Week 4: Culture

Question 1

Culture

Answer 1

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)

Question 2

Values

Answer 2

moral beliefs about what is good and bad in a society and guides behaviour

Question 3

Norms

Answer 3

rules and expectations that are based on values, often informal

Question 4

Beliefs

Answer 4

things that people believe to be true, align w norms and values

Question 5

Ideology

Answer 5

shared beliefs that explain the world and guide behaviour

Question 6

Symbols

Answer 6

material and non-material objects to which cultures assign meaning

Question 7

Rituals

Answer 7

important, routinized group activities (weddings, grad)

Question 8

Material Culture

Answer 8

physical goods/objects that represent a culture (eg: clothes, currency)

Question 9

Symbolic Culture

Answer 9

aspect of culture including beliefs, values, norms, language

Question 10

Socioeconomic Class

Answer 10

groups with similar position because income, wealth, education

Question 11

High Culture

Answer 11

cultural products made for elite groups (fine art, gourmet food, opera)

Question 12

Low Culture or Popculture:

Answer 12

associated w the masses, homogenized and standardized product of massive corporations eg Twilight

Question 13

Subcultures

Answer 13

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)

Question 14

Countercultures

Answer 14

reject mainstream culture (hippies, cults)

Question 15

Culture Wars

Answer 15

friction between cultures (eg Left vs Right politics)

Question 16

Consumer Culture

Answer 16

culture in which identity is tied to consumption and is imbued with meaning (USA, Canada, China)

Question 17

Culture Industry

Answer 17

produces products of mass culture (music, film, ads, radio etc) -uniformity, standardization, repetition

Question 18

Conspicuous Culture

Answer 18

practice of overtly displaying consumption of expensive cultural items or services (eg brand names, private jets)

Question 19

Pseudo Individuality

Answer 19

we think we are making are own choices about our consumption that express our identity, but choices are pre-fabricated by the culture industry

Question 20

Corporate Consolidation

Answer 20

acquisition of smaller corporations by a larger one, leads to the homogenization of cultural landscape

Question 21

Cultural Capital

Answer 21

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)

Question 22

Habitus

Answer 22

“common sense” learned ways of acting/thinking/navigating the world

Question 23

ethnocentrism

Answer 23

evaluating another culture negatively bc it differs from one’s own

Question 24

cultural relativism

Answer 24

assessing a culture by its own standards, not ones imposed by other cultures

Question 25

cultural imperialism

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Globalization

Answer 26

exchanges of cultural ideas and values between cultures around the world

Question 27

Hybridity

Answer 27

new cultural practices, norms, beliefs, and language that arise due to cultural exchange (eg. fusion food)

Question 28

cultural appropriation

Answer 28

when members of a dominant culture adopt practices or values from another culture (white people wearing traditional indigenous headdresses to a rave)

Question 29

multiculturalism

Answer 29

diversity of cultures within one society