Culture - Sociology

By, Anjali Sunil Shekokar
10/6/2020BY, MISS. ANJALI SUNIL SHEKOKAR 1

CONTENT -
 Culture- Introduction
 Culture Definition
 Culture Meaning
 Culture Nature
 Components of Culture
 Evolution of culture
 Diversity and uniformity of culture
 Culture and socialization
 Trans cultural society
 Influence on health and disease 10/6/2020BY, MISS. ANJALI SUNIL SHEKOKAR 2

INTRODUCTION
Culture is derived from the English word
‘Kulthra’and Sanskrit word ‘Samskar’which
denotes social channel and intellectual
excellence. Culture is a way of life.

DEFINITION
EB TAYLOR- CULTURE IS A COMPLEX WHOLE, WHICH INCLUDES
KNOWLEDGE, BELIEF, ART, MORALS, CUSTOMS AND ANY OTHER
CAPABILITIES AND HABITS ACQUIRED BY THE MAN AS A
MEMBER OF SOCIETY.
Leglic AY White- Culture is a symbolic continuous, cumulative and
progressiveprocess.
Malinowski B- The cumulative creation of man; the handwork of man
and the medium through which he achieves is ends.

DEFINITION
Graham wallas- An accumulation of thoughts, values and objects;
it is the social heritage acquired by us from preceding generations
through learning as distinguished from the biological heritage which is
passed on to us automatically throughgenes.
CCNorth- The instruments constituted by man to assist him in a
satisfying his wants.
Redfield- Culture is an organization of phenomenon of acts, objects,
ideas attitudes, values and use of the symbols. Culture is an organized
body of conventional understanding manifested in arts and artifacts
which persisting through tradition, characterizes the group.

MEANING
• Culture is an organization of phenomenon of acts (patterns
of behavior)objects(tools)ideas(belief, knowledge,
sentiments)attitude values the use of symbols. Culture is
an organized body of conventional understanding
manifested in art and artifact (indication) which persisting
through tradition, characteristics the human group
- Red field
•

NATURE OF CULTURE
Culture is a learned behavior not inherited. It is learned through
experience, imitation, communication, concept, thinking and
socialization process.
Culture is transmitted by vertically or horizontally thus it is
communicative. Vertical transmission is from one generation to another
whereas horizontal transmission is from one group to another group
within the same period
Culture is social not individual the pattern of thinking, feeling &
acting can be shared by the members of the group and kept relatively
uniform through group pressures.

NATURE OF CULTURE
Culture provides opportunities and provides means for the
satisfaction of our needs and desires to fulfill group functions.
Culture is adaptive. It may institute changes in the environment
as a means of adopting, instead of altering themselves to the
changingenvironments.

NATURE OF CULTURE
Culture isdynamic. Couture is subjected to slow but constant
change. Couture respond to the changing condition of the world.
Every society has its own culture.
Culture is continuous and cumulative
Culture is integrative.

TYPESOF CULTURE
There are two types of culture i.e. material culture and non-
material culture
Material culture- Material culture concerned with the external,
mechanical and utilitarian objects. It can be easily communicated and
makes our life more comfortable, luxurious and meaningful. Thus
material culture has the extrinsic value like housing, fashion, diet etc.
material culture represent the whole apparatus of life or civilization.

TYPESOF CULTURE
Non-material culture- It include the concepts, values , mores
and ideas.
e.g. monogamy, democracy, worship etc.
.

FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
It makes man as a human being.
To regulate the conduct and prepares the human being
for group life through the process of socialization.
It defines the meaning of situation.
Provides solutions for difficult situations. Defines
values, attitudes andgoals. 10/6/2020BY, MISS. ANJALI SUNIL SHEKOKAR 12

FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
Broaden the vision of individuals.
Provide behavior patterns andrelationship with others.
Keep the individual behavior intact. Moulds national
character.
Define myths, legends, supernatural believes.
Creates new needs and interests.

COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
Components of culture are asfollows-
Symbols
Language
Values Folkways
Mores Laws
Customs

Symbols
Anything that carries particular meaning recognized by people
who share the same culture.
It can be either material object like flag a cross or word or it can be
a non material object like soundgesture.
Symbolic meaning is obvious uniform in culture and powerful.

Language
A major symbolic system in use in all human societies is
languages.
Human languages are learned and variable, flexible and generative.
Without language there is no culture.
It is language through which we are able tocreate share, preserve and
transmit cultural meanings such as complex patterns of emotions,
thought, knowledge and beliefs.
Language is essential to give members of society a sense of identity.

