Concept, Aspects & Changes in Culture, Society and Politics

Culture

• Human-made environment: material & non-material products transmitted \text{generation}\rightarrow\text{generation}

• Observable traits (food, dress, language) + deep patterns shaping perception, behaviour, relationships

• Latin root “cultus” = cultivation/refinement

Aspects of Culture

• Actions: regime, work, religion, science, art

• Language: mother-tongue, dialect

• Identity: self-consciousness, self-esteem

• History: myths, milestones

• Experience: rituals, customs

• Space: living & functional areas

• Validity: values, laws, meanings

Types

• Material: schools, homes, temples, artefacts

• Non-material: symbols, language, values, norms

General Characteristics

• Learned & acquired (not biological)

• Shared

• Cumulative

• Dynamic & changing

• Diverse & complex

• Provides passable standards of conduct (defines acceptable behaviour)

• Ideational (sets ideal patterns)

Key Anthropologists

• Edward B. Tylor: “complex whole” of knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom

• R.R. Marrett: culture = communicable intelligence

• Radcliffe-Brown: cultivation; transmission of traditions that perpetuate society

Society

• Group of people interacting in a defined area & sharing culture

• Latin “socius” = companion; web of social relations (MacIver & Page)

Core Features

• Abstract network of relationships; cannot be seen directly

• Requires both likeness & difference for cooperation & variety

• Contains cooperation & conflict (society = cooperation crossed by conflict)

• Process, not product; constantly becoming

• System of stratification: defines statuses & classes

Key Sociologists

• Auguste Comte: coined “sociology”; society more than sum of individuals

• Karl Marx: historical materialism; economic sector central; organic totality

• George Simmel: patterned interactions; responses to everyday events

Politics

• From Greek “polis” (city-state); study of power & governance

• Concerned with authoritative allocation of values (Easton) & exercise of power

Characteristics

• Use or threat of use of legal force

• System of interactions integrating & adapting society

• Interdependence: change in one part affects whole system

Interrelations

• Culture provides meanings & standards that shape society & politics

• Society institutionalises culture & channels political structures

• Politics enforces collective decisions, influencing cultural change & social order

Quick Recall

• Culture = learned, shared, dynamic meanings & practices

• Society = network of relationships organised in territory

• Politics = exercise of power & decision-making backed by legal force