The Cultural Context

CONTENTS
Introduction to Culture Types of Culture:
a. Non Material b. Material

Difference b/w Society & Culture Social & Cultural Development:

a) Biological Factors b) Geographic Factors

Non Human Social Organisation ( Basic differences) Culture as a system of Norms

(Key Components of culture)

Real & Ideal Culture Ethnocentrism & Xenocentrism

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Society and Individual

Members of a society are generally

unaware that they are following belief and

custom in their behavior. They seldom wonder why they believe and act as they do. Only by stepping outside one's own body of belief and custom can one become aware of its actual nature.
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Definition of Culture
From their life experiences people develop a set

of rules and procedures for meeting their needs.

The set of rules and procedures, together with a supporting set of ideas and values, is called a culture.

"Culture ... is that complex whole

which includes knowledge, belief,

art, morals, law, custom and any

other

capabilities

and

habits

acquired by man as a member of

society."
Edward Tylor (1871)
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Culture is everything which is socially learned

and shared by the members of a society. The individual receives culture as part of a social heritage and, in turn, may reshape the culture and introduce changes which then

become part of the heritage of succeeding

generations. Kinds of Culture 1. Material culture 2. Nonmaterial culture
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Material & Non Material Culture

NONMATERIAL CULTURE consists of the words people use, the ideas,

customs, and beliefs they hold, and the habits they follow.
MATERIAL CULTURE

consists of manufactured objects such as tools, furniture, automobiles, buildings, irrigation ditches, cultivated farms, roads, bridges, and, in fact any physical substance which has been changed and used by people. Such manufactured objects are called artifacts.

 The material culture is always the outgrowth of the nonmaterial culture and is meaningless

without it.
The nonmaterial culture would include the rules of the game, the skills of the players,

the concepts of strategy, and the traditional

behavior of players and spectators. If the game of Cricket is forgotten, a bat becomes just a stick of wood.
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CULTURE & SOCIETY

 Culture is often confused with society, but the two words have different meanings.

Whereas a culture is a system of norms and values, a society is a relatively independent, self-perpetuating human group which occupies a territory, shares a culture, and has most of its associations within 10 this group.

A society is an organization of people whose associations are with one another. A culture is an organized system of norms and values which people hold.
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SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Biological Factors
Geographic Factors
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1. Biological Factors
The recent growth of a discipline known as
sociobiology has drawn renewed attention to biological factors in human behavior. Socio-biology is defined by E. Wilson, 1975 as

"the systematic study of the biological basis of human behavior."

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 The interaction of biology and culture influence human behavior, starting with the development of human society. Cultural accumulation at first was very slow.
People lived in the open or in caves, they used simple stone tools to skin animals and cut off chunks of meat,

for digging edible roots, they probably used pointed sticks.

There is some evidence that fire was used, during this period humans became skilled hunters, but there is considerable argument as to whether these early hominids were humans at all.
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 SOCIAL EVOLUTION
Biological evolution was one of the exciting ideas of the 19th century. While many contribution were

made to evolutionary theory.

CHARLES DARWIN after traveling the world and

classifying tens of thousands of present life forms and fossil traces of earlier life forms, he developed, in his Origin of Species (1859), the theory that the human race had gradually evolved from lower orders of life. This came about through the survival of those biological forms best fitted to survive.
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 AUGUSTE COMTE in his Positive Philosophy (1851-1854) wrote of three stages through which he believed human thought inevitably moved: the theological, the metaphysical (or philosophical), and finally the positive (or scientific). HERBERT SPENCER, of the nineteenth century, was enamored of "social Darwinism." He saw social evolution as a set of stages through which all societies moved from the simple to the complex. The progress of society unfolding in a way that would gradually end misery and increase human happiness.
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2. Geographic Factors
Climate and geography are undoubtedly very important factors in cultural development.
Extremes of climate or topography are serious obstacles to many kinds of cultural development.
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 Great civilizations do not flourish in the frozen, Arctic, the

torrid desert, the lofty mountain range or the tangled forest. People can live in these areas and may develop ingenious means of coping with natural forces, but such areas have not produced great cities or highly developed civilizations. On the other hand, the earliest great civilizations known to the world developed in the lowlands of great river basins. Only such areas. met the requirements for an early

civilization:
(1) Fertile land which could support a dense population, with of the people Free to engage in nonagricultural work, and
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part

(2) Easy transportation to link together a large area.

