Sociology Chapter 2 Culture

List the five elements that all cultures share and explain each

1. Values are broad, abstract, and basic ideas that reflect what is desirable, proper, good, preferred, important and right. 2. Norms are guidelines and shared standards of behavior. 3. Symbols are commonly understood gestures, words, objects, sounds, and designs that stand for something else. 4. Knowledge is an element of culture that attempts to define what exists, or the reality of the world. 5. Beliefs are theories and ideas about the nature of the physical and social world.

What are the key characteristics of a society?

A society is a large number of people who live in the same area; see themselves as separate and different from the people outside their territory, and participate in a common culture.

If the world's cultures merged into one global culture, what elements do you think it would consist of and why? Do you think there would be any negative ramifications? What positive aspects do you foresee?

Answers may very

What is the difference between how conflict theorists and functionalists view ethnocentrism? What is your opinion? Offer examples.

Conflict theorists believe that ethnocentrism leads to prejudicial conflicts between groups in society. Functionalists note that ethnocentrism promotes group pride and can help make a country strong.

Make distinctions between cultural universals, cultural diversity, and changes that occur within cultures.

Cultural universals are features that are common to all cultures, like laws, marriage, and sports. Cultural diversity is common in most nations, in which ethnic groups (subcultures) hold varying cultural beliefs and customs. All cultures continually evolve at differing rates, depending on how a society's norms are internalized and on changes in values, beliefs, and technology.

What are laws? How can laws affect folkways and mores?

Laws are written rules of conduct that are enacted and enforced by governments. Laws may formalize folkways. They may also uphold and enforce major mores, as with laws against rape, robbery, and murder.

What is the difference between material and nonmaterial culture? List some examples.

Material culture refers to the set of concrete objects created or used by the people of a culture, such as computers, cars, and clothes. Nonmaterial culture is composed of abstract human creations, like ideas, rules, and social patterns. These two categories are intertwined.

What two categories are norms divided into?

Norms are the guidelines people follow in their relations with one another. They are shared standards of desirable behavior. They are divided into two categories: folkways and mores.

What factors make it possible or likely for the world's cultures to form and to become a global culture?

Possible answers include technological advancements in communications, radio, television, motion pictures, and the Internet, because they bring people of other nations closer together.

What is culture and what kinds of elements make up a culture?

The rules that guide the collective behavior of a society are known as culture. It consists of a society's beliefs, history, knowledge, language, customs, morals, and skills. It also comprised of the objects people use that reflect their ways of life.

What three areas do sociologists study when assessing variations among cultures?

These are cultural universals, cultural diversity, and change inside cultures

What are some traditional cultural values that Americans hold?

Traditional American values include success, work, morality and humanitarianism, efficiency, progress, equality, freedom, and patriotism.