Helen NajjarFebruary 9th, 2015Week 4 reading notesHensin: Chapter 2 “Culture”-Culture is the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and even material objects thatcharacterize a group and are passed from one generation to the next-Material Culture the material objects that distinguishing a group of people, such as their art, buildings, weapons, utensils, machines, hairstyles, clothing, and jewelry-Nonmaterial Culture also called symbolic culture, a group's ways of thinking, includingits beliefs, values and other assumptions about the world, and doing, its common patterns of behavior, including language and other forms of interaction-Culture Shock the disorientation that people experience when the come in contact with a fundamentally different culture and can no longer depend on their taken for granted assumptions about life-Ralph Linton said “the last thing a fish would notice would be water.” –relating to the fact that unless something is unusual, most characteristics of our own culture remain impercievible to us-William Summer said “ones own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it” –in relation to ethnocentrism-Ethnocentrism the use of one’s culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies, generally leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms, and behaviors-Cultural Relativism not judging culture but trying to understand it on it’s own terms-Robert Edgerton says that we develop a scale for evaluating cultures based on “quality of life.”-Symbolic Culture another term for nonmaterial culture-Symbol something to which people attach meaning and hen use to communicate with one another-Gestures the ways in which people use their bodies to communicate with one another-Language a system of symbols that can be combined in an infinite number of ways and can represent not only objects but also abstract through-What does language do?It allows human experience to be cumulativeIt provides a social or shared pastIt provides a social or shared futureIt allows shared perspectivesIt allows shared, goal-oriented behavior-Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf: the Sapir-Wharf Hypothesis two anthropologists who studied Hopi Indians and concluded the hypothesis that language creates ways of thinking and perceiving-Eviator Zerubavel sociologist who pointed out there is no separate word for jam and jelly In Hebrew, and that you can only see the difference when you realize there are two different words in English.  probes the sapir-wharf hypothesis-Values the standards by which people decide what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly-Norms expectations of “right” behavior-Sanctions either expressions of approval or disapproval given to people for upholding norms or violating them-Positive Sanctions a reward for following a norm, such as a smile or material reward-Negative Sanctions an expression of disapproval for violating a norm, it can be informal negative sanction such as frowns, lectures, or lack of acceptance to a formal negative sanction like going to jail.-Ian Robertson used an example of not wearing a shirt being a folkaway norm breaking and not wearing pants as breaking a more norm-Folkaways norms that are not strictly enforced-Mores norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought essential to the core values or well-being of a group-Taboo a norm so strong that it brings extreme sanctions, even revulsion, if violated-Subcultures the values and related behaviors of a group that distinguish members from the larger culture, a world within a world-Countercultures a group who’s values, beliefs, or norms are in opposition to mainstream culture-Robin William defined 10 core values of americans to be achievement and success, individualism, hard work, efficiency, science and technology, material comfort, freedowm, equality, group superiority, equality, and democracy-Pluralistic Society a society made up of many different groups-Core Values the values that are central to a group in which they build their identity off of-Value Cluster values that together form a larger whole-Value Contradiction values that contradict one another, to follow one means to conflict another-What are the US Value Clusters? Leisure, self-fufillment, physical fitness, youthfulness, concern for the environment-Ideal Culture a people’s values and norms, the goals held out for them-Real Culture the norms and values that people actually follow, as opposed to ideal culture-Cultural Universal a value, norm, or other cultural trait that is found in every group-George Murdock anthropologist who claimed that some activities are universal within all groups, but that the specific customs differ from one group to another-Sociobiology a framework of thought in which human behavior is considered to be the result of natural selection and biological factors-Charles Darwin in this chapter, his work is used as a justification of sociobiology-Edward Wilson an insect specialist who claimed that human behavior is bred into homo sapiens through evolutionary principles-Technology a narrow sense, tools, its broader sense includes skills or procedures needed to make and use these tools-New Technology the emerging technology of an era that have specific impact on social life-Cultural Lag is William Ogburn’s term for human behavior that lags behind technological innovations-Cultural diffusion the spread of cultural traits from one group to another-Cultural leveling the process by which culture becomes similar to one another, refers especially to the process in which western culture is being exported and infused into othernationsDo Video Games Kill?This article by Karen Stermheiner talks about the possible results of violence in video games. She argues that the media has given a lack of information about the cause and effect of videogames to violence such as shooting. There is a lack of information because of political, religious, and professional bias. Stermheiner says that the culture of video games is an entire sub culture, and that predominantly white mails become consumed in and adopt the values. Hollywood Doesn’t Threaten Family ValuesThis article talks about how the actions of celebrities, film content, and Hollywood lifestyles influence society. The author is saying that they no doubt influence us, but that Hollywood is not the core factor changing family values such as the