Culture

Why culture is so important?

The need to understand our own culture and other cultures has never been
greater. Cross-culture contacts are becoming an everyday event. Culture is a
design for living: the shared understandings that people use to coordinate
their activities. Human beings learn to be human through socialization
process, but the content of socialization varies from one culture to another,
and these differences reflect the content of culture. Culture refers to an
appreciation of the finer things in life. Social scientists use the term to
describe a people’s entire design for living. Much of what we take for
granted, as part of human nature, is actually the result of enculturation:
immersion in a culture to the point where that particular design for living
seems “only natural”.

Definition of Culture:

1. B. Malinowski has defined culture as the “cumulative creation of man”.

He also regards culture as the handiwork of man the medium through
which he achieves his ends.
2. Graham Wallas has defined culture as an accumulation of thoughts,
values and objects; it is the social heritage acquired by us from
preceding generations through learning, as distinguished from the
biological heritage which is passed on to us automatically through the
genes.
3. C.C. North is of the opinion that culture “consists in the instruments
constituted by man to assist him in satisfying his wants”.
4. Robert Bierstedt is of the opinion that “culture is the complex whole
that consists of all the ways we think and do and everything we have
as members of society”.
5. E. V. de Roberty regards culture as the “body of thoughts and
knowledge, both theoretical and practical, which only man can
possess”.
6. Edward B. Taylor has defined culture as “that complex whole which
includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”.

Considering all above definition, culture can also be defined as “all the
modes of thought, behavior and production that are handed down
from one generation to the next by means of communicative
interaction – that is, by speech, greetings, writing, building and all
other communication among humans – rather than by genetic
transmission or heredity”.

What are the basic elements of culture?

Although the contents differ, all cultures consist of six basic elements:

 Beliefs
 Values
 Norms and sanctions
 Symbols
 Language
 Technology

A. Beliefs: All cultures are grounded in a set of beliefs, or shared

knowledge and ideas about the nature of life.
B. Values: All cultures set values, or shared standards for what is right
and desirable.
C. Norms and sanctions: Norms translate beliefs and values into specific
rules for behavior. Norms vary in intensity from sacred taboos to
everyday habits (folkways). Norms also vary according to the actor and
the situation. Sanctions are punishments and rewards that people use
to enforce norms.
A Typology of Norms

DEGREE OF SANCTION
Mode I Relatively Relatively
Weak Strong
Of Informa Folkways, Taboos,
l Fashions Mores
Development Formal Misdemeanor laws, Capital-offense laws,
some rules, guidelines, felony laws
civil rights

D. Symbols: Symbols are designs or objects that have acquired special

cultural meaning. The same object may symbolize different feelings in
different cultures. The most important set of cultural symbols is
language.
E. Language: Language is a key element of culture. Whereas other
animals communicate via signs (sounds and gesture whose meaning is
fixed), humans communicate by means of symbols 9sounds and
gestures whose meaning depends on shared understandings). Words
can be combined in different ways to convey an unlimited number of
messages, not only about the here and now, but also about the past
and the future, to symbolize that which is absent, and to permit one to
 examine the impossible, as well. According to the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis, language causes people to pay attention to certain things,
but ignore others. But at the same time, there is little evidence that
language determines the way people think, since it is only one element
of culture.
F. Technology: Technology sets the tone of culture, influencing not only
how people work, but also how they socialize and think about the
world.

What are the characteristics of culture:

For a clear understanding of the concept of culture, it is necessary to know

the following main features or characteristics of culture:

1. Culture is Learnt:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
2. Culture is Social:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
3. Culture is Shared:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
4. Culture is Tran missive:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
5. Culture is Continuous and Cumulative:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
6. Culture is Consistent and Integrated:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
7. Culture is Gratifying:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
8. Culture is Dynamic and Adaptive:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
9. Culture varies from Society to Society:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
10. Culture is Super-organic and Ideational:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
Dimensions of culture:

Robert Bierstedt views culture as having three major dimensions: Ideas,

or ways of thinking that organize human consciousness; Norms, or
accepted ways of doing or carrying out ideas, and material culture, or
patterns of possessing and using the products of culture.

Dimension of Culture

IDEAS NORMS MATERIAL

CULTURE
Scientific Scientific methods & standards Tools, machines
Knowledge
Values Laws, rewards, punishments Law books, jails,
Courts.
Folklore Folkways Every days items
of consumption
Ideologies Technologies

What are the contents of Culture:

A number of sociologists have classified content of culture into large

components “material culture” and “non-material culture”. Ogburn has
even used this distinction as the basis for cultural change.

