SOC Ch. 2 Quiz Culture

culture

the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and even material objects that characterize a group and are passed from one generation to the next

material culture

the material objects that distinguish a group of people such as their art, buildings, weapons, utensils, machines, hairstyles, clothing, and jewelry

nonmaterial culture

a group’s way of thinking and doing such as beliefs, values, behaviors, and languages

culture shock

the disorientation people experience when they come in contact with a fundamentally different culture and can no longer depend on their “taken for granted” assumptions about life

ethnocentrism

the use of one’s own culture as a standard for judging the ways of other individuals or societies, generally leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms, and behaviors

cultural relativism

not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own terms

symbols

something to which people attach meaning and then use to communicate with

gestures

the way in which people use their bodies to communicate with one another; a way of conveying messages without words

language

a system of symbols that can be combined in an infinite number of ways and can represent not only objects but also thoughts

values

the standards by which people define what is desirable/undesirable, superior/inferior, good/bad, and beautiful/ugly.

norms

expectations or rules of behavior that develop from a group’s values

folkways

norms that are not strictly enforced (ex. walking on the right side of the road)

mores

norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought to be essential core values (ex. wear clothes)

taboo

a norm so strongly ingrained that even the thought of its violation brings extreme negative sanctions (ex. sexual assualt)

subculture

the values and related behaviors of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture; a world within the larger worlds of the dominant culture

counterculture

a group whose values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors place its members at odds with the dominant culture

U.S. Core Values

individualism, achievement and success, hard work, efficiency and practicality, science and technology, material comfort, freedom, democracy, equality, group superiority, education, religiosity, romantic love

value cluster

closely related values or ideas that together form one larger concept

emerging value clusters

1. leisure

1. self-fulfillment

2. physical fitness

3. youthfulness

value contradictions

values that contradict each other; to follow one means to come into conflict with the other