Sociology - Chapter 3 Flashcards
Culture (2)
No way of life is “natural” to humanity, even though most people around the world view their behavior as that way
The values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects that together form a person’s way of life
What does culture do?
Shapes what we do and helps form our personalities
Difference between culture, nation, and society? (3)
Culture- shared way of life
Nation- political entity (a territory with designated borders. Ex: U.S., Canada)
Society- people who interact in a define territory and share a culture
How many languages are there globally?
7,000 languages, yet they are declining
Unlike other creatures, humans try to give the world
Meaning
Example of someone using a symbol in an unconventional way?
Someone burning the U.S. Flag during a political demonstration
What are two possible meanings of a fur coat? (2)
A prized symbol of success or the inhumane treatment of animals
Every society transmits culture through speech, a process sociologists call?
The “oral cultural tradition”
Who is kanzi? What makes kanzi special? (2)
A 23 year old chimp
He could learn language by listening and observing
Outline the 10 key values of the U.S. as identified by Robin Williams (10)
- Equal opportunity
- Achievement and success
- Material comfort
- Activity and work
- Practicality and efficiency
- Progress
- Science
- Democracy and free enterprise
- Freedom
- Racism and group superiority
Most important… In a culture apply everywhere and at all times
Norms
What are 3 ways that today’s world is a global culture? (3)
- The global economy: the flow of goods
- Global communications: flow of information
- Global migration: the flow of people
Sociologists claim that the large number of cultural universals reflects…
The fact that all humans are members of a single biological species
Nonmaterial culture
The intangible world of ideas created by members of a society
Material culture
The tangible things created by members of a society
Culture shock
Personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life
Symbols
Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture
Language
A system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another
Cultural transmission
The process by which one generation passes culture to the next generation
Values
Culturally defined standards by which people assess desirability, goodness, and beauty
Norms
Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior or its members
Mores
Norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance
Folkways
Norms for routine or casual interaction
Social control
Attempts by society to regulate people’s thought and behavior
Technology
Knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings
High culture
Cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite
Popular culture
Cultural patterns that are widespread among a society’s population
Subculture
Cultural patterns that are set apart some segment of a society’s population
Eurocentrism
The dominance of European (especially english) cultural patterns
Afrocentrism
The dominance of African cultural patterns
Cultural integration
The close relationships among various elements of a cultural system
Counterculture
Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society
Cultural lag
Fact that some cultural elements change more quickly than others, disrupting cultural system
Ethnocentrism
The practice of judging another culture by the standards of ones own culture
Cultural relativism
The practice of evaluating a culture by its own standards
Cultural universals
Traits that are part of every known culture
Sociobiology
A theoretical paradigm that explores ways in which biology affects how we create culture
