HSC Society and Culture flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Social change

The alteration of social structures, institutions, values and behaviours over time. It may be gradual or rapid, and is analysed through evolutionary, functionalist or conflict perspectives.

Cultural continuity

The persistence of values, beliefs, rituals and practices across generations. Continuity is actively maintained through socialisation, tradition and resistance to external pressure.

Modernisation theory

A perspective holding that societies develop along a linear path from traditional to industrial forms through economic growth, rationalisation and institutional change.

Dependency theory

A perspective arguing that poorer nations remain underdeveloped because their economies are structured to serve wealthier core nations, producing unequal exchange rather than shared development.

Globalisation

The increasing interconnection of economies, cultures and populations through trade, media, migration and technology, compressing distance and intensifying flows of goods, ideas and people.

Glocalisation

The process by which global products, ideas and media are adapted to local cultures and conditions, producing hybrid rather than uniform outcomes.

Primary socialisation

The first stage of socialisation, occurring in early childhood within the family, through which basic language, values, norms and a sense of self are acquired.

Secondary socialisation

Socialisation occurring beyond early childhood in institutions such as schools, peer groups, workplaces and media, transmitting specific roles, skills and norms.

Agents of socialisation

Individuals, groups and institutions that transmit norms and values, including family, peers, school, media, religion, workplace and legal systems.

Looking-glass self

Cooley's concept that self-concept develops by imagining how others see us, imagining their judgement, and reacting emotionally to that perceived evaluation.

Generalised other

Mead's term for the internalised attitudes and expectations of the wider community, which allow individuals to anticipate how others will respond to their behaviour.

Dramaturgical model

Goffman's analogy treating social interaction as theatrical performance, with front-stage impression management, back-stage preparation and presentation of a managed self.

Intersectionality

The idea that social categories such as gender, class, ethnicity and disability interact to produce distinct experiences of advantage and disadvantage that cannot be understood separately.

Identity crisis

Erikson's concept describing a period of uncertainty, typical of adolescence, in which a person explores roles and values in order to form a coherent sense of self.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to evaluate other cultures using the standards of one's own, often assuming one's own practices are normal, superior or universally applicable.

Cultural relativism

The methodological principle that beliefs and practices should be understood within their own cultural context rather than judged by external standards.

High-context communication

Hall's category for cultures where meaning is carried largely by relationships, setting and shared understanding, with relatively little stated explicitly in words.

Low-context communication

Hall's category for cultures where meaning is expressed explicitly and directly in language, with less reliance on shared background or situational cues.

Proxemics

Hall's study of how people use and interpret space in communication, including intimate, personal, social and public distance zones that vary across cultures.

Kinesics

The study of body movement, gesture, posture and facial expression as non-verbal communication, whose meanings differ across cultural groups.

Chronemics

The study of how time is used and interpreted in communication, including attitudes to punctuality and the sequencing or simultaneity of activities.

Acculturation strategies

Berry's four responses to contact between cultures: integration (both heritage and host culture maintained), assimilation, separation and marginalisation.

Intercultural competence

The capacity to communicate effectively and appropriately across cultural difference, combining awareness, knowledge, empathy, tolerance of ambiguity and behavioural flexibility.

Popular culture

Cultural products and practices widely consumed by mass audiences, typically commercial, media-driven, constantly changing and pervasive across social groups.

Folk culture

Locally generated, traditionally transmitted cultural practices such as stories, crafts and music, typically produced by and for a specific community rather than mass markets.

Belief system

An organised set of beliefs and practices shared by a group, providing explanations of existence, moral guidance and rituals that structure individual and collective life.

Ideology

A connected set of ideas and values that explains social arrangements, justifies particular interests and guides collective action, often shaping what is treated as normal.

Social inclusion

The condition in which individuals and groups have access to resources, participate in social, economic and political life, and exercise recognised rights and voice.

Social exclusion

A multidimensional process by which groups are denied access to resources, participation and rights, operating across economic, political, cultural and relational dimensions.

Absolute poverty

A measure of poverty based on a fixed threshold of basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing, below which survival and wellbeing are considered severely compromised.

Relative poverty

A measure of poverty defined against the living standards of a particular society, identifying those whose resources fall substantially below the community median.

Conformity

Adherence to group norms and expectations, produced by informational influence (believing others are correct) and normative influence (seeking acceptance and avoiding disapproval).