L9 | PERSPECTIVES OF CULTURE

• PERSPECTIVES OF CULTURE

  1. CULTURAL RELATIVISM
  2. ETHNOCENTRISM
  3. XENOCENTRISM
  4. CULTURE SHOCK
  5. CULTURE LAG
  6. SUBCULTURE
  7. COUNTERCULTURE
• CULTURAL RELATIVISM

  • Culture differs
  • Cultural trait has meaning only within its cultural setting. 
  • Ability to understand a culture on its terms and not to make judgments
  • We can understand why they do things their way.
• ETHNOCENTRISM

  • Own culture is superior to the others. 
  • Judges or evaluates another culture in terms of his own values, norms and beliefs. 
  • It is applied to the cultural or ethnic bias — whether conscious or unconscious
• XENOCENTRISM

  • Foreign is better than the local, it is superior in all other aspects such as lifestyles, products, and ideas. 
  • Preference for other cultures and societies rather than one's way of life.
• CULTURE SHOCK

  • Frustration when encountering a culture different from own and expectations are shaken and find it disgusted by other cultures. 
  • Normal and is the result of being in an unfamiliar environment.
• CULTURE LAG

  • Term was first coined in William F. Ogburn's 1922
  • Book: Social Change with Respect to Culture and Original Nature.
  • Gap between material (tangible) culture and non- material (in-tangible) culture. 
  • Material culture: Advances rapidly the new norms as compared to nonmaterial culture. 
• CULTURE LAG

  • Culture takes time to catch up with technological innovations, and the resulting social problems that are caused by this lag. 
  • Unequal rate of change between different parts of culture causing a gap between material and non-material culture. 
  • Relates to theory and explanation. 
  • Helps by identifying and explaining social problems to predict future problems in society. 
• SUBCULTURE

  • Group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture, maintaining some of its founding principles. 
  • Develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, political, and sexual matters. 
  • Part of society while keeping their specific characteristics intact. 
  • Concept was developed in sociology and cultural studies
• COUNTERCULTURE

  • Culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.