ucspol l2

• Enculturation


  Refers to the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person, another culture, etc.
• Culture Shock


  The feeling of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people experience when visiting, doing business in, or living in a society that is different from their own
• Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency of each society to place its cultural patterns at the center of all things. It is the practice of comparing other cultural practices with those of one’s own and automatically finding those other cultural practices to be inferior.
• Cultural Relativism is the idea that all norms, beliefs, and values are dependent on their cultural context and should be treated as such. It promotes a greater appreciation of the cultures one encountered along the way.
• Xenocentrism refers to a preference for the foreign. It is characterized by a strong belief that one’s own products, styles, or ideas are inferior to those which originate elsewhere.
• Xenophobia is the fear of what is perceived as foreign or strange. It may include fear of losing identity, suspicion of other group’s activities, aggression, and the desire to eliminate the presence of the other group to secure a presumed purity.
• Unilineal Evolutionism


  • New cultural forms emerge from the past that pass through similar stages of development (e.g. Animism to Monotheism)
• Cultural Diffusionism


  • Culture originates from one or more culture centers, which are results of borrowed elements of the new culture (e.g. Colonialism)
• Historical Particularism


  • Each group of people has its own unique culture influenced by its history, geography, and environment (e.g. Superstitious beliefs)
• Anthropological Functionalism


  • Cultural elements and practices are interrelated and interdependent and persist because they have a purpose (e.g. Actions influenced by religion)
• Anthropological Structuralism


  • Cultural phenomena and practices have a relationship to one another by which humans organize and structure their experiences (e.g. Family connectedness)
• Cultural Materialism


  • Culture is influenced by technology, resources, economic values, and the utilization of things (e.g. Prohibition by a religion)
• Functionalism


  • Society is viewed as an organized network of cooperating groups operating orderly to generally accepted norms (e.g. Government to education)
• Conflict Perspective


  • The social environment is seen as a continuous struggle which is in contrast with Functionalism (e.g. Rich & Poor)
• Symbolic Interactionism


  • Deals with patterns of behavior in large units of society such as organization, communities, etc. (e.g. the way humans act)
• Evolutionism


  • Explains how human groups came to exist, grow, and develop (e.g. material things)
• Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives on Culture

  In anthropology, culture is seen as a unique character of every human society which includes how we think, act, and what we own. In sociology, culture is viewed as the imprint made by people