Sociology

• Primary socialization occurs during childhood and is typically carried out by family members and close relatives.
• Culture is the way of life of a group of people that is accepted uncritically and passed along from one generation to the next.
• There are two categories of culture: material and non-material culture.
• Material culture is the products or artefacts that a society creates which expresses its beliefs and values.
• Material culture is made up of tangible items such as food, art, and books.
• Non-material culture is the beliefs and values of a people which provide inspiration for the products and objects they create.
• Non-material culture is made up of intangible ideas such as traffic laws and customs.
• Culture can be learnt directly through observation and imitation.
• Culture is not unique to any one individual but common to all members of a society.
• Culture develops across time and space because as humans adapt to their physical environment, they come up with cultural solutions to overcome the challenges they face.
• Every society has symbols that hold special meaning to its members.
• The same symbol might not have the same meaning to people in a different culture.
• Culture varies over time and place, it is not static.
• All cultures undergo change of some kind over time.
• Change usually comes about in response to contact with other groups, known as cultural diffusion.
• Symbols may take the form of structures, gestures, material possessions, food or clothing.
• Language may be defined as a set of symbols that express ideas and allow people to think and communicate with each other.
• Language can be verbal or non-verbal.
• Language is perhaps the most basic element of any culture as it is a cultural universal.
• Values are what we find desirable and are based on our beliefs.
• Values are more action-oriented than beliefs and can be thought of as a ranking we hold about how desirable or advantageous certain qualities, dispositions or actions may be.
• Beliefs form the foundation of what we value, as individuals, and as a social group.
• Beliefs refer to what people regard to be true, whether or not there is proof, so they are assumptions about the world.
• Assimilation is a more extreme version of acculturation, perhaps because the person lives for a much longer time in the host country.
• Ethnocentrism is the belief in the superiority of one's own culture.
• There are four types of norms: folkways, mores, customs and laws.
• Norms ensure that all forms of behaviour are standardised in society.
• Any violation of a law is always accompanied by some form of punishment.
• Popular Culture, Folk Culture, Subculture, Ideal Culture, Real Culture, Youth Culture, Counter Culture are different types of culture.
• Laws are all the rules of conduct established and enforced by those in authority in a particular community.
• Acculturation is socialisation into another culture, where a new member becomes encultured into the ways of life of the host culture by learning to adapt.
• Laws are mores that have become formalised in a society through the legislative process.
• Enculturation is socialisation within a culture, usually one’s own.
• Folkways are conventional practices that are socially appropriate such as preparing certain dishes for Christmas or men opening doors for women.
• Mores are important for the survival of any society as they establish what is right and wrong and what is moral and immoral.
• Functionalism, Marxism, Interactionism, Feminism are different theories on culture.
• Interculturation is a subtle mixing of cultural forms, ideas and beliefs when two or more cultural groups inhabit the same space and mix with each other in a routine and regular way.
• Creolisation is the adaptation and synchronisation of people, beliefs and cultural forms and ethnicities.
• Norms are rules that govern social action and determine all the behaviours that the majority of people consider to be proper, right and customary.
• Customs are those norms that have been in existence and have been practiced by the members of a society over a protracted period of time.