Essential vocabulary

To hold a belief/assumption, high stations

To motivate smb to do smth. ( ~ to risk)

To place a (high/low) value on ( ~ possessions)

To place control on (- mass media)

To lie in the hands of (people)

Td hare an effect on smb

To have a chance to succeed

To have (a high/low) regard of smth

To have (little/much) exposure to smth (— life)

To risk losing (freedom)

To be apt to do smth ( -to imagine)

To keep freedom

To be in the mainstream of life

To be drawn somewhere (- to the country)

To be born into a family/social class

To be rewarding

To be entitled to smth (— to benefits)

To be distinctive in smth (-in self-reliance)

To be engaged in smth ( — in the job)

To be related to snrth ( - to the problem)

To be arbitrary

To be imbued with smth (—with the notion)

To set a good/bad example

To set rules/terms

To accumulate over years

To fulfil hopes

To rise to a (higher) social position

To raise the standard of living (status}

To raise the issues

To advance in smth -— in the study)

To enter a race (for success)

To pay a price

To match smth (against smth)

To retire from work

To tend to feel (-optimistic)

To give prestige

To sееk fortune/knowledge, wisdom, to live

To convert smth into smth

To measure smth. by smth

To promote equality

To design laws

To inhabit (separate) social worlds

To teach a value

To challenge (an ideal)

To require to do smth

To relate to smth ( ~to the world)

To fit together

To accommodate (needs)

To conceive of smb as (hard-working)

To feel trapped

To blind smb to some fact

To offend the sense of (dignity)

To be lacking in consideration for smb

To inculcate smth in (a person)

To cross the boundaries

To treat (smb) with deference

To work cooperatively

To alter the course of (rivers)

To dominate the society

To shape the future

To fail socially

To manage one’s time and money

To see through

To ensure that

To place an emotional strain on

Formal aristocracy

Organized authority

Hereditary aristocracy

Uniformity of life conditions

Competitive contest\society

Tangible evidence

Harsh statement

Facet of life

Casual/aloof manner

Display of respect

Honorific title

Initial station in life

Interracial relationships

Physical and social environment

Debilitating accident

Material badges of success

Forthright discussion

Men’s\women’s domain

Unquestioned givens

(-) –item list

Close (tightly) –knit collectivity

Child-rearing manual

Adverse circumstances

Family oriented society

Room and board

Basic American Values and Beliefs

Introduction

As people grow up, they learn certain values and assumptions from their parents and other relatives, their teaches, their books, newspapers, and television programs. "Values" are ideas about what is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, nor­mal and abnormal, proper and improper. In some cultures, for example, people are taught that men and women should inhabit se­parate social worlds, with some activities clearly in the men's domain and others clearly in the women's. In other cultures that value is not taught, or at least not widely. Men and women are considered to have more or less equal access to moat roles in the society.

"Assumptions", as the term is used here, are the postulates, the unquestioned givens, about people, life, and "the way things are". People in sоmе societies assume, for example, that education takes place most efficiently when respectful young people absorb all they can of what older, wiser people already know. The young people do not challenge or even discuss what they are taught. The assumption is that learners are seeking wisdom, which comes with age. Young and inexperienced people are not wise enough to know what is worth discussing.

People in other societies assume that education requires learners to question and challenge the older "expert" when the expert's ideas disagree with the learner's. The assumption is that learners are seeking knowledge, which a person can obtain regardless of age or social standing.

People who grow up in a particular culture share certain va­lues and assumptions. That does not mean they all share exactly the same values to exactly the same extent; it does mean that most of them, most of the time, agree with each other's ideas about what is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, and so on. They also agree, mostly, with each other's assumptions about human nature, social relationships, and so on.

Any list of values and assumptions is arbitrary. Depending on how one defines and categorizes things, one could make a three-item list of a country's major values and assumptions or a 30—item one.

Notice that values and assumptions overlap with and support each other. In general, they agree with each other. They fit together. A culture can be viewed аз a collection of values and assumptions that go together to shape the way a group of people perceive end relate to the world around them.