SOS119U-INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
Chapter 5: Culture
Introduction
The concept of “culture” is very familiar to many of us. As we read these lines, none of us would say “what is it?” since we not only hear but also use it very often. We must realize that the term of culture has a wide range of uses in daily life and has different meanings in different contexts. The idea of culture today is the issue of banality; for example, business culture and cultural “event”. The term culture often indicates the effects on the surface of our societies and very often we use it, whether being aware of it or not, in a vague and diminishing way.
How to Define Culture?
The concept of culture is usually considered as one of the most controversial, yet widely used, and indefinite term of social sciences. When we consider that in everyday life, the term culture is used in a very large area and has varying meanings in various situations, we have to admit that it is very difficult to describe culture briefly and simply. Although there are various approaches to the concept and a large number of different definitions of it, this definition would be a guide for us: Culture is a system of meanings and significance created historically, or, in other words, culture is a system of beliefs and customs that a group of people use in order to understand, organize, and structure their individual and collective lives. It is a way of understanding and organizing human life.
Culture includes many material and spiritual elements of human life. It includes many things from housing types to traditions, from marriage customs to art, from shopping patterns to beliefs, from eating habits to resting activities. According to Bourse, culture is what separates us from the rest of the living world... Even though there are many definitions of culture, it can be agreed that culture is something that can be learned, that it enables the adaptation of the person to the natural environment, changes a lot, and manifests itself in structures and ways of thinking.
Historical Development of the Term Culture
When we look at the historical development of the term culture, we face quite interesting situation. Up until the eighteenth century, the term culture had a meaning mostly related to agriculture like land reclamation and cropping. With the changes in social life at the end of the seventeenth century, the meaning and content of the term culture began to change. Culture, in the eighteenth century, began to turn into a term that expresses social values and behaviours, and thus is used in the social sphere. Consequently, the term gains the meaning of the effective development of the human mind. Again in this period with the development of anthropology, culture started to be widely used as whole way of life of a certain group. In other words, the anthropological and broad sociological use of the term culture expresses whole way of life of a community or a certain social group.
Classifying the Definitions of Culture
Although there are quite a number of definitions of culture, these definition can be categorised under three headings.
• Aesthetic definitions of culture or culture as high culture • Anthropological definitions of culture or culture as a whole way of life • Culture as shared meaning systems.
According to the first category of definitions of culture above, which come from the Enlightenment tradition and contain the emphasis of the effective development of the human mind, culture is associated with aesthetic excellence. Culture critic Matthew Arnold identified culture with aesthetic excellence when he defined culture as the best of what is said and thought in the world in all matters that most concern us, or the best that has been thought and known. This approach, which regards culture as equivalent to intellectual and artistic activities and ideas, considers culture to be a synonym for high culture in the duality of high culture and popular culture.
According to the second category of definitions of culture above, culture is seen in terms of anthropological characteristics of societies in a sense of the lifestyle of a period or a society. According to this definition framing culture as a whole way of lifestyle of a social group, culture consists of the values that the members of a group believe, the norms they follow, and the material things they create. When we consider culture as shared meaning systems, which is the third category of definitions in above classifications, we point out culture as a system of shared symbols and/or meanings. In other words, a historically transmitted pattern of meaning is embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.
When accepted as shared systems of meaning, culture involves not only art but also all symbolic phenomena. From the network of meanings that are ordinary but integrated with everyday life, such as knowing whether your shoes will be removed when you enter the house, meaning systems organized in the high level such as religion, language, art, and fashion, are included in the culture.
