The Nature of Culture: Useful Flashcards
Aesthetics (taste)
Commonly known as the study of judgments of sentiment and
taste. More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as “critical reflection on
art, culture and nature.” Aesthetics studies new ways of seeing and of perceiving the
world and seeks to determine what is artistically valid or beautiful.
Cultural Capital
The idea that knowledge of certain topics can confer similar benefits
to monetary wealth. People who possess lots of money and wealth have economic
capital. Those who are able to converse knowledgeably about (say) philosophy,
music, art or literature have cultural capital. We could also extend the concept to the
realm of expert knowledge in sub-cultural groups: sub-cultural capital.
Cultural Transmission
The various ways in which culture is disseminated and discussed.
Divergence
Moving personal communication style away from that of another
person. Could be used to signal status difference or the desire to avoid intimacy.
Emblems
Gestures with the specific cultural meanings attached, often used as direct
substitutes for words.
Folk Culture
The localized lifestyle of a culture. It is usually handed down through
oral tradition, relates to a sense of community, and demonstrates the “old ways” over
novelty. Folk culture is quite often imbued with a sense of place. If its elements are
copied by, or removed to, a foreign locale, they will still carry strong connotations of
their original place of creation.
Mass Culture
Culture made by and for the masses.
Enculturation
The ongoing process whereby we acquire ‘culture’.
Hegemony
Italian writer Antonio Gramsci explained why the majority of people
in a culture do not adopt the values and beliefs of their own class. He argued that the
dominant minority within cultures present the values and beliefs of their own class as
somehow ‘natural’ and thus universal. In this way people end up promoting the
values and beliefs of the dominant or ruling class rather than of their own class.
Mediation
The process by which a media text represents an idea, issue or event to us.
Negotiation
This concept is at the very heart of the semiotic approach to the study of
communication, implying as it does that texts do not have meaning except through
the process of negotiation between text and reader.
Naturalisation
The process by which you become the citizen of another country.
Norm
A rule or convention which is characteristic of particular culture or sub-culture.
Preferred Reading
The reading a text’s producer would like the receivers to make. The producer will compose the text in a way that ensures this occurs.
Subjectivity
The individual’s sense of self and identity.
