SOC 101LEC Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Cultural Relativism, Ethnocentrism, Culture Shock

• School: University at Buffalo
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 101LEC
• Professor: Christopher Mele

Document Summary

Culture is defined as the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and even material objects passed from one generation to the next. Nonmaterial culture--a group"s way of thinking(beliefs, values, and assumptions)and common patterns of behavior(language, gestures, and other form interaction) --(social tacts) Culture provides a taken-for-granted orientation to life. We assume our culture is normal or natural; in fact, it is not natural, but rather is learned. It penetrates our lives so deeply that it is taken for granted and provides the lens through which we perceive and evaluate things. (kids on the table vs adults do it) It provides implicit instructions that tell us what we ought to do and a moral imperative that defines what we think is right and wrong. Coming into contact with a radically different culture produces culture shock challenging our basic assumptions. A consequence of internalizing culture is ethnocentrism, using our own culture(and assuming it to be good, right, and superior) to judge other cultures.