UNIT THREE: CULTURE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTgl9EZhVlo
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z3IDSj7QkA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr5osiZ6vq0

Definition of culture, types of culture

Characteristics and elements of culture
Cultural concepts ie universality, generality and particularity, sub-culture,
cultural lag
Ethnocentrism, cultural relativism and human rights
Socialisation process and their agents

Culture can be defined as mutually shared products, knowledge and beliefs of a human
group or society. It is not limited to art, literature, classical music but all aspects of life in a
given society. It may be taken as constituting a way of life of an entire society and this will
include codes of manners, dress, language, rituals, norms of behavior and systems of belief.
Human behavior is primarily a result of nurture rather than nature. Humans are different
from animals because they can construct and transmit symbolic meaning.

Ralph Linton (1940.) defines culture as the total sum of knowledge attitudes and habitual
behavior patterns shared and submitted by members of a particular society.

Tylor (1871) defined culture as the complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art,
morals, law customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of
society.

Though humans do have instincts to direct their actions, their behavior must be based on
guidelines that are learned, these must be shared by all members without which there
would be no communication and cooperation resulting in confusion and disorder would
result. Humans devise way of adapting to the environment and solving basic problems.
Such methods with time become patterned and shared within a population; they become a
way of life that is passed on from generation to generation as a design for living. Succeeding
generation may modify and add to the design. It resides in non-tangible forms like
language, values and symbolic meaning, includes technology and material objects.
Culture determines how members of society think and feel, it directs their actions and
defines their outlook on life. It is usually taken for granted because it becomes so much a
part of them that they are often unaware of its existence.

The concept culture is very significant in sociology as a discipline and social life in general;
culture enables humans to modify the natural environment. A shared culture is what makes
social life possible.

Types of Culture
Material culture- this involves objects used by the people to accomplish their goals e.g. tools
and machinery used in construction, spears, hoes, gourds, calculator. Material culture
physical objects found within a society, machines, tools, books, clothing. These are
elements of the environment that the society uses for survival and to enrich their lives. The
nature of the material culture produced by a given society is a function of the level of
technology, resources available to the society and the needs of the people. People develop
material culture and can change it; it’s part of social life to which forms of non-material
culture must adapt.

Non material culture includes values, norms, language, world views and other symbolic
representations of the social and physical world like fairy tales, myths, skills, customs,
music, ideas, and complex legal codes. The material component of culture is shaped by the
non-material.

Characteristics of a culture
Culture is learned; Learned through the socialization process; directly or indirectly in the
social interaction process. Socialization plays an important role in what we all become.
Everything in culture is learned; culture is thus a substitute for 'instinct' as a means of
responding to the environment and it provides superior way of doing so. Culture frees us
from reliance on the slow, random accidental process of physical evolution by offering us a
new purposive, efficient means of adapting changing conditions

Culture is dynamic; it is not static; it is ever changing in different ways at different rates
although it tends to be inherently conservative e.g. non-material aspects (value and
customs).

Culture is diverse with different aspects across different societies, like languages, dances,
artifacts, music etc.
Culture is universal but may differ from one society to another.
Transmitted from generation to generation
It is socially shared
Represents ideal forms of behavior

Elements of culture
Beliefs are conceptions that people accept as true concerning the operation of the world
and where the individual fits in relationship to others. They can be rooted in blind faith,
experience, tradition or the scientific method. Beliefs exert powerful influences on actions
as they are used to justify behavior that may be generous or violent.

Values generally are shared conceptions of what is good, right, appropriate, worthwhile
and important with regard to conduct, appearance, and states of being. Values are shared
ideas about desirable goals. After language, values are the most central and distinguishing
aspect of culture. Some cultures may value tenderness, cooperation competition,
roughness. Because all human populations face common dilemmas, certain values tend to
be universal e.g. stability and security, strong family, good health. There are strong
differences in the guidelines that each society offers for pursuing these goals. These
guidelines are called norms.

Norms: written and unwritten rules that specify behaviors appropriate and inappropriate to
a particular social situation. Some norms are considered more important than others and
these have more severe penalties, response to infraction of the norms can vary from a
frown to death. Norms are the shared rules of conduct, specify what people ought or not to
do, culture provides a blue print for living, a pattern to follow.
Norms and values are connected; norms specify the means for achieving socially valued
goals. Norms vary enormously in their importance both to individuals and society, some like
fashion norms are powerful while they last but are not central to society’s values, some like
those pertaining to marriage are central to cultures. There are two categories of norms
basing on the strength of enforcement: folkways and mores. Folkways describe norms that
are simply the customary, normal, habitual ways that a group does things, there is no strong
feeling about right or wrong attached to them. They are simply the way people do things
like table manners or rules of etiquette, punctuality. Conformity to folkways is expected but
not absolutely insisted upon like mores.

