Sociology Chapter 2 Quiz

Cultural Diffusion

The process by which aspects of one culture or subculture are incorporated into another.

Culture as problem solving

- Cultural patterns evolve to provide solutions to recurrent problems that humans encounter in their physical environments. - Although these problems are universal, the solutions people adopt vary considerably.

Culture as relative

- Cultural relativity - requires that each cultural trait be evaluated in the context of its own culture - Ethnocentrism - the tendency to judge other cultures according to the norms and values of our own culture

Cultural impact of globalization

- Global spread of culture - movies, television shows, music, literature, and other arts distributed and enjoyed around the world - Cultural values transmitted - Global exposure to cultural alternatives

Culture as a social product

- Immense cultural diversity in human societies results not from unique gene pools, but from cultural evolution. - Some aspects are deliberately produced. - Culture depends on language. - People learn culture, and as they use it, they change it.

Isolation

When a culture is cut off from interaction with other cultures, it is likely to develop unique norms and values.

Cultural Capital

- Refers to the attitudes and knowledge that characterize the upper social classes. - If you lack some of the cultural capital needed to marry into or work in the upper classes, you may be ridiculed if you try to break into these social circles. - In this way, culture serves as a symbolic boundary that keeps the social classes apart.

Language as a framework

- Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - argues that the grammar, structure, and categories embodied in each language affect how its speakers see reality (Also known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis) Example: Hopi grammar does not have past, present, and future grammatical tenses. This explains why Hopi speakers think differently about time than do English speakers.

Biological Perspective

- Sociobiology is the study of the biological basis of all forms of human behavior. - Maintains that human behavior is based in biology developed through evolution and natural selection. - Sociobiologists argue that humans have developed altruism (unselfish behavior) as an adaptive mechanism.

Structural-Functionalist Approach

- Treats culture as the underlying basis of interaction - Views culture as a 'given' - Emphasizes how culture shapes us rather than in how culture itself is shaped - Concentrates on illustrating how norms, values, and language guide our behavior

Economic impact of globalization

-Economic activity takes place between people who live in different nations as goods and services are produced and sold internationally. -Some scholars view international economic enterprise as a path to better quality of living globally. Others view it as a path that exploits poorer nations.

Conflict Theory Approach

-Focuses on culture as a social product - Queries whose interests are served by how culture develops - Investigates how culture can reinforce power divisions within society - Argues that money brings power and status, and that cultural capital does the same

Symbolic Interactionist Approach

-Interested in how people interpret and use what they see in the media - Explores the meanings people derive from culture and cultural products, and how those meanings result from social interaction

Political impact of globalization

-Powerful transnational corporations (Coca Cola, United Fruit Company) now dwarf many national governments. -Proliferation of international organizations (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and United Nation's International Criminal Court as examples)

Carriers of Culture

1. Language 2. Values 3. Norms

Consequences of Cultural Diversity and Change

Cultural lag occurs when one part of a culture changes more rapidly than another. Culture Shock refers to disconcerting and unpleasant experiences that can occur when individuals encounter a different culture.

Dominant Cultural Themes

Cultures generally contain dominant themes that give them a distinct character and direction. Those themes also help create a closed system; more accepting of new ideas when they fit into the existing culture with no disturbance to the original culture

Environment

Different environmental conditions in which people live determine things like: • what economies can flourish. • what foods are practical. • the degree of scarcity or abundance.

Subcultures

Groups that share the overall culture of a society but maintain a distinctive set of values, norms, lifestyles, traditions, and language

Counterculture

Groups whose values, interests, beliefs, and lifestyles conflict with those of the larger culture

Language as embodiment of culture

Language embodies the values and meanings of a society as well as rituals, ceremonies, stories, and prayers.

Language as a symbol

Language symbolizes a group's separation from others while simultaneously symbolizing unity within the group of speakers.

Media and Culture

Media promote unrealistic images that may alter cultural notions about what constitutes attractiveness and reduce body satisfaction in young people. Sociological studies have shown that: 1) individuals are active consumers of media messages, 2) different audiences interpret the same message differently, and 3) media do shape both culture and individual beliefs and actions. We judge ourselves through the "media-filled" eye of others who matter to us.

Laws

Mores that are enforced and sanctioned by the government; Ex: texting while driving is illegal, but people still do it

Mass Media

Popular culture refers to aspects of culture that are widely accessible and commonly shared by most members of a society, especially those in the middle, working, and lower classes. High culture refers to the cultural preferences associated with the upper class

Cultural Perspective

Regardless of theoretical perspective, sociologists maintain that culture is: 1. Problem solving 2. Relative 3. A social product

Values

Shared ideas about desirable goals; values tend to be universal—nearly all groups value stability and security, a strong family, and good health.

Norms

Shared rules of conduct that specify how people ought to think - Folkways are norms that are the customary, normal, habitual ways a group does things. - Mores are norms associated with fairly strong ideas of right or wrong; they carry a moral connotation. - Laws are mores that are enforced and sanctioned by the authority of government.

Sources of Globalization

Technological change: cell and satellite phones, email, and Internet Political change: collapse of Soviet Union, emergence of European Union, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Language

The ability to communicate in symbols—orally, by manual sign, or by writing

Multiculturalism

The belief that the different cultural strands within a culture should be valued and nourished.

Globalization

The process through which ideas, resources, practices, and people increasingly operate in a worldwide rather than local framework; political, economic, and cultural impacts

Assimilation

The process through which individuals learn and adopt the values and social practices of the dominant group, more or less giving up their own values in the process

Technology

Tools available to a culture will affect its norms and values and its economic and social relationships. (ex: Facebook)

Nonmaterial Culture

language, values, rules and knowledge shared by a society

Sources of Cultural Change and Diversity

environment, isolation, cultural diffusion, technology, mass media

Social Control

forces people to follow the norms and values of their culture and society; through indoctrination, learning, and experience

Culture

is the total way of life shared by members of a community. Includes not only language, values, and symbolic meanings, but also technology and material objects

Material Culture

physical objects a society produces, such as tools, streets, sculptures, and toys (depends on the nonmaterial culture for meaning)

Sanctions

rewards for conformity or punishments for nonconformity

Globalization of culture

spreads cultural elements around the world.