Culture in Classical Sociological Theory
The main interest of functional sociology has been culture as norms, values and a way of lifestyle rather than culture as high culture. Both Durkheim and Weber, the two of the three classic theorists of sociology, consider religion as a meaning system to be a fundamental component of culture as well as the society. On the other hand, in Marxist approach, not only religious ideas, but also all cultural ideas are a reflection of the material production system
and thus serve the interests of the dominant class. Culture and closed system. The concept of cultural reproduction in stratified societies acts as a kind of dominant ideology. and habitus is produced by French sociologist Pierre As an important part of society’s superstructure, culture is Bourdieu, one of the most important sociologists of the determined by the infrastructure, that is, the economic 20th century. Although Bourdieu’s work is really difficult
base. In other words, the dominant capitalist class, which to categorize and summarize, one of Bourdieu’s main owns the means of production, uses Economic power to concerns is the relationship between culture and power. In shape the culture of the society. Thus, culture reflects the other words, Bourdieu is most concerned with how interests of the capitalist class, reproduces its views, and stratified social systems of hierarchy and domination serves to legitimize their authority. Culture is simply the reproduce and maintain intergenerational without expression of a distorted view of the world created by the powerful resistance. Bourdieu is mainly concerned with dominant class and reveals a distorted sense of reality. showing how habitus is central to reproduction of inequality. Once members of the lower classes enter the In the twentieth century, many theoreticians have struggle for status, the differences in habitus make for an expanded Marx’s thoughts about culture and ideology by equal fight for an unequal fight and for the reproduction of critically evaluating them, and have also developed new, inequality. Bourdieu, in an analogy with economic capital, and more comprehensive approaches by feeding on uses the term cultural capital to refer to the practical diverse thought traditions and theorists. competencies and tastes which support our status and Culture in Contemporary Approaches position, and also help us to differentiate ourselves from The Social Research Institute, founded at the University of those who are less culturally endowed.
Frankfurt in 1923, is known as the Frankfurt School, in Dynamics of Culture short, in the social science literature. The Frankfurt School We should also keep in mind that culture is also an is also commonly referred to as Critical Theory. inspection system, and it either approves or rejects certain Especially, the analyses of Theodor W. Adorno, Max behaviours or lifestyles. Culture strives to preserve the Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, Leo Lowenthal and values and norms that govern human relationships and Herbert Marcuse on culture, ideology and the media are behaviour, and implements them by setting prizes and very important. According to the theorists in this school, penalties. Also, we should not ignore that it has a culture produced by cultural industries does not develop dimension that conveys different inequalities from today spontaneously, and it is a standardized and commodified to tomorrow. Meaning and norm systems of culture are culture aiming at reaching the widest masses. The often not neutral between conflicting interests and goals. consumers of this culture, which is far from being natural, and is quite artificial, are modern individuals who are the Culture is a source of strength and legitimacy. It is not most loyal consumers of cultural industries. This situation, surprising, therefore, that all political and economic which can be defined as the simplification of the culture, conflicts take place also at the cultural level, or there are is also called mass culture. reflections of them in the cultural area. At this point, however, we must not ignore that all cultural conflicts Adorno and Horkheimer have used what we call as the inevitably have an economic and political dimension. culture industry, instead of what has been previously named as mass culture. Theorists prefer the term culture The culture of a society can also change due to many industry to mass culture to prevent the interpretation as a factors such as technological developments, wars, culture originating from the masses themselves. As occupations and even natural disasters. As Marx puts it, Adorno notes, industry here is not to be thought of in the technology is one of the major sources of great cultural straight sense of the word. The concept is mainly related change. Technology has never been culturally neutral. All to the commercialization of cultural life, the process of major technological changes transform the cultural standardization of cultural products and the rationalization structure of society together with its economic and of distribution techniques. Nevertheless, this term may political structure. cause the large media and entertainment companies to come to mind. Cultural Diversity and Cultural Interaction
We cannot see culture as a homogeneous and monolithic Adopting an expanded concept of culture, the Birmingham form of behaviours or lifestyle. Members of a culture can School has rejected the distinction between high culture be influenced by different interpretations within their own and low culture, and has made a significant break from an culture, or by the beliefs and customs of other cultures. approach that would create any cultural stratification. There is not just one single essence of culture. There are Thus, the school has defined popular culture as a different traditions and different ways of thinking. No legitimate field. While having a similar perspective with culture can isolate itself from conflicts and change. people on culture as a whole way of life, the definition of Conflicts between different classes, genders, cultural culture as homogeneous integrity was rejected. British communities and generations are, more or less, present in Cultural Studies conceptualized culture as a dynamic and all cultures. For this reason, culture should be viewed not constantly renewing process, not as a fixed, static, frozen only as a passive heritage, but as an active process of
creating meaning. The assumption that the culture is not are not habits, such as getting up in the morning and open to internal and external influences, is a consistent sleeping in the evening. They comprise information or and unchangeable whole, and that individuals are passive actions of value and meaning for a particular group of and not critical, lead to the danger of cultural determinism. people. As a result, a tradition should not be perceived as a Every culture consists of mixture and hybridity. Thanks to legacy of the past, but as a living practice that is meant to new communication technologies, the meeting of cultures express ourselves. According to Gerard Lenclud, a and differences has become a more obvious reality today. tradition is a piece of the past adapted to today’s criteria. Objects and ideas are circulating just like goods. In Cultural heritage is the remnants of the thousands of years addition, people are traveling, and cities are becoming of life experience, wisdom and creativity of mankind, increasingly cosmopolitan. Contemporary societies and which has managed to reach today. Cultural heritage is cultures are increasingly communicating and interacting divided into two as tangible and intangible cultural with each other, especially through the Internet and new heritage. The tangible cultural heritage is also divided into media. Today, as globalization and the phenomenon of two subcategories: movable and immovable. While the immigration have gained momentum, cultures have intangible cultural heritage appears as folklore, art or become increasingly open to others. collective memory, the tangible cultural heritage Ethnocentrism? – Cultural Relativism? sometimes emerges as an archaeological site, sometimes a Accepting the existence of other cultures and the diversity city from the middle ages, and sometimes a rug.
