Unit 3 Topic 1 Flashcards
What is culture?
The shared practices, technologies, behaviors, and attitudes passed down by a society over time
What is a cultural hearth?
A place where innovations and new ideas originate and diffuse to other places
What is folk culture?
Practices seen in small homogenous groups living in isolated rural areas
What is material culture?
The physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture
What is non-material culture?
The customs, traditions, stories, myths, religion, and languages which are intangible in a culture
What is a habit?
A repetitive act that a particular individual performs
What are some American cultural traits?
Shared Practices: The 4th of July, Thanksgiving, etc.
Technologies: Road use, automobiles, bridges, etc.
Behaviors: Sports Events, etc.
Attitudes: Individualism and responsibility
What are some cultural traits in general?
Food Preferences: Food, Drinks, National Dishes, etc.
Architecture: Materials used, special patterns, etc.
Land Use: The geography of the land, rivers, lakes, etc.
What are the categories of cultural traits?
artifacts, sociofacts, menifacts
What are artifacts?
The visible parts of culture
What are sociofacts?
Structures that affect a culture (family, religion, government, etc.)
What are mentifacts?
The ideas and values of a culture
What is cultural relativism?
The evaluation of a culture by the standards of the culture itself
What is ethnocentrism?
The evaluation of a culture by the evaluator’s own cultural standards
What are rites of passages?
Ceremonies that mark important transition periods in a person’s life such as birth, puberty, marriage, etc. Rites of passages usually involve ritual activities and teachings designed to strip individuals of their original roles and prepare them for new roles.
