Culture| Culture Meaning| Culture Etymology| Cultural Changes
CULTURE Meaning| Culture Etymology| Cultural Changes
Culture is a broad term which encompasses of Social Behavior, Norms, Rituals and my other practices in Human societies. Culture can also be traced in the knowledge, belief, arts, laws, customs, capabilities and the habits of the individuals. Culture is usually derives in a particular region or location. Culture used to passes from one Generation and the practices of certain culture is acquired by next or the new Generation through through the means of enculturation(is the process by which people learn the dynamics of their surrounding culture) and Socialization (process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of societies) and this shows by the diversity of culture across the societies.
The social norms used to organize the acceptable conduct in the societies it serves as guidelines for the Cultural Dresses, festivals, Music , Languages and demeanor (manner/attitude/ appearance) in situation, it serves the template of expectation in a social groups. Accepting only a monoculture (single culture) in a social group can bear risk, just as the single species can diminish in the face of environment change for lack of functional responses to the change. Culture in real used to be affected by the External and internal factors as shown in following diagram:-
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| Factors responsible for Cultural changes |
There are basically Two concepts of culture Those are MATERIAL CULTURE and IMMATERIAL CULTURE .
MATERIAL CULTURE :- MATERIAL CULTURE covers the physical expression of the culture, such as technology, architecture and arts in the surrounding environment of a society.
whereas,
IMMATERIAL CULTURE :- IMMATERIAL CULTURE comprises of principles of social organization, Political organization, and Social Institution , Mythology, Philosophy and Literature.
CultureIn humanities one sense of culture as an attribute of the individual has been the degree to which they have cultured a particular level of worldliness in the different fields such as ARTS, SCIENCE, EDUCATION, or MANNARS. The Degree of Cultural sophistication(worldliness) has also sometimes used to distinguished more civilized societies or Civilizations from less complex societies. This Type of Hierarchical view on the culture are also found in the class based distinctions between high culture of the SOCIAL ARISTROCRATES or elites and a lower culture or the popular culture followed by people of Lower classes of the different societies. This Hierarchical distinguishment can be ranked by access of CULTURAL CAPITAL.
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| Meaning of Cultural Capital |
VIEWS OF DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THOUGHTS ON "CULTURE"
Some Schools of Social Science, Such as MARXISM and CRITICAL THEORY have often argued that CULTURE is used as the Tool in the Political Sphere by the Elite groups to manipulate the PROLITARIATS or the Weaker section of the society and creates the false consciousness among them. This consciousness used in the sense of Lower and Upper class, Privileged and Under Privileged, Bourgeoises section etc. all these types of contrasts usually used by Upper class to Exploit the LOWER class or Under privilege section of the society, Such as Britishers used a term for India when they were ruling India that was "LAND OF SNAKES AND SNAKE CHARMERS" just to make people realize that they are underdeveloped and they need the help of Britishers in terms to be a developed country. These perspectives are common in the discipline of cultural studies.
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ETYMOLOGY(ORIGIN OF CULTURE)
The term ''Culture'' is the modern form of term '' Religion ''. which basically mean the particular system of fait and worship, that used to be followed by people. The modern term culture is based on term used by the ancient Roman orator Cicero in his Tusculanae Disputations( these are series of books written by cicero), Where he wrote of a cultivation of soul or ''Culture animi '' using on agriculture metaphor for the development of a philosophical
soul.
In the 1986, philosopher Edevard S.lasey wrote'' the very word culture meant place tilled in middle english and the same work goes back to latin colere ''to inhabit care for, worship and cultus , especially a religious one.
In the words of anthropologist E.B. Tylor, it is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Alternatively, in a contemporary variant, "Culture is defined as a social domain that emphasizes the practices, discourses and material expressions, which, over time, express the continuities and discontinuities of social meaning of a life held in common.
