Defining culture

Culture refers to the way of life of a society or social group which generally
involves the learning and sharing of particular values, norms, beliefs, customs,
language, history and knowledge.

Values are beliefs and goals relating to what members of a society or culture feel
are morally important and desirable. They act as general guidelines for behaviour.
The principal values of UK culture include respect for human life, free speech,
achievement, equality of opportunity, materialism, individualism, fairness, justice,
respect for privacy and so on.

Norms are the cultural expectations or social rules that societies attach to
particular types of behaviour. They often reflect key values. Norms affect all
aspects of public and private behaviour including diet, dress, romance, marriage,
bringing up children, consumerism and so on. For example, in the UK, what, when
and how we eat and drink, the ways in which males and females dress, how we
express love, how we marry, how we treat our children, what we buy and so on are
all shaped by dominant norms (and in turn by dominant values).

It is also important to understand that both values and norms – and therefore,
culture - are relative concepts. This means that they are subject to change over time,
and that they may differ between cultures For example, only 50 years ago,
homosexuality was a criminal offence in the UK. In many cultures around the
world, it is regarded as both deviant and criminal.

Customs are norms that have been established in a society for generations and are
usually part of the historical traditions of a society that mark it out as culturally
unique and distinctive, e.g. in the UK Bonfire Night is celebrated on November 5 th
whilst in Wales, St. David’s Day is celebrated as a national festival on the 1 st of
March each year.

Social roles are sets of norms or social rules which tell members of society what
should be the culturally expected behaviour of particular individuals. For example,
the role of mother in the contemporary UK involves expectations about how ‘good’
mothers should behave, and is consequently used to socially judge individuals who
may or may not live up to these expectations.
Status refers to the prestige or social standing attached to a particular role because
members of society or a social group highly value the behaviour associated with
that role. For example, doctors have status in the UK because they are held in high
regard by because their behaviour is directly concerned with saving lives. British
culture values human life. For example, this is one reason why the death penalty
was abolished in the UK in the 1960s.

There are two different types of status; ascribed and achieved;

Ascribed status refers to those roles that are fixed at birth by descent or inheritance,
or by physical characteristics such as skin colour or gender. In some societies, the
norms relating to the work people do, relationships, marriage, political and
economic power etc. are restricted and unchangeable because status is ascribed. For
example, the Queen occupies an ascribed status because she inherited the position.

Achieved status refers to those roles which are achieved through education,
qualifications, hard work, skill, and talent. In western societies such as the UK, roles
and status tend to be achieved because members of such societies value equality of
opportunity and merit. Lord Sugar is a good example of someone who has achieved
his status considering his early beginnings as a market trader. Note too that the roles
of husband and wife are also achieved via marriage.

Types of culture

Subcultures

Subcultures are minority social groups that generally subscribe to the values and
norms of mainstream culture but which also share values, practices, interests and
problems that are unique to them.

Ethnic minorities living in the UK are subcultures because whilst they generally
subscribe to the values and norms that most people in the UK do, they may also
subscribe to a daily religious and/or cultural lifestyle that reflects and celebrates
their origins. However, subcultures are not restricted to ethnic minority or religious
groups. Subcultures may also originate in age differences. For example, territorial
violent gangs found in inner city areas and ‘spectacular’ youth cultures such as
teddy boys, mods, skinheads, hippies, punks, goths and hipsters can be seen to
constitute distinct subcultures.
Spectacular youth subcultures tend to be composed of young people who are
marginalised or disaffected by society in some way or who simply want to rebel or
be different in some way. They often develop a visible and strong sense of group
identity which may be expressed in the form of everyday lifestyle, dress codes,
taste in music, shocking or deviant behaviour and so on.

Subcultures may also be based on political or alternative ideas. For example,

anarchists, squatters, new age travellers, those who live on communes and so on
are subcultures because they tend to be anti-authority or are in conflict with some
aspect of mainstream culture (although that does not necessarily mean that they
totally reject mainstream culture).

