Society And Culture Flashcards
What are characteristics of an industrial and a post industrial society
Production of food shifts to production of manufactured goods
•Production moves from human and animal labor to machines
•Increases food production and population
•Numbers and kinds of jobs increase
•Location of work changes to cities, away from the home
•Social processes such as education take the place of family
Post industrial
Economic emphasis is on creation and exchange of information and services instead of manufacturing goods
•The developed countries are postindustrial societies
•Standard of living improves
•Education and science are important
•Technological advances seen as key
What did sociologist Daniel Bell say about post industrial societies in 1999
For the first time the majority of
the labor force are employed in services rather than agriculture and manufacturing.
2.White collar employment replaces blue collar work.
3.Technical knowledge is the organizing feature in postindustrial society. key 4. Technological change is planned and assessed. 5.Reliance on computer modeling in all areas.
What is the social structure concept of the following theoretical perspectives and give examples each
- functionalism
- conflict theory
- symbolic interactionism
1.role
Example-Social integration is promoted by culturally defined rights and obligations honored by group members.
2.Ascribed master status
Example-
Ascribed master statuses such as gender and race empower some to subjugate others.
3.Social Interaction
Example-Roles are carried out by individuals on the basis of the symbols and meanings they share.
What is the concept of culture
is common way of life shared by a society or a group
●It refers to the whole ways of life of the members of a society.
●It includes what they dress, their marriage customs and family life, art, and patterns of work, religious ceremonies, leisure pursuits, and soforth.
●It also includes the material goods they produce: bows and arrows, plows, factories and machines, computers, books, buildings, airplanes etc.
What is the nature of culture
Culture is a group phenomenon.
●Cultures evolve from the interaction of person with others, and a person’s belief or behavior becomes part of the culture when it is externalized and objectified.
Explain five basic characteristics of culture and explain
Culture is organic and supra-organic: It is organic when we consider the fact that there is no culture without human society. It is supra organic, because it is far beyond any individual lifetime. It lasts for generations . Individuals come and go, but culture remains and persists
●Culture is overt and covert: It is generally divided into material and non-material cultures. Material culture consists of any tangible human made objects such buildings and non=material culture consists of any non-physical aspects like language, belief, ideas, knowledge, attitude, values, etc.
●Culture is explicit and implicit: It is explicit when we consider those actions which can be explained and described easily by those who perform them. It is implicit when we consider those things we do, but are unable to explain them, yet we believe them to be so.
Culture is ideal and manifest (actual): Ideal culture involves the way people ought to behave or what they ought to do. Manifest culture involves what people actually do.
●Culture is stable and yet changing: Culture is stable when we consider what people hold valuable and are handing over to the next generation in order to maintain their norms and values. However, when culture comes into contact with other cultures, it can change.
●Culture changes not only because of direct or indirect contact between cultures, but also through innovation and adaptation to new circumstances.
Culture is shared and learned: Culture is the public property of a social group of people (shared). Individuals get cultural knowledge of the group through socialization.
●Culture is symbolic: It is based on the purposeful creation and usage of symbols; it is exclusive to humans. Symbolic thought is unique and crucial to humans and to culture.
What are symbols
ore specifically, symbols are words, objects, gestures, sounds or images that represent thought is unique and crucial to humans and to culture.
●Symbols refer to anything to which people attach meaning and which they use to communicate with others.
●They are words, objects, gestures, sounds or images that represent something else rather than themselves.
●Symbolic thought is unique and crucial to humans and to culture.
●It is the human ability to give a thing or event an arbitrary meaning and grasp and appreciate that meaning. There is no obvious natural or necessary connection between a symbol and what it symbolizes.
●Culture thus works in the symbolic domain emphasizing meaning, rather than the technical/practical rational side of human behavior.
●All actions have symbolic content as well as being action in and of themselves. Things, actions, behaviors, etc, always stand for something else than merely, the thing itself.
True or false
True
Name seven elements of culture and explain values and languages
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
●Values: ●Values are essential elements of non-material culture.
●They may be defined as general, abstract guidelines for our lives, decisions, goals, choices, and actions.
●They are shared ideas of a groups or a society as to what is right or wrong, correct or incorrect, desirable or undesirable, acceptable or unacceptable, ethical or unethical, etc., regarding something.
●They are general road maps for our lives.
• Norms
• Symbols
• Language: is defined as a system of verbal and in many cases written symbols with rules about how those symbols can be strung together to convey more complex meanings, is the distinctive capacity and possession of humans;
●It is a key element of culture.
• Folkways
• Mores
• Customs
• Fashion
• Laws
Social values are under social norms,what are the branches under social norms and the branches under those branches
Under social norms
Folkways and mores
Under folkways there are fashion and customs
Under mores there are conventions and laws
Culture encompasses language, and through language,culture is communicated and transmitted.
True or false
True
Values are shared and alearned in group. They can be positive or negative. For example, honesty, truth – telling, respect for others, hospitality, helping those in need, etc are positive values. Examples of negative values include theft, indecency, disrespect, dishonesty, falsehood, frugality, etc.
●The Hippocratic Oath in medical profession dictates that practitioners should among other things, keep the secrets of patients, provide them whatever help they can, do no harm to patients willingly, etc
True or false
True
Explain norms and mores as elements of culture
Norms-They are implicit principles for social life, relationship and interaction. Norms are detailed and specific rules for specific situations.
●They tell us how to do something what to do, what not to do, when to do it, why to do it, etc.
Mores-
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE - MORES
●They are important and stronger social norms for existence, safety, well-being and continuity of the society or the group or society.
●Violation of, and deviation from these kinds of norms, may result in serious reactions from the groups.
Norms are derived from values. That means, for every specific norm, there is a general value that determines its content.
●Individuals may not act according to the defined values and norms of the group. Therefore, violation of values and norms and deviating from the standard values and norms are often common. Social norms may be divided into two. These are mores and folkways
True or false
True
The strongest norms are regarded as formal laws of a society or a group.
●Formal laws are written and codified social norms.
●The other kinds of mores are called conventions.
True or false
True
