The Concept of Culture

All human societies have complex ways of life that differ greatly from one to another. Each society has its
own unique blueprint for living or culture. Culture consists of all that human beings learn to do, to use, to pro, to
know and to believe as they grow to maturity and live out their lives in the social groups to which they belong.
When sociologists speak of culture, they are referring to the general phenomenon that is characteristic of all
human groups. When they refer to a culture, they are pointing to the specific culture of a particular group. Unlike
other creatures, humans do not pass on behavioural patterns through their genes; rather, culture is taught and
learned through social interaction. The result is a much wider variation of behaviour among humans than among
other species.

Because human cultures vary so widely, people often have difficulty adjusting to culture that differs
markedly from their own. Sociologists call this culture shock. In addition, people often make judgements about
other cultures according to the customs and values of their own. This practice, called ethnocentrism, can lead to
prejudice and discrimination and, often, the repression or domination of one group by another. To avoid
ethnocentrism in their research, sociologists are guided by the concept or cultural relativism, or the recognition
that the social groups and cultures must be understood on their own terms before valid comparison can be made.

Components of Culture

Sociologists view culture as having four major components: material culture, non material culture,
cognitive culture and language. Material culture consists of all the things that humans make and use to modify and
exploit their environment. Due to its great flexibility, material culture has made humans the dominant life form on
earth.

Nonmaterial culture consists of the totality of knowledge, beliefs, values, and rules for appropriate
behaviour. It is structured by society’s institutions. Norms are rules of behaviour that are agreed upon and shared
and that prescribe limits of acceptable behaviour. Strongly held norms that have a moral connotation and are
based on the central values of a culture are known as mores. Folkways are conventions of everyday life that permit
a rather wide degree of individual interpretation, as long as certain limits are not overstepped. Ideal norms are
expectations of what people should do under perfect conditions; real norms are expressed with qualifications and
allowances for differences in individual behaviour.

Cognitive culture consists of shared beliefs and knowledge of what the world is like – what is real and
what is not, what is important and what is trivial. Notions of what a culture considers good and bad, desirable and
undesirable, are known as values. These general orientations toward life are usually expressed in recurring
patterns of behaviour.

Language enables humans to organize the world around them into labelled cognitive categories and use
these labels to communicate with one another. Language makes possible the teaching and sharing of cognitive and
normative culture; it is also the vehicle that allows human to transcend the limitation imposed by their
environment and biological evolution. Selectivity is the process by which a culture views some aspects of the world
as important and virtually neglects others. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis argues that language people use
determines their perception of reality.
The Symbolic Nature of Culture

A symbol is anything that represents something else and carries a particular meaning recognized by members of a
culture. Symbols are completely arbitrary; they stand for things simply because people agree that they do.
Nevertheless, without our ability to use symbol to create language, culture could not exist.

Culture and adaptation

Humans are remarked unspecialized; culture allows us to adapt quickly and flexibly to the challenges of
our environment. Adaptation is the process by which human beings adjust to the changes in the environment. One
form of adaptation is specialization, which involves developing ways of doing things that work extremely well in a
particular environment or set of circumstances. Generalized adaptability involves developing more complicated yet
flexible ways of doing things. The evolution of human culture is driven by innovation and diffusion. Innovation,
which includes a new practice or tool that becomes widely accepted in a society, is the source of all cultural traits,
or items of a culture such as tools, materials used, beliefs, values, and typical ways of doing things. Diffusion is the
movement of cultural traits from one culture to another. In this process the original cultural traits are often
modified in some way to better fit into its new context, a process called reformulation. When new patterns of
behaviour emerge that conflict with traditional values, we have a situation known as cultural lag.

Language and the production of tools are central elements of culture. Evidence exists that nonhuman
animals engage, or can be taught to engage, in both of these activities. Does this mean they have culture?
Scientists disagree about how to interpret the evidence. Without question, however, it can be said that humans
have refined culture to a far greater degree than other animals and are far more dependent upon it for their
existence.

Subculture

Every social group has its own complete culture. Sociologists use the term subculture to refer to the
distinctive lifestyle, values, norms, and beliefs associated with certain segments of the population within a society.
Types of subculture include ethnic, occupational, religious, political, geographical, social class, and deviant
subcultures.

Universals of Culture

People in all societies must confront and resolve certain common, basic problems. Cultural universals are
certain models or patterns that have developed in all cultures to resolve those problems. Among them are the
division of labour, the incest taboo, marriage, family organization, rites of passage, and ideology. Though the forms
are universal, the content is unique to each culture.

By dividing the responsibility for completing necessary tasks among members of societies create a division
of labour. All human societies regulate sexual behaviour. An example of this is the incest taboo, in which sexual
relations between family members – incest – is specifically prohibited – the definition of a taboo. The incest taboo
and the institution of marriage create the family. Every culture has established rites of passage, or standardized
rituals marking major life transitions. Ideologies, or strongly held beliefs and values are the cement of social
structure in that they help a group maintain its identity as a social unit.