Culture

counterculture

A counterculture (also written counter-culture) is a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, often in opposition to mainstream cultural mores. A countercultural movement expresses the ethos and aspirations of a specific population during a well-defined era. When oppositional forces reach critical mass, countercultures can trigger dramatic cultural changes.

cultural universals

A cultural universal (also called an anthropological universal or human universal), as discussed by Emile Durkheim, George Murdock, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Donald Brown and others, is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all human cultures worldwide. Taken together, the whole body of cultural universals is known as the human condition. Evolutionary psychologists hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations. Some anthropological and sociological theorists that take a cultural relativist perspective may deny the existence of cultural universals: the extent to which these universals are "cultural" in the narrow sense, or in fact biologically inherited behavior is an issue of "nature versus nurture".

cultural imperialism

Cultural imperialism is the cultural aspects of imperialism. Imperialism, here, is referring to the creation and maintenance of unequal relationships between civilizations favoring the more powerful civilization.[1] Therefore, it is the practice of promoting and imposing a culture, usually of politically powerful nations over less potent societies. It is the cultural hegemony of those industrialized or economically influential countries, which determine general cultural values and standardize civilizations throughout the world. Many scholars employ the term, especially those in the fields of history, cultural studies, and postcolonial theory. The term is usually used in a pejorative sense, often in conjunction with a call to reject such influence. Cultural imperialism can take various forms, such as an attitude, a formal policy, military action, so long as it reinforces cultural hegemony.

cultural lag

Cultural lag is a term to describe what happens in a social system when the cultural ideas used to regulate social life do not keep pace with other social changes.

cultural relativism

Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual person's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. It was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and later popularized by his students. Boas first articulated the idea in 1887: "...civilization is not something absolute, but ... is relative, and ... our ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes."[1] However, Boas did not coin the term. The first use of the term recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary was by philosopher and social theorist Alain Locke in 1924 to describe Robert Lowie's "extreme cultural relativism", found in the latter's 1917 book Culture and Ethnology.[2] The term became common among anthropologists after Boas' death in 1942, to express their synthesis of a number of ideas Boas had developed. Boas believed that the sweep of cultures, to be found in connection with any sub species, is so vast and pervasive that there cannot be a relationship between cultures and races.[3] Cultural relativism involves specific epistemological and methodological claims. Whether or not these claims necessitate a specific ethical stance is a matter of debate. This principle should not be confused with moral relativism.

culture shock

Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply transition to another type of life.[1] One of the most common causes of culture shock involves individuals in a foreign environment. Culture shock can be described as consisting of at least one of four distinct phases: honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and mastery. Common problems include: information overload, language barrier, generation gap, technology gap, skill interdependence, formulation dependency, homesickness (cultural), infinite regress (homesickness), boredom (job dependency), response ability (cultural skill set).[2] There is no true way to entirely prevent culture shock, as individuals in any society are personally affected by cultural contrasts differently.[3]

ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism can take on two different, but similar meanings. First, it can mean blindness to cultural differences or a tendency to think and act as if cultural differences didn't exist. Second, it can refer to the negative judgments that people tend to make about other cultures.

folkways

Folkways are the customs or conventions of daily life. They are a type of social norm -- expectations for how we act. In sociology, folkways are generally discussed in contrast to mores because they are both types of social norms, though they vary in the degree to which they are enforced. Folkways are mildly enforced social expectations, while mores are strictly held beliefs about behaviors. Mores dictate right and wrong, while folkways distinguish between proper and rude behavior.

subculture

In sociology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. A subculture is a culture within a broader mainstream culture, with its own separate values, practices, and beliefs. In sociology, the concept of subculture explains the behavior of some social groups; sociologists study subcultures as one way of studying culture.

symbols

In sociology, a significant symbol is a gesture (usually a vocal gesture) that calls out in the individual making the gesture the same (i.e., functionally identical) response that is called out in others to whom the gesture is directed (Mind, Self and Society 47) (Ritzer, 2003:57).

norms

In sociology, norms are social expectations that guide behavior. Norms explain why people do what they do in given situations. For example, in the United States, it is a norm that people shake hands when they are formally introduced. Norms generally are the rules and regulations that groups live by. Or perhaps because the words, rules and regulations, call to mind some kind of formal listing, we might refer to norms as the standards of behavior of a group.

language

Language is the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so, and a language is any specific example of such a system. The scientific study of language is called linguistics. Sociology of language is the study of the relations between language on society. It is closely related to the field of sociolinguistics, which focuses on the effect of society on language.

laws

Law is a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior. Laws can be made by a collective legislature or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes, by the executive through decrees and regulations, or by judges through binding precedent, normally in common law jurisdictions.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Linguistic relativity, sometimes called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis or Whorfianism, is a hypothesis in linguistics and cognitive science that holds that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view or cognition. The strong version claims that language determines thought and that linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories. The weak version claims that linguistic categories and usage influence thought and decisions. The hypothesis evolved from work by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf.[1] The hypothesis has influenced disciplines beyond linguistics, including philosophy, neurobiology, anthropology, psychology and sociology. The hypothesis' origin, definition and applicability have been controversial since first outlined. It has come in and out of favor and remains contested as research continues across these domains.

