Chapter 1: Defining Culture and Identities
Aboriginals are the native people of Australia.
Co-culture/subculture is a group that exists within a culture. Usually based on social class, ethnicity or geographic region.
Cultural identity are people who identify themselves with a culture.
Cultural studies is an approach that attempts to develop an ideal personification of the culture. This ideal is used to explain the actions of individuals in the culture.
Culture is the totality of a large group’s thoughts, behaviors and values that are socially transmitted. The groups has to be large enough to be transmitted over the course of generations.
Ethnic identity is the identification with the ethnic group, they share the same heritage and culture.
Ethnicity refers to a group of people with the same heritage and culture. They share the common culture passed on through generations.
Ethnography is the direct observation of customary behavior of a culture.
Heroes are a real or imaginary persons who are the role model for the culture. Myths are stories representing a culture’s values, told from one generation to the next as a guide for living.
Othering is the degrading of cultures or groups outside its own. It creates artificial divisions between cultures by labeling languages that emphasizes power relations and domination.
Race is biologically defined as groups who share the same heritage and physical characteristics. They are also sociohistorically defined by unstable social meanings.
Reference group is a group to which one aspires to attain membership.
Rituals are a social and essential collective activity within a culture.
Subgroup is a group based on skills. Just like a culture, it provides patterns of behavior and values.
Symbols are verbal and nonverbal communication that is used as a language.
Values are a central belief or a belief system that shapes the goal and