Mores are norms are associated with strong feelings of right or wrong. Violation of mores
may result in legal punishment or will result in informal reprisals like ostracism, shunning,
reprimand. Such punishments reduce the likelihood of people violating more.
Mores are considered almost sacred and violating them is likely to result in serious
consequences e.g. when a person takes the life of another, this will not be overlooked.
Such norms are considered essential and are strictly enforced. Overall, norms can either
be prescriptive or proscriptive, a particularly strong proscriptive is referred to as a taboo.
For example incest is a strong universal taboo.
The norms of a society are ultimately an expression of its values. The difference between
value and norms is that values are abstract, general concepts while norms are behavioral
rules or guidelines for people in a particular kind of situation.

Symbols- any kind of physical or conceptual phenomenon- a word, an object, a sound, a

feeling, a gesture or bodily movement- to which people assign a name and meaning.The
existence of culture depends on people ability to create and use symbols. A symbol is
anything that a group people have agreed upon as a way of meaningfully representing
something other than itself. Humans can exchange information with others and can learn a
great deal from each other, this is facilitated by symbols, and through these people can
make sense of reality and transmit information. Symbols can help in comprehending
abstract concepts like love, God, and justice.

Language- a system of symbols involving the use of sounds, gestures, and / characters to
convey meaning. When people learn languages they must learn a system symbol. Learn
agreed upon sounds that convey words, they must learn the rules that specify relationships
among chosen words. Learning a language and its rules is the key to human development.
The complexity of the human language sets people apart from other animals. It facilitates
interaction and communication. The essence of culture is sharing meanings among
members of a society; the chief mechanism for this sharing is language.
Language is a carrier of culture; it embodies the values and meanings of society as well as
its rituals, ceremonies, stories, prayers. To participate in a culture you must share the
language of that culture.Language gives us capabilities, it shapes and confines us. The
grammar, structure and categories embodied in a language affect how its speakers see
reality and reality is different for people that speak different languages. As a symbol, a
common language is the most obvious symbol that people share a common culture. A
distinctive language symbolizes a group’s separation from others while it simultaneously
symbolizes unity within the group of speakers.
The genes give us the physical human characteristics but not the social. The brain gives
people the ability to learn a language spoken around them, through such learning, people
can appreciate culture which gives them a tool to think about the world, interpret
experiences, maintain and establish relationships, and convey information.
Every society has some form of communication. Communication take place through either
written or spoken, but also a large amount takes place through symbols. Of all the symbols
used to communicate meanings, language is the most powerful and complex. Though many
animal species might use some form of language, human language is undoubtedly the most
complex and most sophisticated. It is so complex that most people spend a considerable
portion of their lives learning how to use it correctly.

Social control
If a society is to operate, it must have some way of enforcing its norms and values. People
must be made to conform or behave in socially acceptable ways. Violation of the norms of a
society is called deviance. Conformity is encouraged through the pressure of sanctions.
Sanctions can be either negative or positive. A positive sanction is a reward for behaving as
expected and desired in a given society. While a negative sanction is a punishment for
violating significant norms of a society. Sanctions range from formal such as one imposed
by an authority to informal such as applied by friends or peers. Thus, social control is a set
of means of ensuring that societal members generally behave in expected and approved
ways.

Laws are rules that are enforced and sanctioned by the authority of government. These can
derive from the important mores and are enforced by agencies of the government. Laws are
formal norms that have been enacted by the state to regulate human conduct.
For a society to operate it must have some way to enforce its norms. People must be made to
conform even when it is unpleasant to do so, violation of social norms is termed deviance,
and conformity is encouraged through the pressure of sanctions. (Positive and negative,
formal, informal)

Why culture?
Because human beings are not programmed biologically or psychologically for any one set
of responses, each group must work out its own solutions basing on the resources at hand
and attempt to control themselves and their environment, thereby creating a culture.If a
group cannot create and maintain a viable culture then it will not survive overtime. There
is need for technology to provide for food, self-control to ensure order, care for children to
ensure continuity, common beliefs and ceremonies for unity and a sense of responsibility

Culture hence consists of solutions to the problem of survival which include the ideals and
values that shape rules of conduct, tools and other human made objects. The important
aspects of culture are language, beliefs, rituals (art forms) and the customs of daily living.
Members use these to understand what is happening to them and to choose appropriate
ways of responding.

Culture has been contrasted with nature; the things that humans produce or do are
cultural, while the things that exist or occur without human intervention are part of the
natural word. Humans discuss their world, learn about their world and teach what they
learn; with culture they are able to understand what they and others are doing and are
supposed to do. Culture distinguishes groups of people e.g. Baganda, Basoga, Bagishu etc.

