A
What is material culture?
Material objects that distinguish a group of people: art, buildings, weapons, tools, utensils, machines, hairstyles, clothing, jewelry
What is culture shock?
What is nonmaterial culture?
A group's way of thinking and doing: beliefs, values, assumptions about the world, language, behavior, traditions, etc.
What are gestures?
how people use their bodies to communicate
What is culture?
lens
water to fish
What is cultural relativism?
trying to understand a culture based on its own terms
verstehen
trying not to judge
What is language?
symbols that can be combined in infinite ways to communicate abstract thought
What is ethnocentrism?
using our group's ways of doing things as a yardstick to judge others
What is a subculture?
a smaller group within larger society, has distinct ways of looking at the world
What are emoticons?
texted gestures- UGG, LOL
What is a counter culture?
a smaller group within larger society that goes AGAINST mainstream society in their actions and or values
What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypotheses
idea by Sapir and Whorf that language has ways of looking at the world within it
What are values?
ideas of what is desirable in life, standards by which people define what is good/bad, beautiful/ugly etc.
What are sanctions?
reactions people get from following or breaking norms
What are norms?
expectations or rules of behaviors that come from values
What is a negative sanction?
expressing disapproval for breaking a norm:
clenched jaw, fist in air, nasty look, fine....
What is a moral holiday place?
a place where norms are loosened: redlight district, party cove
Reminder: don't be like Mike
What is a positive sanction?
expresses approval for following norms:
smile, high five, trophy, #
Norms that are NOT strictly enforced:
walking up the right side on the stairs
What is a moral holiday?
Time period where norms are loosened: Mardi Gras
What are mores?
Norms that are strictly enforced:
don't run red lights, kill, steal, etc.
What is cultural diffusion?
the spreading of different cultures, examples: different cultural products and foods readily available to purchase in U.S. neighborhood.
What are taboos?
Norms that are so strictly enforced that the thought of breaking them is met with revulsion:
What value are Americans often blinded by that keeps them from seeing the whole situation with others?
Individualism
What is cultural lag? Example?
Not all parts of culture change at the same time, 9 month school year.