UNDERSTANDING THE CULTURE OF  Assimilation

SOCIETY AND POLITICS o When the culture of a larger society is adopted

by smaller society
Characteristic of Culture o The blending or fusion of two distinct cultures
Sociology Anthropology trough long periods of interaction
 Dynamic, Flexible  Learned  Accommodation
and adoptive  Symbolic o Larger society and smaller society are able to
 Shared and maybe  Systematic respect and tolerate each other’s culture
Challenge and integrated Cause of Cultural Change
 Learned through  Shared  Discovery
Socialization and o Process of finding a new place or an object,
Enculturation
artifact or anything that previously existed.
 Patterned Social
 Invention
Interaction
 Requires Language o Creative mental of devising, creating, and
and other form of producing something new, novel or original.
communication  Diffusion
o Spread of the cultural traits or social practices
Element of Culture from a society or group to another belonging to
 Symbols the same society.
o Refers to anything that is used to stand for  Colonization
something else o Refers to social political policy of establishing a
 Language colony
o System of words and symbols used to  Rebellion and Revolution
communicate o Movement aim to change the whole social order
 Technology and replace the leadership
o Application of knowledge and equipment to Social Processes:
ease the task  Amalgamation
 Values o The biological or hereditary fusion of members
o Culturally defined standard for what is good or different society
desirable  Enculturation
 Beliefs o The deliberate infusion of a new culture to
o Refers to the faith of an individual another
 Norms Viewing Other Culture
o Specific rules/standards to guide for appropriate
 Ethnocentrism
behavior
o Perception that arises from the fact culture differ
Modes of Acquiring Culture and each culture defines reality differently.
 Imitation  Xenocentrism
 Indoctrination/ suggestion o Belief that one’s culture is inferior compared to
 Conditioning others
Adaptation of Culture o Highly influence by the culture or many culture
 Parallelism outside the realm of their society
o Same culture may take place in two or more  Cultural Relativism
different place o Attempt to judge behavior according to its
 Diffusion cultural context
o Behavioral patterns that pass back and forth o Individual person beliefs and activities should
 Convergence be understood by other in terms of that
o Two or more cultures are fused or merged into individual’s own culture.
one culture
 Fission
o Place when people break away from their
original culture?
 Acculturation
o Voluntary acculturation occurs trough imitation
o Cultural borrowing and cultural imitation