SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Cultural Relativism, Perfect Sense, Ethnocentrism

• School: Bishop's University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 101
• Professor: Barry Mc Clinchey

Document Summary

Everything that is a product of a human mind; the sum of human creation. The socialization process influences all that people think and do. Culture carries meaning and facilitates communication between members of society. Culture facilitates or inhibits social bonds and rifts. Culture: is a complex collection of values, beliefs, behaviours, and material objects shared by a group passed on from one generation to the next. Five defining features of culture: culture is learned, culture is shared, culture is transmitted, culture is cumulative, culture is human. The tangible artifacts and physical objects found in a given culture. The intangible and abstract components of a society, including values and norms. What we hold as important to us in our society. The expectations of a society about how people should act. The normal way and accepted way people act. More serious normal rules for the way people act. Penalties for breaking these rules are more serious.