Non-human Social Organization

Non Human have orderly system of Social life. Many bird species mate for a lifetime and (in
contrast to humans) are absolutely loyal to their mates.

Many species of insects, such as ants and bees,

have an elaborate
1.pattern of social life,

2. complete with specialized occupations, 3. lines of authority, and detailed distribution of Duties and privileges.
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Difference b/w Human life & Non- human Life Human Life
Social Life is infinitely continuously changing. variable

Non- human Life

and Social life tends to be uniform and unchanging.

Lacking in (instincts).

inborn

patterns

of

behavior In non-human species have a degree to which the life of other animals is based on instinct rather than learning.

Inherit a set of organic needs, urges and hunger No concept of trial & error (derives) must be satisfied in someway to other. In their trail and error efforts to satisfy their urges, humans create culture. Unable to rely upon instinct, human beings No concept of culture must build culture in order to survive. Culture is a type of substitute for instinct since it gives humans direction and frees them from perpetual trial and error.

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Culture as a system of Norms (Key Components of culture)

Norms

Values

Symbols & Language

The term "norm" has two possible meanings.

A statistical norm is a measure of what actually exists , actual conduct with no suggestion of approval or disapproval. (Real Culture) A cultural norm is a concept of what is expected to exist or a set of behavior expectations. . (Ideal Culture) A culture is an elaborate system of such norms of standardized, expected ways of feeling and acting which the members of n society generally acknowledge and generally follow.
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Kinds of Norms
i) Folkways: Folkways are simply the customary, normal, habitual
ways a group does things. Shaking hands, eating with knives and
forks, wearing neckties on some occasions and sport shirts on others, driving on the right-hand side of the street, and eating toast for breakfast are a few of folkways.

ii) Mores : By mores we mean those strong ideas of right and

wrong which require certain acts and forbid others. (Mores is*'the
plural of the Latin word mos, but the singular form rarely appears in sociological literature.)

iii) Laws; Many people will obey mores automatically or because

they want to do the "right" thing. A few people, however, are tempted to violate mores. These people may be forced to conform by the threat of legal punishment. Thus, the law serves to reinforce the mores. 22

ETHNOCENTRISM & XENOCENTRISM

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ETHNOCENTRISM

That view of things in which one's own group is the center of everything and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it".
Sumner, William Graham: Folkways

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 Ethnocentrism is the habit of each group taking for granted the superiority of its culture. For Example Our society is "progressive," while the non-Western world 'is "backward". Our art is beautiful, whereas that of other societies may be viewed as Ugly.
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Ethnocentrism a yardstick
Ethnocentrism makes our culture into a yardstick with which
to measure all other cultures as good or bad, high or low, right or queer in proportion as they resemble ours.

It is expressed in such phrases as "chosen people,"

"progressive," "superior race," "true believers," and by epithets (Nickname) like "foreign devils," "infidels," "heathen," "backward peoples," "barbarians," and "savages."
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Promotion of group unity, loyalty, and. Morale.

Ethnocentric groups seem to survive better than tolerant groups. Ethnocentrism martyrdom. justifies sacrifice and sanctifies

The attitude, "I prefer my customs, although I recognize that, basically, they may be no better than yours," is not the sort of faith for which dedicated believers will march singing to their deaths.
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 Ethnocentrism patriotism. Without

reinforces a

nationalism dynamic

and

ethnocentrism,

national

consciousness is probably impossible. Nationalism is but another level of group loyalty. Periods of national tension and conflict are always accompanied by intensified ethnocentric propaganda. Perhaps such a campaign is a necessary emotional preparation for the expected sacrifices.
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PROTECTION AGAINST CHANGE

If our culture is already superior, then why tinker (Cheat) with alien innovations? Ethnocentrism has been used to discourage the acceptance of alien elements into the culture. Such efforts to prevent culture change are never entirely successful.

