1.

MEANING AND RELATION BETWEEN CULTURE AND

SOCIETY

2. Meaning of Culture:

 Culture here refers to a set of beliefs,skills,art,

literature,philosophy,religion,music etc which must be learned.This

social heritage must be transmitted through social

organizations. Education has this function of cultural transmission

in all societies.

 According to sociologists, culture consists of the values, beliefs,

systems of language, communication, and practices that people share

in common and that can be used to define them as a

collective. Culture also includes the material objects that are

common to that group or society.

 Maclever and Page:

 “Culture is the realm of style, of values, of emotional attachments, of

intellectual adventure,”

 Reference:[( Griswold, W. 2004. Cultures and Societies in a

Changing World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press)]

3. Definition of Culture:

 Culture is the centre of society and without culture no society can

even exist. It is the main difference between human being and

animal. It is a heritage transmitted from one generation to another

 generation. It includes all the way and behaviour of culture. Culture

is the entire way of life for a group of people.

 Robert Bierstedt:

 culture is the complex whole that consist of everything we think and

do and have as a member of society.

 Edward B Tylor:

 culture as that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief,

art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits

acquired by man as a member of society.

 Malinowski:

 culture is the handwork of man and medium through which he

achieves his ends.

 C.C North:

 culture consist in the instruments constituted by men assist him in

satisfying his wants.

4. Features and characteristics of culture:

5. Some of the important characteristics of culture

 Culture is social:

 culture does not exist in isolation neither it is an individual

phenomenon. It is product of society. It originates and develops

through social interaction. It is shared by the member of society. Man

becomes man only among men.

 Culture is learned behaviour:

 Culture is not inherited biologically but it is learnt socially by a man in

a society. It is not an inborn tendency but acquired by man from the

association of other, e.g. drinking, eating, dressing, walking, behaving,

reading are all learnt by man.

 Culture is transmitted:

 Culture is capable of transmitted from one generation to next. Parents

pass on culture traits to their children and they in turn to their children

and so on. Culture is transmitted not through genes but by means of

language. Language is the main vehicle of culture

 Culture gratifying:

 Culture provides proper opportunities and prescribes means for the

satisfaction of our needs and desires. These needs may be biological

or social in nature but it is responsible for satisfy it. Our need for
 food, shelter and clothing and desires are status, fame, money etc. are

all for the examples which fulfilled according to the cultural ways

 Culture varies from society to society:

 Every society has its own culture and way of behaving. It is not

uniform. Every culture is unique in itself is a specific society. For

example values, customs, tradition, religion, belief are not uniform

everywhere.

 Culture is continuous and cumulative:

 Culture exists as a continuous process. Culture is the memory of

human race. Culture is not a matter of month or year. It is continuous

process and adding new cultural traits

 Culture is dynamic:

 It remains changing but not static. Cultural process undergoes

changes but with different speed from society to society and

generation to generation.

 Reference:[( Markus, H. R. and Kitayama, S. (2011): "Culture and the

self: Implications for cognition, emotion, mand motivation."

Psychological Review. 98 (2), Apr 1991, 223-253.)]

 A number of sociologists have classified the culture in two types:

 There are two types of culture.

 1. Material culture

 2. Non material culture

6. Material culture :

7. It consist of manmade object such as tools, furniture, automobile,

building, road, and in fact the physical substance which has been changed

and used by man. It includes our bank, parliaments, currency systems etc.

it is referred to as civilisation

8. Non material culture:

 The term culture when used in the ordinary sense means non material

culture.

 It is something internal. Non material culture consist of the words the

people use or the language they speak the belief they hold habit they

follows rituals and practices that they do and the ceremonies they

observe. It also includes our way of acting, feeling and thinking.

9. According to H. M Johnson. The main elements of culture are:

 1. Cognitive Elements

 2. Beliefs

 3. Values

 4. Symbols

 5. Language

10.Cognitive Elements :

 culture of all societies whether pre-literate or literate include a vast

amount of knowledge about the physical and social world. The

 possession of this knowledge is referred to as the cognitive elements.

Beliefs :

 Every sect within a culture having some beliefs for cultural refuge. These

beliefs are responsible for the spiritual fulfilment of needs and wants.

Beliefs in empirical terms are neither true nor false for example- Sikh

wear bangle in one hand, keeping a dagger. The water of Ganga is sacred

for Hindus.

