Culture and Society A Social Systems Perspective HBSE II

Definitions  Culture:  Those qualities and attributes that seem to be characteristic of all humankind.  Humans evolve and adapt primarily through culture rather than changes in anatomy or genetics.  Culture survives if it can accommodate to changing conditions.  Culture is viewed as a macrosystem.  Binds a particular society together, and includes its manners, morals, tools, and techniques.

 Society:  A group of people who have learned to live and work together.  Society is a holon and within the society, culture refers to the way of life is followed by the group (society).

Nature of Culture  Culture is a group phenomenon.  Cultures evolve from the interaction of person with others, and a person’s belief or behavior becomes part of the culture when it is externalized and objectified.

 A culture evolves as each person encounters four “poles”.  One’s own body or somatic process.  Biological constitution  Genetic endowment  Other persons or society.  Feedback cycle  The material world of nonhuman objects.  The universe of social constructed meanings.

 According to Erikson, cultures change through the action of persons whose ideas and behavior “fit” the culture.  Change can also occur as a result of cataclysm, either physical as in famine, war, epidemic, or disaster.  It can also change as a result of a “paradigm shift” in fundamental understandings by those in the culture.

Unique Aspects of the Human Species  The capacity to think.  Sets humans apart from most other forms of life.  Humans have the capacity to externalize the thought process.  Tools  Human reproduction  Cloning

The Family as Human Universal  The family is biologically based and is the primary social unit.  Family is constant; the form of the family is variable.  The development of culture exists because culture is transmitted from one generation to the next through education not through the genes.

Language and Communication  Language is defined as any transfer of meaning, but general usage refers only to spoken and written messages.  It is essential to be attuned to unspoken and unwritten language.  Language structures reality  Form and variability determine how members of the culture will view reality and structure their thoughts.

Territoriality  Tendency of people to seek and maintain a territory.  The definition of spatial and interactional territories is paramount feature of any culture.  Refers to the cultural ways people locate themselves in their universe and establish the boundaries of their various human systems.

Qualities of a Society  Culture is that complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a human being as a member of society.  Culture is viewed as the ways of doing, being, and explaining, as they exist in each particular system.

Tools  Amplifiers of human capacities:  Sensory capacity  Motor capacity  Reasoning and thinking capacity  Include devices, objects, and procedures that are extensions of human natural capacities.  Tools of a culture include not only understanding their built-in purpose but, their purpose for the user.

Social Organizations: Society and Roles  All cultures, being social systems, have organization.  Three aspects operating to define social class:  Economic status  Social status  Political power  Social class suggests a group consciousness on the part of members.  Emergence of a permanent “underclass” in American society.

 Role relates to and derives from status.  Total of the cultural expectations associated with a particular status, including:  Attitudes  Values  Behavior  Role expectation are defined by the culture and its components and incorporated by the persons filling the role.

 All persons occupy a complex set of roles:  Parent  Child  Worker  Voter  Worshipper  The total number of roles is influenced by the quantity of networks they are involved in.

Language  Transfer of meaning between systems and between subsystems.  Composed of symbols and the meanings are learned and transferred through social interaction.  Communication of symbols and their meanings represents the major form of transaction between systems.

 Mead stated that we do not simply respond to the acts of others; we act on our interpretations of their intentions and judgments.  A means of setting and maintaining cultural boundaries; also to organize the energies of the system.  The importance of screening and interpreting symbols in working with people is quite clear.

Child Rearing  A major task of any culture.  As a culture becomes more complex and differentiated, so too does child rearing, and other social provisions appear.  These new systems arise to realize more effectively the complex values of a culture.  Certain values are in conflict with certain other values, leading to tension and strain within the culture.

Human Urge to Explain the World  Humans are congenitally compelled to impose a meaningful order upon reality.  Religion, philosophy, science, and superstition are some of the means.  Science continues to be the dominant means of exploring, explaining, and changing our world.

Social Relations: Caring  Cultures are marked by the style in which they conduct social relationships.  Caring involves both an emotional disposition and caring labor.  It is a practice in which both thought and action are integrated around central aims or goals.  Caring is a dimension of culture as much as tools and language.

 A feminist critique states that caring is largely delegated to women by a male-dominated society.  Regardless of sex, individuals and groups who occupy subordinate status display a responsive orientation to others characterized by deference, attentiveness, awareness of needs, understanding of perspectives, moods, intentions, and responsiveness.

 An emphasis on autonomy as a basis for caring may be more acceptable to men.