Ch 12 -- Culture, demographics, and inequality

material culture

physical artifacts

symbolic culture

beliefs, values, rituals, symbols

subcultures

groups of people within a larger cultural framework with differing practices, norms, or values

mass media

radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and the internet

Popular culture

mass media allows, centralization and standardication of culture

culture lag

delay between changes happening and cultural integration

culture shock

disorienting experience of immersion in a new culture

assimilation

integration into predominant culture

multiculturalism

preservation of cultures

cultural transmission

cultural elements transferred over time

cultural diffusion

transfer between different cultures

Key demographic categories

age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, immigration status

racialization

imposing a racial identity

racial formation theory

use of racialization for political/social goals

immigration status

citizenship, permanent residency, visas, undocumented

Emigration

out of a country, push factors

immigration

into a country, pull factors

core nations

high-skill labor requiring extensive capital investment

peripheral nations

lower-skilled labor and natural resources

semi-peripheral

in between

urban decay/renewal

economic changes to urban core areas

gentrification

displacement of poorer local residents as an area becomes more affluent

class systems

defined largely based on income, mobility possible

Caste system

hereditary membership

financial capital money

relationship with and ability to influence situations with money

social capital

social contacts and networking

cultural capital

prestigious signals defined by financial stability, relationship to money, and ability to achieve tasks and influence situations with money

class consciousness

awareness of class interests

false consciousness

adopting goals of another class

power

ability to directly get things done

prestige

signals that appear to correlate with power

privilege

favorable assumptions or advantages due to features such as race, sex, and physical characteristics

intersectionality

experiences of an individual are more than the sum of component demographics

absolute poverty

insufficient means to subsist

relative poverty

poorer than the surrounding community

marginal poverty

caused by a lack stable employment

structural poverty

caused and enforced by overall economic structure

residential segregation

clustering of demographic groups

social reproduction

passing of social status from generation to generation

global inequalities

differences between countries

prevalence

how many people in a population have a condition at a given time

incidence

how many individuals in a population are newly diagnosed with a condition over a given time frame

intergenerational mobility

ability for successive generations to rise or fall in status or class

intragenerational mobility

events within a person’s lifetime that change his'/her status or class

vertical mobility

rise of fall in income

horizontal mobility

keeping the same income, but in a different occupation

meritocracy

promotion, advancement, and success are based on an individual’s capabilities