Chapter 3

Question 1

Culture

Answer 1

the way of life of a group- includes idea, behaviors, and material goods to which people attach similar meanings or a common social heritage
-The values, norms, and material goods characteristic of a given group

Question 2

Society

Answer 2

shares culture and the same territory

• culture includes both stuff and ideas
• material culture
• non-material culture

Question 3

Material Culture

Answer 3

• “stuff”

- includes technology

Question 4

Non-material Culture

Answer 4

includes ideas and attitudes

• norms
• values
• symbols-language

Question 5

Norms

Answer 5

rules that govern our behavior

-guidelines for appropriate behavior

Question 6

Values

Answer 6

• broad abstract ideas that defines right and wrong
• Ideas held by individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad. What individuals value is strongly influenced by the specific culture in which they happen to live

Question 7

American values

Answer 7

• achievement/success
• efficiency
• honesty
• cleanliness
• individualism

Question 8

USA norms related to food + eating

Answer 8

• unwritten rules
• govern appropriate food choices
• govern appropriate eating behaviors

Question 9

Symbols

Answer 9

an object, sound, gesture, pattern that represents something other than itself
-one item used to stand for or represent another—as in the case of a flag, which symbolizes a nation

Question 10

Language

Answer 10

a system of symbols that expresses thoughts and ideas and enables communication
-The primary vehicle of meaning and communication in a society; a system of symbols that represent objects and abstract thoughts.

Question 11

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis; Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

Answer 11

language helps shape our interpretation of reality since people understand the world through the cultural les of language
-a hypothesis, based on the theories of Sapir and Whorf, that perceptions are relative to language

Question 12

Subculture

Answer 12

• groups present within the dominant culture that have distinct identities
• Values and norms distinct from those of the majority, held by a group within a wider society

Question 13

Cultural Universals

Answer 13

meet needs common to all cultures but expressed differently in each
-George Murdock

Question 14

Culture as a tool kit

Answer 14

• Ann Swidler
• culture is a tool kit of symbols, stories, rituals, and world-views, which people may use in varying configurations to solve different kinds of problems
• rejects node that values cause actions

Question 15

Ethnocentrism

Answer 15

tendency to see ones own culture as superior to others, judging other cultures based on your own perception

• The tendency to look at other cultures through the eyes of one’s own culture, and thereby misrepresent them
• William Graham Sumner

Question 16

Cultural Relativism

Answer 16

The practice of judging a society by its own standards

-acknowledging the differences between cultures without passing judgement

Question 17

Signifier

Answer 17

any vehicle of meaning and communication

Question 18

Semiotics

Answer 18

The study of the ways in which nonlinguistic phenomena can generate meaning—as in the example of a traffic light

Question 19

Hunting and Gathering Societies

Answer 19

Societies whose mode of subsistence is gained from hunting animals, fishing, and gathering edible plants

Question 20

Assimilation

Answer 20

The acceptance of a minority group by a majority population in which the new group takes on the values and norms of the dominant culture