VALUES
Values are general abstract moral principles defining what is right
or wrong, good or bad, desirable orundesirable.
In other words values often come in pairs of positive and negative
terms.
Values define general moral qualities of behavior expected from
members of society such as honesty, patriotism or commitment to
freedom

FOLKWAYS
Folkways are accepted ways of behavior.
According to Gillin and Gillin folkways are the behavior pattern
of every day life which unconsciously arises within a group.
According to AW Green folkways are the ways of acting that are
common to a society or a group that are handed down from
generation to the next.
According to Merill folkways are social habits or group
expectations that have arised in the daily life of the group.
Folkways are social in nature, repetitive in character, unplanned
in origin, informal enforcement, varied in nature and subjected to
change.
Example of folkways are eating pattern, habits, communication,
dressing walking, working and greeting.

Mores
Standard of behavior that influences the moral conduct of people
conformity to mass is called as mores.
According to MacIver & CH Page when folkways have added to group
welfare and high standards that are converted into mores
.
mores determine our conception of right or wrongand proper and
improper.
Mores differ from group to group and from societyto society.
Mores are dynamic, they keep on changing accordingto changing need
of society.

Customs
Customs are formed on the basis of habits. Customs are social habits
which through repetition become the basis of an order of social behavior.
According to MacIver custom is a group procedure that has gradually
emerged without express enactment without any constituted authority
to declare it, apply it, to safe guardit.

Laws
Laws are enacted by the state or centre to have control over individual.
According to Green law is more or less systematic body of generalized
rules, balanced between the fiction of performance and fact of change
governing specifically defined relationship and situations and employing
force or the threat of force in defined and limited ways.
Laws applies equally to all.
Laws are definite, clear and precise.

EVOLUTION OF CULTURE
Evolution of specific culture is difficult to identify .
But from the discoveries and inventions cultural development can be
identified.
But one thing is clear that culture is as old as man.
Though the material aspects does not us about the culture but reveals the
evolution of culture.

DIVERSITYAND UNIFORMITYOF
CULTURE
Culture is a set of behavior of a group. Therefore
there are many culture as there are many groups.
Culture of one group may differ completely or in
certain aspects from other. These variations are known
as cultural diversity.
Factors responsible for diverse culture are as follows-

Factors responsible for diverse culture are as follows-
Geographical location
Unconscious behavior imitated and later on become a custom which is
the part of culture
Flexibility in behavior
Technological advancement
Religious
belief
Life style
Language

UNIFORMITY OF CULTURE
• Uniformity of culture is meant by sharing the same type of
cultural pattern by the different group of people.
• Uniformity of culture is far more complex than it seems.
• Uniformity is based on the belief of God’s superiority.

CULTUREAND SOCIALIZATION
Culture is defined as the belief, values, behavior and material objects
shared by a particular group of people.
Socialization is the process which shapes and defines our thoughts,
feelings and also provides us with a model for ourbehavior.
This process of socialization teaches the human being the cultural
values and norms which provide the guidelines for our everydaylife.

Human infants are born without any culture.
They must be transformed by agents of socialization such as
family, parents, teachers, peers and mass media into culturally
adapt human beings.
This general process of acquiring culture is referred to as
socialization.
Successful socialization can result in uniformity within society.

Through the socialization personality develops.
Socialization helps us to perform specific role in society which
is culturallybound.

"seeing
TRANS CULTURALSOCIETY
Transculturalism is defined as
oneself in the other".
Transcultural is in turn
all human culture"
described as
or"extending through
"involving, encompassing, or combining
elements of more than one culture".

Transculturalism is characterized by the following:
Transculturalism emphasizes on the problematic
of contemporary culture in terms of relationships,
meaning-making, and power formation; and the transitory nature of
culture as well as its power to transform.
Transculturalism is interested in dissonance, tension, and instability
as it is with the stabilizing effects of social conjunction,
communalism, and organization; and in the destabilizing effects of
non-meaning or meaning atrophy. It is interested in the disintegration
of groups, cultures, and power.

Transculturalism is characterized by the following:
Transculturalism does not seek to privilege the semiotic over the
material conditions of life, nor vice versa.
Transculturalism accepts that language and materiality continually
interact within an unstable locus of specific historical conditions.
[5]
Transculturalism locates relationships of power in terms of language
and history.[5]

Transculturalism is deeply suspicious of itself and of all utterances.
Its claim to knowledge is always redoubtable, self-reflexive, and
self-critical.
Transculturalism can never eschew the force of its own precepts and
the dynamic that is culture.
Transculturalism never sides with one moral perspective over
another but endeavors to examine them without ruling out moral
relativism or meta- ethical confluence.

