This article explains the relation between culture and society, the development of culture, elements of culture, relation between culture and ideology, and the variation of culture.

Culture and Society

Culture is the totally of learned, socially transited costume, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. Culture includes the ideas, values and artifacts of groups of people. In sociological terms, culture does not refer solely to the fine arts and refined intellectual taste. Culture consists of all objects and ideas within society, including ice cream cones, rock music and slang words.

A fairly large number of people are said to constitute a society when they live in the same territory, are relatively independent of people outside their area, and participate in a common culture. A society consists of people who a common heritage and culture. Members of the society learn this culture and transmit it from one generation to the next.

Having a common culture also simplifies many day to day interactions. For example, when you buy an airline ticket, you know you don’t have to bring a long a hundreds of dollar in cash. You can pay with credit card. This assumption reflects basic values, beliefs, and customs of the culture of the United States.

Language is a critical element of culture that sets human apart from other species. Members of a society generally share a common language, which facilitates day to day exchanges with others. However, a term can have a number of different meanings, even within the same society. For example, in United States, grass signifies both a plant eaten by grazing animals and an intoxicating drug.

Development of Culture

Cultural Universals

All societies have developed certain common practices and beliefs, known as cultural universals. Many cultural universals are adaptations to meet essential human needs, such as people’s need for food, shelter, and clothing.

The manner in which culture universals are expressed varies from culture to culture. For example, one society may let its members to choose their own marriage partners, while another may encourage marriages arranged by the parents. Cultural universals also may change dramatically over time within a society. Most human cultures change and expand through the process of innovation and diffusion.

Innovation

Innovation is the process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture. There are two kind of innovation; discovery and invention. Discovery involves making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. An invention results when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before.

Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology

Globalization is the worldwide integration of government’s policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas. Today, developments outside a country are as likely to influence people’s lives as changes at home. For example, by September 2001, the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., caused an immediate economic decline not just in the United States, but throughout the world.

Sociologists use the term diffusion to refer to the process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society. Diffusion can occur through a variety of means, among them exploration, military conquest, missionary work, the influence of the mass media, tourism, and the internet. Sociologist George Ritzer coined the term “McDonaldization of society” to describe how the principles of fast food restaurants developed in the United States have come to dominate more and more sectors of societies throughout the world. McDonaldization is associated with the melding of cultures, through which we see more and more similarities in cultural expression.

Technology is cultural information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires. Technology not only accelerates the diffusion of scientific innovations but also transmit culture. For example English and North American culture dominate the internet and World Wide Web. Such control or at least dominance, of technology influences the direction of diffusion of culture.

Sociologist William F. Ogburn made a useful distinction between the elements of material and nonmaterial culture. Material culture refers to the physical or technological aspects of our daily lives, for example, food, houses, cloths etc. Nonmaterial culture refers to the way of using material objects and to custom, beliefs, philosophies etc. Usually nonmaterial culture is more resistant to change than the material culture. The term culture lag is use to describe the period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions.

Sociobiology

Sociobiology is the systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior. Sociobiology is based on Darwin’s evolution theory. According to Darwin, random variations in genetic makeup had helped certain members of a species to survive in a particular environment, over hundred of generations. Darwin called this process of adaptation to the environment through random genetic variation natural selection.

Sociobiology suggests that all behavior is the result of genetic or biological factors and that social interaction play no role in shaping people’s conduct. Sociobiologist focus on how human nature is affected by the genetic composition of a group of people who share certain characteristics.

Some researchers insist that intellectual interest in sociobiology will only deflect serious study of the more significant influence on human behavior, the social environment. Certainly most social scientist would agree that there is a biological basis for social behavior. But there is less support for the extreme positions taken by certain advocates of sociobiology.

Elements of Culture

Each culture considers its own distinctive ways of handling basic societal task to be natural. But in fact, methods of education, marital ceremonies, religious doctrines, and other aspects of culture are learned and transmitted through human interaction within specific societies.

Language:

Language is the foundation of every culture. Language is an abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture. Because language is the foundation of every culture, the ability to speak other language is crucial to intercultural relations. While is a cultural universal, striking differences in the use of language are evident around the world.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Language does more than simply describe reality; it also serves to shape the reality of a culture. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, named for two linguists, describes the role of language in shaping our interpretation of reality. According to Sapir and Whorf, since people can conceptualize the world only through language, language precedes the thought.

Berlin and Kay have noted that humans possess the physical ability to make millions of color distinctions, yet languages differ in the number of colors they recognize. For example, English language distinguishes between yellow and orange, but some other languages do not.

Feminists have noted that gender related language can reflect the traditional acceptance of men and women in certain occupations, for example policeman and fireman.

Language can also transmit stereotypes related to race. For example our culture reinforces positive associations with the term white and negative association with black.

Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication is the use of gestures, facial expression, and other visual images to communicate. We learn them just as we learn other forms of language, from people who share our culture. Non verbal communication is not the same in all culture. For example in Saudi Arabia, a middle age man may want to hold hand with a partner after closing a business deal, which would shock an American businessman.

