Sociology Unit 2

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

(Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf's hypothesis) Language shapes our perceptions of the world

Subculture

A particular social world that has a distinctive way of life. (A subculture can be based on ethnicity, age, interests, or anything else that draws individuals together)

Counterculture

A subgroup whose norms and values are incompatible with or in direct opposition to the dominant culture

American culture in perspective

American culture=visible worldwide. Country's moral and political values also come under intense global scrutiny. (We must realize that America may be viewed with suspicion and contempt by some other culture because of the messages widely transmitted through American TV shows, magazines, movies, music)

Material culture

Any physical object that holds social meaning (Any physical thing that people create, use, or appreciate might be considered material culture)

Culture Wars

Clashes that result from living in a diverse society (Disagreement over which norms and values should be upheld)

Components of Culture

Material culture, symbolic culture

Sanctions

Means of enforcing norms (Can be positive or negative. reinforcement or punishment)

Symbolic culture

Non-material culture that consists of the elements of culture that only have meaning in the mind. (reflects the ideas and beliefs of a group of people) (Based on a shared system of collective beliefs in the form of symbols. Includes the meanings ascribed to rituals, gestures, and objects.)

Forms of communication (under symbolic culture)

Signs and symbols, language, beliefs and ideals, norms, sanctions

Language

System of symbols people use to communicate with each other

Culture

The entire way of life of a group of people (Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.)

cultural imperialism

The proliferation of western media and other cultural products into the rest of the world. (Concept that views Western media and culture as an invading force that enters a country and overwhelms its native culture)

Cultural diffusion

The spread of ideas, customs, and technologies from one people to another (occurs when different groups share their material and nonmaterial culture with each other)

Ethnocentrism

The use of one's own culture as the standard to measure all other cultures and seeing anything outside one's own cultural experience as abnormal

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

Used to critique ethnocentrism. (Provides insight into how people unfamiliar with American culture might perceive it) (Horace Miner's essay analyzing American culture through the perspective of preliterate, tribal culture.)

Taboos

a norm ingrained so deeply that even thinking about violating it invokes strong feelings

Whether a culture is deemed high or popular

dependent on its taste publics (Class, education, race religion all help create cultural distinctions)

Values in America

equality, individual freedom, democracy

Components of norms

folkways, mores, taboos

Hegemony

general practice by which ideas of dominant groups are imposed onto and accepted by all of society as "natural" or "common sense"

Deviant subculture

group whose identifying feature is mainly disapproved upon by dominant culture

Is culture learned or innate?

learned (very slowly)

Folkways

loosely enforced norms (involving common customs, practices, or procedures that ensure smooth social interaction and acceptance) (eating with utensils instead of hands, dress codes, etc.)

Mores

norms that carry great moral significance (closely related to core values of a cultural group, often include sever repercussions for violators) (Usually formalized that it causes both public and legal condemnation)

Technological change

recent exponential change in material culture that has drastically transformed social interaction (technological determinism means that computers and other forms of mass communication are defining how we think, feel, and act

Norms

rules and guidelines regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable

cultural relativism

seeing each culture on its own terms and being culturally sensitive

Values

set of shared beliefs that people consider to be worthwhile or desirable in life (articulate essence of everything a cultural group cherishes in its society) (not always widespread agreement about which values should represent society. Values might change, new ones might emerge over time)

Dominant Culture

set of values, norms, practices of the most powerful group within a society (aka mainstream culture. Can produce hegemony)

Gestures

signs made with the body (clapping, nodding, smiling, facial expressions) (learned and not innate. Can be interpreted differently depending on where you are)

How do sociologists focus on a society's culture?

studying the culture of a society they belong to

Signs

symbols that stand for or convey an idea (some are universal while others might be particular to a given culture)

3 types of cultural change

technological, cultural diffusion, cultural leveling

Ideal vs Real Culture

the distinction between the norms and values that members of a society believe, in principle, should be observed (ideal culture) and the patters of behavior that actually exist (real culture)

High, low, popular culture

the distinctions among these three terms are blurry (a culture can have multiple high/pop cultures based on difference in taste and aesthetics) (most cultural products contain elements of high, low, and popular culture)

Cultural leveling

the process by which cultures (that were once distinct) become increasingly similar to one another (refers especially to the process by which Western culture is being exported and diffused into other nations)