Culture and Psychology
However, it should be noted that one must
• Culture is one of the important concepts in
sociology. No human society can exist and
develop without its culture.
• Animal societies have no culture because they do
not have systems of learning and transmitting
social experiences.
• Sociologists are keenly interested in the study of
culture because the study of human society is
incomplete without it
• The study of sociology is fundamentally
concerned with the ultimate questions of how
and why people act the way they do. To
answer these questions, a sociologist has to
examine man’s inheritance from the past, his
ideas, beliefs, knowledge, customs, and
traditions. Hence, his behavior can be best
explained by examining his culture.
• Culture is derived from the Latin word
“cultura” or “cultus” which means care and
cultivation.Culture as care: the face that
human infant has a prolonged dependency,
he has to be taken care of by the people
around him. Culture as cultivation: every
human being is a potential member of his
own social group; he is endowed with certain
innate qualities to make use, however, he
cannot develop these inborn talents without
the other people.
• Stated more simply, culture is everything,
which is socially learned and shared by the
members of a society which are handed down
from generation to generation.
• For anthropologists and other behavioral
scientists, culture is the full range of learned
human behavior patterns.
• The term was first used in this way by the pioneer
English Anthropologists Edward B. Tylor in his
book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871.
• Tylor said that culture is “that complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals,
customs, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society.”
CULTURE, SOCIETY AND CIVILIZATION
• The concepts culture and society have been
associated with each other on the grounds that
all human phenomena are truly socio -cultural.
maintain an analytical distinction between
culture and society despite the difficulty, at
times, of keeping the terms separate. Sharing
similar culture helps to define the group to which
we belong. A fairly large number of people are
said to constitute a society.
• Society is the largest form of human group. It
consists of people who share common heritage
and culture. Members of the society learn this
culture and transmit it from one generation to
the next.
• Nineteenth-century anthropologists often use
culture and civilization interchangeably, and they
were fascinated by the possibility of an evolution
of society from lower to higher stages.
• Culture was something man attained as he
developed his skills and rational capacities.A
culture becomes a civilization only when it
possesses a written language, science,
philosophy, a highly specialized division of labor,
and a complex technology and political system.
• “Pre-literate culture”: not civilizations; lacking
written language. Also pre-scientific, pre-
industrial, and pre-individualistic. There is no
history, only legend.
IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE
1. Distinguishes human beings from the lower
animal forms, making them unique.
2. Limitations of a person’s natural state
(without culture they cannot survive).
3. Helps us overcome our physical
disadvantages.
ELEMENTS/COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
• 1. Language
• 2. Beliefs
• 3. Norms
• Folkways
• Mores
• Laws
• Customary law
 • Enacted law Laws

