essay about changes of culture and society

Essays About Culture and Society: Top 5 Examples

Culture and society are complicated topics that can’t exist without each other. See our essays about culture and society examples and prompts for your writing.

Writing essays about culture and society is common among those taking social and cultural studies. As its name suggests, this field explores past and present customs and beliefs within society. This area offers career opportunities in education, medicine, human resources, and others. Creating an essay about this subject requires cultural and social knowledge gained through reliable sources and personal experience.

5 Essay Examples

1. the concept of culture and society by alex adkins, 2. native american culture and society by anonymous on gradesfixer.com, 3. society, culture, and civilization essay by anonymous on ivypanda.com, 4. cultural norms and society by lucille horton, 5. the impact of culture & society on the children’s development by anonymous on gradesfixer.com, 1. defining culture and society, 2. the importance of culture and society, 3. culture and society: the medieval era, 4. the american culture and society today, 5. the influence of korean culture on today’s society, 6. how media influences culture and society, 7. culture and society: lgbtqia+.

“Culture, as often defined in most sociology textbooks, is the way of life of a society. It is the sum of the ideas, beliefs, behaviors, norms, traditions, and activities shared by a particular group of people. According to Giddens (1989), any society cannot exist without a culture.”

Adkin’s essay contains several passages explaining the concept, role, and importance of culture and society. He describes culture as a vital aspect of society, referring to it as the one that binds its citizens. To further discuss the role of culture in society, Adkin mentions Japanese and Chinese cultures to prove that culture sets the difference between societies.

As for society, Adkin says that culture builds and facilitates social institutions to interact with each other. These include family, religion, government, etc., which are responsible for the development of an individual and the type of society. He explains that society changes because of culture. As a person grows up, they are exposed to different situations and realizations that give them new perspectives affecting their cultural heritage.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about culture shock .

“Native Americans are the native people of the North, Central, and South America. There are many types of Native Americans such as Arikara, Iroquois, Pawnee, Sioux, Apache, Eskimo, Cree, Choctaw, Comanche, etc. Cherokee people have a diverse society and culture.”

While the author lists various types of Native American societies, they focus on one prominent tribe from the Iroquoian lineage, the Cherokee. The author shares fascinating facts about the tribe.

The author describes why the Cherokee refer to themselves as cavemen, and Cherokee women are powerful but still equal to men, explaining their matrilineal society. As one of the civilized tribes in America, the Cherokees are a diverse society that accepts other tribes, but they cannot marry someone from the same clan. Cherokee culture includes the Booger mask dance and the Iroquoian language.

“Society can comprise people groups that have not developed civilization yet, as it concerns any relationship of the individuals. Culture is prior to civilization since it shapes the communities, making them highly adaptive to the specific conditions in which they live. Civilization is dependent on both concepts because it absolutizes societal norms and traditions and elevates material culture and virtues to the most complicated stage.”

To understand the concept of man, the author describes society as a group of families conforming to a particular set of customs and practices known as culture. On the other hand, civilization results from prolonged and continuous changes in culture and society. The writer believes that although they are different from each other, these three constructs are interrelated and essential to complete the whole sequence of the modern human experience.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about globalization .

“Different countries have different cultures. This is because different countries are composed of multitudes of different norms. Norms are commonly established when a majority of the society’s population practice a particular or common habit of living.”

In this essay, the writer defines society as an association, culture as a collection of characteristics, and norms as standard practices. Since society is defined by culture, historical events, and norms that define culture, and culture is the most potent aspect of civilization, Horton views cultural norms as the primary support of society. 

The essay also includes examples that explain the topic, such as comparing East and West cultures. Horton believes that while everyone has a different culture, understanding a person’s culture before making a comment or judgment is essential.

“Culture plays an essential job in affecting this improvement, and what is viewed as ‘typical’ advancement change incredibly starting with one culture then onto the next. The general public and culture in which one grows up impact everything from formative developments and child rearing styles to what sorts of hardship one will probably confront.”

