Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts, theories, and terminology from the Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics lecture notes.

Culture

A collective set of beliefs, behaviors, ideas, philosophies, and practices shared by groups of people.

Society

A group of people living together with shared cultures, having social interactions and inter-relationships.

Politics

The activities involved in government and the process of governing.

Anthropology

The systematic study of humanity, evolutionary origins, biological features (such as physiology, genetic makeup, nutritional history, and evolution), and social customs and beliefs.

Sociology

The study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior.

Political Science

The discipline concerned primarily with the state, government, and politics, derived from the Greek word polis ('city-state') and the Latin word scire ('to know').

Symbols

Anything used to stand for something else that gives meaning to culture, such as the cross or the pagtree.

Language

Known as the 'storehouse of culture' (Arcinas, 2016), a system of words and symbols used to communicate that continuously evolves.

Technology

The application of knowledge and equipment to ease the task of living and maintaining the environment, including artifacts, methods, and devices (Arcinas, 2016).

Maitum Burial Jar

Clay burial jars used by early Filipinos to bury the dead, featuring human-like faces that showcase early creativity and beliefs.

Manunggul Jar

A burial jar featuring a lid showing a boat with two human figures, believed to represent a journey to the afterlife.

Values

Culturally defined standards for what is good or desirable, determining how individuals are likely to respond in given circumstances.

Beliefs

An individual's faith, conceptions, or ideas about what is true in the environment, based on common sense, folk wisdom, religion, science, or a mix of these.

Norms

Specific rules or standards that guide appropriate behavior and serve as societal expectations mandating specific actions in specific situations.

Folkways

Everyday customs and habits expected to be followed, which carry minor consequences if broken (e.g., saying 'po' and 'opo').

Morals

Norms based on moral values whose violation brings strong societal disapproval (e.g., respecting parents and elders).

Laws

Formal rules made and enforced by the government that carry legal penalties if broken.

Taboos

Behaviors strongly forbidden in a society because they are deeply offensive or unacceptable (e.g., incest).

Material Culture

The component of culture consisting of tangible, physical objects, resources, and spaces, such as homes, schools, churches, and tools.

Non-Material Culture

The component of culture consisting of intangible things, including ideas, beliefs, values, norms, and language.

Xenocentrism

The cultural perspective characterized by the belief that another culture is superior or better than one's own culture.

Ethnocentricism

The belief that one's own culture is better or more correct than others, leading to the judgment of other cultures by one's own standards.

Cultural Relativism

The principle that an individual's beliefs and activities should be understood and evaluated based on their own culture rather than the criteria of another.

Critical Limit of Respect

The perspective that while identity and tradition are respected, actions that harm people, violate human rights, or destroy dignity are judged as wrong regardless of culture.

Cultural Adaptation

The process of adjusting to a new cultural environment (e.g., an exchange student adapting in Japan).

Accommodation

A form of cultural adaptation where an individual adjusts to a new culture while still remaining part of their parent culture.

Acculturation

The process of incorporating behavioral patterns of other cultures into one's own, occurring either voluntarily or by force.

Assimilation

The complete adoption of a new culture's way of life, resulting in a group losing nearly all of its original or native culture.

Status

The position that an individual occupies in a particular social system, carrying specific societal expectations.

Ascribed Status

A social position assigned at birth or received involuntarily throughout life.

Achieved Status

A social position earned through personal effort, ability, education, or individual choice.

Master Status

A status that becomes the most important aspect of a person's identity and strongly influences how others perceive them.

Status Set

All the statuses that an individual occupies simultaneously at any given time.

Role

The dynamic or behavioral aspect of a status, representing the expected behaviors attached to a position.

Role Set

The collection of different roles that are attached to a single status.

Role Strain

Stress experienced within a single role when the competing demands of that specific status become difficult to fulfill.

Role Conflict

A clash occurring when a person simultaneously holds two or more statuses whose expected roles conflict with one another.

Role Ambiguity

A state of confusion where an individual is uncertain or unclear about the expectations, responsibilities, or boundaries of a particular role.

Socialization

The process through which individuals internalize society's objective reality (Berger & Luckmann, 1966) and learn the culture of their society (Giddens, 2009).

Family

The first and most influential agent of socialization where children learn early values from parents, guardians, and siblings.

School

The formal agent of socialization that develops knowledge, skills, discipline, and civic responsibility beyond academic subjects.

Peer Group

An agent of socialization consisting of individuals of similar age, interests, or status that shapes identity and acceptance during adolescence.

Mass Media & Social Media

The digital agent of socialization guided by Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory (1977), where individuals learn behaviors by observing and imitating models.

Religion

The moral and spiritual agent of socialization that promotes social cohesion (Émile Durkheim) by reinforcing shared beliefs, values, rituals, and traditions.

Social Norms

The accepted rules, expectations, and standards of behavior shared by members of a society to guide appropriate or inappropriate actions (William Graham Sumner, 1906).

Conformity

Behavior that adheres to accepted norms, values, and expectations, reinforcing social order and stability through positive sanctions.

Deviance

Behavior that violates accepted norms, challenging social stability and resulting in negative sanctions.

Strain Theory

A sociological theory proposed by Robert K. Merton (1938) stating that deviance occurs when there is a disconnect between culturally approved goals and the legitimate means to achieve them.

Cultural Goals

The objectives and aspirations that society encourages its members to achieve, such as success, education, wealth, and recognition.

Institutionalized Means

The socially accepted, legitimate pathways available for achieving cultural goals, such as working hard, studying, and following the law.

Innovation

A mode of adaptation in Merton's deviance typology where an individual accepts cultural goals but rejects legitimate means, using illegitimate methods to achieve them.

Ritualism

A mode of adaptation where an individual rejects or abandons cultural goals but strictly adheres to the institutionalized means and routines of society.

Retreatism

A mode of adaptation in Merton's typology involving the rejection of both culturally approved goals and the institutionalized means, often leading to withdrawal from society.

Rebellion

A mode of adaptation where an individual rejects existing cultural goals and institutionalized means, actively working to replace them with a new social or political order.