Sociology: Culture...

Question 1

Definition of culture:

Answer 1

Culture refers to the way of life of a society or social group which generally involves the learning and sharing of particular values, norms, beliefs, customs, language, history and knowledge. Giddens (1997) argues that it is culture rather than biology that makes people human.

Question 2

Definition of norms:

Answer 2

Norms are cultural expectations or social rules that societies attach to particular types of behaviour. They often reflect key values. Norms affect all aspects of public and private behaviour.

Question 3

Example of norms affecting the public and private behaviour:

Answer 3

Norms affect all aspects of public and private behaviour including, diet, romance, dress, marriage, upbringing children, consumerism and so on.

For example, in the uk, what, when and how we eat and drink, the ways in which males and females dress, how we express love, how we marry, how we treat children, what we buy and so on are all shaped by dominant norms (and in turn by dominant values).

Question 4

Definition of values:

Answer 4

Values are beliefs and goals relating to what members of a society or culture feel are morally important and desirable. They act as general guidelines for behaviour .

Question 5

Example of principle values of the uk culture:

Answer 5

Respect for human life, free speech, achievement, equality of opportunity, materialism, individualism, fairness, justice and respect for privacy.

Question 6

Definition of Customs:

Answer 6

Customs are norms that have been established in a society for generations and are usually part of the historical traditions of a society that mark it out as culturally unique and distinctive.

Question 7

Example of customs:

Answer 7

In the uk Bonfire Night is celebrated on 5 November while in Wales, St David’s Day is celebrated as a national festival on 1 March each year.

Question 8

Definition of Social Roles:

Answer 8

Social roles are set of norms or social rules which tell members of a society what should be the culturally expected behaviour of particular individuals.

Question 9

Example of social roles:

Answer 9

The role of a mother in the contemporary uk involves expectations about how ‘good mothers’ should behave , and is consequently used to socially judge individuals who may or may not live up t these expectations.

Question 10

Definition of status:

Answer 10

Status refers to the prestige or social standing attached to a particular role because members of a society or social group value highly the behaviour associated with that role.

Question 11

Example of status:

Answer 11

Doctors are held in high regard in uk society because their behaviour is directly concerned with saving lives.

Question 12

Definition of Ascribed Status:

Answer 12

Ascribed status refers to those roles that are fixed at birth by descent or inheritance, or by physical characteristics such as skin colour or gender. In some societies, the norms relating to the work people do, relationships, marriage, political and economic power and so on are restricted and unchangeable because status is ascribed.

Question 13

Example of Ascribed Status:

Answer 13

The queen occupies an ascribed status because she inherited the position.

Question 14

Definition of Achieved Status:

Answer 14

Achieved status refers to those roles which are achieved through education, qualifications, hard work, skill and talent, In Western societies such as the uk, roles and status tend to be achieved because members of such societies value equality of opportunity and merit.

Question 15

Example of Achieved Status:

Answer 15

Lord sugar is an example of achieved status, given the notion that his early year began as an market trader.

Question 16

Types of Culture:

Answer 16

• Subcultures.
• Spectacular Youth Subculture.
• High culture.
• Popular culture.
• Global Culture.
• Consumer Culture.

Question 17

Definition of Subculture:

Answer 17

Subcultures are minority social groups that generally subscribe to the values, practices, interests and problems that are unique to them.

Question 18

What can be classified as subcultural?

Answer 18

• Ethnic minorities living in the uk are subcultures because while they generally subscribe to the values and norms of most people in the uk: perform their daily religious/cultural lifestyle that reflects and celebrates their origin.
• Spectacular youth subcultures such as teddy boys, mods, skinheads, hippies, punks, goths and hipsters can be seen to constitute distinct subcultures.
• Class status.

Question 19

What is Spectacular youth subculture?

Answer 19

These tend to be composed of young people who are marginalised or disaffected by society in some way or who simply want to rebel or be different. They often develop a visible and strong sense of group identity which may be expressed in the form of everyday lifestyle, dress codes, taste in music, shocking or deviant behaviour and so on.

Question 20

Definition of High Culture:

Answer 20

High culture refers to the particular products and practices of a culture which are seen as intellectually and aesthetically superior because they supposedly represent the highest levels of human creativity. Such products include classical music and theatre, opera, literature and art, while high cultural practices might include enjoying ballet or reading poetry.

Question 21

What did Marxist sociologist Bourdieu argue about high culture?

Answer 21

Bourdieu argued that high culture occupies the ‘superior’ position that it does because the capitalist class can use its use economic and political power to impose its definitions of moral and artistic worth on the rest of society via the mass

Question 22

Definition of conspicuous consumption:

Answer 22

A person may express their identity and good tastes through the acquisition and consumption of so called high status goods.

• LINK: Pakulski and Waters (1996) and Chapman (2001)

Question 23

Chapman (2001):

Link to conspicuous consumption.

Answer 23

• The super rich = new money.

they will express their wealth through consumer culture.

Question 24

Definition of cultural diversity:

Answer 24

The cultural differences that exist in society, despite the norms and values. People still experience a common sense of belonging.

EXAMPLE: Language, age, religion and race.

Question 25

Definition of Cultural Hybridity:

Answer 25

people who are increasingly mixing and matching different elements of cultures that now exist in the uk, to construct a sense of identity.

Question 26

Example of cultural hybridity:

Answer 26

-British culture has taken an aspect from the south Asian culture to conform the idea of curries and chips.

Question 27

KEY THEORIST:

Answer 27

Pierre Bourdieu (1986) : the three capitals.
Herbert Marcuse: Popular culture is used by the ruling class to encourage the population of the poor and uncritically accept the status quo- inequality.

Question 28

Definition of the status quo:

Answer 28

To maintain or change the existing social structure and values. With regards to the political system.