Module 1 Flashcards
What are the four definitions of the Caribbean?
Historical, Geographical, Political, and Geological
What is the definition of the Historical Caribbean?
This is the area colonized by European powers (Spanish, British, French and Dutch) and which has been deeply affected by the brand of European Colonialism.
What is the definition of the Historical Caribbean?
The Spanish through the Encomienda system and other means exterminated the original inhabitants. The British introduced the plantation system and with it, the enslavement of Africans and the indentureship of the Chinese and East Indians.
What is the definition of the Geographical Caribbean?
Geographically the Caribbean is defined as the land area which has its coastline washed by the Caribbean Sea
What is the definition of the Political Caribbean
Three kinds of governmental systems exist independent states, associated states, and colonial dependencies. Several of the former colonial powers still possess territories in the Caribbean or have very close relations with them.
In understanding Society and Culture, how do we define The Social?
The social is described by Jeniffer Mohammed as the ‘totality of explanations describing how people interact and make meanings from their experiences’
It has no existence of itself but is merely a construct through which we represent all the ways we make meanings in our lives
What is a Society?
A Society is the largest unit or group to which an individual belongs. To the layman society is usually understood to mean a collection of persons, living in the same geographical area with which one feels a sense of belonging.
To the sociologist however society is mainly defined through its group structure framework.
What are the elements of society?
population characteristics social behavior social institutions cultural influences social change
What are population characteristics?
Population characteristics determine the general social patterns of a group of people living within a certain geographical area.
There are two chief kinds of population studies, demography, and human ecology.
What are Social behaviors?
Social Behaviour is studied extensively in the field of sociology. Social psychologists usually work with small groups and observe attitude change, conformity, leadership morale, and other forms of behaviour. They also study social interaction which is the way members of a group respond to one another and to other groups. In addition, sociologists examine the results of conflicts between groups such as crime, social movement, and war.
What are Social Institutions?
Social Institutions are organized relationships among people which tend to perform specific actions within the society. These institutions include business organizations, churches, government, security forces, hospitals, family and schools. Each institution has a direct effect on the society in which it exists.
What is Culture?
Culture in the eyes of a sociologist can be defined as “the accumulated store of symbols, ideas, and material products associated with a social system, whether it be an entire society or a family”. (Johnson, 1995, p.68).
What are the characteristics of Culture?
a culture satisfies human needs in a particular way
culture is acquired through learning
culture is based on the use of symbols
a culture consists of individual traits and groups of traits called patterns
How does Culture satisfy human needs?
All cultures serve to meet basic needs shared by human beings. For example, every culture has methods of obtaining food and shelter. Every culture also has family relationships, economic and governmental systems, religious practices, and forms of artistic expression.
Each culture shapes the way its members satisfy human needs. Human beings have to eat but their culture teaches them what, when, and how to eat for example many British people eat smoked fish for breakfast but many Americans prefer cold cereals
How is Culture acquired through learning?
Culture is acquired through learning not through biological inheritance i.e. no person is born with a culture. Children take on the culture in which they are raised through enculturation.
How is a culture based on the use of symbols?
Cultural learning is based on the ability to use symbols. A symbol is something that stands for something else. The most important types of symbols are the words of a language. There is no obvious or necessary connection between a symbol and what it stands for.
How does Culture develop patterns?
Cultures are made up of individual elements called cultural traits. A group of related traits or elements is a cultural pattern. Cultural traits may be divided into the material culture or nonmaterial culture.
What is Material Culture?
Material culture consists of all the tangible things that are made by the members of society. It includes such objects as (architectural styles) buildings, jewelry, machines, cuisine, forms of technology, economic organization, paintings, and artistic creations.
What is Non- Material Culture?
Nonmaterial culture refers to a society’s norms, beliefs, superstitions, and values that guide their behavior. A handshake, a marriage ceremony, and a system of justice are examples of nonmaterial culture. Cultural patterns may include numerous traits (both material and non-material).
What is a Sub Culture?
Social scientists sometimes use the term subculture to describe variations within a culture. Social groups often develop some cultural patterns of their own that set them apart from the larger society of which they are apart. Subcultures may develop in businesses, ethnic groups, occupational groups, regional groups, religious groups, and other groups within a larger culture e.g. Maroons in Jamaica.
What is Pluralism?
Pluralism: A society where two or more racial or ethnic groups live together but where there is limited mixing of cultures or intermarriage. Each culture has maintained its own social institutions’ ex. Religion, family
What is Ethnocentrism?
Ethnocentrism: an idea and policy derived from a first world country and imposed on a third world country with the belief of superiority
How do society and culture overlap?
We know society to have structure. The largest units or groups within society were called social institutions. Yet these were intangibles: ideas, beliefs, and values. From these, tangible organizations were created. So, too, we should be aware that the material products of society are derived from the dominant underlying values and beliefs of that society. Thus, the overlap between the two terms occurs at the level of the importance of values. Society and its culture are rooted in the same values.
What are the characteristic Caribbean behaviors?
making fun of others, camaraderie, celebrations, insularity, religion, preference for white, western culture, kinship bonds/family ties informality
