Saturday, September 28, 2013

What is Culture?



Ø      Culture
Herskovits defined culture as “man-made part of environment.”
Linton “The culture is social heredity which is transmitted from, one generation to other with the accumulation of individual experiences.”
Culture is the values, beliefs, behaviour, and material objects that together forms a people’s way of life.” JJ Macionis “Culture is both our link to the past and our guide to the future.”
Psychological point of view hold “learned portion of human behaviour” is culture.
From their life experiences, people develop a set of rules and procedures for meeting their needs. The set of rules ad procedures, together with a supporting set of ideas and values, is called a Culture.”
Culture is everything which is socially learned and shared by the members of a society.”
Culture Shock: Personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life.
            Characteristics of Culture
1.      Culture is learnt
2.      Culture is social
3.      Culture is Shared
4.      Culture is Transmissive
5.      Culture is Continuous and Cumulative
6.      Culture is Consistent and Integrated
7.      Culture is Dynamic and Adaptive
8.      Culture is Gratifying
9.      Culture varies from Society to Society
10.  Culture is Superorganic and Ideational
Elements of Culture(Symbols, language, norms, values, and beliefs)
1.      Norms
According to Young and Mack “Norms refer to the group shared expectations.”
“Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behaviour of its members.” JJ Macionis

Characteristics of Social Norms
1.      Social Norms are universal
2.      Norms are related to the factual order
3.      Norms incorporate value judgments
4.      Norms are relative to situations and groups
5.      Norms are not always obeyed by all
6.      Norms vary with sanctions
7.      Norms are normally internalized by the people
Aspects of Norms
1.      Cultural Norms (are ideally expected manners of behaviour.)
2.      Social Norms (Social norms are the socially approved ways of behaviour)
Functions of Social Norms
1.      Control Behaviour
2.      Making behaviour systematic and patterned
3.      Safeguard of our values
4.      Norms maintains social order of society
5.      Social norms create social cohesions and social solidarity
6.      Social norms helps in self-control
7.      Social norms assists society for its survival
Types of Social Norms
1.      Folkways
Sumner holds “the folkways are not creation of human purpose and will. They are products of natural forces which men unconsciously set in operation.”
Gillin and Gillin say that “Folkways are behaviour patterns of everyday life which generally arise unconsciously in a group.”
Nature of Folkways
                                                                                            I.      Social in nature
                                                                                         II.      Repetitive in Character
                                                                                       III.      Unplanned Origin
                                                                                      IV.      Informal Enforcement
                                                                                         V.      Folkways Differ a lot
                                                                                      VI.      Folkways are Numerous
                                                                                    VII.      Folkways are subject to change
Violation of folkways
2.      Mores
According to R.M Maclver and C.H. Page, “When the folkways have added to them conceptions of group welfare, standards of right and wrong, they are converted into mores.”
                                          Types of Mores
                                                                                            I.      Positive mores
                                                                                         II.      Negative mores
Nature and Characteristics of Mores
                                                                                            I.      Mores are the regulators of our social life
                                                                                         II.      Mores are relatively more persistent
                                                                                       III.      Mores vary from group to group
                                                                                      IV.      Mores are backed by Values and Religion
Violation of Mores
3.      Law
Law is an engine of social control. It is the formal social norm.
Violation of Law
2.      Values
“Values are general standards and may be regarded as higher order norms.” – H.M Johnson
M.Haralambos “A value is a belief that something is good and worthwhile. It defines what is worth having and worth striving for.”

Functions of Values
Values and Norms
Types of Values
1.      Cultural Values
2.      Social Values
3.      Beliefs
“Specific statements that people hold to be true.”
Types of Culture
1.      Real Culture
2.      Ideal Culture
3.      Material Culture
4.      Non-Material Culture
5.      High Culture(A cultural pattern that distinguish society’s elite)
6.      Popular Culture(Patterns that are widely spread among population)
Functions of Culture
1.      Culture is the Treasury of Knowledge
2.      Culture defines Situations
3.      Culture Defines Attitudes, Values and Goals
4.      Culture decides our career
5.      Culture provides bahaviour patter
6.      Culture Moulds personality
Organization of Culture
1.      Cultural Pattern
2.      Cultural Trait
3.      Cultural Complex
4.      Cultural Area
Other related concepts
1.      Cultural Universals
2.      Cultural Specialties
3.      Cultural Alternatives
4.      Core Culture
Sub-Culture(regional, rural, urban, ethnic subcultures)
Cultural Uniformities
1.      Family Life
2.      Marriage
3.      Inheritance
4.      Language
5.      Housing
6.      Clothes and Utensils
7.      Education
8.      Economic System
9.      Profession
10.  Political System
11.  Religious Beliefs and Practices
12.  Normative Order
Cultural Variabilities
1.      Types of family
2.      Types of Marriage
3.      Customs of Marriage
4.      Cultural Values
5.      Religious Attitudes
6.      Different Political Systems
7.      Law of Inheritance
8.      Settlement
9.      Types of Language
10.  Styles of Dress
11.  Modes of Cultivation
12.  Systems of Education
Causes of Cultural Variabilities and Similarities
Some Cultural Relationships
1.      Culture and Physical Environment
2.      Cultural Relativism
3.      Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism and Personality
Positive Effects of Ethnocentrism
1.      Encourages Social Solidarity
2.      Creates sense of security within group(protection of members)
3.      Promotes Nationalism and Patriotism
4.      Promotes Caste and Biradri relations
5.      Group Conformity
Negative Effects of Ethnocentrism
1.      Creates Prejudices within societies
2.      Hampers cooperation
3.      Discourage change and curbs individual freedom
4.      National development is slowed down
4.      Technology and Culture
5.      Language and Culture
6.      Society and Culture
7.      The Marginal Man
8.      Cultural Refuge
9.      Cultural Lag
Cultural Integration (The close relationship among various elements of a cultural system.)

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