Finally, some sociologists suggest that the very different lifestyles experienced by the
working-class, the middle-classes and the upper-class indicate the existence of
class subcultures. For example, in some parts of the North of England, following
rugby league is very much a working-class pursuit whereas following rugby union
tends to be a middle-class pastime.

High culture

High culture refers to the particular products and practices of a culture which are
seen as intellectually and aesthetically superior because they supposedly represent
the highest levels of human creativity. Such products include classical music and
theatre, opera, literature, and art whilst high cultural practices might include
enjoying ballet or reading poetry. It can also be applied to sporting activities – for
example, polo, lacrosse, hunting, shooting and so on.

Marxist sociologists are very critical of high culture. For example, Bourdieu argued
that high culture occupies the ‘superior’ position that it does because the capitalist
class can use its economic and political power to impose its definitions of moral
and artistic worth on the rest of society via the mass media and educational
system.

Popular culture
Popular culture (sometimes called mass culture) refers to those cultural products
and practices which do not aspire to higher intellectual or creative superiority and
which are enjoyed and/or appreciated by the majority of ordinary people. Popular
culture is often the product of the mass media and includes listening to pop music,
watching television especially soap-operas and reality TV, going to the cinema and
reading popular fiction, e.g. detective, horror, science fiction or romantic stories.
Finally, popular culture is often manufactured by capitalist enterprises for mass
consumption and profit.

There is a sociological debate about the worth or value of popular culture.

Supporters of high culture suggest that popular culture is inferior and often dismiss
it as low culture. This is probably because a good deal of popular culture is mass-
produced by global media companies for instant consumption by global audiences
in order to make profit rather than art. Critics therefore tend to write it off as
worthless because it allegedly has produced a dumbed-down entertainment and
celebrity-obsessed consumer culture which encourages people to value
materialism at the expense of critical and creative thinking.

Marxist sociologists are very critical of popular culture because they see it as a type
of social control. Marxist critics such as Marcuse suggest that popular culture is
used by the ruling class to encourage the population, especially the poor, to
passively and uncritically accept the status quo and therefore inequality. Popular
culture supposedly does this by celebrating celebrity and materialism. Marxists
argue that popular culture fails to encourage the poor to ask serious critical
questions about the way capitalist societies are organised. Inequalities in wealth
and opportunity are consequently rarely questioned or challenged.

Another perspective on popular culture is the postmodern approach which suggests

that it can no longer be classed as a mass culture.

Strinati argues that there exists a wide variety and therefore massive choice of
cultural products within popular culture. Many of these choices stimulate public
critical debate about issues that are rarely discussed. These debates sometimes lead
to important social change. For example, popular television soap operas such as
Eastenders and Hollyoakes have encouraged public discussion of social problems
whereas social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook may have made
people more aware of particular issues and increased the pressure on politicians to
deal with them.

Postmodernist writers also argue that the distinction between high and popular
forms of culture is no longer clear cut because technology such as the internet has
made all cultural products available to everyone. For example, people no longer
have to leave their homes to visit an art gallery – many art treasures can be seen on-
line. Moreover, postmodernists note that high culture and popular culture are
increasingly being mixed and matched, e.g. classic literature is often adapted into
popular television, classic art images often adorn t-shirts whilst television coverage
of the football World Cup was sound-tracked by classical music.

Global culture refers to how the domestic cultures of societies like the UK can no
longer exist in isolation from the rest of the world and are now influenced and
shaped by globalization- the process by which societies across the world are
increasingly connected and made inter-dependent by innovations in
telecommunication, computer and information technologies as well as trends such
as cheap air travel, mass tourism and migration. The world has become a smaller
and more immediate place as a result.

The internet, satellite television and social media platforms and networks such as
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, ensure that UK citizens are continually exposed to
and perhaps influenced by global events, trends and fashions. For example, many
of the consumer brands available in British high streets and shopping centres are
global in the sense that they are produced, advertised and sold by transnational or
global companies.

Some sociologists predict that British and other national cultures will gradually be
replaced by a global culture which will socialise world consumers into much the
same identity as far as consumer needs and wants are concerned. However, it is
argued by other sociologists that globalisation does not really exist in its purest
form because of most of these so-called global products are produced by the USA.

