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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTIION AND CONCEPTS OF CULTURE

By

Kabir Bello, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology,

Bayero University, Kano

Emails:k.bello@csuohio.edu;kbellod@gmail.com

Learning Outcomes
It is expected that at the end of this chapter students should be able to learn the following:
 Definitions of culture
 Types of culture
 Characteristics of culture
 Importance of culture
 Concepts related to culture such as sub-culture, ethnocentrism, status and role, etc
 Levels of culture
 Difference between culture and ethnic group.
Definitions of Culture
Culture is a difficult term to define because it means different things to different people. Several
attempts to define the concept has been made by a number of scholars in different disciplines in
the social sciences. However, some definitions of the term will help to illuminate its meanings.
According to Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) ,culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit,
of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive
achievements of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts. The essential core of
culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their
attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action and

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on the other, as conditional elements of future action’(Kroeber and Kluckhohn 1952: 181; cited
by Adler 1997: 14).
In a classic definition of culture Taylor (1870) as cited by Coser and Rosenberg (1982) referred
culture to a quality possessed by all people in all social groups, transforming on a development
or evolutionary continuum from “savagery” through “barbarism” to “civilization”. Taylor
defined culture as: that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society Coser and
Rosenberg (1982:11). In another attempt to elaborate on the meaning of culture, Schwartz (1992)
saw it as:
that which consists of the derivatives of experience, more or less organized, learned or
created by the individuals of a population, including those images or embodiments and
their interpretations (meanings) transmitted from past generations, from contemporaries,
or formed by individuals themselves (Schwartz 1992; cited by Avruch, 1998: 17).

Culture has been conceived to be the foundation of social order in society. This is because it sets
standards for compliance to the rules and regulations that govern the behaviour of every member
of the society through its norms and values. This makes culture to be a way of life of a particular
society. Every society creates rules and regulations in order to avoid chaos, crises and
disagreements. In other words, culture is everything which is socially learned and shared by
members of a society.
White (1949: 70) cited by Spencer-Oatey (2012:76) approached the definition of culture by
tracing it to be the origin and basis of human behavior through symbols. He even argued that “…
in the word was the beginning … the beginning of man and of culture” Symbol was the basic
unit of all human behavior and civilization (culture).All human behaviour originates in the use of
symbols. All human behavior for White (1949) consists of, and is dependent upon the use of
symbols, human behavior is symbolic behavior, and vice versa. The symbol is the universe of
humanity. A symbol may be defined as a thing by the value or meaning of which is bestowed
upon it by those who use it. It may be tangible (physical) or intangible i.e. colour, sound, odour,
taste, motion etc.
Further to this, Kluckhohn (1951) cited by Spencer-Oatey (2008) contended that culture must not
be confused with the more limited concept of ordinary language. Its definition designates those
aspects of the total human environment, tangible and intangible, which have been created by

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men. A culture then refers to the distinctive way of life of a group of people, their complete
design for living.
However, Kluckhohn and Kelly (1945) as cited in Adler (1997) have briefly offered an
unrepresentative definition of culture. For them, a culture is a historically created system of
explicit and implicit designs for a living, which tends to be shared by all or specially designation
members of a group at a specified point in time. Each culture is a precipitate of history from the
materials supplied by human biology and the natural environment to which human organism
must make certain minimal adjustments for survival. All those opportunities are challenged by
the historical process. Culture provides a pattern to which people conform; thus by following a
custom one affirms solidarity to his/her and escapes a sense of loneliness, and in addition due to
division of labour. In other words, culture is everything which is socially learned and shared by
the members of a society. The individual receives culture as part of a social heritage transmitted
from generation to another.
In his contribution to the study of culture, Herskovits (1951) as cited by Coser and Rosenberg,
1982: 201) advanced the following propositions on the theory of culture:
1. Culture is learned (but not all learning is culture, it is learned through the process of
socialization from peers, family, institutions and etc, not biologically inherited;
2. Culture derives from biological, environmental, psychological, and historical components
of human existence;
3. Culture is structured;
4. Culture is divided into aspects;
5. Culture is dynamic;
6. Culture is variable;
7. Culture exhibits regularities that permits its analysis by the methods of science;
8. Culture is the instrument whereby the including adjusts to his total setting, and gains the
means of creative expression.
Characteristics of Culture
1. It is learned through the process of socialization from peers, family, institutions and etc,
not biologically inherited;
2 It is shared by others;
1. It is symbolic (use of language, signs ,gestures and with meanings);

