SOC101Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Canadian Multiculturalism Act, Marital Rape, Minority Rights
Culture
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Doesn't simply describe the world
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Words out loud
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Words in our minds
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Our understanding of reality is dependent on language
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Shapes reality, not just mirrors reality
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Words that are available help us to understand things better
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Greater precision to describe, analyze
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Ex: education. Context, learn new vocabulary to understand a slice or reality /
social / physical world
○
Ex: I love you --> means different things depending on context in
which they are used
▪
Language is context shaping and context dependent (indexicality)
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New words, language is not static but dynamic
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Domestic violence
▪
Child abuse
▪
Marital rape --> only objects of intervention once language to describe
those phenomenon crystallized
▪
Dynamic nominalism
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Lawyers, politicians and marketers use language to sway / persuade people
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Languages in Canada
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Ethnic fractionalization index measures the probability that two randomly selected
people from the same country are not of the same ethnic, linguistic or cultural
group
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Recognizes multicultural heritage and that this heritage must be protected
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Recognizes Aboriginal rights
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French and English are official languages
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Equality rights
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Minority rights
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Canadian Multiculturalism Act - 1988
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Majority of Canadians think multiculturalism is good for Canada --> 55% of
Canadians indicated it is good, 30% said it is not .
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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
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Inherited
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Values, religions
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How we think
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Create with hands and minds
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How we act
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What we own
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Culture refers to:
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Physical creations that members of a society make, use and share
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Material
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Abstract human creations of society that influence people's behaviour
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Language, beliefs, values, rules of behaviour, family patterns, political
systems
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Nonmaterial
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Interaction, observation
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Imitation
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Must learn through:
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Culture shapes not only what we do but what we think, how we feel
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Lecture 1.4: Culture
October 5, 2016
12:27 PM
LECTURE Page 9
Document Summary
Our understanding of reality is dependent on language. Words that are available help us to understand things better. Context, learn new vocabulary to understand a slice or reality / social / physical world. Language is context shaping and context dependent (indexicality) Ex: i love you --> means different things depending on context in which they are used. New words, language is not static but dynamic. Marital rape --> only objects of intervention once language to describe those phenomenon crystallized. Lawyers, politicians and marketers use language to sway / persuade people. Ethnic fractionalization index measures the probability that two randomly selected people from the same country are not of the same ethnic, linguistic or cultural group. Recognizes multicultural heritage and that this heritage must be protected. Majority of canadians think multiculturalism is good for canada --> 55% of. Canadians indicated it is good, 30% said it is not .
