Sociology Definitions

purification All that gentle beings learn to do, to use, to produce, to know, and to believe as they grow to maturity and live out their lives in the social groups to which they belong. Culture Shock The reaction people may have when encountering cultural traditions different from their own. Culture Universal Forms or patterns for resolving the common, basic, human problems that are found in all cultures. Culture universals include the division of labor, the incest taboo, marriage ceremony, the family, rites of passage, and ideology. solid Culture All the things human beings make and use, from small handheld tools to skyscrapers.Non-Material Culture The totality of knowledge, beliefs, values, and rules for appropriate doings that specifies how people should interact and how people may solve their problems. Norms Specific rules of behavior that are agreed upon and divided up in spite of appearance a culture to prescribe limits of acceptable behavior. Mores Strongly held norms th at usually have a chaste connotation and are based on the central values of the culture. Folkways Norms that permit a rather big degree of individual interpretation as long as certain(prenominal) limits are not overstepped. Folkways trade with time and vary from culture to culture.Ideal Norms Expectations of what people should do under perfect conditions. The norm that marriage will last until death do us part is an ideal norm in Amerifanny society. Real Norms Norms that allow for differences in individual behavior. Real norms specify how people actually suffice, not how they should behave under ideal circumstances. Value A cultures general orientations toward life its notion of what is candid and bad, what is desirable and undesirable. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis A hypothesis that argues that the language a person uses determines his or her perception of reality.ethnical Lag A situation that develops when new patterns of behavior conflict with traditional values. Cultural lag can occur when technological change (material change) is more rapid than are changes in norms and values (nonmaterial cultural). Subculture The distinctive lifestyles, values, norms, and beliefs of certain segments of the population within a society. Types of subcultures are religious, age, regional, deviant, occupational. Rites of Passage Standardized rituals that mark the transition from one branch of life to another.Ways that Culture is transmitted- Mechanism of Cultural Change-Diffusion The movement of cultural traits from one culture to another. Reformulation A trait is modified in some way so that it fits better in its new context. intent Any practice or tool that becomes widely accepted in a society. Selectivity A mould that defines some aspects of the world as important and others as unimportant. Selectivity is reflected in the vocabulary and grammar of language. Taboo A sacral prohibition against touching, mentioning, of looking at certain objects, acts, or people.Symbol Ob jects that represents other things. Unlike signs, symbols need not share ant of the qualities of whatever they represent. Ethnocentrism The tendency to judge other cultures in terms of ones own customs and values. Cultural Relativism The positions that social scientists doing cross-cultural research should view and analyze behaviors and customs within the cultural context in which they occur. Ideology A set or interrelated religious or secular beliefs, values, and norms justifying the pursuit of a given set of goals through a given set of means.