Soc201 ch3
What is a subculture
A group within society that is differentiated by its distinctive values, norms, and lifestyle, including its own set of values and norms, practices, and beliefs, but that exists harmoniously within the larger mainstream culture.
What is a counterculture?
A group within society that openly rejects or actively opposes society's values and norms. . Some countercultures are political or activist groups attempting to bring about social change; others resist mainstream values by living outside society or practicing an alternative lifestyle
How are norms enforced in everyday settings?
By sanctions
How are informal norms different from formal norms?
Formal norms are written laws created to maintain peace and harmony in society. Informal norms are the unspoken list of behaviors that are considered...
positive sanction
Norms that express approval and may come in the form of a handshake, a smile, praise, or perhaps an award.
negative sanctions
Norms that express disapproval and may come in the form of a frown, harsh words, or perhaps a fine or incarceration.
What is hegemony?
Pervasive and excessive influence of one culture throughout society
What is cultural diffusion?
The dissemination of material and symbolic culture (tools and technology, beliefs and behavior) from one group to another. spreading of culture
What is the definition of culture?
The entire way of life of a group of people (including both material and symbolic elements) that acts as a lens through which one views the world and that is passed from one generation to the next.
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
The idea that language structures thought and the ways of looking at the world are embedded in language, based on this premise
What is the definition of cultural relativism?
The principle of understanding other cultures on their own terms, rather than judging or evaluating according to one's own culture. Cultural relativism is neither right nor wrong but rather a proper subject for intellectual examination.
What is the definition of ethnocentrism?
The principle of using one's own culture as a means or standard by which to evaluate another group or individual, leading to the view that cultures other than one's own are abnormal or inferior
What is dominant culture?
The values, norms, and practices of the group within society that is most powerful (in terms of wealth, prestige, status, influence, etc.)
What is meant by the term "culture wars'?
clashes in mainstream society over the values and norms that should be upheld
examples of culture wars
hunter's book "culture wars: struggle to define America" in 1991 talks about abortion, gun laws, global warming, immigration, privacy, marijuana, LGBT, censorship.