Conceptual Understanding On

Culture & Society

DR RUZANNA SHAHRIN
What is culture?
❑ Culture is a learned system of knowledge, behaviours,
attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a
group of people (Smith, 1966).

❑ The collective programming of the mind distinguishing

the members of one group or category of people from
others (Hofstede, 1997).

❑ The system of shared beliefs, values, customs &

behaviors that the members of society use to interact with
their world and with one another.
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Characteristics of Culture
 Culture is learned

Culture is relative Culture is shared

Culture is dynamic Characteristics Culture is integrated

Culture is a way of life Culture is symbolic

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 1. Culture is learned
❖ The cultural transmission or
enculturation is the best way to
describe culture is learned.
❖ The group members learn to
understand and apply certain values,
beliefs & traditions to the society.
❖ The younger generations readily
accept the norms of the society as a
part of their education to sustain the
societal system within their family or
tribe.
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 2. Culture is shared

❑ The culture is shared by the social

interaction may take in many forms to
transmit the beliefs, values, and expectation
of the human society.
❑ The exchange of social ideas may provide
understanding and learning the human
culture and tradition.
❑ The culture works by social dynamism using
language, communication technologies, and
commercial trade.

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 3. Culture is integrated
▪ There are cultural values that
individuals must also follow to be
integrated with similar social life.

▪ E.g. The economic activities are

patterned by the innovation and
inventions of cultural groups that
need to be integrated by the social
life of the members of the society.
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4. Culture is symbolic

➢The communication process uses

symbols to identify the given actions,
attitudes and behaviours of the
people.

➢The use of language has various

types of symbols depending on its
natural environment, exposure and
education to groups, the social
experience and influence.

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 5. Culture is a way of life

➢ The human beings always

consider the harmonious
relationship with any of group
cultures being grown for a
period of time.
➢ The group members conform
with the ways of living within the
bounds of beliefs, expectation,
and norms.

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 6. Culture is dynamic

▪ There is continuous change of

culture as new ways of life
evolved by the changing
conditions of the societal life.
▪ There are cultural practices that
no longer useful today.

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 7. Culture is relative/diverse

➢The culture is different

from each other as we
must consider the social
experiences, traditions,
norms, mores, and other
cultural ways in the
community.

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Manifestation of Culture
▪ Cultural differences manifest
themselves in different ways and
differing levels of depth.

▪ Symbols represent the most

superficial and values the
deepest manifestations of
culture, with heroes and rituals in
between.

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 1. Symbols

❑ Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or

objects that carry a particular meaning,
which is only recognized by those who
share a particular culture.
❑ New symbols easily develop, old ones
disappear.
❑ Symbols from one particular group are
regularly copied by others. This is why
symbols represent the outermost layer of
a culture.
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 2. Heroes

❑ Heroes are persons, past

or present, real or
fictitious, who possess
characteristics that are
highly prized in a culture.
❑ They also serve as
models for behaviour.

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 3. Rituals
❑ Rituals are collective
activities, sometimes
superfluous in reaching
desired objectives, but are
considered as socially
essential.
❑ They are therefore carried
out most of the times for
their own sake (ways of
greetings, paying respect to
others, religious and social
ceremonies, etc.).
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 4. Values
❑ The core of a culture is formed by
values.
❑ Values are broad tendencies for
preferences of certain state of
affairs to others (good-evil, right-
wrong, natural-unnatural).
❑ Many values remain unconscious
to those who hold them and can
only be inferred from the way
people act under different
circumstances. 19
What is a society?
o Society is a group of people who
occupy a specific locality and who
share the same cultural traditions
or culture.
o A distinct and relatively
autonomous community whose
members' mutual social relations
are embedded in and expressed
through the medium of culture.

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 Society: Cultural Bond

o Sociologists define society as

the people who interact in
such a way as to share a
common culture.
o The cultural bond may be
ethnic or racial, based on
gender, or due to shared
beliefs, values, and activities.
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Society: Geographic View
❑ The term society can also have
a geographic meaning and
refer to people who share a
common culture in a particular
location.
❑ E.g. People living in South-East
Asia developed different
cultures from those living in
Europe. In time, a large variety
of human cultures arose around
the world.
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Culture and Society

❑ Culture and society are intricately

related.
❑ A culture consists of the “objects” of
a society, whereas a society
consists of the people who share a
common culture.

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Thanks!

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