SOC101Y1 Chapter 2: SOC101 Textbook (New Society 6th ed) Notes Chapter 2
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Culture: all the socially transmitted ideas, practices, and material objects that people create to deal with real life problems y passed on from generation to generation y shared by the means of human interaction, communication, and learning (socially transmitted) Society involves people interacting socially and sharing culture, usually in a defined geological area. Culture is most clearly visible from the margins: we can analyze it best if we are neither too deeply immersed in it (ethnocentrism) nor too much removed from it. Ethnocentrism: judging another culture exclusively by the standards of one s own y the ideas, norms, techniques of other cultures frequently seem odd, irrational and inferior y. Cultural relativism: the belief that all elements of all cultures should be respected as equally valid y some cultures may have characteristics that defy universal beliefs/values (e. g. prevalence of cliterectomy in africa)