Chapter-04

Chapter Name: ​Society & Culture

Definition of Culture
Taylor said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law,
morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."

Hofstede ​(1980, pp. 21-23) defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one group from another”, culture is a set of shared and enduring
meaning, values, and beliefs that characterize national, ethnic, or other groups and orient their
behaviour.

Types of Culture
​Two types of culture are:

(1) High Culture.

(2) Low Culture.

1. High Culture: High Culture generally pursued by the upper class-refers to classical
music, theater, fine arts and other sophisticated pursuits. Members of the upper class can
pursue high art because they have cultural capital, which means the professional
credentials, education, knowledge and verbal and social skills necessary to attain the
“property, power and prestige” to “get ahead” socially.

2. Low Culture: ​Low culture or popular culture- generally pursued by the working and
middle classes refers to sports, movies, television serial and soaps and rock music.
Remember that sociologists define culture differently than they do cultured, high culture,
low culture and popular culture.
 Definition of Society
Sociologists define society as the people who interact in such a way as to share a common
culture. The cultural bond may be ethnic or racial, based on gender or due to shared beliefs,
values and activities. The term society can also have a geographic meaning and refer to people
who share a common culture in a particular location. A society is a large social grouping that shares
the same geographical territory, shares a common culture and social structure is expected to abide by the
same laws. Two primary components of a society are its ​culture​ and its ​social structure​.

CW-1: “Culture and society are interrelated”- explain the statement.

Answer: ​Culture and society are intricately related. A culture consists of the “objects” of a
society, whereas a society consists of the people who share a common culture. When the
terms ​culture​ and ​society​ first acquired their current meanings, most people in the world worked
and lived in small groups in the same locale. And we know two primary components of a society
are its culture and its social structure. ​Hofstede ​(1980, pp. 21-23) defines culture as “the
collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from
another”, culture is a set of shared and enduring meaning, values, and beliefs that characterize
national, ethnic, or other groups and orient their behaviour. ​A ​society​ is a​ ​group​ of individuals
involved in persistent ​social interaction​, or a large ​social group​ sharing the same spatial or social
territory, typically subject to the same ​political​ authority and dominant cultural expectations.
Without a society it is not possible to form a culture. That’s why both of them are interrelated.

Layers of Culture
There are three layers of culture. All of which are as follows:

1. First Layer: ​Most obviously is the body of cultural traditions that distinguish your
specific society. When people speak of Italian, Samoan, or Japanese culture, they are
referring to the shared language, traditions, and beliefs that set each of these peoples apart
from others. In most cases, those who share your culture do so because they acquired it as
they were raised by parents and other family members who have it.
2. Second Layer: ​The second layer of culture that may be part of your identity is a
subculture. In complex, diverse societies in which people have come from many different
parts of the world, they often retain much of their original cultural traditions. As a result,
they are likely to be part of an identifiable subculture in their new society. The shared
cultural traits of subcultures set them apart from the rest of their society.

3. Third Layer: ​The third layer of culture consists of cultural universals. These are learned
behavior patterns that are shared by all of humanity collectively. No matter where people
live in the world, they share these universal traits. Examples of such "human cultural"
traits include: using age and gender to classify people (e.g., teenager, senior citizen,
woman, man), classifying people based on marriage and descent relationships and having
kinship terms to refer to them (e.g., wife, mother, uncle, cousin), having a concept of
privacy.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF CULTURE AROUND THE WORLD

(eta net theke pore nibo-hw)

Characteristics of Culture
(​etao hw thakbe​)

THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

1. Language: Language is a set of symbols used to assign and communicate meaning. It

enables us to name or label the things in our world so we can think and communicate
about them.
2. Social Collectives​: Social collectives such as groups, organizations, communities,
institutions, classes, and societies are also collectively produced symbolic social
constructions. Social collectives are symbolic entities. They are defined into existence
when people define themselves as a group or are defined as a group by others. They can
and do become reified over time, such that they are seen and treated as real objective
entities.
3. Social Organization: Social organization creates social structure by organizing its
members into small units to meet basic needs.
4. Family Patterns: Family is the most important unit of social organization. Through the
family children learn how they are expected to act and what to believe.
 ​• ​Nuclear family​: Wife, husband, children.
● Extended family​: Several generations living in one household, working and living
together: grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins. Respect for elders is strong. Social
classes: rank people in order of status, depending on what is important to the culture
(money, job, education, ancestry, etc.
5. Customs & Traditions: ​Rules of Behavior are enforced ideas of right and wrong. They
can be customs, traditions, rules, or written laws.
6. Religion: • Answers basic questions about the meaning of life. • Supports values that
groups of people feel are important. • Religion is often a source of conflict between
cultures.
7. Arts & Literature​: ​• They are the products of the human imagination. • They help us
pass on the culture’s basic beliefs. • Examples: art, music, literature, and folk tales.
8. Forms of Government: ​People form governments to provide for their common needs,
keep order within society, and protect their society from outside threats.

Characteristics of Society

1. Society consists of people: Society is composed of people. Without people there

can be no society, no social relationships, and no social life at all.
2. Mutual Interaction and Mutual awareness​: Society is a group of people in
continuous interaction with each other. It refers to the reciprocal contact between
two or more persons.
3. Society depends on likeness: The principle of likeness is essential for society. It
exists among those who resemble one another in some degree, in body and in
mind. Likeness refers to the similarities. People have similarities with regards to
their needs, works, aims ideas, values, outlook towards life and so on.
4. Co-operation and division of labor: Primarily likeness and secondarily
difference create the division of labor. Division of labor involves the assignment
to each unit or group a specific share of a common task.
5. Society is dynamic: