Week 4: Culture Flashcards
Culture
sums of practices, rituals, values, norms, ideologies, beliefs, languages, symbols and material objects that people create
-connects and divides people; constantly changing– affected by internal and external forces (eg: internal: age of group members; external: technological innovations)
Values
moral beliefs about what is good and bad in a society and guides behaviour
Norms
rules and expectations that are based on values, often informal
Beliefs
things that people believe to be true, align w norms and values
Ideology
shared beliefs that explain the world and guide behaviour
Symbols
material and non-material objects to which cultures assign meaning
Rituals
important, routinized group activities (weddings, grad)
Material Culture
physical goods/objects that represent a culture (eg: clothes, currency)
Symbolic Culture
aspect of culture including beliefs, values, norms, language
Socioeconomic Class
groups with similar position because income, wealth, education
High Culture
cultural products made for elite groups (fine art, gourmet food, opera)
Low Culture or Popculture:
associated w the masses, homogenized and standardized product of massive corporations eg Twilight
Subcultures
groups w values and practices that separate them from the rest of society, but not necessarily opposed to the mainstream (eg. Goths, bikers, LGBTQ, minority religious groups)
Countercultures
reject mainstream culture (hippies, cults)
Culture Wars
friction between cultures (eg Left vs Right politics)
Consumer Culture
culture in which identity is tied to consumption and is imbued with meaning (USA, Canada, China)
Culture Industry
produces products of mass culture (music, film, ads, radio etc) -uniformity, standardization, repetition
Conspicuous Culture
practice of overtly displaying consumption of expensive cultural items or services (eg brand names, private jets)
Pseudo Individuality
we think we are making are own choices about our consumption that express our identity, but choices are pre-fabricated by the culture industry
Corporate Consolidation
acquisition of smaller corporations by a larger one, leads to the homogenization of cultural landscape
Cultural Capital
particular types of knowledge, skills, mannerisms, tastes, appearances, hobbies, behaviours. - distinguish groups of people, often informal (knowing proper etiquette at a dinner) or formal (degrees)
Habitus
“common sense” learned ways of acting/thinking/navigating the world
ethnocentrism
evaluating another culture negatively bc it differs from one’s own
cultural relativism
assessing a culture by its own standards, not ones imposed by other cultures
cultural imperialism
when one culture imposes its cultural values and norms on another culture -a specific type of this is Americanization: importation of cultural characteristics of USA on other parts of the world
Globalization
exchanges of cultural ideas and values between cultures around the world
Hybridity
new cultural practices, norms, beliefs, and language that arise due to cultural exchange (eg. fusion food)
cultural appropriation
when members of a dominant culture adopt practices or values from another culture (white people wearing traditional indigenous headdresses to a rave)
multiculturalism
diversity of cultures within one society
