What is the definition of culture?
A set of beliefs, traditions, and practices
How has culture changed throughout history?
EVOLVED and EXPANDED
What does the oldest understanding of culture focus on?
The distinction between what is part of our NATURAL ENVIRONMENT and what is MODIFIED by humans
What did Europeans and Non-Westerners begin to think about culture?
They viewed culture in terms of DIFFERENCES in people (both positive and negative)
What happened with the idea of culture in the 18th and 19th century?
- A new dimension was added to culture
* The idea that culture involved the PURSUIT OF INTELLECTUAL REFINEMENT
What can culture be summarized as?
The sum of the social categories and concepts in addition to our beliefs, behaviors, and practices.
Culture is everything BUT nature
Definition of Ethnocentrism:
*Belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others *Tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one’s own culture
Definition of Material Culture:
Everything that is a part of our constructed environment
Examples: books, fashion, monuments
Definition of Non-Material Culture:
Encompasses values, beliefs, behaviors, and social norms
What are some things that culture includes?
- language
- the meaning we assign to words
- concepts such as class, inequality, and ownership
Definition of Ideology:
System of concepts and relationships that includes an understanding of cause and effect
Non-Material
Definition of Cultural Relativism:
- A term coined by anthropologist Ruth Benedict in 1930
- Idea that we should recognize differences across cultures without passing judgement on, or assigning value to, those differences.
Defintion of Cultural Scripts:
Modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural. These scripts may strongly shape beliefs or concepts held by society.
Definition of Subculture:
A group united by a set of concepts, values, traits, and/or behavioral patterns that distinguish it from others within the same culture or society
Definition of Values:
Moral beliefs
Definition of Norms:
How values tell us to act
Definition of Socialization:
The process by which a person internalizes the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learns to function as a member of that society.
Defintion of Reflection Theory:
- Culture is a projection (or reflection) of social structures and relation into the public sphere.
- A Marxist version of this theory would argue that cultural objects reflect the material labor and production relationships that went into making them.
Definition of Media:
Any format or vehicle that carry, present, or communicate information
EXAMPLES: books, posters, Web pages, clay tablets, and radio
Definition of Mass Media:
Any form of media that reaches the mass of the people
Definition of Hegemony:
- this concept is different from domination*
- Important for understanding the impact of media on culture and for examining how people and societies shape, and are shaped by, culture
Media Life Cycle:
- Opens path to investigate which includes textual analysis and audience studies
- Allows us to see how people create media and the biases involved in the creation
- How media reflects the culture in which they exist
- How individuals and groups use the media to change culture
Media Effects:
- Has four categories
- Categories designed by their duration and intentions
- Categories are:
- short term and deliberate
- long term and deliberate
- short term and unintentional
- long term and unintentional
Media and Stereotypes:
- Media can create/reinforce ethnic, racial, gender, religious, or other stereotypes
- These stereotypes can be created intentionally, unintentionally, subtly, or overtly
- Media can distract people’s attention from foundational issues or tensions that need to be addressed
