Sociology

Unit 2: Culture and American Society

• 1. Culture • 2. material culture • 3. nonmaterial culture • 4. society • 5. technology • 6. language• 7. values• 8. norms• 9. folkways• 10. mores• 11. laws• 12. culture trait• 13. culture complexes• 14. culture patterns • 15. ethnocentrism • 16. cultural relativism • 17. subculture • 18. counterculture • 19. narcissism

• Culture – Shared products of human groups. These products

include both physical objects and the beliefs, values, and behaviors shared by the group.

• Material Culture – Physical objects created by human groups. Also

called artifacts.

• Nonmaterial Culture – Abstract human creations, such as language, ideas,

beliefs, rules, skills, family patterns, work practices, and political and economic systems.

• Society– Group of mutually interdependent people who

have organized in such a way as to share a common culture and have a feeling of unity.

The Components of Culture• Technology

– Knowledge and tools people use for practical purposes.• Symbols

– Anything that stands for something else and has a shared meaning attached to it.

• Language– Organization of written and spoken symbols into as standardized

system. • Values

– Shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable.

• Norms– Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific

situations.

• Folkways– Norms that do not have great moral significance attached

to them—the common customs of everyday life.

• Mores (More Ayz) – Norms that have great moral significance attached to

them.

• Laws– Written rules of conduct that are enacted and enforced

by the government. By definition, the violation of these norms is considered a criminal act.

• Culture trait– Individual tool, act, or belief that is related to a

particular situation or need. • Culture complexes– Cluster of interrelated culture traits.

• Culture patterns – Combination of a number of culture complexes

into an interrelated whole.

• Ethnocentrism – Tendency to view one’s own culture and group as

superior to all other cultures and groups.

• Cultural relativism– Belief that cultures should be judged by their own

standards.

• Subculture– Group with its own unique values, norms, and behaviors

that exists within a larger culture.

• Counterculture – Group that rejects the values, norms, and practices of the

larger society and replaces them with a new set of cultural patterns.

• Narcissism – Extreme self-centeredness