Consumer culture
Consumer culture is a relatively recent phenomenon which has been fueled by a
rise in living standards, greater consumer choice of goods and the growing
popularity of materialism. In consumer cultures, members of society increasingly
value the pursuit of shopping as a major leisure activity. Conspicuous
consumption is a common means of expressing identity in a consumer culture. This
means that some sections of society may express their identity and ‘good’ taste
through the acquisition and consumption of so-called high status goods, that is,
global designer-label brands such as Versace, Gucci or Ferrari.

There is evidence that consumer culture may be shaping values and norms. For
example, credit card debt is a social norm today whereas only thirty years ago,
being in any form of debt was seen by the majority as irresponsible.

Cultural diversity

Cultural diversity refers to cultural differences that exist in societies despite the
fact that there is consensus or agreement on fundamental values and norms and
that people still experience a common sense of belonging. For example, sexuality
is a common aspect of cultural diversity. Sixty years ago, in the UK, being openly
gay was a criminal offence and Britain was a fiercely heterosexual society. In 2015,
gay subcultures openly exist in British cities such as Manchester and Brighton.

Cultural diversity is particularly visible in the neighbourhood make-up of British

cities. Some ethnic minority groups have established themselves as distinct
communities such as the Chinatowns of London, Liverpool, Manchester and
Glasgow and the Bangladeshi community and the African-Caribbean community
in the London areas of Brick Lane and Brixton respectively. Some areas, for
example, Luke Street in Liverpool or the East End of London are well known for
their working-class ties, Bloomsbury and Hampstead are famous for their middle-
class connections whilst Hoxton, Greenwich and Shoreditch in London are
notorious for their hipster presence.

A multicultural culture or society is one in which ethnic and religious diversity is

acknowledged and encouraged. Aspects of all cultures — majority and minority —
are accepted and celebrated. The emphasis in multicultural societies is on all ethnic
and religious subcultures as enjoying the same status and rights, living alongside
each other peacefully and respecting each other’s beliefs, customs and heritage. A
multicultural society, therefore, is one which celebrates difference although critics of
the concept suggest that the natural tendency of people from similar backgrounds to
congregate together in distinct communities may actually encourage mutual
suspicion, separation and even racial conflict.

Cultural hybridity

Cultural hybridity refers to how members of society, especially young people, are
increasingly mixing and matching elements of the different cultures that now exist
in the UK to construct a sense of identity. For example, white teenagers may be
influenced by black and/or Asian culture in terms of clothing styles, hairstyles,
body piercing, gestures of respect (e.g. the fist-bump, the high-five and so on),
linguistic style and activities such as street dance, rap and hip-hop.

Another good example of this hybridity can be seen in how British tastes in food
have changed over the past thirty years. Foods from all over the world, especially
pizza, lasagne, pasta and curry have become very popular in the UK. Many of these
have been adapted to meet British tastes. Chicken tikka masala which has replaced
fish and chips as Britain’s favourite dish is a hybrid dish because Asian chefs based
in the UK combined a spicy curry with the British concept of gravy to appeal to
British palates.

A negative aspect of cultural hybridity is cultural appropriation – this is the

adoption of elements of one culture by members of another culture. This can be
controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from
disadvantaged minority cultures. For example, the early success of many white rock
stars, for example, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles
was originally based on their (often unacknowledged appropriation) of the music of
Black American blues singers who were powerless to object or demand royalties.

Recently the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey has been accused of cultural
appropriation for opening a new restaurant in London which he claims will serve
authentic Chinese cuisine despite having no Chinese chefs or staff.
Examples of cultural appropriation can be seen in the ways people express their
identity via tattoos (which originate in Polynesian culture) and which may be made
up of Chinese or Arabic symbols and facial piercings (taken from Hindu Indian
culture). In 2019, Chanel were criticized when it launched its latest designer item
accessory : a $2000 boomerang featuring their signature logo. Most critics
immediately saw an issue with the distasteful appropriation of Aboriginal culture.