uscp

• Ethnocentrism is the tendency to assume that one's culture and way of life are superior to all others
• The ethnocentric person sees his or her own group as the center of culture and views all other cultures as deviations from what is normal
• Promotion of ethnocentrism instills the belief that one's race/culture is better than others, especially during childhood or teenage years
• Cultural Relativism is the fact that what is regarded as true, valued, or expected in one social system may not be so in another
• Cultural relativism views each culture as having unique characteristics that should not be compared to others
• It involves viewing people's behavior from the perspective of their own culture and not imposing judgment on other cultures
• Cultural relativists see other cultures as different, not wrong, and consider themselves tolerant
• Biological evolution occurs through genetic variation and reproduction, involving the transfer of genes from one generation to the next
• Evolution is a gradual process in which something changes into a different and socially more complex or better form
• Natural selection is the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring
• Charles Darwin forcefully expounded the theory of natural selection
• Cultural evolution occurs through the development of customs and languages, involving the transfer of information within or across generations
• Socio-cultural evolution encompasses theories of cultural and social evolution, explaining how cultures and societies have changed over time
• Technology provides information on how to use material resources and evolves over time to give more control over the environment
• Enculturation is the process by which a child learns his or her culture
• Socialization is a lifelong process, both conscious and unconscious, starting from birth to death
• Humans learn societal expectations through socialization
• Socialization varies based on race, gender, and class
• Consequences of socialization:

  • Establishes self-concepts
  • Creates the tendency for people to act in socially acceptable ways
  • Creates the capacity for role-taking
  • Makes people bearers of culture
• Agents of socialization:

  1. Family: Introduces children to societal expectations

  2. School: Teaches children values and customs of the larger society

  3. Religion: Influences morality, dressing, speech, and manners

  4. Peer group: Important source of identity for children

  5. Mass media and technology: Shapes attitudes, values, and basic orientation to life

  6. Workplace: Major agent of socialization for adults, teaching skills, attitudes, and values
• Social control is the process of creating and maintaining stability, representing the power of society over individuals
• Conformity behavior involves changing in order to fit in
• Deviance violates social norms and usually receives disapproval from the majority of society
• Conformists accept goals and means, follow norms, and trust the system to achieve their goals
• Ritualists reject goals but accept means, not believing in the goals of society
• Innovators accept goals but reject means, accepting society's goals but not the means to achieve them
• Retreatists reject both goals and means, avoiding established goals and means of society
• Rebels reject both goals and means, wanting to create new goals and means for society
• Human dignity is inviolable and must be respected and protected
• Human rights are inherent to all human beings, without discrimination, and are interrelated, interdependent, and indivisible
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by the United Nations in 1948 to provide a global understanding of how to treat individuals
• The common good is the sum total of social conditions that allow people to reach their fulfillment more fully and easily
• A social group consists of two or more people who interact and recognize themselves as a distinct social unit
• Primary groups are small social groups with personal and lasting relationships, spending a great deal of time together
• Families spend a significant amount of time together, supporting, comforting, and encouraging each other
• Friends spend time experiencing adventures, sharing personal stories, and enjoying each other's company
• Love relationships involve mutual physical and emotional attraction, spending significant time together
• Primary groups have concern for one another, shared activities and culture, and spend long periods of time together
• Secondary groups are larger clusters of people with a shared purpose, less likely to influence an individual's identity
• School/class e-classrooms consist of students and a teacher, with the teacher creating a structure for learning