Sociology week 3 (culture)

beliefs

tenets or convictions that people hold to be true

culture

the shared beliefs, practices, and material objects of a group of people

ideal culture

the standards a society would like to embrace and live up to

real culture

the way society really is based on what actually occurs and exists

sanctions

rewards or punishments for accepted behavior; a way to authorize or formally disapprove of certain behaviors

social control

a way to encourage conformity to cultural norms

values

a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society

folkways

direct, appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture

formal norms

established, written rules

informal norms

casual behaviors that are generally and widely conformed to

mores

the moral views and principles of a group

norms

the visible and invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured

language

a symbolic system of communication

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

the idea that people understand the world based on their form of language

symbols

gestures or objects that have meanings associated with them that are recognized by people who share a culture

cultural universals

patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies

material culture

the objects or belongings of a group of people

nonmaterial culture

the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society

cultural imperialism

the deliberate imposition of one’s own cultural values on another culture

cultural relativism

the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards, and not in comparison to another culture

culture shock

an experience of personal disorientation when confronted with an unfamiliar way of life

ethnocentrism

the practice of evaluating another culture according to the standards of one’s own culture

xenocentrism

a belief that another culture is superior to one’s own

countercultures

groups that reject and oppose society’s widely accepted cultural patterns and values

high culture

the cultural patterns of a society’s elite

popular culture

mainstream, widespread patterns among a society’s population

subcultures

groups whose members share a specific identification, apart from a society’s majority, even as they exist within a larger society

culture lag

the gap of time between the introduction of material culture and nonmaterial culture’s acceptance and integration of it

diffusion

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

discoveries

things and ideas found among what already exists

globalization

the integration of international trade and finance markets

innovations

improvements, additions, or new ways of thinking that enhance or transform existing objects, processes, technologies, or organizations

inventions

new objects or ideas introduced into culture for the first time

technology

the application of science to solve problems in daily life

digital divide

the uneven access to technology around race, class, and geographic lines

e-readiness

the ability to sort through, interpret, and process digital knowledge

knowledge gap

the gap in information that builds as groups grow up without access to technology

media

all print, digital, and electronic means of communication

media consolidation

a process by which fewer and fewer owners control the majority of media outlets

media globalization

the worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas

technological diffusion

the spread of technology across borders

technological globalization

the cross-cultural development and exchange of technology

cyberfeminism

the Internet’s application to and promotion of feminism online

gatekeeping

the sorting process by which thousands of possible messages are shaped into a mass media-appropriate form and reduced to a manageable amount

panoptic surveillance

a form of constant monitoring in which the observation posts are decentralized and the observed subject is never communicated with directly

neo-Luddites

those who see technology as a symbol of the coldness of modern life

technophiles

those who see technology as symbolizing the potential for a brighter future