Culture and cultural concepts
- Culture may be defined as, “socially standardized ways of feeling, thinking and acting, which an individual acquires as a member of the society”. an accumulated store of a symbol, ideas, and material products associated with the social system, whether it is an entire society, or a family.
Characteristics:
- It is dynamic in nature.
- It is a learned behaviour.
- It is an organization of phenomena of acts (pattern of behaviour), objects (tools, things made with tools), ideas and sentiments. Because of this character, culture is easily and readily transmitted from one human organism to another.
- It satisfies ones biological and socio-cultural needs, not only for food, shelter and clothing but various relationships.
- It is integrative in nature. Some forces may sometime tend to pull it in different directions, even there is a general tendency towards integration, so that the society is held together.
- It builds certain norms, rules and actions for creating harmony among various members of a particular group or society. As it provides common interests and needs. It helps the individual to come closer in touch to share their various day to day interests.
- Culture is reality of human beings; it produces informal attachments with other members of the same group.
- Language is the chief vehicle of culture.