SOC 1001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Margaret Mead, Cultural Relativism, Ethnocentrism
Document Summary
Culture: a set of beliefs, traditions, and practices; the sum of the social categories and concepts we embrace in addition to beliefs, behaviors (except instinctual ones), and practices; everything but the natural environment around us: culture=(superior)man-(inferior)man. Ethnocentrism: the belief that one"s own culture or group is superior to others, and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one"s own: culture=man-machine. The ideal is a fluid notion that changes from one place to another and across time periods. Marxist tradition- cultural objects reflect the material labor and relationship of production that went into them. Our norms, values, sanctions, ideologies, laws, and language are outgrowths of the technology and economic means and modes of production. Media: media: any formats, platforms, or vehicles that carry, present, or communicate information, hegemony: a condition by which a dominant group uses its power to elicit the voluntary. Vs. domination- getting people to do what you want through force.
