1
Characteristics and Definitions
of Culture.
Definitions of culture:
Culture may be defined as the
way of life of a people learned
through the process of
socialization into the norms and
values of a society.
Furthermore, our family has a
profound impact on culture
defined in this manner, also,
the aforementioned social
institution is the primary agent
of socialisation. Moreover, this
definition of culture is perhaps
the most popular and will
encompass concerns such as the
ways of worshipping,
celebrating, dressing, earning a
living, interacting with other
social groups and so on. For
example, in Jamaica’s society
there are a plethora of
religions worshipped by the
populace, as well as
denominations, as such there are
numerous ways of worshiping such
as in various types of Churches
- for example seventh day
Adventist, Methodist, Roman
Catholic are all examples of
Christian-based churches found
in Jamaica-, Synagogues and
Mandirs. This is due to the
melting pot of cultures that
exist in Jamaica. Conclusively,
this definition of culture is
rather wide-ranging and
equivocal and reduces it to a
set of patterns, which is
inadequate for a deeper
understanding of culture.
Module two Caribbean Studies – Caribbean Society and Culture
Topic – Characteristics of society and culture
Culture may also be delimited as
the non-material and material
products of a society. Material
culture refers to the tangible
aspects of the way of life of a
people, such as the food,
dances, music, clothing. For
instance, in Jamaica’s society a
common food preparation
technique is the process of
Jerking meats, such as chicken
and fish. Non-material culture,
on the other hand, refers to the
intangible aspects of the way of
life, such as norms, symbols and
languages. For instance, a non –
material culture product of
Jamaica would be “Patois”, a
creole-based language.
Culture may also be defined in
terms of other concepts such as
popular culture, youth culture,
cyberculture and elite culture
versus subculture. Popular
culture is the way of life of
the masses as it appeals to a
broad section of the populace,
for example, the Trinbagonian
‘Carnival’ culture. The
aforementioned culture is
popularized through the mass
media. Youth culture refers to
the way of life among the Youth
of a populace, for example the
Dancehall music culture.
Cyberculture refers to the way
of life of people influence by
the used of the cyberspace or
the internet for entertainment
and communication, for example,
social media platforms. Elite
culture refers to the way of
life of the social elites and is
an ethnocentric concept, for
example classical ballets,
western music, sophisticated
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paintings and sculptures, whilst

subculture is the way of life of
a subsection of a larger
populace.

Characteristics of culture:
-Learned behavior common to all
human beings
-Customs and traditions
-Norms and values that provide a
guide to behaviour
-Institutions which prescribe
behaviour;
-Gendered practice – for example
child rearing

Module two Caribbean Studies – Caribbean Society and Culture

Topic – Characteristics of society and culture