Language • these are formalized norms enacted by people

vested with legitimate authority. The enforcing
• Symbol: the very foundation of culture. The
organizations are the police, courts, prisons and
essence of culture is the sharing of meanings
other regulatory agencies. The laws supplements
among members of a society. It is through
and reinforces the mores. Examples: Presidential
language that idea; values, beliefs, and
decrees and orders; the civil code and the
knowledge are transmitted, expressed, and
declaration of human rights.
shared. Without language, there will be no
culture. • Customary law-
Traditional common rule or practice that has
Beliefs
become an intrinsic part of the accepted and
• Beliefs are ideas that people hold about the expected conduct in a community, profession,
universe or any part of the total reality or trade and is treated as a legal requirement.
surrounding them. Are things how people
• Enacted law- is the entire body of law that a
perceive reality. The subject of human beliefs
government has implemented, including its
may be infinite and may include ideas concerning
constitution, the legislation that’s been passed by
the individual, other people and any all aspects
the legislature and signed into law by the
of the biological, physical, social, and
executive, and the regulations promulgated
supernatural world be it primitive or scientific.
by government agencies to carry out the
• Values are shared ideas about desirable goals. legislation.
The person’s ideas about worth and desirability
or an abstract of what is important and
worthwhile. make up our judgments of moral CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
and immoral, good and bad, right or wrong,
• From the definitions it becomes clear that
beautiful and ugly, etc.
sociologically culture has specific meaning and
Norms characteristics. It is the product of human
behavior and gaining knowledge through
• Norms are shared rules of conduct that specify
group. It is a system of learned behavior and
how people ought to think and act. Are ideas in
set procedure. Some of the salient
the minds of the members of a group put into
characteristics of culture are as under:
statement specifying what members of the
groups should do, ought to do, or are expected • Culture is learned
to do under certain circumstances. Norms are
• Culture is socially transmitted
guides or models of behavior which tells us what
through language
is proper or improper, appropriate or
inappropriate, right or wrong. Has three forms: • Culture is Integrative
mores, folkways, and laws.
• Culture is shared
Folkways
• Culture is transmitted
• these are everyday habits; customs, traditions
and conventions people obey without giving • Culture is changing
much thought to the matter. Ex. handshaking • Culture is Adaptive
Mores • Culture is Gratifying
• these are the norms people consider vital to • Culture is Ideal
their wellbeing and most cherished values; they
are special customs with moral and ethical • Culture is Social
significance. They represent obligatory behavior • Culture is Diverse
because their infraction results to punishment,
formal or informal. Examples: Food and
Language taboos
• Culture is learned – It is acquired through
education, training and experience. Most of the
behavior is learned in society. This learning
might be conscious or unconscious but nobody
can deny the process of learning. Culture is
something learnt and acquired e.g. wearing
clothes or dancing. It is not something natural
to the person.
• Culture is socially transmitted through
language - It is transmitted from one generation
to another through the medium of language,
verbal or non-verbal through the gestures or
signs, orally or in writing.
• Culture is Integrative - Various elements of a
given culture form a consistent and unified
whole; society always tries to work out a
balance between the unequal rates of change
among the elements in the society.
• Culture is shared - All the traits, attitudes, ideas,
knowledge and material objects like radio,
television and automobiles etc is actually shared
by members of society.
• Culture is transmitted - All the culture traits and
objects are transmitted among the members of
society continually. Most of the cultural traits
and material objects are transmitted to the
members of the society from their forefathers.
We learn new fashion, how to move in society
and how to behave in a particular social
situation.
• Culture is changing - Culture never remains
static but changing. It is changing in every
society, but with different speed and causes. It
constantly under goes change and adapts itself
to the environments.
• Culture is Adaptive - All cultures are always
changing and these changes represent
adjustments to the environment.
• Culture is Gratifying - Culture has provisions to
satisfy the biological and socio-cultural needs of
man.
• Culture is Ideal - Within the culture are group
habits considered as ideal patterns of behavior
which the members are expected to follow.
• Culture is Social - Group habits and knowledge
are shared by the members in the group and are
kept relatively uniform by certain social
sanctions and pressures.
• Culture is Diverse - This means that culture
varies and is different from one another.
CULTURE AND ITS RELATED CONCEPTS
• Culture integration. It refers to the bringing
together of conflicting cultural elements,
resulting in a harmonious, and cohesive
whole. It also refers to the mutual adjustment
of diverse or conflicting culture traits to from
a harmonious cultural system.
• Cultural variation. Each culture has a unique
character. Despite the presence of cultural
universals, there is still great diversity among
the many cultures, even within a nation,
certain segments of the populace will develop
cultural patterns which differ from those of
the dominant society.
• Ethnocentrism. It refers to the tendency to
assume that one’s culture and way of life are
superior to all others, the ethnocentric person
sees his/her own group as the center or
defining point of culture and views all other
cultures as deviations from what is normal.
• Cultural relativism. It refers to the viewing of
people’s behaviour from the perspective of
their own culture. It stresses that different
social contexts give rise to different norms
and values. It places a priority on
understanding other cultures, rather than
dismissing them as strange or exotic unlike
ethnocentrism. It also employs the kind of
value neutrality in scientific study.
• Xenocentrism. It is the belief that products,
styles, or ideas of one’s society are inferior to
those that originate elsewhere, or simply, the
rejection of the culture of one’s own group.
• Culture shock. It describes the occupational
disease of people who have been suddenly
transplanted in different culture than their
own. It refers to the feeling of surprise and
disorientation that is experienced when
people witness cultural practices different
from their own.
• Subcultures. They are groups whose values
and related behaviours are so distinct that
they set their members off from the general
culture.
• Culture lag. It refers to the situation when
one or some parts of a culture change at a
faster rate than other related parts, with a
resulting disruption of the integration and
equilibrium of the culture.

• Cultural survival. It is related to cultural lag in

that it represents a traditional way that has
not changed with the times. However, it is a
distinct concept in the sense that it is used to
designate a practice which has lost its
functional significance completely and which
survives solely on the basis of custom.

• Culture Universal is an element, pattern, trait,

or institution that is common to all
human cultures worldwide.