creation of messages
Phonology
Rules for combining phonemes
Phonemes
Basic sound units of a language
45 in English Language
Morphemes
Phonemes combined. Smallest unit of meaning in a language
50 Million in English Language
Semantics
The study of the meaning of words
Pragmantics
Final component of all verbal codes
The effect of language on human perceptions and behaviors
Syntactics
Fourth Component
The relationship of words to one another
Symbols
Words, Actions, or Objects that stand for or represent units of meaning
Codeswitching
The selection refers to the selection of language to be sued in a particular interaction by individuals who can speak multiple languages
Dialects
Versions of a language with distinctive vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation that are spoken by particular groups of people or within particular regions
Accents
Distinguishable marks of pronunciation
Argot
A specialized language that is used by a large group within a culture to define the boundaries of their group from others who are in a more powerful position in society
Jargon
A set of words or terms that are shared by those with a common profession or experience
