Draft

Name: Bandana Shrestha

Roll No: 197096
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Class: BBA 1 semester 'A'
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Date of submission: 18 October 2019

Society and culture

Society and culture which means companion/ friendship and grow respectively in Latin.
Society is a group of people who share some sense of common identity and have learned to live and
work together whereas Culture means the attitudes, behaviour, rituals, customs, beliefs, values,
language that a social group shares. Sociology and Anthropology is basically the study of society
and culture respectively. In the chapter, different theories, definitions regarding sociology and
anthropology are presented. Classical sociologist's theories and modern theoretical approaches
provide the sociological understanding.
Some classical sociologists are Auguste Comte who described that sociology should
contribute to the welfare of humanity, Émile Durkheim who says that the continuation of society
depends on cooperation and Karl Marx who explains society as non-cohesive and is divided by
class differences. Moreover the modern theoretical approaches includes the symbolic
interactionism, functionalism, feminism, etc. Similarly, the anthropologists are curious about
understanding the people, pattern of their thoughts and behaviors. Some diverse definitions of
culture including on the basis of topical, normative, historical, behavioral, functional, structural,etc.

Major theories of Sociology

Major theories pf Sociology is about the introduction, concept, criticism of some of the
theories of sociology. Sociology is the study of human's social life, groups, societies,etc. Basically,
theories are the pathfinder that validate the evidences and clears the concept in our mind. Firstly, a
basic information of classical and modern theories as well as theorist is provided. The major
theories of society include Structural-Functionalism, Conflict theory and Symbolic interaction.
Briefing these theories, the first theory or the Structural-Functionalism explains that the society
acts as a body, a complex system whose parts visibly or invisibly work together to meet the
biological and social needs of the individual where is is criticized as all the parts do not have equal
capacities and roles for functioning.
The Conflict theory of Karl Marx says that modern society is divided into capitalist
and poor. Nevertheless, in a society there exist a perpetual conflict due to competition for the
consumption of resources. Different perspectives of the theory are also presented which are
critically analyzed as he is blamed for being a bloodthirsty as the class conflict made many to die,
he divided the society into capitalist and poor, and his ideas were considered as an utopia.
Symbolic Interaction theory is a subjective entity, focused on the process of
interactions in a particular contexts. This theory further states that any action is meaningful
depending upon the situation and self which are mostly constructed. It also adds that the roles of the
parts of society are fixed and unchangeable.
Culture, Cultural relativism and Ethnocentrism

This chapter discussed about the Anthropology, its branches, theories of culture, elements,
types, Cultural relativism, Ethnocentrism. The study of mankind form many years back till now is
basically Anthropology. Among the various branches of anthropology, the chapter focuses on
Cultural Anthropology which is the study of culture, beliefs, practices as well as groups of
humans and it makes the understanding between the cultures clear. Different theories of culture are
the definition of culture in various views such as adaptive, symbolic, structural systems, etc.
Culture is collective behaviour of everyday living of a particular group of people. The social
heritages, ideas, values, artifacts are included in culture. Culture can be tangible ,intangible, weak or
strong but it is important as it gives ideas about our ancestors, the human beings living before us,
makes us know about the way of living of any other group of people and also teaches us to be
responsible.
Cultural Relativism is basically the ideas which explains that there are many cultures in
the world and each are different which must be understood on the basis of the respective culture.
Furthermore, it also means that none cultures are to be judged against the criteria of other. Because
of this, harmony, respect, understanding between different cultures are created in a society.
Ethnocentrism coined by William Graham Sumner, generally means being centered to
own’s culture. It is simply judging others’ culture on the basis of one’s own culture. It gives identity
recognition but moreover it creates conflict, cultural misunderstanding,etc.

Kinship, Marriage and Family

The concept, types, importance, practices of Kinship, Marriage and Family are altogether
presented in this chapter. Kinship coined by an anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan, is a web of
social relationship which is important part of life of all human in the society. Social web of
relationship simply means the relationship made by relation or birth or any professional and
objective based relationship. Fictive kinship, affinity, lineage,etc are includes as the types of
kinship. Kinship helps to understand the strength, behaviors, needs of different groups of a society.
Marriage is a socially acceptable union of two partners. Marriage is generally tradition
that is accepted by the society since ages which creates bond and relation between two people and
their family. Various types of marriages are seen and heard which includes types such as polygamy,
polyandry, monogamy, homosexual marriage. The types of marriage which are practiced in Nepal
are arranged marriage, love marriage, caste-based marriage, polygamy,etc. It is a social regulation
that emotionally ties the member of a group of people.
Family is an inevitable group of people of a human society living together related to each
other by birth relation, marriage or affinity. The types of family are nuclear family, joint family,
extended family, single-parent family, matrilocal family, etc. The type of family that are in
practiced in Nepal are nuclear and joint family headed by a male. The family is the basic unit of a
social organization which guide it members about social behaviors, activities to maintain their as
well as society’s well being.
Concluding along with the connection to business

Business is an activity in which someone is engaged in with or without a profit motive. The
business is generally as a society and culture. Society is a group of people living and working
together and culture meaning grow. Thoroughly seeing, the business is similar to these terms society
and culture as this activity involves many people engaged and working together for a profit motive
and for the growth of their business activities in future. The first chapter describes about the
structure of the society , its functions, and it relates to the business as it also has structure, functions,
importance in a society.

The theories that are explained in the second chapter can be seen with the point of view
business. The first theory structural functionalism says that part of society work together to meet the
needs. Similar does the business, different part here meaning departments in a business firm
functions together and cooperate with each other and meet the needs of the firm to attain the goals.
Relating to conflict theory which says society is divided into capitalist and poor. In the business
world , there are big and small organizations.Here,conflict arises for the competition in resource
consumption and production. But the fact is big organization enjoys the most consumption and
profit for production. The roles of different part are fixed and unchangeable according to symbolic
interaction theory. In a business firm also works for different individuals are separated and fixed
according to their capacity and ability.

A business firm can be related to culture, cultural relativism and ethnocentrism in many
way.The culture is a collective behaviour of people living in a society, and the business is the
collective behaviour of hard work and success of its individuals. Cultural relativism says that
others’ culture should be understood on the respective culture’s ideas. In a firm, there are different
department with different functions. A department should understand the other on the basis of the
function of that particular department. Finally the ethnocentrism describes that one should be
centered to one’s own culture and in the business also every individual should be concerned about
earning profit of their own firm.

Kinship is a web of social relationship and a business is a web and interaction of many
individuals working at different levels having a professional and object oriented relationship
between them. Marriage is a socially acceptable tradition which creates bonds and relationship
between people. Similarly to marriage , a business is accepted by the society and it introduces a
professional relation between the individuals working at a particular business firm. Family is a
group of people having a relationship by birth or marriage, headed by parents and does activities to
maintain well being of all.The business is a firm of group of people bonded by professional relation
headed by bosses which maintain its work and functions for its future’s well being and progress.