Transcript culture - anuppstu

CULTURE
 Definition
 Culture is the total ways and efforts of life. It differs
from place to place and man to man. (Example: Family
composition in different countries, wine in Bangladesh
and America).
 Culture has been defined in different ways by
anthropologists, sociologists and other social scientists.
Following are some of the definitions.
 1.
Culture is that complex whole which includes
knowledge; belief, moral, attitude, law, custom and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as
a member of society.- E.B. Tylor
 2.
 3.
Mac Iver told “Culture is what we are or have”.
Cooley, Angel & Carr “Culture is the sum total of
transmittable result of living together.
 4.
Jones” Culture is the sum of man’s creation”.
 5.
Roberty says, “Culture is that body of thought
and knowledge ( including both theoretical and
practical), which only man can possess.
 6.
Malanowski defined culture as the handiwork of
man and the medium through which he achieves his
end.
Characteristics of Culture
 1.
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Culture is Learnt
2. Culture is Social
3. Culture is Shared
4. Culture is Transmissive
5. Culture is Continuous and Cumulative
6. Culture is Consistence and Integrated
7. Culture is Dynamic and Adaptive
8. Culture is Gratifying
9. Culture varies from Society to Society
10. Culture is superorganic and ideational
Classification of Culture
 Culture is of two types:
1. Material Culture
: It includes /man-made
objects such as chair, table, machine, dress, furniture,
utensils, computer, TV etc.
2. Non material culture :
Non
material
culture
is
something inward and reflects inward nature of man.
Language, belief, values, habits, rites and rituals and the
ceremony they observe.
Differences between MC and NMC
 1. Material Culture is (MC) directly related in our life.
Non Material Culture (NMC) only can influence our life.
eg. Social art, literature and music
 2. MC is visible and transferable. NMC is not visible. It
is inward state of human mind.
 3. Economics development is directly related with MC.
Economic development is not directly related with NMC.
 4. Change of MC can be seen externally but
change of NMC occurs mentally.
 5. Ogburn says that MC changes fast. and NMC
cannot change so fast.
 6. MC is the result of NMC (Thought and sprit).
NMC is the source of MC.
Differences between Culture and Civilization
 Gigsbert says that civilization is supposed to be
a stage of culture reached by a more evolved and
complex society in which those large aggregations
of peoples, called cities, come into existence. The
Differences between Culture and Civilization are
as follows:
 1.
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MacIver says culture is what we are and
civilization is what we use.
2. Culture is the corporate personality and
civilization is the achievement of that personality.
3. Culture is not universal and civilization is
universal.
4. Culture is not perishable but civilization is
perishable. eg. Babilion people.
5. Culture is the inward state of man. Civilization is
the outward bahaviour.
 6.
Culture develops in rural area and civilization
develops in urban area.
 7. Culture cannot be measured but civilization can
be measured.eg. Motor is faster than Horse,
Aeroplane is faster than Motor. These can be
measured because it is the result of science and
technology. But drama, literature and art cannot be
measured so easily.
 8. Cultural value, religious philosophy, political
philosophy is not easily accepted and adopted by
others. But the result of civilization can be accepted
easily by others.
 9.
Cultural works cannot be done by others for one. In
case of civilization one can do in favour of other. eg. One
can build a building for another. But one cannot sing a
song in favour of others.
 10. MacIver and Page say civilization is always
advancing but not culture. They again say that
civilization is passed on without effort, but not culture.
They further say that civilization is borrowed without
change or loss but not culture. Culture shows the way
sitting idle with the steering of a running vessel (ship)
called civilization.
 11. Culture is static and civilization is dynamic.
 12. Culture is stock concept and civilization is flow
concept.
Elements of Culture
 There are some elements of culture. Element means a
part of a longer whole. Following are the elements of
culture:
 1. Trait
2. Complex
3. Pattern
 4. Theme
5. Configuration
6. Ethos
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Traits
: Traits are the smallest unit of
culture and we cannot divide it. Non material
traits are attitude, sentiment, belief etc. and
material traits are chair, table, ball etc. Trait
has also some parts a) form b) use
d) function
c) meaning
and
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Complex : Complex is a combination of
related traits. Ball, bat and gloves are parts a
sports complex. Kiss, handshake and sharing
verbal intimacies are parts of love complex.
Books, papers, lectures and classroom are
part of education complex.
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Pattern
: A pattern is a group of culture
complexes formed in the same way of culture complex.
For example, culture pattern of rural Muslim is
different from pattern of urban Muslim society.
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Theme
: Every culture has its own theme.
Muslim culture has a different theme than Hindu
culture.
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Configuration: We can see and understand the whole
society by the cultural configuration. All the activities
and elements of the culture of society are kept under
consideration while assessing a culture.
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Ethos : Ethos is the judgment or flavour of society. We
can understand and compare which is upper class
society and which is lower class by the ethos.
These are also known as organizational structure of culture.
There are some other important elements of culture.
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1. Symbol
: The existence of culture is dependent on
peoples’ ability to create and understand symbol. A
symbol is something used to represent else. Words,
number, flags, crosses and kisses are symbols. During
2nd world war, raising the middle and index finger of
one hand was the symbol ‘V’ for victory. During 1960s
the same gesture came to symbolize ‘peace’.
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Stop sign means halt, Cross is a symbol of
Christianity etc.
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2. Language
: The most important set symbol
is language. Language, among human, refers to the
systematized usage of speech and hearing to convey
or express felling and ideas. Our ideas, values,
belief and knowledge are transmitted through
language.
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(Example: Experiment with same aged infant
and Chimpanzee by psychologists 19 1951)
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3. Values
: Values are the ideas of people to
judge about what is desirable, beautiful, correct and
good as well as what is undesirable, ugly, incorrect
and bad. Values may also be defined as the
measures of goodness or desirability.
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Most values are learnt early in life from
family, friends, mass media and other sources of
society. These become part of our personality.
4. Social Norms: All societies have acceptable and unacceptable
forms of behaviour, which are called Norms. In other words norms
are social expectation for behaviour. They are
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a. Prescriptive (they tell people what they should do) and
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b. Prospective (they tell people what they should not do)
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For example Honesty is a general value. The expectation that
the students should not cheat on quiz test is a norm. Norms
are of two types: a. Folkways b.
Mores. These two
are
differentiated not by their content but by the degree of
importance.
 a. Folkways
:
Folkways
are
customs
or
conventions. Folkways are expected form of behaviour
but are not rigidly enforced in society. Violations of
folkways bring criticism or mild censure but not
punishment. Example: Giving Salam to elders, eating by
right hand are folkways.
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b. Mores
: Mores are the pattern of behaviour
considered essential by the society. They are rigidly
enforced. Violation of norms may bring severe penalty
from society. The punishment may involve expulsion
from society, imprisonment or even death. Example: A
doctor must treat an old patient of terminal illness. He
should not end his life because of cultural mores.
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There is another element of culture called Taboos.
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Taboos
: Certain acts, which are to be
avoided at all costs, are called taboos. To
love and care for one’s children or sister is
mores but incest them or neglect them are
taboo, which is more or less universal.