Culture is a tool for solving problems- it provides formulae that enables the individual to
adjust to the problems of living, there are a number of challenges that develop from our
biological make up like emotional experiences, hunger, thirst, sexual desire, aging and
death. All cultures develop ways of helping members to respond to the biological needs like
satisfying the need for food, drink, sex, channeling and displaying emotion. For example,
culture influences how people will define edibility of food that is available, insects like
grasshoppers may be a source of nutrition but not everyone chooses to eat them. Culture
will influence what can be eaten and how it should be prepared or who should prepare it,
frequency of eating, how food should be served.

Culture also provides the formulas for expressing emotion i.e. the body sensation
experienced in relationship with other people e.g. Love, empathy, jealousy, guilt, grief.
There are rules that specify appropriate ways to express emotions towards other people.

The key to culture is the human capacity to use symbols. Social life can exist without
symbols for example animals are social but only human beings have culture because they
are able to create symbols.

People borrow material and non-material culture from other societies. The process by
which an idea, invention or any other cultural item is from another culture is called
Cultural diffusion. This occurs when people from different cultures make contact, face to
face, television, internet. Borrowing of ideas is selective, people can chose aspects of a
certain idea or practice that they will adopt.

Most people come to learn and accept the ways of their culture as natural and when they
encounter others cultures they can experience mental and physical strain cultural shock.
The intensity of the shock depends on the extent of the difference between cultures, the
level of preparation for or knowledge about the new culture, the circumstances
surrounding the encounter.
Some Cultural Concepts
Ethnocentrism
One reason why people experience cultural shock is that they hold the viewpoint of
ethnocentrism- using one culture as a standard to judge the desirability/ worth of other
cultures. One’s culture is used as a standard for judging the other culture and these are
seen as strange or inferior. Various levels of ethnocentrism exist, defining foreign culture as
strange, the most extreme and destructive form of ethnocentrism is cultural genocide in
which people of one culture judge that of others as so offensive and intolerable that they
attempt to destroy it.

Xenocentrism
Xenocentrism is belief that other cultures are better than one’s own. Xenocentrism is
something referred to as “reserve ethnocentrism’. Like ethnocentrism, this too should be
avoided.

Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism runs counter to ethnocentrism: it means that another culture should not
be judged by the standards of one’s culture and that behavior and way of thinking must be
judged in its cultural context- terms of the society’s values, norms, beliefs, environmental
challenges and history. Cultural relativism as a perspective aims at understanding not to
condone or discredit another people way of behavior.

Subcultures
Sharing a culture does not mean complete homogeneity. When segments of society face
substantially different kinds of social environments, subcultures develop to help them adapt
these unique problems. A Subculture shares in the overall culture of society but also
maintain a distinctive set of values, norms, lifestyles and even language. Subcultures may
contribute an appearance of non-conformity when people conform to the norms of
subcultures. A group can be identified as a subculture depending on whether they share a
language, symbol system, values and norms or territory, or whether they interact with one
another than people outside the group. Central to a subculture is that its members are cut
off or separated from other people in the larger culture. Separation may be with regard to
selected aspects of life like work, school, recreation, and religion, health care, housing- this
separation may be voluntary or geographical or imposed by the dominant group. Certain
categories of people may feel excluded from the personal social relationships of the bigger
group; this may force then into their own support groups, study groups.
Countercultures describe subcultures in which norms, values, symbols and language the
members emphasize conflict or oppose the dominant culture, rejection of the dominant
cultures values is central to understanding a counterculture. Counter cultures are groups
that have values, interests, beliefs and lifestyles that conflict with those of the larger culture.
These reflect radical revisions in and taken for granted ways of life.

There is a relationship between culture and society; culture consists of the shared products
of society while society consists of the interacting people who share a culture. However, the
two are closely interrelated; a society could not exist without culture and without culture,
neither individual human beings nor human society could survive.

Cultural Universality:
All societies are different, but all face many broadly similar problems e.g. all societies must
confront the issue of human origins and mortality. There are a number of general cultural
universals, but they do not seem to be any specific one, e.g. every culture has norms
prohibiting murder, but different cultures have different ideas about which homicides
constitutes murder and which do not, ( all societies have ways of greeting and marriage).
Cultural universality implies that there are general traits; their specific content varies from
one culture to another.

Cultural integration
A culture does not consist of a random collection of different elements, the customs, values,
beliefs, practices and other characteristics of a culture tend to complement one another, i.e.
to be integrated into a complex whole. Integration pertains to how interconnected,
complimentary, mutually supportive the various elements of a culture are. If a culture is to
survive, it must be integrated to a considerable extent, although in practice some cultures
are more integrated than others. The fact that culture tends to be integrated is often not
apparent until change occurs in one part, throwing other parts into disorganization
(generating widespread resistance)

Cultural Lag
There are several changes in contemporary times and this is illustrated by how development
in technology often out paces development in values, norms and ideology. Cultural lag
refers to the time between the appearance of a new material invention and the making of
the appropriate adjustments in the corresponding area on non-material culture. It occurs
when one of two parts of a culture which are correlated changes before or in greater
proportion than the other part thereby causing less adjustment between the two parts.