Understanding Culture and Society Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts, characteristics, and changes in culture and society as presented in the UCSP module.

Culture

Defined as a society’s way of life, it refers to a group or community which shares common experiences that shape the way its members understand the world.

Society

Defined as an organized group of interdependent people who share a common territory, language and culture; it originates from the Latin word socius and the French word société, meaning "companion".

Dynamic

A characteristic of culture or society marked by constant change, activity, or progress.

Flexible

The quality of being ready and able to change to adapt to different circumstances.

Adaptive

The ability of culture to make suitable changes or adjust to find solutions when problems are recognized.

Socialization

The process of learning through constant exposure and experience to culture.

Enculturation

A process that takes place when one culture is spread to the other through learning.

Beliefs

Ideas that people have strong feelings or convictions of certainty about regarding something that may exist or will take place.

Values

A shared perception that defines a standard of doing what is considered desirable or not.

Norms

Accepted standard behaviors that are considered tolerable actions within a society.

Folkways

Norms that apply to routine matters such as eating, sleeping, appearance, posture, and relations to the environment; examples include helping the elderly cross the road or shaking hands.

Mores

Norms and behaviors that are widely observed by members of a society; for example, it is considered inadequate to wear casual clothes to a wedding.

Taboo

An activity prohibited for public display or a movement that is considered unpleasant in society, such as the prohibition of eating pork in many Jewish and Muslim communities.

Laws

A formal body of rules ratified by a government system that are created to regulate conduct, such as rules against selling drugs or homicide.

Symbols

Items that represent a word, object, color, sound, feeling, movement, or taste to which people assign a specific meaning or value.

Language

A shared set of spoken or written symbols and rules for combining them; it is referred to as the "storehouse of culture."

Social Change

Any substantial transformation of behavioral patterns, values, and social norms over time, commonly caused by technology, population, and environment.

Political Change

Occurs when rulers in a nation lose power or through changes in the kind of governance used to run a nation.

Governance

The type of framework used to run a nation.

Internal Political Change

Political change instigated by the people of a country through significant events like elections or irregular events like rebellion.

External Political Change

Political change instigated or imposed by other countries, usually through military threats, extortions, or foreign military intervention.

Cultural Change

The influence of internal and external factors on the cultural patterns of societies leading to transformation.

Cultural Diffusion

The transfer of cultural practices, beliefs, and social activities from one group of people to another.

Acculturation

The process of borrowing social patterns of values and customs from one group to another.