SOCIOLOGY CLEP UPDATED EXAM STUDY GUIDE
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS GUARANTEE A+
✔✔xenocentrism - ✔✔opposite of ethnocentrism, belief that another culture is superior
to one's own culture
✔✔values - ✔✔standard of what is good in a society
✔✔ideal culture - ✔✔standards society would like to embrace and live up to
ex. no traffic accidents
✔✔real culture - ✔✔what actually occurs and exists in a society
✔✔beliefs - ✔✔convictions that people hold to be true
[in a group there are individual beliefs and shared values]
✔✔norms - ✔✔define how to behave in accordance w/ what a society has defined as
good, right, and important.
✔✔formal norms - ✔✔est. written rules ex. laws or employee manuals
✔✔informal norms - ✔✔casual behaviors that are generally conformed to ex. use a
napkin
✔✔mores - ✔✔norms that embody the moral views and principles of a group ex. murder
or plagiarism
✔✔folkways - ✔✔norms w/out any moral underpinnings, instead they indicate whether a
hand shake or kiss is more appropriate
✔✔symbols - ✔✔gestures, signs, objects, signals, and words that help people
understand the word
ex. logos or traffic signs
✔✔language - ✔✔symbolic system through which people communicate and culture is
transmitted. constantly involves along w/ creating new ideas
✔✔sapir-whorf hypothesis - ✔✔idea that people experience their world through their
language and they therefore understand their world through the culture embedded in
their language. ex. in Japan the #4 is unlucky b/c it's pronounced similarly to their word
for death.
, ✔✔high culture - ✔✔[high brow] pattern of cultural experience that exist in the highest
class segments of a society. ex. reading poetry and going to the opera. low brow would
be things like celebrity magazines and NASCAR
✔✔popular culture - ✔✔pattern of cultural experiences that exist in mainstream society.
they're spread through a commercial medium such as radio, television, movies, music,
etc. although high culture is seen as better some things shift between pop and high
culture like Shakespeare's plays which used to be low brow, but are now high brow.
✔✔subculture - ✔✔smaller cultural group w/in a larger group. people in a subculture are
part of the larger group, but also identify w/ a smaller group
✔✔counterculture - ✔✔type of subculture that rejects some of the larger culture's norms
and values ex. cults
✔✔innovation - ✔✔an object/concepts initial appearance in society by way of discovery
of invention
✔✔culture lag - ✔✔process of an area not developing to solve cultural problems ex. US
is heavily populated leading to air pollution, but even though people are aware of the
problem there's still not an answer
✔✔diffusion - ✔✔spread of material and nonmaterial culture; integration of international
cultures
✔✔globalization - ✔✔integration of markets
✔✔civilizations - ✔✔broken into preindustrial, industrial, and postindustrial
✔✔hunter-gatherer - ✔✔based around kinship or tribes. they rely on surroundings by
hunting animals and finding plants.
✔✔pastoral - ✔✔rely on the domestication of animals to survive.
✔✔horticultural - ✔✔based on the capacity to grow and cultivate plants. lived in places
w/ good farming conditions
✔✔agricultural - ✔✔based around new tools made of metal for farming which were
more effective. bountiful places because centers of trade. this is also when some people
had the freedom to not farm or hunt for survival, but instead do things like art.
✔✔feudal - ✔✔hierarchical system w/ nobility that were in charge of pieces of land. the
lower class cultivated the land in exchange for protection and things like food/housing.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS GUARANTEE A+
✔✔xenocentrism - ✔✔opposite of ethnocentrism, belief that another culture is superior
to one's own culture
✔✔values - ✔✔standard of what is good in a society
✔✔ideal culture - ✔✔standards society would like to embrace and live up to
ex. no traffic accidents
✔✔real culture - ✔✔what actually occurs and exists in a society
✔✔beliefs - ✔✔convictions that people hold to be true
[in a group there are individual beliefs and shared values]
✔✔norms - ✔✔define how to behave in accordance w/ what a society has defined as
good, right, and important.
✔✔formal norms - ✔✔est. written rules ex. laws or employee manuals
✔✔informal norms - ✔✔casual behaviors that are generally conformed to ex. use a
napkin
✔✔mores - ✔✔norms that embody the moral views and principles of a group ex. murder
or plagiarism
✔✔folkways - ✔✔norms w/out any moral underpinnings, instead they indicate whether a
hand shake or kiss is more appropriate
✔✔symbols - ✔✔gestures, signs, objects, signals, and words that help people
understand the word
ex. logos or traffic signs
✔✔language - ✔✔symbolic system through which people communicate and culture is
transmitted. constantly involves along w/ creating new ideas
✔✔sapir-whorf hypothesis - ✔✔idea that people experience their world through their
language and they therefore understand their world through the culture embedded in
their language. ex. in Japan the #4 is unlucky b/c it's pronounced similarly to their word
for death.
, ✔✔high culture - ✔✔[high brow] pattern of cultural experience that exist in the highest
class segments of a society. ex. reading poetry and going to the opera. low brow would
be things like celebrity magazines and NASCAR
✔✔popular culture - ✔✔pattern of cultural experiences that exist in mainstream society.
they're spread through a commercial medium such as radio, television, movies, music,
etc. although high culture is seen as better some things shift between pop and high
culture like Shakespeare's plays which used to be low brow, but are now high brow.
✔✔subculture - ✔✔smaller cultural group w/in a larger group. people in a subculture are
part of the larger group, but also identify w/ a smaller group
✔✔counterculture - ✔✔type of subculture that rejects some of the larger culture's norms
and values ex. cults
✔✔innovation - ✔✔an object/concepts initial appearance in society by way of discovery
of invention
✔✔culture lag - ✔✔process of an area not developing to solve cultural problems ex. US
is heavily populated leading to air pollution, but even though people are aware of the
problem there's still not an answer
✔✔diffusion - ✔✔spread of material and nonmaterial culture; integration of international
cultures
✔✔globalization - ✔✔integration of markets
✔✔civilizations - ✔✔broken into preindustrial, industrial, and postindustrial
✔✔hunter-gatherer - ✔✔based around kinship or tribes. they rely on surroundings by
hunting animals and finding plants.
✔✔pastoral - ✔✔rely on the domestication of animals to survive.
✔✔horticultural - ✔✔based on the capacity to grow and cultivate plants. lived in places
w/ good farming conditions
✔✔agricultural - ✔✔based around new tools made of metal for farming which were
more effective. bountiful places because centers of trade. this is also when some people
had the freedom to not farm or hunt for survival, but instead do things like art.
✔✔feudal - ✔✔hierarchical system w/ nobility that were in charge of pieces of land. the
lower class cultivated the land in exchange for protection and things like food/housing.
