Soc. Chapter 3 Notes PDF

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Chapter 3 Culture and Society -Culture shapes our perception, knowledge, and understanding of the external world -We seek to preserve it and to pass it along to others

Creating Culture -Cultural Universals- Common practices and beliefs shared by all societies -Many adaptations to meet essential human needs ex. Sports, Cooking, Funeral Ceremonies, Medicine, Marriage, Sexual Restrictions -Globalization and Diffusion -More and more cultural expressions and practices are spreading across borders -Diffusion -Mass media, the Internet, immigration, and tourism accelerate the diffusion and transmission of culture -Diffusion has led to the cultural domination of developing nations by more affluent nations

Elements of Culture -Three primary types of culture -Material Culture- consumer goods -Technology -Cultural Lag -Cognitive Culture- language -Language -Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis -Nonverbal Communication -learned -different in cultures -Values -may change, but remain fairly permanent over time -Normative Culture- laws -Norms -Folkways -Mores -Formal Norms -Laws -Breaking Norms -Norms not followed in all situations -Weak norms may be ignored -May be violated due to norm conflict

-Acceptance subject to change -Sanctions -positive- rewards, pay raises, medals, words of gratitude -Negative- fines, threats, imprisoned, stares of contempt (informal)

Cultural Variation Dominant Ideology -Helps explain and justify who gets what and why in a way that supports and maintains the status quo -Marx: capitalist society has dominate ideology that serves interests of ruling class -Feminists: the dominant ideology works to reinforces gender stereotypes and subordinate women Subculture Argot Counterculture -hippies -terrorist cells Culture Shock -Ethnocentrism- culture shock can lead to this -ethnocentric value judgements serve to devalue groups and to deny equal opportunities -Cultural Relativism...