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3 It is integrated, not segregated in parts but holistic;

4 It is dynamic (changes overtime, diffusion, innovation);
5 It is transmitted from generation to another;
6 It is system of norms and values;
7 It is peculiar to human beings because all humans have culture.
The Importance of Culture
1. Through communication culture allows members to interact with one another through
language. Without culture we may not be able to communicate with one another and achieve our
desired goals.
2. Makes it possible to anticipate the action of others. This is in the form of assigned statuses and
roles. With culture we can anticipate the roles of mother, father, teacher, student, lawyer, etc.For
instance we can predict the behaviour of a teacher that he/she is expected to teach, so also a
judge is expected to deliver judgment in a court of law, etc.
3. Provides standards for measuring morals (i.e. right and wrong).Culture specifies what is
wrong and what is right, the proscriptive and prescriptive behaviours.
4. Provides the knowledge and skills for meeting life sustenance. With culture we learn the skills
necessary for societal membership, the technology for harnessing our environment using tools
and implements for dealing with nature.
5. Identification with society and community. Culture provides individuals with membership of
the social groups they belong, such as family, peer group, ethnic group, etc. Culture gives us an
identity of belonging through the institution of marriage, and we all identify ourselves with our
family and also the larger social networks or community we belong.
Types of Culture
Broadly speaking, culture is classified into two categories of material and non-material. Material
consists of man-made objects such as tools, furniture, bridges, buildings, roads, etc or any
physical object of use by man. In other words, material culture consists of manufactured objects
they are the artifacts and the tangible aspects that are accorded meaning in culture by members of
a given society. Non-Material: Consist of the words people use, the ideas customs, beliefs and
the habits they follow which cannot be seen. In other words, non-material culture consists of the
words people use; the ideas, customs and beliefs, they hold and the habits they follow.

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Both culture and society are often confused concepts that are erroneously misconceived to be the
same. However, sociologists have concurred that they are different because culture is a system of
norms and values, while society is a relatively independent, self- perpetuating human group
which occupies a territory, shares a culture, and has most of its associates within this group .In
addition to this, a society is an organization of people whose association are with one another;
while a culture is an organized system of norms and values which people hold (Horton and Hunt,
1980). More so, sociologists refer to society to be a group of people who share a common culture
and made up of people who are interacting on the basis of shared beliefs, customs, values and
activities and they submitted that there is no society that ever exists without a culture; society
refers to people while culture refers to patterns of behaviour.
Horton and Hunt(1980), further clarified that since culture tell us the way things should be done,
we therefore conclude that it is normative which is another way of inferring that it provides
standards of proper conduct. The norms that make up a culture are a set of behavior expectations,
a cultural image of how people are supposed to act. Therefore, culture is an elaboration system of
norms- standardized expected ways of feeling, and acting which the numbers of a society
acknowledge and with some deviations follow more or less perfectly. The moral norms and
values are the building block of culture.
Culture as a System of Norms
Norms are standardized and considered to be the expected ways of feeling and acting which
members of a given society follow. In other words they are the rules that govern our behavior
Whether proscriptive or prescriptive (allowed and disallowed) they are the permissible and non-
permissible behaviors are all part of culture. Norms were broadly categorized by Summer cited
in Hunt and Horton (1980) into two main parts:
(1) Folkways
(2) Mores.
1. Folkways: Each social group at one point in life has tried, different possibilities of behavior
only to arrive at one permissible, accepted it is then, passed to succeeding generations, before it
becomes the group’s folkway. It is defined as the customary, normal, habitual ways a group does
things such as shaking hands, eating with hands, knives and forks, walking, etc.
Folkways are followed as a matter of good manners and polite behaviour or because they are
essential to group welfare; they are the mild regulations that get punished by ostracism, social