In this essay, the author uses their personal experiences to show the real impact of cultural traditions and values ​​on the thought process and worldview as a child grows. As a Muslim, the writer was introduced to various rites and rituals at a young age, such as fasting. They believe this ritual teaches them to control their desires and care for the poor. Ultimately, society significantly impacts youth, but learning about social and cultural differences helps people, especially parents, to guide their child’s developmental process. 

7 Prompts for Essays About Culture and Society

The Oxford Dictionary defines culture as a group’s customs, beliefs, and way of life, while society is people living in a community. Use this prompt and be creative in explaining the meaning of culture and society. Explore and use various dictionaries and add quotations from studies and books such as ” Culture and Society, 1780-1950 .” Then, define culture and society by picking the common ideas gathered through this compiled knowledge. 

Culture is vital to society because one cannot function without the other. For this prompt, delve into the specifics of this connection. Depending on your approach, you can divide the body of your paper into three sections to separate and discuss their importance: culture, society, and culture and society. In the third section, explain the possible impact if one of them does not work correctly. Conclude your essay by summarizing and answering the question, “what is the importance of culture and society?”.

Culture and society constantly change for various reasons, including new technological inventions. For this prompt, identify and discuss the main features and significant influences of the medieval era. Explain the reasons for its changes and why society evolved to new societal norms and cultural changes. Consider whether there’s a chance to bring the positive parts of old cultures and societies to the modern day.

Today, culture in the US is a diverse mix of practices, beliefs, and traditions. This is due to the large number of people immigrating to the US from different countries worldwide. As a culturally diverse country, use this prompt to discuss America’s social and cultural characteristics, such as language, cuisine, music, religious beliefs, and more. Then, explain how Americans keep up with these changes in their normal culture.

Are you interested in writing about diversity? Check out our guide on  how to write an essay about diversity .

If you love music, you’ve probably heard of KPOP or BTS . Korean pop music is just one part of South Korean culture that has traveled globally. In this prompt, discuss the aspects of Korean culture that are prevalent today worldwide. Research when and where these cultural trends began and why they became popular in other parts of the world. To create an engaging essay, conduct interviews with your classmates to ask if they know anything about Korean culture.

Do you want to write about music instead? Check out our  essays about music topic guide !

Any form of media, such as print media, music, and the internet, dramatically influences culture and society. For example, streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ are hugely influential in today’s society, particularly among young people. In this essay, discuss today’s most popular forms of media and look at how they can influence culture and society. This could be as simple as influencing slang language, fashion, or popular careers such as becoming an influencer.

Recent studies show that the US has shifted its attitude toward the LGBTQIA+ community. With a rise in Americans who embrace new perspectives and now recognize same-sex marriage and parenthood. To effectively discuss the topic, including current issues within the LGBTQIA+ community, such as violence and bullying, and research the steps taken by government organizations to combat it.

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Culture vs Society: Similarities, Differences, Examples

Key Points:

• Culture: Culture refers to shared norms , values, symbols, traditions and artifacts among a group of people (Meek, 1988).
• Society: A society is a group of individuals who socially interact with each other. While these two concepts often interact, they have important differences from each other (Billington et al., 1991).

Members of a society usually have a common, shared culture and have social ties to the same territory. Meanwhile, a culture is not always confined within a single territory.

In contrast with cultures, which consist of customs, traditions, norms, values, symbols, and artifacts, societies feature a population that is organized around political and economic power.

While both cultures and societies can share elements such as a language, religion or faith, societies mostly refer to the populations while culture refers to the values and traditions that populations hold.

A society can include multiple cultures at the same time: Contemporary migration and human movements lead to increased mobility of cultures. As a result, some societies living in immigrant-receiving countries are described as multicultural, referring to the coexistence of multiple cultures within the same society.

An example of a multicultural society is the Canadian society, where different cultures of various immigrant communities are present alongside with Indigenous, British, and French cultures (Cumming, 2020).

Summary: Culture vs Society

Definition of culture.

According to sociology, a culture is composed of people with shared norms, values, symbols, traditions and artifacts (Meek, 1988).

Cultures have both material and non-material components (Vecco, 2010):

• Material cultural elements include artifacts such as art, cuisine, architectural works, language, and institutions .
• Non-material aspects of a culture, on the other hand, include values, norms, faith and religion (Cumming, 2020).

