Culture Definitions



Culture Definitions

 

Culture: The knowledge, language, values, customs, & material objects that are passed from person to person and from generation to generation in a human group or society

Material Culture: physical creations that members of the society make, use, and share 

Non-material Culture: abstract creations of society that influence people’s behaviour (symbols, language, beliefs)

Folk Culture

High Culture

Popular Culture 

Elements of Culture:

• Symbol: Anything that meaningfully and non-verbally represents something else

• Values: A collective idea about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in a particular culture

• *Norms, Folkways, Mores

Cultural Diversity: the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole.

Taboos: Something that is prohibited or excluded by a specific society

·        Cultural lag: a gap between the technological development of a society and its moral and legal institutions

·        Cultural Diffusion: the spreading out of culture, culture traits, or a cultural pattern from a central point.

·        Discovery: something previously unknown or unrecognized. Example: vaccines for diseases

·        Invention: reshaping existing cultural items into a new form (the steam engine, the car, the computer)

 

·        Diffusion: transmission of cultural items or social practices from one culture to another. 

·        Subcultures: a group of people who share a distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviours that differ in some significant ways from that of the larger society. 

·        Counterculture: a group that strongly rejects dominant societal values and norms and seeks alternate lifestyles

·        Cultural Assimilation: the process by which members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups become absorbed into the dominant culture

·        Popular Culture: the component of culture that consists of activities, products, and services that are assumed to appeal primarily to members of the middle and working class.

·        Mass Media: an agent of dominant culture in modern societies, establishing the basis for a common cultural identity. 

Cultural Plurality: when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture provided they are consistent with the laws and values of the wider society.

Cultural Relativism is the belief that it is important to respect the diversity of other cultures; behaviours and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture’s own standards.

 Ethnocentrism: is the belief that one’s culture is standard and thus, superior to others.

 Cultural Uniformity: a culture in which there is an overall uniform approach to an issue.

 

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