CULTURE
Definitions and General Information
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$ Whole way of life of a society and human expressions of individuals within a society
$ Involves dynamic, complex processes of symbol-making
$ Learned through family, religion, politics, daily interactions
ENCULTURATION: process of learning or acquiring culture
ACCULTURATION: borrowing of cultural components (after contact with another culture)
SUB-CULTURE: cultures within a larger culture that are not confined to any specific locale but that share traits, symbols, and beliefs
COUNTER-CULTURE: the result of dynamic, constantly changing nature of culture. May stem from rebellion, contact with other cultures, advances in technology, war, etc.
WORLDVIEW: comprehensive conception or realization of the world. Involves and reflects values, traditions, beliefs, etc.
ASSIMILATION: being acculturated into another culture (sometimes by force as in the case of Native Americans)
TRADITION
$ process of dissemination and transmission of culture that shows continuity over time and space
$ learned behavior that contributes to group identity
$ interpretive process that embodies both continuity and discontinuity
$ not bounded, given or essential
$ collective resource for creativity
$ connects to the past while building the future
ETHNOCENTRISM: the belief that your own culture is superior to others (seeing and judging everything from your own worldview)