CULTURE
Definition:
Culture is the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material
objects that together form a people’s way of life. For example,
chairs, buildings, road, say hi or bidding good-bye to your peers, ideas,
customs, beliefs, values, superstitions, myths. etc. Culture is the epicenter of
a human society and without culture no human society can even exist. It is the
main difference between human beings and animals.
Paradigms of sociology and culture
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According to Structural-functional approach
culture is a system of behavior by which members of societies cooperate to meet
their needs. Cultural patterns are rooted in a society’s core values and
beliefs.
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Social-conflict approach
sees Culture as system that benefits some people and disadvantages others. Cultural
patterns are rooted in a society’s system of economic production.
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Symbolic interactionism: It
creates group identity from diverse cultural meanings. In addition, culture
changes as people produce new cultural meanings. Furthermore, culture is
socially constructed through the activities of social groups
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Sociobiology approach: Culture
is a system of behavior that is partly shaped by human biology. Cultural
patterns are rooted in humanity’s biological evolution.
Globally, experts document almost 7,000 languages, suggesting the
existence of just as many distinct cultures. Yet with the number of languages
spoken around the world declining, roughly half of those 7,000 languages now
are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people
Cultural Aspects or Types of Culture
- Material culture: It
refers to the physical things created by members of a society for example;
chairs, buildings, road, art, tools, toys, print and broadcast media, and
other tangible objects etc.
- Non-material Culture: It is the ideas created by members of a society for
example say hi or bidding good-bye to your peers, ideas, customs, beliefs,
values, superstitions, myths, etc.
- Ideal
culture: It refer to the cultural
patterns that should be adopted by the society for example, value time,
respect elders and women, affection for younger, etc.
- Real Culture: It refer
to the cultural patterns that are actually adopted by the society, for
example devaluing time, harassment to women in public sphere, etc. We must
remember that ideal culture always differs from real culture, which is
what actually occurs in everyday life.
Cultural Elements or Components
- Symbols: It refers
to anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who
share a culture. Like all creatures, humans use their senses to experience
the surrounding world, but unlike others, we also try to give the world
meaning. Similarly, cyber-symbols” have been
developed along with our increasing use of computers for communication.
Furthermore, now emoji are widely used in WhatsApp during communication
among youth. In addition to symbolic elements such as values and norms, every
culture includes a wide range of physical human creations called artifacts.
- Languages: It is a
system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another.
Humans have created many alphabets to express the hundreds of languages we
speak. Language not only allows communication but is also the key to
cultural transmission, the process by which one generation passes culture
to the next. Throughout human history, every society has transmitted
culture by using speech, a process sociologists call the “oral
cultural tradition.” Some 5,000 years ago, humans invented
writing, although at that time only a privileged few learned to read and
write. Language plays many functions;
a. Language
affects people’s perception of reality.
b. Language
reflects the social and political status of different groups in society.
c. Groups
may advocate changing language referring to them as a way of asserting a
positive group identity.
d. The
implications of language emerge from specific historical and cultural contexts.
e. Language
can distort actual group experience.
f.
Language shapes
people’s perceptions of groups and events in society.
g. Terms
used to define different groups change over time and can originate in movements
to assert a positive identity.
- Values: It
refers to the culturally defined standards that people use to decide what
is desirable, good, and beautiful and that serve as broad guidelines for
social living. People who share a culture use values to make choices about
how to live. Values can sometimes be in conflict with one another. Lower-income
countries have cultures that value survival; higher-income countries have
cultures that value individualism and self-expression. Enlist some of key
values that are central to Pakistan culture.
- Beliefs: specific
thoughts or ideas that people hold to be true. Values are broad principles
that support beliefs. In other words, values are abstract standards of
goodness, and beliefs are particular matters that individuals consider
true or false.
- Norms: It
refers to the rules and expectations by which a society guides the
behavior of its members. In everyday life, people respond to each other
with sanctions, rewards or punishments that encourage conformity to
cultural norms.
a. Mores:
(pronounced “MORE-ayz”) The term of mores was coined by William Graham Sumner. It
refers to norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance.
Mores, which include taboos, are the norms in our society that insist, for
example, that adults not walk around in public wearing immodest clothes.
b.
Folk ways: It refers to
the norms for routine or casual interaction. Examples include ideas about
appropriate greetings and proper dress. In short, mores distinguish between
right and wrong, and folkways draw a line between right and rude. A man who
does not wear a tie to a formal dinner party may raise eyebrows for violating folkways.
