The Understanding of Culture

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.