Chapter 3

Culture

Culture

A collection of ideas, values, practices, and material objects that mean a great deal to a group of people and allow them to carry out their collective knives in relative order and harmony

Values

Informal rules that guide what people do and how they live

Norms

Informal rules that guide what people do an how they live and are reinforced through sanctions

Folkways

Relatively unimportant norms

Moresmore important norms where the violation of them is usually met with severe negative sanctions

Material Culture

Artifacts and “stuff” as a part of culture in which culture is reflected or manifested

Symbolic culture

Nonmaterial, intangible aspects of culture

Ideal culture

What norms and values make us think people want us to believe and do

Real culture

What people actually think and do in their everyday lives

Ideology

Set of shared beliefs that explains the social world and guides people’s actions

Meritocracy

A dominant ideology in the US meaning people widely believe that all people have an equal chance of succeeding economically

Subcultures

Groups of people who accept much of the dominant culture

Deviant subcultures examples

Punks, goths

Countercultures

Groups that differ from the dominant culture and adhere to norms incompatible with the dominant culture.

Culture wars

The disruption of he social, economic, and political status quo

Multiculturalism

The encouragement of cultural differences within a given environment

Identity politics

When minority groups use power to strengthen the position of cultural groups the identify with such as protests or demonstrations

Cultural relativism

Viewing other cultures from their perspective

Ethnocentrism

Viewing other cultures from one’s point of view

Cultural imperialism

The imposition of aspects of a dominant culture on other cultures

Americanization

The importation by other countries a variety of cultural elements closely associated with the United States

Anti-Americanism

An inversion to the US in general as well as to the influence of its culture abroad

Culture Jamming

A form of protest in which the goal is to reveal underlying realities consumers are unaware of