Norms

Norms are the established standards of behavior maintained by society. To become significant, a norm must be widely shared and understood. The application of this norm can vary, for example, people who are viewing a serious film will be more likely to insist on the norm of silence than those who are watching a slapstick comedy.

Types of Norms

Norms are classified as either formal or informal. Formal norms generally have been written down and specify strict punishment for violators. Sociologist Douglas Black has termed law “governmental and social control,” meaning that laws are formal norms enforced by the state. Informal norms are generally understood but 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 known as mores and folkways. Mores are norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society, often because they embody the most cherished principles of a people. Folkways are norms governing every day behavior. Folkways play an important role in shaping the daily behavior of members of a culture. In many societies around the world, folkways exist to reinforce patterns of male dominance. Various folkways reveal men’s hierarchical position above women within the traditional Buddhist areas of Southeast Asia.

Acceptance of Norms

In some cases people can evade a norm because they know it is weakly enforced. Behavior that appears to violate society’s norms may actually represent adherence to the norms of particular group. Teenage drinkers are conforming to the standards of their peer group when they violate norms that condemn underage drinking.

Norms are violated in some instance because one norm conflicts with another. Assume that, one night you hear the screams of a woman who is being beaten by her husband. If you decide to intervene by calling the police, you are violating the norm of “minding your own business”, while at the same time following the norm of assisting a victim of violence. Even if norms do not conflict, there are always exceptions to any norm. Secretly taping telephone conversations is normally considered illegal. However, it can be done with a court order to obtain valid evidence for a criminal trial.

Acceptance of norms is subject to change as the political, economic, and social conditions of a culture are transformed. Until 1960, formal norms throughout much of the United States prohibited the marriage of people from different racial groups. Over the last half century, such legal prohibitions were cast aside.

Sanctions

Sanctions are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. The sanctions that are associated with formal norms tend to be formal as well. But sanctions for violations of informal norms can vary. The entire fabric of norms and sanctions in a culture reflects that culture’s values and priorities. The most cherished values will be most heavily sanctioned; maters regarded as less critical will carry light and informal sanctions.

Values

Though we each have our own personal set of standards, we also share a general set of objectives as members of a society. Cultural values are these collective conceptions of what is considered good or bad. Values can be specific, such as honoring one’s parents, or may be more general, such as health, love and democracy.

Values influence people’s behavior and serve as criteria for evaluating the actions of others. The values, norms and sanctions of a culture are often directly related. The values of a culture may change, but most remain relatively stable during any one person’s lifetime. For example, during the 1980s and 1990s, support for values having to do with money, power and status grew. At the same time, support for certain values having to do with social awareness and altruism, such as helping others, declined.

Sociologist Robin Williams has offered a list of basic values. It includes achievement, efficiency, material comfort, nationalism, equality, and the supremacy of science and reason over faith.

Culture and the Dominant Ideology

Both functionalist and conflict theorists agree that culture and society reinforce each other, but for different reason. Functionalists maintain that stability requires a consensus and the support of society’s members; thus the need for strong central values and common norms.

Conflict theorists agree that a common culture may exist, but they argue that it serves to maintain the privileges of certain groups. The term dominant ideology describes the set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interest. From conflict perspective, the dominant ideology has major social significance. Not only do a society’s most powerful groups and institutions control wealth and property; even more important, they control the means of producing beliefs about reality through religion, education, and media.

Cultural Variation

Each culture has unique character. Cultures adapt to meet specific sets of circumstance such as climate, level of technology, population, and geography.

Aspects of Cultural Variation

Subcultures

A subculture is a segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the pattern of the larger society. Usually, a subculture will develop argot, or specialized language, that distinguishes it from the wider society. Argot allows the member of subculture to understand the word with special meanings, and establish pattern of communication that outsiders can’t understand.

Subcultures develop in a number of ways. Subcultures may be based on common age, region, ethnic heritage, occupation, beliefs or hobby.

Functionalists view subcultures as variation of particular social environments and as evidence that differences can exist within a common culture. Conflict theorists suggest that variation often reflect the inequality of social arrangements within a society.

Counter cultures

When a subculture consciously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture, it is known as a counterculture. Frequently people become disenchanted with the policies of their own country and a few take very violent steps.

Culture shock

Anyone who feels disoriented, uncertain or even fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture may be experiencing culture shock.

Attitude toward Cultural Variation

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is refer to the tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or is superior to all others. Conflict theorist point out that ethnocentric value judgments serves to devalue groups and to deny equal opportunities. Functionalists point out that ethnocentrism serve to maintain a sense of solidarity by promoting group pride.

Cultural relativism

Cultural relativism views people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture. Cultural relativism stresses that different social context give rise to different norms and values.

An interesting extension of cultural relativism is xenocentrism. Xenocentrism is the belief that products, styles, or ideas of one’s society are inferior to those that originate elsewhere.