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Key Cultural Concepts Explained

This document defines key terms related to culture and sociology: 1. Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures based solely on the values of one's own culture and believing one's culture is superior. 2. Xenocentrism is the preference for aspects of other cultures over one's own. 3. Cultural relativism is understanding individuals based on their own culture rather than imposing outside values. 4. A subculture is a group within a larger culture that differentiates itself but maintains some founding principles.

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Adriane Basa
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14 views1 page

Key Cultural Concepts Explained

This document defines key terms related to culture and sociology: 1. Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures based solely on the values of one's own culture and believing one's culture is superior. 2. Xenocentrism is the preference for aspects of other cultures over one's own. 3. Cultural relativism is understanding individuals based on their own culture rather than imposing outside values. 4. A subculture is a group within a larger culture that differentiates itself but maintains some founding principles.

Uploaded by

Adriane Basa
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

SA DEFINITIONS

1. Ethnocentrism- often entails the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is the
most important or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of
other groups. Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and
standards of one's own culture. Ethnocentric individuals judge other groups
relative to their own ethnic group or culture, especially with concern for language,
behavior, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and subdivisions serve
to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity. Ethnocentrism may be overt or
subtle, and while it is considered a natural proclivity of human psychology, it has
developed a generally negative connotation. Coined by William Sumner.
2. Xenocentrism- is the preference for the products, styles, or ideas of someone
else's culture rather than of one's own. Xenocentrism was coined by American
sociologists Donald P. Kent and Robert G. Burnight in the 1952 paper "Group
Centrism in Complex Societies" published in the American Journal of Sociology.
3. Cultural relativism- is the principle that an individual person's beliefs and activities
should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. It was
established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas.
4. Subculture- a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or
interests at variance with those of the larger culture. A group of people within a
culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often
maintaining some of its founding principles.
5. Counter culture- is a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ
substantially from those of mainstream society, often in opposition to
mainstream cultural mores. A countercultural movement expresses the ethos and
aspirations of a specific population during a well-defined era.
6. Culture shock- is an experience a person may have when one moves to
a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal
disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due
to migration.
7. Cultural lag- refers to the notion that culture takes time to catch up with
technological innovations, and that social problems and conflicts are caused by
this lag.
8. Cultural Universal- as discussed by Emile Durkheim, George Murdock, Claude
Lvi-Strauss, Donald Brown and others, is an element, pattern, trait, or institution
that is common to all human cultures worldwide.

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