Can Culture Be Defined? (AQA A-Level Sociology): Revision Notes
Can Culture Be Defined?
Introduction to culture
Culture represents one of sociology's most important concepts for understanding human behaviour. Sociologists examine how culture shapes people's actions, the norms and values that guide them, and the meanings individuals attach to their experiences. Culture helps explain why members of different societies behave in both similar and contrasting ways, and allows us to explore what it means to be human.
Raymond Williams (1976) noted that culture is among the most complex words in the English language, reflecting the difficulty scholars face in creating precise definitions that capture all aspects of this multifaceted concept.
Issues of culture and identity have consistently been central themes in sociology, enabling researchers to examine who we think we are and how we behave both individually and collectively.
Two main definitions of culture
Structuralist definition: culture as 'way of life'
The first definition emerges from structuralist theorists who view culture as the 'way of life of society'. This perspective assumes societies share common ways of living, with shared norms and values that bind communities together.
Under this definition, culture serves an active social function by creating the foundation for social cohesion and collective identity within communities.
This approach suggests culture functions by:
- Binding individuals together through shared or collective symbols
- Providing patterns that structure our daily lives
- Establishing rules by which we conduct ourselves
- Creating cohesion within society
However, this approach should not assume all cultures are identical or uniform.
Culture as a 'map of meaning'
The second definition conceptualises culture as a mental framework we carry within ourselves, created through our interactions with others. This perspective emphasises that:
- Culture provides symbols and rules for understanding the world
- Individuals play active and creative roles in producing culture
- Culture creates the reality we experience and live within
- We use culture to interpret both our own actions and those of others
Zygmunt Bauman highlighted that culture refers to something artificial - society trains individuals to follow particular cultural codes, which are communicated through signs such as clothing, symbols, and language.
Three levels of culture
Culture operates as a socially constructed phenomenon rather than being biologically inevitable. We learn cultural patterns through socialisation, which occurs across three distinct levels:
- Artefacts and behaviours: The visible, tangible aspects of culture including objects, rituals, and observable practices
- Espoused values: The stated beliefs and values that a culture claims to uphold
- Assumptions: The deep, often unconscious beliefs that underpin how a culture views reality
Understanding these three levels is essential for cultural analysis because what people say they believe (espoused values) may not always match their deeper assumptions or their actual behaviours.
Cultural traditions that distinguish societies
When people refer to English, Croatian, Indian, or Chinese culture, they identify the shared language, traditions, rituals, and beliefs that set these groups apart from others. Horace Miner's satirical study 'Body ritual among the Nacirema' (1956) demonstrated how cultures can be recognised through these shared characteristics.
Most individuals who share your culture do so because they were raised by parents and family members who transmitted these cultural patterns to them through socialisation.
Research Example: Body ritual among the Nacirema
Horace Miner, Body ritual among the Nacirema, 1956
Aim: To examine cultural practices objectively and demonstrate how familiar behaviours can appear strange when viewed from an outsider's perspective.
Key findings: The Nacirema culture centres on the belief that the human body is naturally ugly and prone to weakness and disease. Their cultural practices include:
- Household shrines containing magical charms and potions essential for survival
- Medicine men who provide powerful treatments in exchange for substantial gifts
- An obsession with mouth rituals, believing oral condition affects social relationships
- Daily mouth rituals involving inserting hog hairs and magical powders, performed through formalised gestures
- Ritual ablution ceremonies for children to improve their moral character
Evaluation - Strengths:
- Demonstrates how cultural relativity affects our understanding of practices
- Shows that culture consists of learned rather than biological behaviours
- Illustrates how anthropological methods can reveal assumptions about 'normal' behaviour
Evaluation - Weaknesses:
- The satirical nature may oversimplify complex cultural analysis
- Uses Western practices (Nacirema is 'American' backwards) which may not translate to genuinely different cultures
- Could reinforce ethnocentric attitudes if misunderstood
Subcultures
In diverse, complex societies where people originate from various parts of the world, individuals often retain elements of their original cultural traditions, forming subcultures within larger cultures. For example, many countries contain areas like 'Little India' with concentrations of South Asian residents, restaurants, and shops.
When a particular subculture systematically opposes the dominant culture, it becomes a counterculture. Research into subcultures has been particularly influenced by the Chicago School of Sociology and Birmingham University's Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS). Youth subcultures such as punks, skinheads, emos, goths, and skaters exemplify this phenomenon.
Hebdige (1995) argued that subcultures unite like-minded individuals who feel neglected by mainstream society, allowing them to develop their distinct identities and find belonging outside conventional social structures.
Functionalists suggest that while societies have mainstream consensus ways of life, those who don't conform belong to subcultures - though these groups aren't entirely separate from mainstream culture.
Cultural universals
Cultural universals represent learned behaviour patterns shared by all humanity, regardless of geographical location. These universal traits demonstrate commonalities across human societies and include:
- Communication through language
- Classification systems based on age and gender (woman, man, teenager, elderly person)
- Child-rearing within family structures
- Sexual division of labour
- Regulation of sexual behaviour
- Establishment and implementation of rules and values
- Artistic creation
- Leadership roles and governing systems
These universals suggest that while cultures vary tremendously, certain human needs and social requirements appear across all societies, indicating shared aspects of the human condition.
Is culture same as society?
Culture and society represent distinct but interconnected concepts. Culture consists of learned behaviour patterns and individual perceptions, while society encompasses systems of structural interrelationships made up of social institutions such as marriage and family.
Key Distinction: Culture represents the shared meanings and learned patterns, while society refers to the structural organisation and institutional relationships between people. Understanding this difference is crucial for sociological analysis.
Societies are groups of people who interact directly or indirectly with each other. People within societies typically perceive their community as distinct from others in terms of shared traditions and expectations. Although cultures and societies differ, they connect closely because culture is created and transmitted within social contexts.
Cultures don't emerge from isolated individuals but develop through continuous interaction between people. Cultural patterns including language, politics, and economics only make sense within the context of human interaction and social relationships.
Culture functions as a mediating apparatus between individuals and the broader system of structural social relationships. Any society comprises individuals organised into structured social relationships, with culture serving as the bridge connecting personal experience to social structures.
Key Points to Remember:
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Culture has multiple definitions: It can be understood as a 'way of life' (structuralist view) or as a 'map of meaning' that individuals use to interpret their world.
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Culture operates on three levels: Visible artefacts and behaviours, stated values, and deep underlying assumptions that shape how we view reality.
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Culture is learned, not innate: We acquire cultural knowledge through socialisation rather than biological inheritance, making it socially constructed.
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Subcultures and universals coexist: While diverse subcultures exist within larger societies, certain cultural universals appear across all human communities.
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Culture and society are different but connected: Culture represents learned patterns while society consists of structural relationships, but they work together to shape human experience.