SOC 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Cultural Relativism, Ethnocentrism
16 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Culture refers to: a shared system of beliefs and knowledge, a shared system of meaning and symbols, a set of values, beliefs, and practices, shared forms of communication. Values: general and abstract standards defining what a group or society as a whole considers good, desirable, right, or important. Norms: are the informal (unwritten) rules that guide what people do and how they live. Laws: norms that have been codified; rules that are written down and formally enforced through institutions such as the state. Beliefs: shared ideas held collectively by people within a given culture about what is true. Language: a set of meaningful symbols that enables communication. Allows for the storage and development of culture. Mores: important norms whose violation is likely to be met with severe negative sanctions. Folkways: relatively unimportant norms that carry with them few if any sanctions.
