1.
Culture, health and society.
The concept of culture and
society.
Lecturer: Axmed Faaruuq
BMLT at Plasma University.
Faaruuqy@gmail.com.

2.
Key terms.
• Sociology is the study of social life, social
change, and the social causes and consequences
of human behavior.
• culture: The beliefs, values, behavior, and
material objects that constitute a people’s way of
life.
•Anthropology is the study or science of mankind
or humanity
• Health is a state of complete physical mental
and social wellbeing and not merely the absent
of disease.

3.
Sociology
• sociology may be generally defined as a
social science that studies such kinds of
phenomena as:
• The structure and function of society as
a system;
• The nature, complexity and contents of
human social behavior;
• The fundamentals of human social life;

4.
• Interaction of human beings with their
external environment;
• The indispensability of social
interactions for human development;
• How the social world affects us, etc.

5.
Culture.
• Culture refers to all the
features of a society's
ways of life: e.g.
production, modes of
dress, routine living
habits
1

6.
Culture and society
• Definition of culture:
The term culture refers to a system of beliefs, customs,
knowledge, behavior, religion, practices, etc., which is
commonly shared by a group of people. It is described as the
people’s way to live such as their learned behavior, values,
morals, art, law, symbols, lifestyle which they accept completely
without any second thought in mind. In general, culture is
handed down through the generations, by communication,
teaching and imitation. It is considered as the social heritage of
the organized group.
• Culture is a pattern of responses (thinking, feeling, behaving)
developed by the Society for solving problems arising due to the
interaction of the group members and the environment.

7.
Culture and society
• Definition of Society:
We define the term ‘society’ as a group of people who
share a common lifestyle, territory, behavior pattern and
organization. It refers to an ordered community, engaged
in a continuous social interaction with the members.
• In simple terms, society implies the bunch of people who
organize themselves and lives together in a particular
geographical area and come in contact with each other.
The members of the society share common attributes like
values, traditions and customs. They also share similar
cultures and religion. Each and every member is
important to the society, as its existence depends on the
members only.

8.
Culture and society
BASIS FOR
COMPARISON
Culture Society
Meaning Culture refers to the set of beliefs,
practices, learned behavior and
moral values that are passed on,
from one generation to another.
Society means an
interdependent group of
people who live together
in a particular region and
are associated with one
another.
What is it? It is something that differentiates
one society from the other.
It is a community of
people, residing in a
specific area, sharing
common culture over
time.

9.
What it
does?
It unites the social framework
through influence
It shapes the social
framework through
pressure.
Represents Rules that guide the way people
live
Structure that provides
the way people
organize themselves
Includes Beliefs, values and practices of a
group.
People who share
common beliefs and
practices.
Examples Fashion, lifestyle, tastes &
preferences, music, art, etc
Economy, village, city
etc.

10.
Elements of culture
• LANGUAGE: a system of verbal symbols through which
humans communicate ideas, feelings, experiences. Through
language these can be accumulated and transmitted across
generations. Language is not only a tool, or a means of
expression, but it also structures and shapes our experiences of
the world and what we see around us.
• VALUES: ideas people share about what is good, bad,
desirable, undesirable. These are usually very general, abstract,
cut across variations in situations.
• NORMS: behavioral rules or standards for social interaction.
These often derive from values but also contradict values, and
serve as both guides and criticisms for individual behavior.
Norms establish expectations that shape interaction.

11.
Cultural Values.
• A culture's values are its ideas about what is good,
right, fair, and just. Sociologists disagree, however,
on how to conceptualize values.
• Conflict theory focuses on how values differ between
groups within a culture, while functionalism focuses
on the shared values within a culture. For example,
American sociologist Robert K. Merton suggested
that the most important values in American society
are wealth, success, power, and prestige, but that
everyone does not have an equal opportunity to attain
these values.

12.
• Functional sociologist Talcott
Parsons noted that Americans share the
common value of the “American work ethic,”
which encourages hard work. Other
sociologists have proposed a common core of
American values, including accomplishment,
material success, problem‐solving, reliance on
science and technology, democracy,
patriotism, charity, freedom, equality and
justice, individualism, responsibility, and
accountability.

13.
• A culture, though, may harbor conflicting values. For
instance, the value of material success may conflict
with the value of charity. Or the value of equality may
conflict with the value of individualism.
• Such contradictions may exist due to an inconsistency
between people's actions and their professed values,
which explains why sociologists must carefully
distinguish between what people do and what they
say. Real culture refers to the values and norms
that a society actually follows, while ideal
culture refers to the values and norms that a society
professes to believe.

14.
Language
• Language : a system of communication consisting
of sounds, words, and grammar, or the
system of communication used by people in a
particular country or type of work.
• Language is one of the corner stones of national
identity of cultural unity, and of community cohesion.
Old languages with historic roots and languages
spoken by threatened minorities are nurtured and
fostered by their speakers. But language can also be a
weapon in cultural conflict and in political strife.

15.
Culture and Its Influence on
People’s Behavior
• The individual and culture are linked because human
social life is a process in which individuals internalize
the meanings of public (i.e. cultural) message.
Individuals influence culture (either alone or in
groups) by converting their private understandings
into public expressions.
• Other words, cultures plays influential roles in
shaping and determining the way people act, live,
think, and view the world. Obesity, as a health
problem, for example, is associated with peoples’
nutritional behavior

16.
• Other social behaviors such as smoking, alcoholism,
chat chewing, etc. reflect peoples’ social and cultural
backgrounds.
• In short, the cultural values, norms, beliefs and
practices of a group of people or any social group are
related to the specific behavioral and character
aspects of the individual person who is part of that
culture. The person’s living styles, life philosophy and
attitudes are all very important in determining his or
her health behavior and condition.

17.
Culture Shock.
• Culture shock is the personal disorientation a
person may feel when experiencing an
unfamiliar way of life in a new country or to a
move between social environments.
• Culture shock can be described as consisting
of at least one of four distinct phases:
honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment,
and mastery.

18.
The Honeymoon Stage – First
phase of a culture shock.
• During the honeymoon phase,
the differences between the old
and new culture are seen in a
romantic light. During the first
few weeks, most people are
fascinated by the new culture.
They associate with nationals
who speak their language, and
who are polite to the foreigners.
This period is full of
observations and new
discoveries. Like most
honeymoon periods, this stage
eventually ends.

19.
Negotiation phase
• After some time (usually
around three months,
depending on the
individual), differences
between the old and new
culture become apparent
and may create anxiety.
This is the mark of the
negotiation phase.
• In the adjustment phase, one
grows accustomed to the new
culture and develops routines.
• lastly, in the mastery stage,
assignees are able to participate
fully and comfortably in the host
culture.
• Mastery does not mean total
conversion. People often keep
many traits from their earlier
culture, such as accents and
languages. It is often referred to as
the biculturalism stage.

20.
Cultural Diversity
• Many people mistakenly use such phrases as
“American culture,” “white culture,” or
“Western culture,” as if such large, common,
and homogenous cultures exist in the United
States today. These people fail to acknowledge
the presence of cultural diversity, or the
presence of multiple cultures and cultural
differences within a society. In reality, many
different cultural groups comprise the United
States.

21.
• Smaller cultural groups that exist within but differ in
some way from the prevailing culture interest
sociologists. These groups are called subcultures.
Examples of some subcultures include “heavy metal”
music devotees, body‐piercing and tatoo enthusiasts,
motorcycle and gang members. Members of
subcultures typically make use of distinctive
language, behaviors, and clothing, even though they
may still accept many of the values of the dominant
culture.