Culture & Society

 Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted behavior. It includes the ideas, values, customs and artifacts (as well as the sailboats, comic books and birth control devices) of groups of people. In sociological terms, culture does not refer solely to the fine arts and refined intellectual taste. It consists of all objects and ideas within a society, including ice cream cones, rock music, and slang words.
Culture is a matter of what people in a society know to be true (Goodenough, 1957). That’s why knowledge and belief are at the core of the definition of culture.
According to Vander zanden, “Culture refers to the social heritage of a people-those learned patterns for thinking, feeling, and acting that are transmitted from one generation to the next, including the embodiment of these patterns in material items.”
Culture provides the fabric that enables human beings to interpret their experiences and guide their actions.

Material culture refers to the physical or technological aspects of our daily lives, including food items, houses, factories, clothing, literary and musical works, inventions and raw materials.

Non material culture refers to ways of using material objects and to customs, beliefs, values, knowledge, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication or rules concerning behavior.
One important point is that no society is without culture. For reasons every society requires some degree of common understanding of reality and common rules of behavior in order to function.

 Elements of culture:
Language:
Language is an abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture. Language includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols, and gestures of nonverbal communication. Language is the foundation of every culture, although particular languages differ in striking ways.

Norms: Norms are established standards of behavior maintained by a society. In order for a norm to become significant, it must be widely shared and understood. Just as respect for older people is a norm of Japanese culture. Sociologists distinguish between norms in two ways. First, norms are classified as either formal or informal. Formal norms have generally been written down and involve strict rules for punishment of violators. In a political sense, law is the body of rules, made by the government for society, interpreted by the courts, and backed by the power of the state. Laws are an example of formal norms, although not the only type.
By contrast, informal norms are generally understood but are not precisely recorded. Standards of proper dress are a common example of informal norms.
Norms are also classified by their relative importance to society. They are Mores and folkways.

Mores: Mores are seen as vital to a society’s well-being and survival. People usually attach moral significance to mores, and they define people as sinful, evil and wicked who violate them. The punishment for violators of a society’s mores is severe; they may be put to death, imprisoned, cast out, mutilated or tortured. Thus, murder, theft, rape, treason and child abuse bring strong disapproval and severe punishment in United States.

Folkways: Folkways have to do with the customary ways and ordinary conventions by which we carry out our daily activities. We bathe, brush our teeth, groom our hair, wear shoes, wave greetings to our friends and sleep in beds etc. in our daily activities. However, ordinarily we do not attach moral significance to folkways. For example, we may regard people who wear dirty clothing as crude but not as sinful, and people who are late for appointments as thoughtless but not evil.
Sanctions:
Sanctions are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. Note that the concept of reward is included in this definition. Conformity to a norm can lead to positive sanctions such as a pay raise, a medal, a word of gratitude, or a pat on the back. Negative sanctions include fines, threats, imprisonment, and even stares of contempt.

Values:
Values are these collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper-or bad, undesirable, and improper-in a culture. They indicate what people in a given culture prefer as well as what they find important and morally right (or wrong). Values may be specific, such as honoring one’s parents and owning a home or they may be more general, such as health, love, and democracy. The major value configurations within the dominant American culture include the assignment of high importance to achievement and success, work and activity, efficiency and practicality, material comfort, individuality, progress, rationality, patriotism, and democracy.


 Aspects of cultural variation:

Subcultures: A subculture is a segment of society which shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values which differs from the pattern of larger society. In a sense, a sub culture can be thought of as a culture existing within a larger, dominant culture. The existence of many subcultures is characteristic of complex societies such as the United States and India.

Counter cultures:
Some subcultures conspicuously challenge and attempt to change the central norms and values of the prevailing culture. A counter culture is a subculture that rejects societal norms and values and seeks alternative lifestyles (Yinger, 1982). Countercultures are typically popular among the young, who have the least investment in the existing culture.

Culture shock:
When immersed in an unfamiliar culture, a person may feel strangely disoriented, uncertain, out of place, even fearful. These are all indications that he or she may be experiencing what sociologists call cultural shock.

 Attitudes toward cultural variation:

Ethnocentrism:

Xenocentrism:

Cultural relativism:
We can not grasp the behavior of other peoples if we interpret in the context of our values, beliefs and motives. Rather, we must examine their behavior in the light of their values, beliefs, and motives. This approach is termed as cultural relativism. It views the behavior of a people from the perspective of their own culture. In sharp contrast to ethnocentrism, cultural relativism employs the kind of value-free or neutral approach advocated by Max Weber.


N.B. This is not sufficient to understand the whole chapter. Here you get only the definitions along with some examples in addition to the lecture. So, equip yourself fully for the quiz and final exam.