Transculturalism seeks to illuminate thevarious gradients of
culture and the ways in which social groups createand
distribute their meanings; and the ways in which social groups
interact and experiencetension.
Transculturalism looks toward the ways in which language wars
are historically shaped and conducted.

INFLUENCE ON HEALTH AND DISEASE
• Cultural factors in health and disease: Cultural factors in health
and disease People have their own beliefs and practices
concerning health and disease. Cultural factors are deeply
involved in all affairs of man. Some are based on trial and error
and have positive values. Others are useless and positively
harmful. Stood in the way of implementing health programs.
• Where a change of behavior was required the resistance of
people was maximum in accepting new programs. Information
about these factors i.e., customs, cultural mores, habits, beliefs,
and superstition is still woefully lacking.

CONCEPTS OF ETIOLOGY AND CURE
• Concepts of etiology and cure. The causes of
disease as understood by the vast majority of rural people
fall into two groups., supernatural and physical.

SUPERNATURAL CAUSES
• Supernatural causes Wrath of gods and
goddesses:
• There are many people even
among the educated who believe that certain diseases are
due to……. Smallpox and chickenpox Bari Mata and
Choti mata., Administration of drug is considered harmful.

• Supernatural causes Cases are notified and pujas are made
to appease the gods.,
• Breach of taboos: breach of taboos is believed by some
people to be the cause of disease. Eg venereal disease are
believed to be due to illicit sexual intercourse with a
women of low caste.,
• Supernatural causes Or a woman with menstruation., Past
sins: diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis are
believed to be as a result of past sins., Evil eye: widely
held belief, throughout the country, is the effect of the evil
eye.
• Supernatural causes Children are considered to be more
susceptible., In order to ward off the evil eye , charms and
amulets are prescribed and incantations recited by the
exorcist. spirit or ghost intrusions: some diseases such as
hysteria and epilepsy are regarded as due to a spirit or10/6/2020BY, MISS. ANJALI SUNIL SHEKOKAR 37

PHYSICAL CAUSES
• Physical causes are considered to be responsible for
certain diseases Effects of weather: exposure of heat
during summer is responsible for an attack of heat stroke
Loo., the folk remedies consists of application of oil and
ghee on the soles, and keeping unripe mangoes under hot
ash for a few minutes., and extracting the pulp with a
pinch of salt.
• Water: impure water is associated with diseases. Impure
blood : skin diseases viz boils and scabies are considered
to be due to impure blood., Eating neem leaves and
flowers are considered to purify the blood.,

ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION
• Environmental sanitation Disposal of human excreta: 98%
of people in rural areas use open fields for defecation.
This practice is time honoured and considered harmless .
The average Indian villager is averse to the idea of
latrines. He considers that latrines are meant for city
dwellers, where there is no fields for defecation.,
• Environmental sanitation Thus the problem of excreta is
bound with numerous beliefs and habits based on
ignorance., Disposal of wastes: the average villager is not
aware that mosquitoes breed in collection of waste water.
It is permitted to flow in the streets.,

• Water supply: the well occupies a pivotal place in the
cultural environment of villages.,
• it is the common meeting place for men and women it is a
place where people bathe and wash their clothes., it is a
place where animals are washed and given a drink
• These cultural practices lead to the pollution of well
water.,

• Tanks and ponds: tanks and ponds are used for washing bathing
ablution and sometimes even as a source of drinking water.
• Some rivers are considered holy and people go on a pilgrimage
to these rivers have a dip.
• They not only have a dip but drink the raw water which they
consider sacred.
• Samples of ‘holy water’ are bottled and carried over long
distances for distribution among friends and relatives.
• Epidemics of cholera and gastroenteritis have been due to these
cultural practices.

• Housing: rural housing are practically the same thro’ out
the country, usually katcha , and damp
• ill-ventilated for reasons of security there is no windows if
at all one is provided, which is a mere hole.
• Absence of separate kitchen, latrine, bathroom and
drainage are characteristic of rural house.
• Animal keeping is very common in villages Infrequently
animals and human live under one roof.
• Houses are generally kept clean inside white washed and
plastered with mud and cow dung.