Yet if people share a serene, unquestioning faith in the goodness of their culturea conviction so completely accepted that no proof is necessarythen change is delayed. In discouraging culture change, ethnocentrism is undiscriminating. It discourages both the changes which would disrupt the culture and the changes which would help it attain its goals.
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 Since no culture is completely static, every culture must change if it is to survive. In an age of atom bombs and pushbutton warfare, when the nations must probably either get together or die together, ethnocentrism helps to keep them tied to concepts of national sovereignty. Under some circumstances, then, ethnocentrism promotes cultural stability and group survival; under other circumstances, ethnocentrism dooms the culture to collapse and the group to extinction.
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XENOCENTRISM
a preference for the

foreign other than own.

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 It is the belief that our own products,

styles, or ideas are necessarily inferior to those which originate elsewhere.

It is the conviction that the foreign has a

special charm which one familiar can never achieve. It is based on the glamour of the strange and faraway and the prestige of distant

centers, supposedly removed from the

sordid limitations of one's own
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community.

 It is the belief that our own products, styles, or ideas are necessarily inferior to those which originate elsewhere. It is the conviction that the foreign has a special charm which one familiar can never achieve. It is based on the glamour of the strange and faraway and the prestige of distant centers, supposedly removed from the sordid limitations of one's own community.
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 There are many occasions when people seem happy to pay more for imported goods on the assumption that anything from abroad is better.
Are French fashions, Japanese electronic ware really superior? Or are people inclined to assume they are superior because of the attract of the foreign label?

What applies to material products is also true of ideas and life-styles.

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Rejection of Ethnocentrism
Those who leave their country to live

abroad are not the only ones who reject

ethnocentrism. In every society a few persons reject their

group or some part of its culture. There

are anti-Semitic Jews, blacks who reject black identity, aristocrats who lead revolutions, priests who abandon their faith, and so on.
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KEY WORDS
Culture is everything which is socially learned and shared by a human society.

Material culture is made up of artifacts people make.

Nonmaterial culture comprises the behavior patterns, norms, values, and social relationships of a human group. A society is a relatively independent, self-perpetuating human group which occupies a particular territory and has most associations within this group. Culture accumulated slowly in prehistoric times; rapidly in recent centuries. Sociobiology studies the biological factor in human behavior and social development.
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 Evolutionary theories of social development were once popular and are enjoying a revival today. Animal societies are base, largely upon instinct; human societies largely upon culture. Folkways are the customs of a society. Mores are the ideas of right and wrong which become attached to some kinds of behavior. Mores may become sanctified by religion and strengthened by being made into laws. Values are ideas about whether experiences are important or unimportant. Institutions are major clusters of folkways and mores which center on an important human need. A trait is the simplest unit of culture; related traits are grouped into culture complexes.
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 A subculture is the behavior and value system of a group which is a part of the society, but which has certain unique cultural 'patterns. A counterculture is a subculture which is not merely different from but sharply opposed to the dominant values of the society. A culture is an integrated system of behavior with its supporting ideas and values. In a highly integrated culture all elements fit harmoniously together. Cultural relativism describes the fact that the function and meaning of a culture trait depend upon the culture in which it operates. Traits are judged "good" or "bad" according to whether they work efficiently within their own culture.
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 Every society has an ideal culture, including the patterns which are supposed to be practiced, and a real culture, including illicit behavior which is formally condemned but widely practiced. Gashes between the two are evaded by rationalization. In some cases,
All societies and groups assume the superiority of their own culture; this reaction is called ethnocentrism. The ideas and customs about which people are ethnocentric vary from society to society, but all known societies, and all groups within a society, display ethnocentrism. Culture both aids and hinders human adjustment. It enables people to survive in an inhospitable physical environment, although in many respects it sustains habits which are physically injurious. We could not live without culture; sometimes it is not easy to live with it.

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