Understanding Culture: Key Concepts and Definitions
Understanding Culture: Key Concepts
Culture: Encompasses everything created by humans, both material and spiritual (immaterial).
Culture includes: language, religion, myths, oral traditions, literature, poetry, music, dances, folklore, crafts, and industrial production (factories, roads, buildings, cities, etc.).
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism: While celebrating cultural diversity and difference, it often overlooks the conflicts and contradictions arising from ethno-social inequalities.
Example: Canada is a multicultural nation composed of French and English language and cultures, as well as native peoples with their own distinct languages and cultures.
Acculturation
Acculturation: In the context of globalization, many companies undergo acculturation, absorbing the values and customs of other cultures, particularly those of the United States and Europe.
Example: The phenomenon observed when European settlers arrived in America. In this process, the generally weaker and dominated culture experiences profound disruption and sometimes loss of identity.
Counterculture
Counterculture: An attitude of rejecting the beliefs, values, and standards adopted by the majority of people in a society.
Examples: The hippies of the 1960s and 1970s, and the Freegan movement (free + vegan), which recently emerged in the United States. Freegans reject wasteful consumerism and seek to live off what society discards.
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism: The tendency to focus on one’s own national or ethnic group, considering it as the standard for judging other cultures.
Cultural Heritage
Cultural Heritage: The aspects of culture that adult generations transmit to younger generations.
Cultural Trait
Cultural Trait: The simplest unit of culture, the smallest measurable unit.
Subculture
Subculture: Beliefs, values, and behaviors adopted by a specific group that differ from the general culture of society.
Examples: The Roma have their own distinct culture that differs from the wider society. The various indigenous peoples of Brazil also have specific cultures.
Xenophobia
Xenophobia: Hatred of strangers, the unknown, and those who are different.
Cultural Pattern
Cultural Pattern: A standard or set of rules of conduct established by society. Individuals in a society usually act according to these patterns.
Mass Culture
Mass Culture: Examples include Carnival, the Parintins Folk Festival, the Barretos Rodeo, and some Jerk traditions in the Northeast of Brazil.
Classical Culture
Classical Culture: The culture of books, newspapers, magazines, and classical music, typically acquired through formal studies or individual reading.
Popular Culture
Popular Culture: Music, tales, legends, and events inherited from past generations and not significantly modified.
Universal Culture
Universal Culture: Includes marriage, family structure, diet, clothing, housing, festivals, and burial practices.
Folklore
Folklore: The collective wisdom of a people, encompassing customs, legends, traditions, and festivals transmitted through imitation, teaching, and oral tradition from generation to generation.
Main Aspects of Culture
Cultural traits, cultural complexes, cultural regions, cultural patterns, and subcultures.
Examples of Urban Tribes
Hippies and nerds.
Basic Processes of Cultural Growth
Cultural invention and cultural diffusion.
Cultural Lag
Cultural Lag: Occurs when a group or person is not aligned with the prevailing culture, leading to a cultural gap.
Cultural Marginality
Cultural Marginality: Occurs when a group or person cannot fully integrate into any surrounding culture.
Objective of Social Control
Objective of Social Control: To ensure that a group or social unit and its members adopt desired behaviors and norms through various means and processes. Examples include families and schools.
Types of Social Control
Formal (diffuse) and informal (institutional).
Social Order
Social Order: The application of rules and laws. Example: police.
Social Protection
Social Protection: Compliance with rules that benefit disadvantaged groups. Example: Statute of the Child and Adolescent.
Social Efficiency
Social Efficiency: Rules and procedures that lead individuals to be productive for the welfare and development of society.