CULTURE

 

CULTURE

 

Culture is one of the most significant ideas in sociology since sociologists understand its importance in our social life. It is vital for shaping social interactions, preserving and challenging social order, defining how we make sense of the world and our role in it, and affecting our everyday actions and experiences in society. It is made up of both non-material and material components.

Non-material features of culture are defined by sociologists as the values and beliefs, language, communication, and customs that a group of people share. Adding to these categories, culture is comprised of our knowledge, common sense, assumptions, and expectations. It is also the rules, conventions, regulations, and morals that govern society, as well as the symbols we use to represent meaning, ideas, and concepts (for example, traffic signs and emojis). Culture is also what we do and how we act and perform (for example, theater and dance). Culture also encompasses the communal behaviors in which we engage, such as religious rites, holiday celebrations, and athletic events.

All the objects that people create and use are considered to be part of material culture. A vast range of items fall under this category of culture, including, but not limited to, structures, modern devices, clothes, movies, music, books, and artwork. Culture product is a more general term for elements of material culture.

A certain social, ethnic, or age group's culture refers to its acquired and shared norms of behavior and beliefs.

 

DEFINITIONS

 

“Culture is the expression of our nature in our modes of living and our thinking. Intercourse in our literature, in religion, in recreation and enjoyment, says Maclver.

According to E.A. Hoebel,

“Culture is the sum total of integrated learned behaviour patterns which are characteristics of the members of a society and which are therefore not the result of biological inheritance.”

“Culture is the complex whole that consists of everything we think and do and have as members of society”, says Robert Bierstedt.

According to Anderson and Parker. “Culture is the total content of the physio-social, bio-social and psycho-social universe man has produced and the socially created mechanisms through which these social product operate”, .

Culture is:

 

LEARNED: through active teaching and passive habitus

SHARED: meaning that it defines a group and meets common needs.

‘PATTERNED: meaning that there is a recourse of similar ideas. Related cultural beliefs and practices show up repeatedly in different areas of social life.

SYMBOLIC: which means that there are simple and arbitrary signs that  represents something else, something more.

Example: The Ashanti, an African tribe located in Ghana

l  In the Ashanti culture the family and mother clan are most important.

l  A child is said to inherit the father’s soul or spirit (ntoro) and from the mother a child receives flesh and blood (mogya).

l  This relates them more closely to the mother’s clan.

 l  Extended family settings

l  The family lives in various homes or huts that are set up around a courtyard.

l  The head of the household is usually the oldest brother that lives there. He is chosen by the elders and called either father or house father and everyone in the household obeys him.

 DIVERSITY AND CHANGE

DIVERSITY: a individuals upbringing and environment (or culture) is what makes them diverse from another cultures.

 CHANGE: culture generally changes for one or two reasons: selective transmission or to meet changing needs.

COMPARISON

ETIC/EMIC

 ETIC: An Etic view of a culture is the perspective of an outsiders looking in. For example if an American anthropologist went to Africa to study a nomadic tribe his/her resulting case study would be from an Etic standpoint if he/she did not integrate themselves into the culture they were observing.

EMIC: Insiders perspective

Observer place themselves within the culture of intended study       they are able to go further in depth on the details of practices      and beliefs of a society

ETHOS/EIDOS (KROEBER)

ETHOS: The disposition of a culture which determines its quality.

According to Bateson: total emotional emphasis of a culture =ethos.

EIDOS: formal appearance of a culture derived from its constituents.

EXPLICIT/IMPLICT (KLUCKHOHN)

EXPLICIT:  the celebration of festivals when people are filled with joy, happiness, togetherness and a devotional fervour is an example of explicit element of culture.

IMPLICIT: behind every festival there are mythological stories or otherwise deep rooted meanings and implications and these could be termed as implicit element of culture.

APOLLONIAN AND DIONYSIAN (RUTH BENEDICT) PATTERNS OF CULTURE  

Ruth Benedict used the terms to characterize cultures.

APOLLONIAN: Ruth Benedict identified the Puebloan cultures of North America as Apollonian. Basic Apollonian pattern is : order, clarity, logic, moderation and control.

Zuni people are example of Apollonian.

DIONYSIAN: Kwakiutl people

Emphasized wildness, abandon, behaviour on a Cntinuum from restrains to abandon.

CULTURAL DETERMINISM AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM 

CULTURAL DETERMINISM: cultural determinism supports the idea that our emotional and behavioral patterns are formed and molded by the culture we are raised in. Example : family system in India is determined by Indian culture.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM: is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make judgement using the standards of ones own culture. The goals of this is to promote understanding of cultural practices that are not typically part of one’s own culture.

Cultural relativism can be seen with the Chinese culture and their process of feet binding. Foot binding was to stop the growth of the foot and make them smaller. In China small feet was seen as beautiful and symbol of status. To western cultures the idea of feet binding might seems torturous but for Chinese it is a symbol of beauty.

ENCULTURATION AND ACCULTURATION

ENCULTURATION :  the process of learning the rules of one’s primary culture. The acquisition of social values and norms is known as the process of socialization which is similar to enculturation. Ex. When an American mother teaches her child to use fork she is enculturating him or a Chinese mother teaches her child to use chopsticks.

ACCULTURATION: The process of learning the rules of a different culture. This happens when two or more cultures meet together there can be exchanges in beliefs, customs, clothing style, food etc. This change is visible and affected to both cultures. For example during British rule in in India Indians adopted many cultural traits of British like language, food, life style, dress etc.