CONCEPT TO

INTRODUCTION:
CULTURE

What is culture?

The word
culture, from
the Latin colo,
-ere, with its
root meaning
"to cultivate.

Culture refers to
the universal
human capacity
to classify, and
communicate
their experiences
symbolically.

What would happen if?

You cut into the middle of a line by yourself

and stayed in line for at least 2 minutes?
You sang loudly on a public bus?
You positioned yourself 6 inches from an
acquaintances nose during a conversation?
You laughed during a funeral?
How would other people behave?
How would you feel?

What makes up culture?

Sociologists see culture as consisting
of two different categories:
material culture (any physical
object to which we give social
meaning)
symbolic culture (the ideas
associated with a cultural group).

Introduction to Sociology: Culture

What are the differences between these two holiday

celebrations?

Symbolic Culture

Symbolic culture includes ways of

thinking (beliefs, values, and
assumptions) and ways of behaving
(norms, interactions, and
communication).

Introduction to Sociology: Culture

Culture determines
Food we eat
Clothing
Music
Games we play
How to express emotions
What is good or bad
What is high or low culture (if any)

Characteristics of Culture

Culture is a universal feature of human

social life
Culture is cumulative
Culture is learned
Culture is shared

1. Culture is learned- Culture is acquired

through education, training and
experience. A baby is not born with
knowledge, skills and abilities. It is not
genetically transmitted. The knowledge,
skills, abilities and learned habits of the
parents cannot be transmitted to the
offspring through heredity.

2. Culture is socially transmitted

through language- it is transmitted
from one generation to another through
the medium of language, verbal or non
verbal through gestures or signs, orally
or in writting.

3. Culture is social product- Many persons

interacting with one another develop culture.
Culture is the product of social interaction,
through the mutual interstimulation and
response of people with one another. The
patternsfor behavior, the learned ways of
doing things which have become stable, and
the material products of such interactions
develop culture.

Culture is a source of gratification- It

provides satisfaction of mans varied
physiological, psychological, social,
emotional and spiritual needs.

Culture is adaptive- through inventions

and discoveries man has been able to
overcome his limitation to outdo all
other animals. Through culture man has
been able to control and harness the
inhospitable forces of nature to conform
to his biddings.

Culture is the distinctive way of life

of a group of people- the members of
the society have developed their unique
way of life that suits their need and
particular situation. Although all people
have culture, such culture refers to one
society to another. (Cultural diversity).

Culture is material and non-materialmaterial culture, such as buildings and

machines, are the products or outputs
of application of mans knowledge and
skills, which are basically non-material.

Culture has sanctions and controlsthese sanctions could be formal or

informal. These are rewards for
conformity to culture but there are also
punishments for deviation from or
violation of the culture- the prescriptions
and proscriptions of the society.

Culture is stable yet dynamic- it is

preserved and accumulated, highly
stable and continuous. Culture is also
changing. Culture grows and
accumulate the passing of time.

Culture is an established pattern of

behavior- members of a certain society act
in a fairly uniform manner because they
share mutual beliefs, customs, and ways of
doing things. Thus, it is fairly easy to predict
the behavior of the members of the
particular society when they interact in
particular social settings and social
situations.

Norms- these are guidelines people are

supposed to follow in their relation with
one another; they are shared rules that
specify what is right or wrong and the
appropriate and inappropriate behavior.
They indicate what people should or
should not do in a specific situation.

Norms, Folkways, Mores, Taboos &

Laws

Norms are defined as

rules that guide behavior.
Proscriptive Norms:
mandate what we should
not do
Prescriptive Norms:
stating what we should do.
They can change over
time, as illustrated by
norms regarding sexual
behavior.

Among the social norms are:

A. folkways- these are everyday

habits; customs, traditions, and
conventions people obey without giving
much to the matter. They are the
general customary or habitual ways and
patterns of doing things which do not
have particular moral and ethical
significance.

B. Mores- these are the norms people

consider vital to their wellbeing and
most cherished values; they are special
customs with moral and ethical
significance, which are strongly held
and emphasized. They are societies
code of ethics, moral commandments,
and standards of morality.

There are two kinds of mores:

1. Positive mores or duty or the

Thou shall behavior- Duty refers to
the behavior, which must and ought to
be done because they are ethically and
morally good.

2. Negative mores or taboo or the

Thou shall not behavior- Taboo
refers to societal prohibitions on certain
acts which must not be done because
they are not only illegal, but unethical
and immoral.

C. Laws- these are formalized norms

enacted by people vested with
legitimate authority. They are the group
expectations, which have formal
sanction by the state. Sanctions are
socially imposed rewards and
punishments that compel people to
obey the norms.

2. Ideas, Beliefs, Values

Ideas- are non-material aspects of culture

and embody mans conception of his physical,
social and cultural world.

Beliefs- refer to a persons conviction about a

certain idea: it embodies peoples perception
of reality and includes the primitive ideas of
the universe as well as scientists empirical
view of the world.

Values- are abstract concepts of what

is important and worthwhile. They are
general ideas that individuals share
about what is good or bad, right or
wrong, desirable and undesirable. They
provide the foundation that underlies a
peoples entire way of life.

3.Material Culture- it refers to the concrete

and tangible object produced and used by man
to satisfy his varied needs and wants. It ranges
from prehistoric stone tools and weapons to
sophisticated and modern spaceships and
weapons of mass destruction. Artifacts- refer
to simple man-made tools and objects such as
knapped flint, which presents evidence of an
ancient culture.

Symbols- it refers an object, gesture,

sound, color or design that represents
something other than itself people in the
society must agree on the meanings of
symbols if they have to be understood.

Other sub-concepts related to

culture

1. Cultural Relativism- The concept of

cultural relativism states that cultures
differ, so that a cultural trait, act, or idea
has no meaning or function by itself but
has a meaning only within its cultural
setting.

2.Culture Shock- It refers to the feeling

of disbelief, disorganization, and
frustration one experiences when he
encounters cultural patterns or
practices which are different from his.

Ethnocentrism- it refers to the

tendency to see the behaviors, beliefs,
values, and norms of ones own group
as the only right way of living and to
judge others by those standards. It is
the feeling of superiority for ones own
culture and to consider other cultures
as inferior, wrong, strange or queer.

Xenocentrism- this refers to the idea

that what is foreign is best and that
ones lifestyle, products or ideas are
inferior to those of others. We call this
case reverse ethnocentrism.