material culture

Material culture is the physical evidence of a culture in the objects and architecture they make, or have made. The term tends to be relevant only in archeological and anthropological studies, but it specifically means all material evidence which can be attributed to culture, past or present.

multiculturalism

Multiculturalism describes the existence, acceptance, or promotion of multiple cultural traditions within a single jurisdiction, usually considered in terms of the culture associated with an ethnic group. This can happen when a jurisdiction is created or expanded by amalgamating areas with two or more different cultures (e.g. French Canada and English Canada) or through immigration from different jurisdictions around the world (e.g. Australia, United States, United Kingdom, and many other countries). Multiculturalism that promotes maintaining the distinctiveness of multiple cultures is often contrasted to other settlement policies such as social integration, cultural assimilation and racial segregation. Multiculturalism has been described as a "salad bowl" and "cultural mosaic".

nonmaterial culture

Nonmaterial culture includes creations and abstract ideas that are not embodied in physical objects. In other words, any intangible products created and shared between the members of a culture over time are aspects of their nonmaterial culture. Social roles, rules, ethics, and beliefs are just some examples. Nonmaterial culture includes creations and abstract ideas that are not embodied in physical objects. In other words, any intangible products created and shared between the members of a culture over time are aspects of their nonmaterial culture. Social roles, rules, ethics, and beliefs are just some examples. All of them are crucial guides for members of a culture to use to know how to behave in their society and interpret the world.

ideal culture

Our ideal culture refers to the values, norms, and beliefs that our society desires to achieve. It consists of those ideals that we would like to reach. Lily's ideal culture consists of never lying or cheating. However, in certain cases Lily does in fact lie and cheat, even though she finds it immoral to do so. This is where real culture comes into play.

society

Sociologists define society as the people who interact in such a way as to share a common culture. The cultural bond may be ethnic or racial, based on gender, or due to shared beliefs, values, and activities. According to sociologists, a society is a group of people with common territory, interaction, and culture. Social groups consist of two or more people who interact and identify with one another.

linguistic relativity hypothesis

The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis, popularly known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, or as Whorfianism, holds that the structure of human language effects the way in which an individual conceptualizes their world. Working from the position that every language describes and conceptualizes the world in its own unique way, it holds that a person's native language limits their cross-cultural understanding. Every human language reflects the values of the place and culture where it originated and philosophers and linguists have long debated how this effects and shapes the mentality of the persons who speak those different languages.

mores

The customs, values, and behaviors that are accepted by a particular group, culture. Mores and morals have similar meanings--mores are the morals of a group or society itself. They are not necessarily based on written law and they can change. The mores of the Victorian era prescribed modesty for women. A Victorian time traveling to our time would probably be shocked by current mores that allow women to wear shorts.

values

The term 'value' has a meaning in sociology that is both similar to and yet distinct from the meaning assigned to it in everyday speech. In sociological usage, values are group conceptions of the relative desirability of things. Sometimes 'value' means 'price'. But the sociological concept of value is far broader than here neither of the objects being compared can be assigned a price. Values can be defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes. As such, values reflect a person's sense of right and wrong or what "ought" to be.

culture

culture is, "the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time."[2] Terror Management Theory posits that culture is a series of activities and worldviews that provide humans with the illusion of being individuals of value in a world meaning—raising themselves above the merely physical aspects of existence, in order to deny the animal insignificance and death that Homo Sapiens became aware of when they acquired a larger brain.[3] As a defining aspect of what it means to be human, culture is a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies. The word is used in a general sense as the evolved ability to categorize and represent experiences with symbols and to act imaginatively and creatively.

high culture

high culture is used to describe a subculture shared by the elite in a society. In fact, many associate the word 'culture' with high culture - someone who attends the ballet and collects museum-quality artwork is often considered 'cultured.' High culture" is a term now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture.

cultural diffusion

the spreading out of culture, culture traits, or a cultural pattern from a central point. cultural diffusion, as conceptualized by Leo Frobenius in his 1897/98 publication Der westafrikanische Kulturkreis, is the spread of cultural items—such as ideas, styles, religions, technologies, languages etc.—between individuals, whether within a single culture or from one culture to another. It is distinct from the diffusion of innovations within a specific culture. Diffusion across cultures is a well-attested and also uncontroversial phenomenon. For example, the practice of agriculture is widely believed to have diffused from somewhere in the Middle East to all of Eurasia, less than 10,000 years ago, having been adopted by many pre-existing cultures. Other established examples of diffusion include the spread of the war chariot and iron smelting in ancient times, and the use of automobiles and Western business suits in the 20th century.