 Values and norms:

 Values may be defined as measures of goodness or desirability. Anything

getting importance in our daily life becomes our values. The origin of

values is not biological but it is social production while living in society

and values develop.

 Symbols:

 Culture is system of symbols. Symbols are anything used to represent

express and stand for and event situation.

 Sign direct to guide our behaviour. It is used to show an event of past,

present or future. A number of invented or artificial symbols are used in

social life which assumes importance. Bowing head, whistling, winkling

of eyes situation all are the symbols, which express a specific object idea

about other. Example flag, anthem, picture, statues are symbols

 Language:
 A group of words or ideas having common meaning and is shared to a

social situation Is called language.

 Language is the entrance to a culture. Language is a source of

communication and to transmit message from one person to another.

 Language differs from culture to culture. Language is like vehicle

through which we can carry out our complex social activities

 Reference:[( Corchia, L. (2010): La logica dei processi culturali.

Jürgen Habermas tra filosofia e sociologia, Genova, Edizioni ECIG,

ISBN 978-88-7544-195-1.)]

 Relationship Between Culture & Society:

 What is society?

 Society is the bigger, cooperating social group with an organized

sense of relationship.

 It is the sum of interactions and people.

 What is culture?

 Culture can be seen as tradition that creates cohesion and continuity.

 It has a lot of different meanings.

 It is the traits of a populations behavior, values and beliefs.

11.Difference b/w society and culture:

12.Base:

 society is an agreement on how each member should behave.

  Culture is based off of historical precedence.

 Scope:

 Culture is a part of society.

 Society is the overall bigger picture.

Flexibility:

 Society is more stable and inclusive.

 Culture is changing constantly and exclusive.

 Examples:

 Examples of society are villages, small towns and big cities.

 Examples of culture are fashion, language, traditional products, music,

art and ideals.

13.Relationship b/w culture and society:

 Essential Difference.

 Not Identical.

 Mutual existence.

 Characteristics of relationship b/w culture and society.

 culture plays a key role in the formation of a society .

 But they are “Not Interchangeable”.

 Society and culture are closely related and interlinked.

 Present and continuous movement.

Mutual Existence:

 No culture could exist without society and equally no society

could exist without culture

 Culture and society are co-existent

Not Identical:

 Culture and society may have the some common elements but the

two are not the same; they are not identical.

Essential difference:

 Culture consists of knowledge, ideas, customs, traditions, mores,

beliefs, skills, institutions, organizations and artifacts.

 Society is composed of people.

Major cultures within a society:

 Nonmaterial culture.

 Material Culture .

 Countercultures .

 Subcultures .

 Universal Culture

Cultural Universals:
  Medicine, tool making.

 Technology .Calendar, division of labor, government, law,

property rights, status differentiation, trade .

 Government and Economy.

 kin groups, marriage.

 Family Courtship.

 Communication and Education.

 Clothing, cooking, Housing.

 Basic Needs .

 Arts and Leisure activities.

 Cultural traits shared by nearly all societies

Subcultures:

 Groups that share values, norms, and behaviors that are not shared

by the entire population.

  Countercultures:

 Groups that rejects the major values, norms, and behaviors that is

practiced by larger society.

Material Culture:

 Material culture includes all the physical things that people create

and attach meaning to

 Clothing, food, tools, architecture etc.

Nonmaterial culture:
  Social roles, rules, ethics, and beliefs are just some examples.

 Any intangible products created and shared between the members

of a culture.

 Nonmaterial culture includes creations and abstract ideas that are

not embodied in physical objects.

Cultural Sociology:

 Every cultural phenomena should be seen as a product of social

processes.

 culture in the sociological field can be defined as the ways of

thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together

shape a people's way of life.

 Specialized field of sociology that studies the culture and its

relationship with society

Major areas of research:

 Evolution of culture.
  Cultural deviation.

 Culture theory .

 Cultural change.

 Theoretical constructs in sociology of culture

Cultural deviance:

 Positive deviance.

 Informal deviance: Ethical violations, Taboo.

 Formal deviance: crime, Legal action.

 Deviance describes an action or behavior that violates social norms

of a society .

Evolution of culture:  

 Rigid societies vanish.

 Flexible cultures survive.

 The ability of societies to adapt is critical to long term survival.

 New traditions, customs and rituals are adopted by society.

 Similar to Darwinian theory of evolution.

 Human culture changes  

Reference:[( Wilson, A. E., & Ross, M. (2001). From chump to champ:

People's appraisals of their earlier and

present selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 572-584)]