Introduction to Culture: Flashcards

Flashcards covering key concepts from lecture notes on culture, including multiculturalism, dominant culture, subcultures, countercultures, and cultural change.

Multiculturalism

A policy that values diverse racial, ethnic, national, and linguistic backgrounds, and so encourages the retention of cultural differences within the larger society.

Salad Bowl Analogy

A metaphor for culture where distinct cultural groups maintain their individual identities while contributing to a rich, diverse overall society, unlike a 'melting pot'.

Dominant Culture

The values, norms, and practices of the group within society that is most powerful in terms of wealth, prestige, status, and influence.

Hegemony

A term developed by Antonio Gramsci to describe the cultural aspects of social control, whereby the ideas of the dominant group are accepted by all.

WASP

An acronym standing for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, identifying the historically dominant cultural group in America.

Subculture

A group within society that is differentiated by its distinctive values, norms, and lifestyle, but is not at odds with the dominant culture.

Counterculture

A group within society that openly rejects or actively opposes the values and norms of the dominant culture.

Culture War

Conflicts between different cultural ideals, beliefs, and values within a society, often leading to social movements and changes.

Ideal Culture

The norms, values, and patterns of behavior that members of society profess to hold, representing official values and aspirations.

Real Culture

The actual norms, values, and patterns of behavior that members of society practice, often revealing a gap between stated ideals and lived reality.

Cultural Change

A shift in the shared beliefs, values, practices, or social structures of a society, which can occur slowly and incrementally or rapidly and dramatically.