sociology ch 3

Question 1

counterculture

Answer 1

a group that strongly rejects dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternative lifestyles

Question 2

cultural imperialism

Answer 2

the extensive infusion of one nations culture into other nations

Question 3

cultural lag

Answer 3

William Ogburn’s term for gap between the technical development of a society (material culture) and its moral and legal institutions (nonmaterial culture)

Question 4

cultural relativism

Answer 4

the belief that the behaviours and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the cultures own standards

Question 5

cultural universals

Answer 5

customs and practices that occur across all societies

Question 6

culture

Answer 6

the knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society

Question 7

culture shock

Answer 7

the disorientation that people feel when they encounter cultures radically different from their own

Question 8

diffusion

Answer 8

the transmission of cultural items or social practices from one group or society to another

Question 9

discovery

Answer 9

the process of learning about something previously unknown or unrecognized

Question 10

ethnocentrism

Answer 10

the tendency to regard ones own culture and group as the standard and thus superior, whereas all other groups are seen as inferior

Question 11

folkways

Answer 11

informal norms or everyday customs that may be violated without serious consequences within a particular culture

Question 12

ideal culture

Answer 12

the values and standards of behaviour that people in a society profess to hold.

Question 13

invention

Answer 13

the process of reshaping existing cultural items into a new form

Question 14

language

Answer 14

a system of symbols that express ideas and enables people to think and communicate with one another

Question 15

laws

Answer 15

formal, standardized norms that have been enacted by legislatures and are enforced by formal sanctions

Question 16

material culture

Answer 16

a component of culture that consists of physical or tangible creations such as clothing, shelter and art that members of a society make, use and share

Question 17

mores

Answer 17

strongly held norms with moral and ethical connotations that may not be violated without serious consequences in a particular culture

Question 18

nonmaterial culture

Answer 18

a component of culture that consists of he abstract or intangible human creations of society such as attitudes, beliefs and values that influence peoples behaviour

Question 19

norms

Answer 19

established rules of behaviour or standards of conduct

Question 20

real culture

Answer 20

the values and standards of behaviour that people actually follow

Question 21

sanctions

Answer 21

rewards for appropriate behaviour or penalties for inappropriate behaviour

Question 22

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 22

the proposition that language shapes its speakers view of reality

Question 23

subculture

Answer 23

a group of people who share a distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviours that differ in some significant way from those of the larger society

Question 24

taboos

Answer 24

mores so strong that their violation is considered extremely offensive and even unmentionable

Question 25

technology

Answer 25

the knowledge, techniques and tools that make it possible for people to transform resources into usable forms, as well as the knowledge and skills required to use them after they are developed

Question 26

value contradiction

Answer 26

values that conflict with one another or are mutually exclusive

Question 27

values

Answer 27

collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in a particular culture