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CULTURE FUNCTIONS AND ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
INTRODUCTION
Culture is the centre of society and without culture no society can even exist. It is the main difference between human beings and animals. It is a heritage transmitted from one generation to another generation. It includes all the way and behaviour of culture. Culture is the entire way of life for a group of people.
DEFINITION
Edward B Taylor: “‘Culture ... 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”
Malinowski defines culture ” as the handiwork of man and the medium through which he achieves his end”
Robert Bierstedt: culture is the complex whole that consists of everything we think and do and have as a member of society.
MEANING :
Culture consists of all learned, normative behavior patterns - that is, all shared ways or patterns of thinking and feeling as well as doing.
The word 'culture' comes from the Latin word 'cultura,' related to cult or worship. In its broadest sense, the term refers to the result of human interaction.
Culture is thus composed of common habits and patterns of living of people in daily activities and common interest in entertainment, sports, news, and even advertising.
Culture is a comprehensive concept, which includes almost everything that influences an individual's thought processes and behaviors. Culture does not include inherited responses and predispositions.
FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
Culture is a treasure trove of knowledge.
Culture stores knowledge essential for physical, social, and spiritual life. Unlike animals guided mainly by instinct, humans possess intelligence and learning abilities. These abilities allow humans to adapt to their environment and modify it to meet their needs. Culture supports this process by providing shared skills, ideas, and accumulated experience necessary for survival and progress.
Culture defines the situation.
Culture defines social situations and everyday behavior. It influences what we eat, drink, wear, believe, and worship. It guides when we laugh, cry, sleep, love, work, and rest. Culture also tells us how to act, what decisions to make, and how to understand social events and meanings.
Culture defines attitudes, values, and goals.
Attitudes shape feelings and actions, values measure what is good, and goals represent desired achievements. Culture shapes views on religion, morality, marriage, science, family planning, and social issues. Values related to property, rights, government, love, loyalty, and obedience are culturally learned. Goals such as success, patriotism, understanding others, and spiritual fulfillment arise through cultural socialization.
Culture determines our careers.
Culture influences occupational choices such as becoming doctors, farmers, soldiers, teachers, leaders, or businesspeople. Although individuals may question, change, or resist cultural expectations, most people live within cultural limits that guide career opportunities and aspirations.
Culture provides patterns of behavior.
Culture controls and organizes behavior by setting goals, assigning roles, rewarding approved actions, and discouraging unacceptable ones. People see, dream, work, marry, and celebrate according to cultural expectations. Culture both restricts and channels human energy.
Culture shapes character.
Culture deeply influences personality development. Without culture, individuals cannot fully develop human qualities. each culture produces distinct personality patterns. L culture strongly does not completely determine them. People remain unique due to biology, personal experience, and exposure to other cultures through travel, media, and interaction. These influences help explain diversity within societies while maintaining shared cultural foundations for cooperation, identity, continuity, stability, adaptation, creativity, and collective human development across generations and changing social environments worldwide today.
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
1. Cognitive Elements culture of all societies
whether pre-literate or literate include a vast amount of knowledge about the physical and social world. The possession of this knowledge is referred to as the cognitive elements. Such knowledge is carefully taught to each generation. In modern advanced societies knowledge is so vast, deep and complete that no single person can hope to master the whole of it.
2. Beliefs:
Belief constitutes another element of culture Every sect within a culture having some beliefs for cultural refuge. These beliefs are responsible for the spiritual fulfilment of needs and wants. Beliefs in empirical terms are neither true nor false for example- Sikh wear bangle in one hand, keeping a dagger. The water of Ganga is sacred for Hindus. The belief behind these actions cannot be confirmed or rejected on the basis of empirical evidence
3. Values and Norms
Values may be defined as measures of goodness or desirability. Anything getting importance in our daily life becomes our values. The origin of values is not biological but it is social production while living in society and values develop. Norms are Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behaviour of its members. These are the shared expectations of the people that govern their behavior. Prescriptive norms: What we should do.
