2014
Matthew Bejar
Professor Richard Fey
Arizona State University
9/30/2014
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Chapter 2 – Culture - Study guide
You should be familiar with the following terms and concepts, and be able
to apply them to examples:
- What culture is, and is not
Culture is the knowledge, language, values, customs, and material objects that are passed from person
to person and from one generation to the next in a human group or society. As previously defined, a society is
a large social grouping that occupies the same geographic territory and is subject to the same political
authority and dominant cultural expectations. Whereas a society is composed of people, a culture is
composed of ideas, behavior, and material possessions. Society and culture are interdependent; neither could
exist without the other.
- Beliefs
Beliefs — the mental acceptance or conviction that certain things are true or real.
- The roles of symbols, language and values in a culture
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A symbol is anything that meaningfully represents something else. Culture could not exist
without symbols because there would be no shared meanings among people. Symbols can
simultaneously produce loyalty and animosity, and love and hate.
Language is a set of symbols that expresses ideas and enables people to think and
communicate with one another. Verbal (spoken) language and nonverbal (written or gestured)
language help us describe reality.
Values are collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or
undesirable in a particular culture (Williams, 1970). Values do not dictate which behaviors are
appropriate and which ones are not, but they provide us with the criteria by which we evaluate
people, objects, and events.
- Sapír-Whorf Hypothesis
Language shapes the view of reality of its speakers. If people are able to think only through language, then
language must precede thought. If language actually shapes the reality we perceive and experience, then
some aspects of the world are viewed as important and others are virtually neglected because people know
the world only in terms of the vocabulary and grammar of their own language.
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Material vs. Non-Material Culture
Material culture
Non-Material Culture
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Consists of the physical or
tangible creations that
members of a society make,
use, and share. Initially,
items of material culture
begin as raw materials or
resources such as ore, trees,
and oil. Through tech, these
raw materials are
transformed into usable
items.
Abstract or intangible
human creations of society
that influence people's
behavior. Language, beliefs,
values, rules of behavior,
family patterns, and political
systems are examples of
nonmaterial culture. Even
the gestures that we use in
daily conversation are part
of the nonmaterial culture
in a society.
Examples of material
culture include:
 Books
 Computers
 Guns
 Tanks
 Tools
 factories
Examples of non-material
culture include:
 religion
 stories
 accents
 methods
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
Ethnocentrism —the practice of judging all other cultures by one's own culture. Ethnocentrism is based on
the assumption that one's own way of life is superior to all others.
Cultural relativism —the belief that the behaviors and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed
by the cultures own standards.
- Culture Shock
Culture shock is the disorientation that people feel when they encounter cultures radically different from their
own and believe they cannot depend on their own taken-for-granted assumptions about life. When people
travel to another society, they may not know how to respond to that setting.
- Ideal vs. Real Culture
Ideal culture refers to the values and standards of
behavior that people in a society profess to
hold. Real culture refers to the values and
standards of behavior that people actually follow.
For example, we may claim to be law-abiding
(ideal cultural value) but smoke marijuana (real
cultural behavior), or we may regularly drive over
the speed limit but think of ourselves as "good
citizens."
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- High Culture & Popular Culture
High culture consists of classical music, opera, ballet, and other activities usually patronized by elite audiences.
Popular culture consists of the activities,
products, and services of a
culture that appeal primarily to members of
the middle and working classes.
- Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity refers to the wide range of
between and within nations.
countries may be the result of natural
and geography) or social circumstances (such
composition of the population).
cultural differences found
Cultural diversity between
circumstances (such as climate
as level of technology and
- Cultural Lag
A gap between the technical development of
legal institutions. In other words, cultural lag
changes faster than nonmaterial culture, thus
cultural components.
a society and its moral and
occurs when material culture
creating a lag between the two
- Know what acculturation, assimilation and accommodation means
Cultural assimilation is the process by which a person or a group's language and/or culture come to
resemble those of another group.
Acculturation is a process in which members of one cultural group adopt the beliefs and behaviors of another
group.
Cultural accommodations are generally defined as attempts to allow specific cultural practices within
another culture and adjusting one's habitual expressive habits in order to facilitate communicating with
people of a different culture
- What are Cultural Universals?
Cultural universals are customs and practices that exist in all societies and include activities and institutions
such as storytelling, families, and laws. However, specific forms of these universals vary from one cultural
group to another.
- Values & Value Contradictions
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Values are collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in
a particular culture
Contradictions are values that conflict with one another or are mutually exclusive (achieving one
makes it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve another). Core values of morality and humanitarianism
may conflict with values of individual achievement and success. For example, humanitarian values
reflected in welfare and other government aid programs for people in need come into conflict with
values emphasizing hard work and personal achievement.
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