CHANGES IN CULTURE
THE Term CULTURE has been recently came into existence, it was during the time of 20th century when the term has gained it's prevalence in the real world. But still this term is undergoing through massive changes or having the Paradigm Shift in it's meaning, through various means. Sir RAIMON PANNIKKAR identified 29 ways by which CULTURE undergoes massive changes some of are Development, Evolution, Involution, Renovation reforms, Innovation etc.
Culture used to be affected or undergo into massive changes through TWO main ways Internal factors and External Factors .
INTERNAL FACTORS:- INTERNALLY CULTURE is affected through forces encouraging changes, and forces Resisting Changes . These forces includes both the Social Structure and Natural Events and are involved in perpetuation of CULTURAL ideas and practices within current Structures, which themselves are subjected to changes.
On the other hand
THE EXTERNAL FACTORS:- Externally culture is affected by the Interaction among the people or the group of people of different Societies which leads to create a huge exchange of IDEAS, PRACTICES,NORMS, RITUALS, FEELING etc. This Change in Term CULTURE can be massively traced after the introduction of INDUSTRIALISATION which has lead to create GLOBALISATION in the whole world which in real has lead to exchange of IDEAS, PRACTICES,NORMS, RITUALS, FEELING etc.
SUBCULTURE
SUBCULTURE is the group of people within the CULTURAL SOCIETY that used to differentiate itself form some CONSERVATIVE and STANDARD VALUES to which they belong . Subculture used to maintain their own Values, NORMS, beliefs regarding different spheres of life such as political, Economic, Social, and Sexual sphere .
for example : In India some culture like Muslims used to follow the rule of marriage within there own family but in Hindus, marriage within their own family is next to the vicious crime.
Subculture is the group of people following same values, norms, beliefs etc. having distinct characteristic of it's own and resides in the society and for understanding the culture as the whole whether it is of a Small country like CUBA, NORWAY or it is of diverse culture as of India one have to have knowledge of the subculture as a whole of that particular place.
THE IDENTIFICATION OF POLITICAL SUBCULTURES is complicated somewhat by the variety of possible ways in which such strata might be conceived. In his book Political culture(1972) , DENNIS KAVANAGH identifies four distinct bases on which subculture develops:-
ELITE VERSUS MASS CULTURE : The elites versus mass idea concentrate attention on attitudinal differences which might obtain between political classes as a whole and remainder of the population. The separation of elites from masses is very beneficial because it's exposure to particular sorts of knowledge and access to decision making channels provides a common socialising experience for a particular elites. So rather seeing or believing elites as an investigable subculture in it's own right. It has been founded that elites tend to be well versed in self-recruitment and that various political system possess of socializing their elites into a distinct attitudinal pattern.
CULTURAL DIVISIONS WITHIN ELITES : The subculture is associated with the branch of political science which argues that most important zone of politics is the zone populated by the elites groups. Here degree of stability are not likely to be prevailing 'macro' political culture in society as a whole, but to the level of cultural consensus between Elites groups.
GENERATIONAL POLITICAL CULTURE: Political Culture belongs a particular generations. The ideas gives the rise to the views that political culture possess a dynamism. Political Culture changes or undergoes into paradigm change over times as particular generations becomes socialized into distinct values sets, reach political maturity in possession of those values sets and eventually die out to be replaced by a new generational political culture. such Ideas are particularly associated with the work of RONALD INGLEHART(1977,1991), who maintained that western societies in the 1970s were undergoing fundamental political changes thanks to generational changes in prevailing values.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE: Political subcultures are attitudinal expressions of the various class, religion, linguistic and ethnic divisions which characterize any country. So, for example in most of the western countries it is possible to be talk about working class culture which used to gives rise to certain sorts of beliefs and values which historically have been channelled into political systems by social democratic, labour, and communist political parties. some states are divided along religious lines like India and Pakistan is one best example . In the NETHERLANDS, say, we might identify distinct CATHOLIC and CALVINIST political cultures.
political Scientists (or perhaps more accurately political sociologists) who focus on the social structure are interested in the relationship between the operation of the political system and composition of the society which feeds it. one powerful and influential argument associated with the work of the Stein Rokkan is that the pattern of political cleavages in any country can be understood with reference to the underlying foundations of the social structure.
