Module 4: Culture

Question 1

Two important things to remember when studying culture are that

Answer 1

• culture is changing so we need to be aware to the ways that culture is human-made and therefore not static.
• there is no one culture; it varies across time and place, and in its composition. A single culture may be contained within a single nation, but often it crosses boundaries, right down to a plurality of cultures in a country, a city, a neighbourhood, or even a household.

Question 2

Ethnocentrism

Answer 2

refers to the tendency to negatively judge other cultures based on the standards of your own culture.

Question 3

cultural relativism

Answer 3

The practice of assessing the components of a culture in the context of that culture itself, and not compared to another culture

Question 4

multiculturalism

Answer 4

Question 5

assimilation

Answer 5

the process by which an individual takes on the values, norms, and practices of the dominant culture

Question 6

colonization

Answer 6

Question 7

The Canadian Multiculturalism Act is designed to recognize and promote: (4)

Answer 7

• the full participation of all individuals and communities in the development of Canada
• equal treatment and protection under the law
• equal opportunities to gain employment
• the preservation and enhancement of non-official languages, while strengthening the official languages (English and French)

Question 8

cultural appropriation

Answer 8

Question 9

High culture+ex (2)

Answer 9

Refers to elements of a culture that are high status and are therefore associated with a society’s elite. Not just anyone can afford a $5,000 (USD) hamburger.

Question 10

Mass culture

Answer 10

Refers to the cultural practices and goods associated with the majority. Mass culture is more pervasive, commonly shared, and not associated with high status.

Question 11

Dominant culture+ex (2)

Answer 11

refers to the values, behaviours, customs, symbols, and objects of the majority; in Canada, think democracy, hockey, or the English language.

Question 12

A subculture

Answer 12

Question 13

Counterculture+ ex (2)

Answer 13

• a type of subculture that is in opposition to dominant culture.
• Examples of a counterculture centred on social norms are those engaged in non-monogamous long-term romantic relationships, who are counter to mainstream values of monogamy in such long-term partnerships. (This topic is something you’ll read about in Chapter 11—Relationships and Families.)

Question 14

rites of passage

Answer 14

Question 15

Material culture+ ex (2)

Answer 15

• the tangible objects and technologies of a culture
• this includes such things as the foods we consume, the kind of housing common to where we live, and the museums we visit

Question 16

Non-material culture (2)

Answer 16

• the intangible values, norms, and symbols of a culture
• Examples of non-material culture are ceremonies, language, and our expectations for all types of behaviour, from how to enter and exit public transit through to our laws.

Question 17

Social-media technology—an example of

Answer 17

material culture

Question 18

Technology

Answer 18

Technology is material goods that are designed for the practical purposes of humans through the application of scientific knowledge.

Question 19

Consumerism

Answer 19

the tendency for people’s activities and identities to revolve around the purchasing of material goods

Question 20

conspicuous consumption

Answer 20

Question 21

Values

Answer 21

are generally accepted ideas about what is good, right, important, and desirable

Question 22

Norms

Answer 22

are generally accepted standards for behaviour.

Question 23

symbols

Answer 23

are objects and gestures that carry meaning to those within a shared culture.

Question 24

deviance+ex

Answer 24

behaviour that violates cultural expectations or standards of behaviour

- ex not voting

Question 25

Attitudinal deviance

Answer 25

focuses on a different belief system or set of attitudes, such as people who believe the earth is flat

Question 26

Conditional deviance + ex

Answer 26

examines how certain conditions, such as having a physical disability, render people deviant in the eyes of others. Statistically small populations, such as people born with red hair, those who are very tall or very short, or same-sex attraction, are often seen as deviant simply because these traits are not the same as most people.

Question 27

behavioural deviance

Answer 27

when people behave in a way that violates cultural standards of behaviour

Question 28

Like many norms, deviance is —–; it is the product of a particular place, time, and culture. This means that it is not universal, but instead, it is ——.

Answer 28

• constructed
• subject to change over time and place

Question 29

Folkways + Ex (2)

Answer 29

• relate to the commonly-accepted way of doing things in a particular culture
• Ex: For example, if you invite yourself over to someone’s house, you’ve likely violated a cultural norm about waiting for an invitation

Question 30

more (3)

What it is+reaction+ ex

Answer 30

• When a guideline for behaviour involves some sense of morality, of what is right and wrong, it is a more.
• Because the behaviour is seen as crucial to the decency of a culture, a violation of that norm will elicit a stronger, more negative reaction than the violation of a folkway.
• For example, cheating on a test will elicit a strong condemnation of your behaviour and an immediate punishment because of how blatantly cheating on a test goes against the underlying values of honesty, fairness, and merit.

Question 31

Laws (3)

What it is+ legislated makes law…+concious

Answer 31

• norms that regulate our behaviour through a system of rules enforced by state and social institutions.
• Laws are mores that have been legislated into various codes and statutes, like the Criminal Code of Canada; this makes laws a kind of subcategory of mores, and you should think of laws in the same way as mores in terms of the underlying moral principle.
• But where folkways and mores produce unconscious behaviours, Sumner (1906) argued that laws create conscious, voluntary behaviours, as people generally wish to avoid behaving in a way that will result in state punishment.

Question 32

taboo +ex (2)

Answer 32

• Taboos are behaviours that are so strongly prohibited for social or sacred cultural reasons that any violation of a taboo is met with the strongest condemnation and punishment.
• Common examples of taboo include incest, cannibalism, and bestiality.

Question 33

And what you’ve probably come to realize is that there is some overlap between laws and taboos. That is,

Answer 33

most taboos are subject to the law.

Question 34

Indigenous Languages Act

Answer 34

The Act is built around the preservation, protection, and revitalization of Indigenous languages across Canada.

Question 35

repatriation

Answer 35

Question 36

decolonization

Answer 36

Question 37

Comprehensive land-claims agreements, beginning in 1975, are

Answer 37

negotiations between the Canadian federal government, the relevant provincial or territorial government, and Indigenous groups that centre primarily on land and development and management of the land, and may also include self-government.