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Social Sci LibreTexts

Key Terms Chapter 03: Culture

  • Page ID
    142978
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    Example and Directions
    Words (or words that have the same definition)The definition is case sensitive(Optional) Image to display with the definition [Not displayed in Glossary, only in pop-up on pages](Optional) Caption for Image(Optional) External or Internal Link(Optional) Source for Definition
    (Eg. "Genetic, Hereditary, DNA ...")(Eg. "Relating to genes or heredity")The infamous double helix https://bio.libretexts.org/CC-BY-SA; Delmar Larsen
    Glossary Entries
    Word(s)DefinitionImageCaptionLinkSource
    Beliefstenets or convictions that people hold to be true    
    Counterculturesgroups that reject and oppose society’s widely accepted cultural patterns    
    Cultural Imperialismthe deliberate imposition of one’s own cultural values on another culture    
    Cultural Relativismthe practice of assessing a culture by its own standards, and not in comparison to another culture    
    Cultural Universalspatterns or traits that are globally common to all societies    
    Cultureshared beliefs, values, and practices    
    Culture Lagthe gap of time between the introduction of material culture and nonmaterial culture’s acceptance of it    
    Culture Shockan experience of personal disorientation when confronted with an unfamiliar way of life    
    Diffusionthe spread of material and nonmaterial culture from one culture to another    
    Discoveriesthings and ideas found from what already exists    
    Ethnocentrismthe practice of evaluating another culture according to the standards of one’s own culture    
    Folkwaysdirect, appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture    
    Formal Normsestablished, written rules    
    Globalizationthe integration of international trade and finance markets    
    High Culturethe cultural patterns of a society’s elite    
    Ideal Culturethe standards a society would like to embrace and live up to    
    Informal Normscasual behaviors that are generally and widely conformed to    
    Innovationsnew objects or ideas introduced to culture for the first time    
    Inventionsa combination of pieces of existing reality into new forms    
    Languagea symbolic system of communication    
    Material Culturethe objects or belongings of a group of people    
    Moresthe moral views and principles of a group    
    Nonmaterial Culturethe ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society    
    Normsthe visible and invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured    
    Popular Culturemainstream, widespread patterns among a society’s population    
    Real Culturethe way society really is based on what actually occurs and exists    
    Sanctionsa way to authorize or formally disapprove of certain behaviors    
    Sapir-Whorf Hypothesisthe way that people understand the world based on their form of language    
    Social Controla way to encourage conformity to cultural norms    
    Societypeople who live in a definable community and who share a culture    
    Subculturesgroups that share a specific identification, apart from a society’s majority, even as the members exist within a larger society    
    Symbolsgestures or objects that have meanings associated with them that are recognized by people who share a culture    
    Valuesa culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society    
    Xenocentrisma belief that another culture is superior to one’s own    
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