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What is culture?

• Culture (def.): the learned set of practices, beliefs, values, and rules for proper behavior, and material objects that are shared by members of a society
  
• culture is a universal feature of human social life
  
• culture is learned
  
• culture is shared
  
• culture is cumulative
  

Three components of culture:

• Cognitive component (how we think)
  
  • language
    
  • symbols
    
  • values
    
  • society?s beliefs (Weltanschauung, world hypotheses, and domain assumptions)
    
  • understanding of reality
    
    
• Normative component (how we act)
  
  • norms
    
  • folkways (group habits, customs)
    
  • mores (moral imperatives)
    
    
• Material component (what we make)
  
  • artifacts
    
  • art
    
  • architecture
    
  • other material objects that a society creates and to which it assigns meanings
    
    

Ethnocentrism (making judgements about other cultures from the perspective of one's own culture)