CHARACTERICS OF CULTURE

1. CULTURE IS LEARNED.
• IT IS THE FIRST
CHARACTERISTICS OF
CULTURE.
 2. CULTURE IS SHARED BY A
GROUP OF PEOPLE.
• KNOWLEDGE IS STORED AND PASSED
ON FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE
NEXT, AND NEW KNOWLEDGE IS
BEING ADDED TO WHAT IS EXISTING.
3. CULTURE IS CUMULATIVE.
•KNOWLEDGE IS STORED AND PASSED
ON FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE
NEXT, AND NEW KNOWLEDGE IS
BEING ADDED TO WHAT IS EXISTING.
4. CULTURES CHANGE.
SOCIOLOGY
• AUGUST COMTE, THE FATHER
OF SOCIOLOGY, FIRST OF
CONCEIVED THE WORD
‘SOCIOLOGY’ IN, 1839.
 SOCIOLOGY
• COMES FROM LATIN WORD ‘SOCIUS’
MEANING COMPANION, ASSOCIATE, PARTNER
OR MATE (SOCIAL, BEING WITH OTHERS) AND
THE GREEK WORD LOGOS, LOGUS OR LOGIA
WHICH MEANS TO STUDY.
 WHY STUDY SOCIOLOGY?
•SOCIOLOGY HELPS US GAIN A BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF OURSELVES AND OUR
SOCIAL WORLD. IT ENABLES US TO SEE
HOW BEHAVIOR IS LARGELY SHAPED BY
THE GROUPS TO WHICH WE BELONG AND
THE SOCIETY IN WHICH WE LIVE.
IMPORTANCE OF SOCIOLOGY
• SOCIOLOGY ENABLES US TO MOVE BEYOND
ESTABLISHED WAYS OF THINKING, THUS, ALLOWING US
TO GAIN NEW INSIGHTS INTO OURSELVES AND TO
DEVELOP AWARENESS OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN
OUR OWN WORLD AND THAT OF OTHER PEOPLE. A
SOCIOLOGIST, PETER BERGER, SAID THAT
“SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY HELPS US SEE THAT THINGS
ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM”.
•C. WRIGHT MILLS CALLED THIS PERSONAL
USE OF SOCIOLOGY THE SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION, THE SET OF MIND THAT
ENABLES INDIVIDUALS TO SEE THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EVENTS IN THEIR
PERSONAL LIVES AND EVENTS IN THEIR
SOCIETY.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SOCIOLOGY?
• THE INITIAL PURPOSE OF THE SOCIOLOGY WAS
TO FIND THE “UNIVERSAL LAWS OF SOCIETY”
AND THE “UNIVERSAL LAWS OF HUMAN
BEHAVIOURS” SO THAT THE SOCIETIES CAN BE
RUN ON THE BASIS OF THESE LAWS IN ORDER
TO BRING HAPPINESS, PEACE AND PROSPERITY.