Culture: Society\\\’s learned and shared ideas, behaviors, and material components.
Material culture uses physical artifacts
Nonmaterial culture uses ideas and symbols
Ideal culture includes ideals and values that a society professes to believe
Real culture is the actual behaviors of members of society
Countercultures: subculture groups that are in opposition or contrast with the majority of members in society.
Sapir-Whorf theory: a theoretical perspective that suggests people view society through the framework of language; it is difficult to understand a culture without understanding the influence of language. Language can mean status, and specific words for specific majors can give us the identity in our fields.
Technological determinism: the idea that society\\\\\\\’s technology drives the development of its social structures. We cannot stop the progress of technology.
Max Weber was the first to explain how religious beliefs caused capitalism\\\\\\\’s rise, when Calvinists believed monetary blessings were signs that they would go to heaven. This caused the Protestant Work Ethic.
Values: collective ideas about what is desirable and undesirable in society.
Sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the resources for future generations.
Folkways: informal and common norms that aren\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’t strictly enforced.
Mores: informal norms based on moral and ethical factors with minimal to severe disapproval, such as religious rules.
Laws: formal rules enforced
Taboos: formal norms that cause severe social sanctions when violated.
Sanctions: punishments or rewards that support socially approved norms.
Cultural transmission: the means by which culture is passed over generations.
TV can influence people to cause more violence or to improve their lives.
Dominant ideology: beliefs and interests of the majority
Cultural imperialism: the influence and power of one country\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s culture on another country due to importing goods and services.
Rumspringa: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”running around\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”, when Amish teens are given freedom to the outside world to decide if they want to commit to the Amish community and be baptized.
Countercultures: subculture groups that are in opposition with the majority of the members of society.
Cultural universals: Aspects of culture found in all societies.
Ethnocentrism: Judging another culture by one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s own standards.
Cultural relativism: understanding another culture from its standards.
Cultural diffusion: the spread of norms, values, knowledge, symbols, and material components from one society to another.
Cultural lag: the process by which technological development and processes outpace current norms, values, knowledge, symbols, and material components of society.
Cultural leveling: the process of cultures becoming similar due to factors such as media and globalization.
High Culture: cultural characteristics associated with the dominant and elite members of society.
Five structural elements of culture: symbols, language, beliefs, values, and norms.