3.1.1

Culture

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Culture

Culture generally describes the shared behaviours and beliefs of a group of people and includes material and nonmaterial elements.

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Values

  • Values are a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society.
  • Values are deeply embedded and critical for transmitting and teaching a culture’s beliefs.
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Beliefs

  • Beliefs are the tenets or convictions that people hold to be true. Individuals in a society have specific beliefs, but they also share collective values.
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Norms

  • Norms define how to behave in line with what a society has defined as good, right, and important, and most members of society adhere to them.
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Culture

  • The term culture refers to the language, diet, dress, beliefs, customs, norms and values, knowledge and skills which make up the way of life of any society.
  • Culture is passed on between generations via socialisation and culture acts as the link between individuals and society.

Dominant Culture vs Subculture

Culture is passed on between generations via socialisation and culture acts as the link between individuals and society.

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Dominant culture

  • The main culture in society which is shared or generally accepted by the majority of people is known as the dominant culture.
  • Marxists view the dominant culture as reflecting the interests of the rich and powerful (the ruling or dominant class).
  • Feminists see the dominant culture as patriarchal and reflecting the power and control of men.
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Subculture

  • A subculture is a small culture within the dominant culture and may have different norms and values while having many aspects in common.
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Example

  • Examples of subcultures include youth subcultures (including pro- and anti-school subcultures and ones based around music preference or style of dress).
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Oppositions

  • Subcultures often emerge through the experience of socialisation of different groups and can sometimes be in active opposition to the dominant culture.
  • For example, anti-school subcultures resist the dominant values of the school.

Subcultures

A subculture is a small culture within the dominant culture and may have different norms & values while having many aspects in common.

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Folk culture

  • Folk culture is associated with pre-industrial or early industrial societies and display a number of key features:
    • Authenticity.
    • Actively created.
    • Active involvement.
  • Authenticity refers to the way in which folk culture emerges from everyday experiences, customs, and beliefs of ordinary people, such as traditional folk music, songs, storytelling, and dance.
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Active creation

  • Folk cultures must be actively created, in that they must be produced by ordinary people in local communities rather than manufactured by others.
  • Active involvement means that people must actively participate in the culture, rather than being passive recipients of products manufactured by others.
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High culture

  • High culture refers to that which is deemed to be superior in taste and associated with the privileged intellectual elite, the wealthy and educated upper- and upper-middle classes.
  • High culture is seen as something special and something of lasting artistic, literary or intellectual value worthy or preserving.
  • Examples of high culture include museums, theatre, art galleries and opera houses.
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Low culture

  • Low culture is often used in a derogatory (critical and insulting) way to describe mass or low culture, suggesting inferiority in comparison to high culture.

Jump to other topics

1Theory & Methods

2Education with Methods in Context

3Option 1: Culture & Identity

4Option 1: Families & Households

5Option 1: Health

6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare

7Option 2: Beliefs in Society

8Option 2: Global Development

9Option 2: The Media

10Crime & Deviance

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