Sociology Midterm

Study Modules 3-5

What is culture

A system where behaviours, beliefs, practices, values and concrete materials are determined. A people’s way of life, cultures/dynamics change over time. Cultures are always contested (there is no way to determine who and what belongs to a culture.

Components of a culture

Tangible - include items and symbols that represent culture in a concrete manner

Intangible - abstract elements that can only be interpreted but not concreted 

Dominant culture

Culture that is able to impose its values, language and behaving on society through its power (white, English speaking) 

Minority cultures 

Those that fall out of the cultural mainstream like subcultures: differ away from the dominant culture and counterculture: exist in opposition to the main culture 

High culture

Culture of the elite

Popular culture

Culture of the majority especially those who do not have power (women, the working class) 

Mass culture

People who have little or no agency in the culture they consume, companies dictate what people watch or buy

Norms

Rules and standards of behaviour that are expected of a group or society. Change over time and differ from culture to culture

Sanctions

Rewards (+, smiles, high five) and punishments (-, eye roll, parking ticket) in response for a particular behaviour

3 kinds of norms

1. Folkways are norms that govern day to day, should not violate (not double dipping)

2. Mores are more serious, must not violate (stealing)

3. Taboos are norms that are ingrained in our social consciousness to not discuss

Symbols

Cultural items that hold significance for a culture (maple leaf) 

Values

Standards used by a culture to describe abstract qualities, to assess behaviour of others

Ethnocentrism

Occurs when someone holds up their culture as being the standard and the best

Reverse ethnocentrism: when someone accepts the superiority of others culture to own culture 

Eurocentrism

Involves addressing others from a defined European position to address others and assuming