Material Culture:

Material Culture consists of man-made objects such as tools, implements,

furniture, automobiles, buildings, and in fact the physical substance which
has been changed and used by man. It is concerned with the external,
mechanical and utilitarian objects. It includes technical and material
equipments like a printing press, a locomotive etc. It includes our banks,
parliaments, insurance schemes etc. It is also referred as Civilization.

Non-Material Culture:

The term culture when used in the ordinary sense, means “non-material”
culture. It is something internal and intrinsically valuable, reflects the
inward nature of man. Non-material culture consists of the words the
people use or they speak, the beliefs they hold, values and virtues they
cherish, habits they follow, rituals and practices that they do and
ceremonies the observe. It also includes our customs and tastes, attitudes
and outlook, in brief, our ways of acting, feeling and thinking.
What are the functions of culture:

1. Culture is the Treasury of Knowledge:

For details, please check page 193 to 194 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
2. Culture Defines Situations:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
3. Culture Defines Attitudes, Values and Goals:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
4. Culture Decides our Careers:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
5. Culture Provides Behavior Pattern:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.
6. Culture Moulds Personality:
For details, please check page 190 to 191 of “Sociology Primary
Principles” by C. N. Shankar Rao.

What is the difference between “ethnocentrism” and Cultural Relativity:

It is not easy to transplant oneself into another cultural setting and feel
comfortable all at once. In fact, adjustment takes a great deal of time and
patience. One reason for this lies in an understanding of the term
“ethnocentrism”. Most, if not all, peoples have feelings of cultural
superiority; they have high opinion of their own design for living,
compared with those of other peoples. Our own culture becomes so much
a part of us that we think of our own way of doing thinks as the only way.
Taken out of context, any custom seems peculiar.

Cultural Relativity refers to the view that behavior must be understood in

terms of its own cultural context, which is the opposite of ethnocentrism.

Cultural inconsistencies and diversities:

Cultures vary widely in their degree of cultural of cultural integration – the

extent to which different parts of culture fit well together and support one
another. Internal inconsistencies and diversities are most visible in large
heterogeneous societies like USA.

Ideal Culture consists of norms and values to which people openly and
formally adhere; real culture consists of norms and values that people
may not openly or formally admit to, but practice nonetheless.
A subculture exists when a group of people has developed a set of
variations on cultural norms and values that set these people apart from
other members of their society.

When a group opposes a number of widely held norms and values, it is

known as countercultures.

Cultural Growth:

The growth of culture was exceedingly slow and only recently has culture
began to change rapidly. The explanation for this situation is to be found
in the fact that culture grows in two ways: through (i) invention of new
traits within the culture or through (ii) diffusion of new traits from outside
the culture.

(i) Cultural Diffusion:

The process of diffusion involves the spread of cultural elements – both

material artifacts and ideas – from one culture to another. George
Murdock has estimated that about 90% of the contents of every culture
have been acquired from other societies. Some social scientists and
anthropologists consider diffusion as the main source of cultural and
social change.

The term “Diffusion” means “the borrowing of cultural elements from

another society”.

(ii) Invention:

An invention refers to “a new combination of or a new use of existing

knowledge” – Horton and Hunt.

“An invention is the combination or new use of existing knowledge to

produce something that did not exist before” – Ian Robertson.

Inventions may be either material or social or non-material. All inventions

are based on previous knowledge, discoveries, and inventions. Hence, the
nature and rate of inventions in a particular society depends on its
existing store of knowledge. It could be said that “more inventions that
exist in a culture, the more rapidly more rapidly further
inventions can be made”.

Cultural Change:
Any change that takes place in the realm of culture can be called cultural
change. Culture is not static but dynamic.

There are three main sources of large-scale cultural change: alteration in

the natural environment; cultural contact between groups whose norms,
values and technology and different; and discovery and invention.

For example, invention and popularization of the automobile, the addition

of new words to our language, changing concepts of property and
morality, new forms of music, art or dance, new styles in architecture and
sculpture, new rules of grammar or meter, the general trend towards sex
equality, etc., all represent cultural changes. Nearly all important changes
involve both Social and cultural, material and non-material aspects.

All cultures change, although they do so in different ways and at different

rates. Culture is normally regarded as conservative, especially in its non-
material aspects. For example, people are reluctant to give up old values,
customs and beliefs in favor of new ones. Changes in one area of culture
affect in some way to the other, some other parts of culture. This is so
because culture is strongly integrated.

Causes of Cultural Changes:

Ten causes are narrated in page # 202 of “Sociology, primary principles”

– by C. N. Shankar Rao.