Sociology Chapter 2

Language:

-Allows human experience to be cumulative -provides a social or shared past -provides a social or shared future -Allows shared perspective -Allows shared, goal directed behavior

What is a subculture of the US?

Bodybuilders

How can we exhibit Cultural Relativism when it comes to food?

Deciding to try an entrée that is native to another country without hesitation. "For the experience" -looking at how the elements of culture fit together

Negative ethnocentrism leads to _________.

Discrimination against people whose ways are different than ours

What is the basic idea behind the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf's hypothesis that language creates ways of thinking and perceiving. It indicates that rather than objects and events forcing themselves onto our consciousness, its our language that determines our consciousness and hence our perception of objects and events

Positive ethnocentrism creates _________.

In-group loyalties

What is the importance of language?

It takes us beyond the world of apes and allows culture to develop.

Ogburn pointed out that _________ usually changes first, with the ___________ lagging behind.

Material culture changes first with the nonmaterial culture lagging behind

How can we exhibit ethnocentrism when it comes to food?

Ordering "norm" of food for us and feeling weird when someone orders food that is not normal to us

Norms

Rules or behaviors that develop out of a group's values

Cultural Lag

Sociologist William Ogburn - he meant that not all parts of a culture change at the same pace. When one part of the culture changes, the other lags behind

Why is language so significant to culture?

language allows human experience to be global-directed, cooperative, and cumulative

Cultural Relativism

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

What is material culture?

such things as jewelry, art, buildings, weapons, machines, and even eating utensils, hairstyles, and clothing

Cultural Diffusion

the spread of cultural traits from one group to another; includes both material and nonmaterial culture traits

Counterculture

a group whose values, beliefs, norms, and related behaviors place its members in opposition to the border culture 'place it at odds with the dominant culture' page 56

What is nonmaterial culture?

a group's way of thinking (it's beliefs, values, and other assumptions about the world) and doing (its common patterns of behavior, including languages, gestures, and other forms of interaction).

What is culture?

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

What is ethnocentrism?

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

What is a subculture?

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

T/F: All people are ethnocentric, which has both positive and negative consequences.

True