of cultures, unfortunately, does not always lead to respect The urbanization and development process, which gained for other cultures. This danger emerges when people value momentum day by day, caused the destruction of cultural their culture so much and start to see it as the best, the heritage in some cases. The constant population increase, most beautiful. Judging (which is generally disdaining) the expansion of agricultural lands and large infrastructure other cultures by looking from the value system of one’s work damaged especially the archaeological heritage. own culture, and by taking his/her cultural values as a foreground is called ethnocentrism. It has been considered Culture and Globalisation
natural for a long time that all cultures are a little Although it is accepted that the global culture is ethnocentric in order to provide a common culture and dominated by the commodification practices of global identity, and to reinforce the sense of “we”. However, capitalism, it is expressed that cultural globalization does ethnocentrism is not often so innocent to say “we are like not act as cultural imperialism, and does not occur only in this and we are satisfied with it” and the dose of it is the form of cultural homogenization or uniformity. usually not a “little”. Ethnocentrism often manifests itself According to the scholars such as Appadurai, Robertson in the level of appreciation for one’s own culture, the and Tomlinson, who embrace this approach, globalization belief that it is superior to others, and disdain for, is a process in which variety is seen as much as alienation or humiliation of other cultures. homogenization, localization as much as universalization, modernization as much as traditional ones has come to the Cultural relativism is the idea that cultures should be agenda, and their concurrent and contradictory coexistence judged within themselves, and cannot be judged have been experienced. externally. It is suggested that it is our duty to respect other cultures, and that all cultures deserve equal respect. Similar to Appadurai’s point, in this context, globalization Given that a further step of ethnocentrism is racism, might be regarded as a process which contains both cultural relativism may seem very reasonable in the first universalities and differences within itself, which are place compared to ethnocentrism. However, there is a connected to each other and transform into each other. In danger in cultural relativism similar to the one in other words, each of the encounter of global and local is a ethnocentrism. The argument that every culture is process in which both global and local take something meaningful and important in itself is not disturbing from each other and turn into something new and without any doubt. All cultures can be valuable, but different, and two more hybrid forms emerge. According receiving equal respect can only be possible to the extent to Robertson, if one side of the globalization process is the that they respect individual rights and freedom, especially universalization of the local one, the other side must be the right to life. In other words, when cultural relativism seen as the localization of the global one. Therefore, refuses universality of legal standards that guarantee according to the author, it is necessary to mention human rights and freedom, it cannot be said that all glocalization, not globalization. Glocalization is cultures are equally valued. sometimes reported to be a reaction to globalization, or a reinforcement of cultural identity at the local community Culture and Tradition level’. Robertson sees ‘glocalization’ as a form of Tradition refers to a practice that comes from the past and interpenetration of the global and the local. But the way is repeated from generation to generation. In other words, the concept is generally applied relates to marketing a it is a set of social practices related to rituals or other product produced by a multinational corporation by forms of symbolic behavior, which are persistent with a appealing to local cultural cues. real or imaginary past and are widely adopted. Traditions