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Acquiring culture summary
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Aquiring culture:What is culture?
Culture is the way of life of a group of people. Our culture is a social construct.
This means something which is created and given a special meaning by people.
What are aspects of your culture?
Consider how you and your family live your lives. What customs, traditions, beliefs and
values do you have?
Is sport part of your culture? Socialising with friends? Music? Art? Food? Reading? Outdoor
activities? Religion? Politics? Animals / pets? Holidays / travel? Education? Dancing? TV?
Languages? Volunteering? Museums? Talking?
Key meanings
Culture - The way of life of a particular society or group
Norms - The expected behaviours for a culture
Values - Basic rules shared by most people in a culture (links to non-material culture)
Roles - Expected behaviours for positions in society such as ‘mother’ or ‘police officer’.
Beliefs - Values and morals about society and how to act
Status - A person’s role or position in society
Social construction - something which is created and given a special meaning by people.
Material culture - Physical things that people attach meaning to e.g. clothing, houses, cars,
football shirts, food etc
Non-material culture - Shared ideas such as rules, traditions, languages and history. Gives
guidelines on how to behave.
Collectivist culture - Cultures which emphasise belonging to a group rather than personal
freedom e.g. China, Japan
Individualistic culture - Cultures which emphasise individual freedom and personal gain
sometimes at the expense of others e.g UK, USA
Formal control - institutions in society which force people to behave appropriately
Informal control - Internalising moral codes through upbringing, positive role models etc
Nature vs Nurture
Some biologists argue that our behaviour is shaped by our natural instincts.
That is an innate, pre-programmed, fixed pattern of behaviour. This behaviour doesn’t have
to be learnt; it can often be a natural response to the environment (e.g. blackbirds and song
patterns).
Some biologists claim that humans also have natural instincts - to reproduce,
self-preservation and women have a natural instinct for childbearing and rearing.
Sociologists, however, argue that our behaviour is not completely governed by instincts.
On the whole our behaviour is not fixed biologically.
Three types of socialisation:
Primary Socialisation
The process of learning how to behave. Norms and values are learned from the immediate
family / parents A child adopts the beliefs and values of the family and learns the
expectations that the parents have of the child.
Secondary Socialisation
Learning what wider society expects of its members.
, This is acquired through agencies of socialisation e.g. friendship groups, education, the
media and religious organisations.
Tertiary Socialisation
This is adult socialisation and helps us to adapt to new situations e.g. changing jobs,
parenthood, disability or retirement (rarely used)
Cultural diversity and subcultures
The Shirbit Culture
The Shirbit culture believes that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to
feebleness and disease. The Shirbit therefore indulge in and ceremonies designed to avoid
this, and consequently every household has a shrine devoted to the body. The rituals
associated with the shrine are private and secret. Adults never discuss the rituals and
children are told only enough for them to be successfully initiated The focal point of the
shrine is a box built into a wall in which are kept charms and magical potions for the face and
body. These are obtained from the medicine men who write down the ingredients in an
ancient and secret language which is only understood by the herbalist who prepare the
potion. These potions are kept in the charm-box for many years. Beneath the charm box is a
small font. Every day, twice a day, every member of the family enters the shrine room in
succession and bows his or her head before the charm box, mingles different sorts of holy
water in the font and proceeds with a brief rite of ablution.
The Shirbit have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the
condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships.
Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe their teeth would fall out, their friends
would desert them and their lovers would reject them. Finally, men and women indulge in
barbaric acts of self-mutilation. Men engage in a daily body ritual of scraping and lacerating
their faces with a sharp instrument, whilst women bake their heads in a small oven once a
month.
Cultural Diversity
• It is important to try to look at other cultures (and our own) in an objective way.
• Conflict theorists might make a judgement about who has power in society but they would
try to support this with evidence. They may also offer a judgement about how society could
change to reduce possible inequalities.
Factors which might impact on cultural diversity:
– Time
– Globalisation
– Immigration
– Media
– Secularisation
A subculture is a group whose attitudes and values differ from those of the mainstream
culture.
Socialisation
How do we learn to be social?
Formal socialisation - Processes where people are deliberately manipulated to learn to
follow certain rules e.g. in schools
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