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disapproval or neglect, etc. New generations absorb folkways mostly by observing and taking
part in the life about them rather than by direct teaching because the child is surrounded by them.
Folkways when attached a moral definition of right or wrong they are then called Mores. Even as
they are mild regulations, conformity is expected from members not their violations.
2. Mores: They are strong ideas, which require certain acts and forbid others. Members share a
collective feeling that the violation of their mores could bring disaster to the group (outsiders
may consider it irrational). They emerge gradually out of customary practices of the people
largely without conscious choice or intention. They represent the practical judgment about group
welfare. They arouse out of group decision that a particular act seems to be harmful and must be
forbidden therefore define certain acts as wrong. Mores are subsequently taught to the young
ones both as practical expedients and as a set of sacred absolutes (Hunt and Horton, 1980).
Thus when they are internalized by the young ones, the mores control the individual behaviour
by making it psychologically very difficult to commit the forbidden act. Consequently this will
result to very little misconduct it become intolerable in other words, the violations of the mores
are quite unthinkable as they are supported by taboos and may include the following:
i. Sex taboos (daughter, mother, sibling, etc)
ii. Food taboos (make certain type of food unfit to eat such as Islam forbids Fork meat; in
India cow meat is also forbidden)
iii. Modesty taboos – forbids exposure of the face, ankle, wrist breast etc
iv. Language taboos – forbid misuse of certain sacred or obscene words/etc
Such range of taboos may only be applicable to a group, while unknown to others, who belong to
other groups. If the society considers the violation of Mores to be injurious, it creates rules and
regulations in order to protect it.
A. Sub-culture
This refers to clusters related to the general culture of the society and yet distinguishable from it,
examples of which may include: occupational, religious, regional, age, gender, etc. All complex
societies do not have a uniform culture because of differentiations and relativity of norms and
values coupled with heterogeneity, but instead may also have subcultures. Subcultures serve to
reinforce the dominant cultural patterns for offering to the individual different ways to respond to
the basic values of the larger society, while retaining his sub-culture. An immigrant may live
within an immigrant culture, and children pass through different age sub-cultures or peer groups.

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B. Ethnocentrism: Sumner as cited in Coser and Rosenberg (1982) saw the concept of
ethnocentrism as that view of things in which one’s own group is the centre of everything and all
others are scaled and rated with reference to it. In other words, it is the tendency to for each
group to take for granted the superiority of its culture. Ethnocentrism is used as a yardstick to
measure all other cultures, whether as “good” or “bad,” “high” or “low”. Some of the positive
expressions can be in the form of describing one’s culture as “true believers,” “chosen people,”
“progressives,” “superior culture, or race” while negatively other cultures are labeled as
“infidels,” “dirty,” “backward,” “barbarians,” “savages,” “devils,” etc (Sumner as cited in
Coser and Rosenberg,1982: 85).
Sociologists have concluded that all known societies, as well as groups within societies have
tendencies of ethnocentrism. This is because groups and societies will hardly survive without it.
They argue that it promotes group unity, loyalty and morale as well as protection against change.
It is from there the spirit of nationalism and patriotism found its roots, although it may be a
source of ethnic tension that precipitate conflict and disruptions vis-a vis development and peace
(Hofstede, 2001).
C. Cultural Relativism: Cultures vary (different) across societies, never the same. Different
cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. There are no scientific standards for considering
one group as intrinsically superior or inferior to another. Studying differences in culture among
groups and societies presupposes a position of cultural relativism (Li and Karakowsky, 2001).
D. Status
It is often associated with prestige sociologists use the word status to refer to position in
society .Everybody occupies a number of statuses – student, lawyer, son, father, mother, etc.
Weber saw status as the effective claim of social esteem in terms of positive and negative
privileges(Weber, 1947).
Status determines how a person “fits” the position in society i.e. how she/he relates with other
members for a “daughter” as status shows how she relates with members of the family.
Although one can occupy several statuses simultaneously, usually an “occupational status” tends
to be the most important/significant, and this is often called “master status”
When an aspect of one’s status appear contradictory he is said to be experiencing a “status
inconsistency” For example an Osu in Igbo land which refers to the outcast or a slave travelled
to the USA and returned as a rich medical doctor will always assume his status of a slave when

