Chapter 3 Culture Key Terms l Culture The

Chapter 3, Culture Key Terms

l Culture The complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a given group or society. l Symbols Things or behaviors to which people give meaning.

l Cultural relativism The perspective that allows people to understand judge cultural practices in context. l Language A set of symbols and rules, which, put together in a meaningful way, provides a complex communication system.

l Norms Specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation. l Folkways General standards of behavior adhered to by a group.

l Mores Strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior often upheld through rules or laws. l Laws Written set of guidelines that define right and wrong in society.

l Social sanctions Mechanisms of social control that enforce norms. l Ethnomethodology A technique for studying human interaction by deliberately disrupting social norms and observing how individuals respond.

l Beliefs Shared ideas held collectively by people within a given culture. l Values Abstract standards in a society or group that define ideal principles.

l Dominant culture The culture of the most powerful group in society, the cultural form that receives the most support from major institutions and that constitutes the major belief system. l Subcultures The cultures of groups whose values and norms of behavior differ from those of the dominant culture.

l Countercultures Subcultures created as a reaction against the values of the dominant culture. l Ethnocentrism Seeing things only from the point of view of one’s own group.

l Androcentrism Modes of thinking centered only in men’s experiences. l Global culture The diffusion of a single culture throughout the world.

l Popular culture Beliefs, practices, and objects that are part of everyday traditions. l Nonmaterial culture The norms, laws, customs, ideas, and beliefs of a group of people.

l Material culture Objects created in a society: buildings, art, tools, toys, print and broadcast media, and other artifacts. l Reflection hypothesis Contends that the mass media reflect the values of the general population.

l Cultural hegemony The pervasive and excessive influence of one culture throughout society. l Cultural capital The cultural resources that are socially designated as being worthy and that give advantages to groups possessing such capital.

l Culture lag The delay in cultural adjustments to changing social conditions. l Cultural diffusion The transmission of cultural elements from one society or cultural group to another.