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Course Concepts

Persons: Every person is a unique individual, but each develops

in a social setting in which they are influenced by, and interact
with, other persons. The process of communication is one of these
fundamental interactions.
Society: society is made up of people, groups, networks,
institutions, organisations and systems. These aspects of society
may include local, national and international patterns of
relationships. People belong to informal and formal groups, and
within and between these groups there are patterns of
interactions.
Culture: refers to the knowledge, ways of thinking, feeling and
behaving that give each society its coherence and its distinctive
way of life. Culture is demonstrated by the beliefs, customs,
values, laws, arts, technology and artifacts people generate and
use as they interpret meaning from their world and solve present
and future problems.Culture is the beliefs, behaviour, language,
customs, ceremonies and the entire way of life of a particular time,
group or sub culture of people.Culture is the sum total of ways of
living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from
generation to generation. The ever changing patterns of learned
behaviour and the products of this behaviour (attitudes, values,
knowledge and material objects), which are shared by members of
a society, IS CULTURE.
Culture is a dynamic, creative and continuous process, which
includes behaviours, values and information learned and shared by
people that guides them in their struggle for survival and
development and gives meaning to their lives.Culture is the way of
life which the ruling people want people to conform to. Culture
regulates our lives. Learning ones culture enables humans to

survive.
Environment: Every society is located in a particular physical
setting. The attitudes and values people have in regard to their
environment greatly affect interactions between the person,
society, culture and environment. Environments present societies
with both opportunities and restraints. As well as the physical
environment, the social environment (People and the way they
organise themselves) is also influential. Social environments
provide attitudes, values, beliefs and mores. Thus environment
can be studied as the physical and the psychological.
Time: Every person, society and environment is located in time
and is changing through time. Our perceptions of time as past,
present and future are also important for social enquiry and
action. These perceptions draw on past events that influence our
present. They need not, however, determine our future. We can
perceive a range of possible futures that can assist our decisionmaking. The basis to the Society and Culture course is the
knowledge gained of societies through time. We therefore refer to
this study as continuity and change. All cultures and societies
experience continuity and change to their structure. Specifically,
continuity refers to the persistence of cultural elements such as
family and work in society. Whereas change, refers to the
alterations or modifications in the patterns of culture, social
structure and behaviour within society over a period of time.
Gender: is a term to describe the socially constructed differences
between men and women, referring not only to individual identity
and personality, but also at the symbolic level, to cultural ideals
and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity and, at the
structural level, to the sexual division of labour in institutions and
organisations. Gender simply refers to values society places on
being male or female. It doesnt refer to facts.
Technology: is a branch of knowledge that deals with science and
engineering, or its practice, as applied to industry. Technology
refers to the tools used for producing materials for society and is a
term used frequently today. Technology has been developed by
man for mans use and has been at the catalyst for change in
society.
Power: the capacity to influence others to a point of view or
action to which they would not normally accede. Power cannot be
exercised in isolation. Power involves the ability to persuade or
influence people. In the micro world and macro world power can
be accessed and used by individuals.
Authority: a concept frequently linked to power, involving the
right to determine, adjudicate or otherwise settle issues and
disputes in society. Authority is really the legitimate exercise of

power. In the micro world, your parents often make decision for
you. School also exercise a degree of authority that is accepted by
students. In the macro world, politicians also exercise authority
through the election process.

Activity 1
Find three articles on human behaviour and write
a short analysis on the interactions of two or more
course concepts.