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he entered Igbo land. The person will still suffer prejudice and discrimination due to the status of
being an “Osu”.
Status can be “ascribed” or “achieved” in case of ascribed it is a status that people have no
control or could do nothing on it. For example, being young, old, male/female black, white,
usually are biological or inherited characteristics it is not possible to change it. On the other
hand, achieved refers to characteristics for which one can have control. At least through your
own efforts, you can become, a President, a Professor, a Lawyer, SAN, Judge (in an open society
mobility is possible, people can move from one social position or another).
D. Roles
Roles represent the dynamic aspect of statuses .It refers to a “bundle of expectations,” a role is
the part the person plays like in a theatre (film), it is the part the person plays in society. A role is
a set of expected behavior patterns, obligations and privileges attached to a particular social
status. For example, a lawyer is a social status, and attached to it is a professional role, defined
by social norms, prescribing how the occupier (Lawyer) should behave. A single status (A
lawyer) may involve a number of roles (with fellow lawyers, judges, prison officers, clients,
police etc).
E. Role Conflict
A situation in which two or more roles of a person have contradictory requirements is often
called a role conflict. For instance ,a female student expected to attend lectures in the school at
the same time her attention as mother is needed by her children possibly prepare them to the
school or the husband wants some breakfast to be served. In addition, her mother may require
seeing her in the morning before her lectures. It may be a police officer found in a position where
he ought to arrest his child. In another possible scenario, a judge may find herself /himself
presiding in case that involves her husband/ wife or even their children. Further to this, it may be
possible for a lawyer to find self to handle a case of either
husband/wife/mother/father/son/daughter etc. In all of these situations a role conflict will ensure
that may place the individual into difficult circumstances in the society.
Levels of Culture
Individuals as members of different social groups found themselves in different levels of culture
in the society stated by Hofstede (1997), as follows:

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1. a national level according to one’s country (or countries for people who migrated
during their lifetime);
2. a regional and/or ethnic and/or religious and/or linguistic affiliation, as most nations
are composed of culturally different regions and/or ethnic and/or religious and/or
language groups;
3. a gender level, according to whether a person was born as a girl or as a boy;
4. a generation level, which separates grandparents from parents from children;
5. a role category, e.g. parent, son/daughter, teacher, student;
6. a social class level, associated with educational opportunities and with a person’s
occupation or profession;
7. for those who are employed, an organizational or corporate level according to the way
employees have been socialized by their work organization(Hofstede,1997: 10).
Ethnic Group
Closely related to culture is the concept of ethnic group. Ethnic groups denotes a large
aggregate of people who have a self-defined name, believe they share a common descent, have
common historical memories and elements of shared culture (such as religion and language), and
have an attachment (even if only historical and sentimental) to a specific territory. Ethnic groups
tend to have solidarity and we-feeling; their members experience something of “ourselves” in
each other. “Nationality” refers to a large group of people having a common and distinguishing
racial, linguistic, and cultural background, and forming a constituent element of a larger group.
The two terms, “ethnic group” and “nationality,” overlap; social scientists prefer “ethnic group”
because it is more richly descriptive and includes religion as a possible focus of self-defined
identity, and because some ethnic groups are marginal rather than a constituent element of a
larger group(Oberschall,2007).
Nigeria has been estimated to have over 500 ethnic groups, among the prominent ethnic groups
in Northern and Southern Nigeria many traced their origins outside Nigeria and lived in
centralized societies with their socio- political organizations such as the Hausa, the Kanuri, the
Nupe, the Yoruba, and the Bini etc. Others like the Igbo, the Fulani, and the Tiv lived in
segmentary or autonomous village units in which authority was diffused. The Nigerian ethnic
groups have been shaped by their geographical environment with a population of over

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198,010,723 million as at Tuesday, December 11, 2018 based on the United Nations estimates
Nigeria is ranked the 7th in the list of countries population in the world(UN,2018).

Conclusion
Culture is a socially learned behaviour that consists of norms and values .It is often transmitted
from generation to another. Culture is so important to human society as there is no society
without culture an instrument that prescribes what is acceptable and unacceptable moral codes.
Society being a group of people who share a common culture distinguishes human beings from
other animals due the ability to absorb and transmit culture largely through language. Culture
defines the attitudes we should hold, the values to cherish and the goals which are worthwhile, in
addition to the ready-made behaviour patterns to carry out daily activities. All societies practice
ethnocentrism due to other people’s culture fail to please us, we are trained to believe in our
culture, as a comfort to our defense against our inadequacies. With culture can understand the
positions we occupy and help to anticipate the action of others. Although there could be role
conflict our ability to overcome them are given due to opportunities offered by society. In
Nigeria there are an estimated over 500 ethnic groups with different cultures and ethnocentrism
is a predisposing factor to peace and stability of the nation.

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