Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behaviors that define the group or society to which we belong. People learn these elements of culture through the lifelong process of socialization. This chapter presents the basic elements that are common to all cultures. It also examines the role of socialization in human development. After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
| 1. Give examples of cultural universals. |
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| 2. Discuss how language both describes and shapes culture. |
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| 3. Differentiate between informal and formal norms. |
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| 4. Explain what sociologists mean by the term dominant ideology. |
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| 5. Define ethnocentrism. |
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| 6. Differentiate between cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. |
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| 7. Explain how socialization is influenced by both the environment and heredity. |
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| 8. Discuss the looking-glass self. |
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| 9. Identify the stages in the development of the self. |
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| 10. Summarize what Erving Goffman meant by the term impression management. |
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| 11. Give examples of the primary agents of socialization. |