Chapter 3: Sociology

In the article "Jihad vs. McWorld" Benjamin R Barber points out that "In November of 1991 Switzerland's once insular culture boasted best-seller lists featuring Terminator 2 as the No.1 movie, Scarlett as the No. 1 book, and the Prince's Diamonds and Pearls as the No. 1 record album." Many people worry that the prominance of American culture goes beyond the media and represents the wholesale imposition of american values on other cultures, a process called:

Cultural Imperialism

The ability to understand another culture in terms of that culture's own norms and values, without reference to any other cultural standards is called:

Cultural Relativism

The famous anthropologist Margret Mead said that America is the best place to raise a female child. Her assertion is an example of:

Ethnocentrism

In America, a married man who has several mistresses is violating a ... but if he is married to more than one woman at the same time he is violating a ...

more;law

Although many people feel that expectations for personal space are innate, members of many cultures are used to noticably less personal space than we are, which helps to demonstrate that our expectations for personal space are:

A part of our culture and as such are learned rather than innate.

How is subculture different from a counterculture?

Both are distinct from mainstream culture, but a counterculture actively opposes important aspects of the mainstream.

The art historian and social critic John Berger has argued that the suit is the first "uniform of the powerful" designed for stationary life. Suits make manual laborers look ridiculous, yet most of us still want to wear them. Our very acceptance of this fashion standard condemns most people to seeming clumsy, uncouth and second rate. This is why the suit is the classic example of:

Hegemony

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that:

Language can structure our perception of reality

Recently, curators at museums have experienced problems with plastic objects, almost all of which disintegrate over time. The Smithsonian collection contains the first ever plastic toothbrush, which soon will be nothing more than a pile of crumbs, leading many historians to worry that we will lose the history of our:

Material Culture

How are informal norms enforced in everyday setting?

Sanctions