GLOSSARY
1. Acculturation: The imposition of a dominant group’s way of life on another group.
this may or may not result in assimilation.
2. Achieved status: Social position based on metric, e.g. a high- paying job based on
educational qualifications.
3. Ascribed status: Social position based on criteria conferred on someone by virtue of
birth, e.g. wealth or poverty.
4. Assimilation: The absorption of a cultural group into the norms and values of a
dominant group through acculturation.
5. Bourgeoisie: in Marxist thought refers to the capitalist class as a whole. Bourgeoisie
is an adjective and/or the singular form. see also petite bourgeoisie.
6. Caribbean identity refers to the qualities, beliefs and culture unique and
common to the geographic area known as the Caribbean.
7. Capitalism: The dominant economic system in the world today, in which the means
of production are largely privately owned and capital is invested to produce and
distribute goods and services. Prices are determined by free market forces, where
competition rather than government or other controls exist.
8. Caste : Social position based on race , colour or ethnicity which is the basis for
stratifying the society ,as in India where it was based on linage.
9. Class: (socio class, socio-economic class) status based on a ranking of groups in
society in terms of their income e.g. high, middle and lower social class; also an
indicator of occupational status.
10. Classism: beliefs or attitudes that relegates persons to limited options or portray them
negatively because of their socio-economic class, e.g. When vocational guidance
tutors steer lower-income jobs.
11. Colonialism: The control our rule of one country by another, usually for exploitation.
All institutions are controlled by the foreign power. see also Imperialism.
12. Coral reefs: Marine environment formed by tiny marine creatures, known as coral
polyps, which are confined to tropical and subtropical waters.
13. Coral polyps: Tiny, soft-bodied organisms related to sea anemones and jellyfish. At
their base is a hard, protective limestone skeleton called a calicle, which forms the
structure of coral reefs. Reefs begin when a polyp attaches itself to a rock on the sea
floor, then divides, or buds, into thousands of clones.
14. Cultural capital: knowledge, skills and competences that individuals learn by
belonging to a certain social class or cultural group that gives them advantage in
social situations.
15. Cultural diversity: Different ethnic traditions (evident in race, language, religion,
customs family practices) found in one society or region.
16. Cultural erasure: loss of a particular cultural practice over time, to be replaced by
modern ways of life.
17. Cultural imperialism: the practice whereby a dominant culture (usually a
technologically superior group) attempts to promote their own culture and language
over that of another (usually a country with fewer resources).
18. Cultural pluralism: Different cultural or racial groups in a society mixing only to a
certain extent, with limited social and cultural integration.
19. Cultural renewal: the revival of a cultural practice, possibly in relation to tourism –
creating tourist packages or producing cultural artefacts.
20. Cultural reproduction: the socializing forces of the major social institutions that
serve to reproduce a society’s culture from one generation to the next. From a Marxist
perspective, social reproduction happens when the younger generation remain in the
same social class as their parents- there is no social mobility.
21. Cultural retention: the maintaining of cultural practices by a group even though
another culture may be more dominant.
22. Custom: common practice that has become institutionalized in a society, e. g. gift
giving at Christmas and wearing gender-appropriate clothes.
23. Customary law: traditional patterns of behaviour that are widely recognized in a
particular society as lawful. These laws originated differently from those proclaimed
by the legislative authorities (civil law) and sometimes clash with the latter, e.g.
customary laws that privilege males in matters of inheritance.
24. Diffusion: the mixing of molecules in liquids that are placed in contact. the
molecules spread out from an area where they are highly concentrated to an area of
less concentrated. Cultural diffusion refers to the spreading of ideas and institutions
from one culture to another.
25. Discrimination: treating others unfairly, on the basis of attitudes and beliefs, and
often as a result of prejudice. see also ageism, classism, creedism, racism, sexism.
26. Distributive justice: A concern for what is good or right in society based on the
allocation of goods. Rewards and punishments are distributed to persons depending
on their relative merits. This ensures that equals are not dealt with unequally and that
unequals are not treated as if they are equals.
27. Elites: members of the highest social class or those who rank above others in terms of
wealth, status or prestige.
28. Enculturation: the domination of a cultural group by another so that aspects of the
dominant culture are adopted but they do not become assimilated.
29. Hybridization: the fusion of two or more groups of people or cultural practices to
produce a new entity with elements of each of the parent influences, e.g. ‘mixed’
ethnic groupings.
30. Imperialism: the conquest and control of another territory for political power and
prestige, e.g. the conquest of the Americas by Spain.
31. Intelligentsia: the educated and intellectual elite of a society, comprising a distinct
social class of artist, teachers, writers, scholars, clergy and thinkers. It is felt that these
persons have a responsibility to ensure good government by critical examination and
discussion of issues for the public good.
32. Intercultration: the culture mixing that occurs in a plural society where ethnic
groups may live with limited mixing yet elements of their cultures become
incorporated into each other’s way of life.
33. Lingua franca: a common or hybrid language, often not fully development (a
pidgin), enabling speakers of many different languages to communicate.
34. Matrifocal: literally focusing around the mother. In matrifocal families, the day-to-
day lives of the household revolve around the mother. She may be the sole
breadwinner or have the support of a male but he tends to be absent or marginal to the
life of the household.
35. Meritocracy: a society where progress or upward social mobility is based on
individual achievement (merit). The rewards of the society (power, prestige and
wealth) are distributed according to the abilities and achievements of individuals, who
are said to have ‘earned’ their various positions or statuses.
36. Minority group: a group, usually an ethnic group, that may or may not be
numerically inferior to a more dominant group, which limits their access to education,
employment, health care, land and other rights. They have no political power and
their values and traditions are marginal to society.
37. Patriarchy: a social system where men dominate all the social institutions and
females occupy an oppressed position.
38. Rastafari also known as the Rastafari movement or Rastafarianism, is a religion
that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious
movement and a social movement by scholars of religion.
39. Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement
in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the
agreement could range from economic to political to environmental, although it has typically
taken the form of a political economy initiative.
40. Sports : Sports is generally regarded as any activity of a competitive nature
conducted according to established rules and are govern by an organizing body.
41. Sustainable Development: Economic development that is conducted without depletion of
natural resources. It must be done in a way to benefit present and future generations.
42. Sustainable Fishing - Fishing activities carried out in such a way to prevent overfishing,
enforce the use of proper fishing techniques, promote respect for marine habitats and
ensuring people who depend on fishing can maintain their livelihoods.
43. Syncretic Religion- is the blending of two or more religious belief systems into
a new system, or the incorporation into a religious tradition of beliefs from
unrelated traditions.