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Civil Culture
The Entry of the concept of political culture in the lexicon of the political studies is the most associated with the rise of the behavioural movement, The attractiveness of the idea of the political culture to behaviouralists should be obvious . The promise of finding correlations between certain sorts of Cultural conditions and various level of political stability dovetailed (cause to bind together) well with the behaviouralist's quest for scientific precision in the explanation.
The paradigmatic example of the behavioural study of the political culture remains The CIVIC CULTURE, by the American political scientists GABRIEL ALMOND and SIDNEY VERBA, which was first published in 1963. The Civic culture was a report on the extensive carried out in Five major countries : US, United Kingdom , Italy, and the Federal republic of Germany and Mexico - in 1959.
The purpose of this investigating what we now know as the political culture has predominantly been to establish the nature of the relationship between regime stability and the structure of beliefs, values and traditions at any given time. The claim being made is that political culture filters our perceptions, influences, our attitudes and has a large say in the extent and manner of our political participation.
The constitution of the political culture will influence pattern of behaviour within a political system and that these behavioural pattern to turn have a major influence on the stability of a regime.
Verba and their team aim to research on political culture was to aquire mass of comparative data on public opinion from which conclusion about public opinion could be made. Respondent of there was roughly 1,000 in each countries - were asked three sorts of Questions about their attitudes to political objects.
COGNITIVE QUESTIONS : Used to test the respondents factual Knowledge and belief about their respective political system .
AFFECTIVE QUESTIONS: Dealt with the ways in which those surveyed felt about those political objects- their attitudes to their political system.
EVALUATIVE QUESTIONS : Sort to ascertain opinions and the judgements about the political objects, a test of wider political values.
With all the answers and by analyzing the Survey the concluded the THREE MAIN IDEAL TYPES OF POLITICAL CULTURES : Parochial, Subject and participant .
PAROCHAIL POLITICAL CULTURE : Characterized by General ignorance about political objects and a consequent lack of involvement in the political processes and activities .
SUBJECT POLITCAL CULTURE : Here people have the enough knowledge about the political
objects but the don't have the interest or they don't to participate in the political activities or political processes such as they know the importance of one single vote in the elections but still they hide themselves from voting process.
PARTICIPANT POLITICAL CULTURE : This political culture combines both the values means They do have the knowledge about political culture in addition they have the willingness to participate in the political processes, Phenomenon, or in political activities.
CONCLUSION:
The analyze they could make out of their research are First , They regarded these types of political culture as the properties of both individual and political system as a whole. It was thought possible to aggregate the individual orientations. The assumption therefore is that it is possible to link the Micro and macro aspect of politics .
Second, The three categories are ideal types. This means that they represent an attempt to impose a classification upon the disordered and messy reality of the human world.
At Last Verba and Almond concluded that all the three ideal types would be unsatisfactory as cultural underpinnings for stable democratic polity. Parochialism was a characteristic of "traditional" societies and not of the mature democracies, Subject political culture were also deemed unsuitable, while on the other hand participatory political culture carried with it the danger of a kind of democracy overloaded,
as too many people trying to participate in political processes creates the instability which could undermines the normative ideal of democratic stability.
Criticism of CIVIC CULTURE:
1.) The Book CIVIC culture shows that they had choose Five main countries US, United Kingdom , Italy, and the Federal republic of Germany and Mexico where it can noticed that all the countries belongs to west so this means that these Three ideal type of political culture don't fits to the Asian or the eastern part of the world because political culture of the west is totally different from that of the other part of the world.
2.) In the research Verba and Almond have Only included 1000 people from every country which is too small number to be researched upon.
3.) They have included the women point of view about the political culture in the whole civic culture we can only make out what mans can think about political object but no were is mentioned that what Female have the point of view about the political object.
Very finely written content. Carry on with these types of work on Culture
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