Culture Basics
What is the term for all shared products of human groups?
Culture
What are shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in order to reinforce values?
Norms
What is a cultural universal?
A trait that exists in every culture
What is the most common way that culture changes?
Cultural diffusion — spreading of cultural traits from one society to another
What is a belief?
An idea about the nature of reality that may be true or false
What are the two main types of culture?
Material and Nonmaterial
Which type of norm is least strictly enforced?
Folkways
A group that shares traits with the larger society but differs in some ways is called a…
Subculture
Give one reason cultural diffusion is faster today.
Technology, transportation, globalization, or media.
How do beliefs influence behavior?
People base behavior on what they believe, even if beliefs are false.
Define material culture.
culture items that can be touched or are physical (phones, clothes, etc.)
Which type of norm has moral significance?
More
A group that rejects the values of the larger society is a…
Counterculture
What is cultural leveling?
When cultures become more alike, e.g., global fast-food chains.
What determines the importance of a physical object in a culture?
The beliefs, norms, and values attached to it.
Define nonmaterial culture.
cultural concepts that cannot be touched (freedom, sports, etc.)
Which type of norm is written and formally enforced?
Law
Define ethnocentrism.
Judging other cultures by the standards of one’s own culture
What is discovery?
Finding new uses for existing elements
Define ideal culture and real culture.
Ideal = what a culture aspires to; Real = what actually happens in daily life.
What are the four main components of culture?
Symbols, Language, Values, Norms
What is a sanction?
Reward or punishment used to encourage conformity
What is cultural relativism and how does it differ from ethnocentrism?
Cultural relativism is judging cultures by their own standards rather than yours.
What is invention?
Creating something new that did not exist before
Give an example of the difference between ideal and real culture in American society
Ideal = honesty as a value; Real = people sometimes lie.