Intro to Sociology Chapter 2: Culture

Culture

• the language, beliefs, values, norms, behavior, and even material objects that characterize a group

Material culture

The material objects that distinguish a group of people

Non material culture / symbolic culture

a groups way of thinking and doing

culture shock

the disorientation that people feel when they come into contact with a different culture

ethnocentrism

the use of one owns culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of another indviduals’s way of life

yardstick

a standard/benchmark to judge

cultural relativism

not judging a culture by understanding it on its own terms

what are the components of symbolic culture

• values

• sanctions

• gestures

• language

• norms

• folkways

• mores

• taboo

symbol

something to which people attach meaning

gestures

the ways in which people use their bodies to communicate

language

• symbols combined to represent thoughts and pass on ideas and attitudes

values

• standards by which ppl define good vs bad

norms

• expectations of right behavior

sanctions

• expressions of approval given for following norms and disapproval for violating norms

positive sanctions

• a reward/positive reaction for following norms

negative sanctions

• an expression of disapproval for breaking a norm

Folkways

• norms not strictly enforced

More

• norms very strictly enforced b/c they are essential to the well being of a group

taboo

• a norm so strong that it brings extreme sanctions and revulsion if violated

Subculture

• the values and related behaviors of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture

counterculture

• a group whose values put them at odds with the broader culture

value clusters

• values that together form a larger whole

value contradiction

• values that contradict one another

pluralistic society

• society made up of many different groups

core values

• values that are central to a group

value clashes

• challenges in core values are met with resistance

distorting lens

• the views that these lenses provide are what life should be, not what it is

ideal culture

• a peoples ideal values / goals

real culture

• the norms and values that people actually follow

Technology

• Tools

• Skills / procedures necessary to make and use tools

new technology

• the emerging technologies of an era that have big impacts on social life

cultural lag

• human behavior lagging behind technological innovations

cultural diffusion

• the spread of nonmaterial and material culture from one group to another

cultural leveling

• the process by which cultures become similar to one another