FOOD HABITS
• Food habits have deep psychological roots and are
associated with love affection warmth self image and
social prestige.
• The diet is influenced by local conditions eg soil climate,
religion customs and beliefs.,
• Vegetarianism is given a place of honour in Hindu society,
• Some do not take onions and garlic on religious grounds
• Muslims abhor pork and Hindus beef these have religious
sanctions from early days.

• Food habits : The concept of hot and cold are prevalent widely
in the country.
• Meat, egg , jaggery are considered to generate heat in the body
curd ,milk, vegetables are considered cool to the body
• These concepts are encountered by the modern physician when
treating disease
• Adulteration of milk is a common practice Motive is economic
gain a deep rooted belief is also responsible for the practice., If
pure milk is boiled then the donar animal will become dry.

• Muslims observe fast during Ramzan and Hindus on
several occasions., drinks and drugs are among the food
habit of the people alcoholic drinks are tabooed by
Muslims and high cast Hindus ganja bhang and charas are
frequently consumed by sadhus Spreading to the general
population., Eating and drinking from common utensils is
considered as a sign of brotherhood among Muslims.,
• Hindu women often take food left over by their husbands
in some societies men eat first and women last and poorly
Bias towards male child Some people take food only after
taking a bath Food is thus a subject of widespread custom
habit and belief which vary from region to region.,

MOTHER AND CHILD
• Mother and child health:
• Mother and child health Mother and child
health is surrounded by wide range of customs and beliefs
all over the world Marriages is universal in Indian
society., and the family is incomplete without the birth of
a male child This has obvious implications in the context
of the country’s population problems. various customs are
considered good bad and uncertain.,

• Mother and child health Good : Customs such as
prolonged breast feeding oil bath, massage, and exposure
to sun are considered good., Bad: These vary from society
to society e.g., some foods egg meat fish meat leafy
vegetables are forbidden during pregnancy
• Mother and child health Bad: in rural areas delivery is
conducted by traditional untrained dai or birth attendant
whose methods of conducting delivery are far from safe.
the villagers have great faith in her In some parts of the
country the child is not put to the breast for 3 days of birth
because of the belief that colostrum is harmful., Instead
the child is put on sugar and water Branding of the skin
administration opium and drastic purgatives are bad
custom., Net result is high infant mortality.,

PERSONAL HYGIENE
• Personal hygiene Indians have an immense sense of
personal cleanliness much of which is interwoven with the
ideas of ritual purification., Oral hygiene: in country side
people use twigs of neem to brush the teeth some use
ashes some charcoal Eating palm leaves smeared with
lime with or without tobacco is a common social custom
• Personal hygiene Bathing : bathing naked is taboo Apart
from regular baths of which Indians are fond of there are
bathing on special occasions, The women after
menstruation should have a purifying bath., After child
birth there may be two or three ceremonial bath The
practice of oil bath is a good custom.,

• Womenfolk in the country side use apaste of turmeric
mustard oil and rub it on the body before a bath thus
bathing is aritual in India., Shaving : This is done by a
barber in India He does not sterilize the instruments as he
does not have any idea about micro –organisms.,

• Smoking : smoking hubble – bubble is asocial custom in
some parts of India it can spread tuberculosis smoking
with the burning end of the cigar is seen in Andhra
Pradesh associated with oral cancer., Chronic bronchitis,
Ca lung, Coronary artery occlusion, angina pectoris ca of
mouth larynx oesophagus, ca of bladder and PT Patients
with peptic ulcer have a very high death rate., A mother
smoking during pregnancy will have a baby with retarded
growth of the foetus.,

• Purdah: Muslims and high caste Hindus wear purdahs
incidence of tuberculosis is reported to be high they are
deprived of beneficial effects of sunrays Sleep: Wearing
shoes:

SEX AND MARRIAGE
• Sexual customs varies among different social religious
and ethnic groups; Menstruation is a time of uncleanliness
and women are not allowed to pray or have intercourse.,
Orthodox Jews are forbidden to have intercourse for 7
days after menstruation which has an important bearing on
family planning.,

• Marriage is a sacred institution it is a usual custom in
India to have marriage early at about the age of puberty
Considered a sound and desirable practice., Because late
marriages have problems in adjustments., Because
marriage is universal there is no problem of unwed
mothers or illegitimate births., Mean age of marriage is 24
for males and19 for girls.,

• There are difference in marriage age by caste females of
the depressed class have a low mean marriage age Child
marriage has almost disappeared., monogamy and
polygamy Polyandry is found among Todas of Nilgris.,
inhabitants of jaunsar Bawar in UP and nayers in Malabar
coast., High rate of venereal diseases in HP due to local
marriage customs.,

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