Society & Culture

• Micro level


  Where individuals' everyday actions and social interactions occur, e.g. within families and small scale social groups. It focuses on patterns of social interaction at the individual level.
• Meso level


  The middle ground where individuals interact within groups, such as schools, communities, church groups and neighbourhoods. These groups interact directly with the individual. It is the middle level.
• Macro level


  Impersonal interactions that relate to large institutions, the media, law and government and are evident at a national and international level.
• Social & cultural literacy


  The idea that people should possess a body of knowledge, understanding and skills that allows them to share, communicate effectively and respect themselves and others.
• Fundamental Concepts - SPECT


  • Persons
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Environment
  • Time
• Persons


  Everyone is a unique individual who develops in a social and environmental setting, which they are influenced by, and interact with other people and other groups. Communication, the sharing of values and beliefs, and cooperation are major interactions. The identity achieved by each individual is the result of interactions at the micro, meso and macro levels of society.
• Society


  Society is made up of people, groups, networks, institutions, organisations and systems. These aspects of society may include local, national, regional and international patterns of relationships and organisation. People belong to informal and formal groups, and within and between these groups there are patterns of interactions that contribute to unique cultures.
• Culture


  The shared knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that give each society its coherence, identity and distinctive way of life. Culture is demonstrated by the beliefs, customs, values, norms, laws, governance, arts and technologies that people generate and use as they interpret meaning from their world and solve present and future problems. Culture is dynamic and undergoes change, and is therefore not static.
• Environment


  Every society is located in a particular physical setting and interacts with its environment. The attitudes and values that people have in regard to their environment greatly affect interactions between people, society, culture and the environment. Unique culture is generated from the interactions with the immediate environment. Different locations and their environments - including urban, rural, coastal, inland and isolated - present societies and their cultures with both opportunities and constraints.
• Time


  Every person, society, culture and environment is located in a period of time and is changing with time. Time can be examined as past, present and future. Our perceptions of time are drawn from past events and these influence our ideas about the present. These perceptions need, however, determine possible ideas for our future. The concept of time is best studied in context - last century, this century and pre- and post- events, or as a particular decade. Time is studied in relation to continuity and change.
• Things that make us unique are our personality, character traits, social groupings and networks, environment/location and our cultural background.
• Power


  The ability to influence or persuade others towards a particular action or opinion, which they would have not previously made. Power is illegitimate.
• Authority


  The legitimate use of power which has been given to you.
• Sources of power


  • Physical force
  • Wealth
  • State action
  • Social norms
  • Ideas
  • Numbers
• The 3 laws of power are that power is never static(it is either accumulating or decaying), power is like water(power flows, but policies mean that the flow of power doesn't change) and power compounds(power gets more power and powerlessness gets more powerless).
• Gender


  Is constructed by society in relation to the ideas about masculinity and femininity. It takes characteristics from gender roles and stereotypes, and expectations from family life, the workforce and behaviour. Gender is culturally defined, whereas sex which is biological.
• Identity


  Is our understanding of self, from a personal, social and cultural perspective. Our identity is formed over time and can change. Identity comes down to our values, inclinations and character, which form our personality and identity.
• Technology


  The tools that we use to assist our interactions in society, can lead to innovation and can initiate change. technology of a culture reflects the skills and adaptability of its people, e.g. wheel, laptop, stone axe, gunpowder
• Globalisation


  the process of integration and sharing of goods, capital, labour, services, knowledge, leisure, sport, ideas and culture between countries.
• Continuity


  The persistence or consistent existence of cultural elements in a society across time
• Change


  The alteration or modification of cultural elements in a society
• Social Construct


  A socially created aspect of social life
• Social and Cultural Research


  • Primary research
  • Secondary research
• Quantitative research


  • More people
  • Numerical data
  • No direct contact
  • Structured data collection
• Qualitative research


  • Fewer people
  • Direct contact
  • Interpretive skills
  • Interaction
• Research methods


  • Content analysis
  • Focus group
  • Interview
  • Observation
  • Personal reflection
  • Questionnaire
  • Statistical analysis
• Content analysis


  Primary research method, extensive examination and categorization/coding of media.
• Multiculturalism


  A term used to describe an approach to cultural diversity, involving the rights for people to celebrate and practise their culture, free from discrimination
• Multicultural


  Containing several cultural or ethnic groups within a society but with one main dominant culture who passes on traits to minority cultures
• Hybrid


  Societies of mixed character, where the dominant culture is less obvious and there is more of an exchange between dominant and minority cultures
• Cultural pluralism


  The practise of accepting cultural diversity
• Social construct


  An aspect of life created by humans, which is developed over time by shared experiences of society, e.g. gender, adolescence, beauty
• Social expectations


  The standards people in the broader community expect people to follow, our behaviour is shaped by expectations. These expectations can be unrealistic and differ from culture to culture
• Socialisation


  The process by which individuals learn to become functioning members of society by internalising the roles, norms and values of that society. We are socialised by interacting with others
• Social roles


  Are the part people play as members of a social group
• Social norms


  Are the unwritten rules of beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that are considered acceptable in a particular social group or culture, e.g. expecting students to arrive to a lesson on time
• Groups and institutions in society


  • Family
  • School
  • Peers
  • Work
  • Government
  • Media
  • Legal system
• Mass media


  Technology that is intended to reach a mass audience. Primary means of communication, including, newspaper, radio, television
• Social media


  Internet-based technology that facilitates the quick sharing of ideas, thoughts and information. Includes; instagram, tik tok
• The Amish are known as anabaptists, as they reject infant baptism. They were seen as a threat to Europe's religious and social institutions and were therefore persecuted throughout europe.