While material cultural elements usually have a physical presence, non-material elements are abstract and transferred to the next generations through oral history or socialization  (Vecco, 2010).

It is important to remember that cultures are not fixed and stable. Despite usually protecting their main characteristics, cultures are subjected to changes over time due to social, political, religious, and historical reasons.

Due to power inequalities and colonialism, some cultures influenced others more strongly, a phenomenon which is defined as cultural imperialism , cultural erasure, and in extreme cases, cultural genocide (Cumming, 2020).

Examples of Culture

In many instances, cultures are associated with an ethnicity, folk group , nationality, or religious group. Below are some examples.

1. French Culture

French culture refers to the common norms, values, traditions, symbols, and artifacts of people of French ethnicity. Architectural works such as the Eiffel Tower, or parts of the cuisine such as the croissant or baguette are well known examples of French cultural elements.

2. Jewish Culture

Another example is the Jewish culture, which is associated both with Judaism, Jewish ethnicity, and Israeli nationality. The Star of David is one of the main symbols which represent the Jewish culture.

Unlike French culture which is dominant in territories with a significant French population (e.g. France, Quebec) or former French colonies (e.g. Senegal), the Jewish culture is present across the globe through communities of various sizes who practice Judaism or have Jewish ancestry.

3. Organizational Culture

Another example is the concept of organizational culture, which refers to norms and values shared by individuals who work under the same organization (Keyton, 2010).

4. Subculture

Subcultures and countercultures are cultural groups that fit within and emerge from a dominant culture .

A subculture is a group of people who fit within a culture, but develop their own unique niche ideas, values, customs, traditions, and hobbies. They still are part of the main culture, but have chosen to develop the culture in a new way.

An example of a subculture is punks. Punks in England, for example, are unequivocally part of English culture (their accents, behaviors, eating practices are still emergent out of English culture). However, they are also unique in their musical tastes and dress codes.

Countercultures emerge out of a culture but reject the culture. They’re often a threat to the main culture. For example, hippies emerged out of 1960s American culture but rejected a core premise: capitalism. They position themselves as against and even a threat to the main culture, and therefore are more than a subculture – they’re a counterculture

Go Deeper: Culture Examples

Definition of Society

A society can be defined as a population, consisting of individuals who socially interact with each other through a network of social organizations and institutions.

Members of a society often live under the same political power and economic power systems, such as the same modern nation-state, or tribal hierarchy.

For example, individuals living under the French nation-state rule, and being subject to the French legal, political, and economic authorities can be referred to as the French society.

But notably, there are people in French society (within the political jurisdiction of France) who don’t fit into French culture, such as immigrants who have not assimilated.

In addition, societies at times share the same political or social territory, such as France as a political territory or Europe as a social territory, referring not only to the continent but also to the shared culture.

While multiple cultures can often coexist in a single society, each society usually has a dominant, mainstream culture.

For example, while tens of different cultures exist in the United States, American society is mostly subject to Anglo-American Protestant norms, rules and values (Kaufmann, 1999).

Societies can also be formed around a non-political group, such as if you join an ‘Architectural society’ for architects, who come together to discuss architecture, but are not associated with a nation-state and its laws.

Examples of Society

The term society is often used to specify a population who comes from a particular culture or heritage, or who shares the same value system (Billington et al., 1991).

1. French Society

In many cases, a society is defined according to its economic or political power system. For example, France is a society that holds many different cultural groups, but are all governed by shared norms.

Of course, within France, we have people of a wide range of cultures. Nevertheless, they share a healthcare system, education system, and democracy, which holds them together as a social group.

2. Agricultural Societies

Most nations and regions have agricultural societies. These are societies that may have regular meetings to discuss how to progress agricultural practices or set basic rules of how to go about farming within a region.

This is not a culture, however, because it’s not oriented around customs and traditions. Anyone who wants to become a farmer may enter the society. The glue holding this society together is not cultural but social – a shared way of making money.

Read Next: Types of Societies

Similarities between Culture and Society

Some features of culture and society heavily overlap. Indeed, any time that we talk about the presence of a society, we can also talk about the presence of a culture.

This is because each society requires social interactions between individuals, and cultures are created and reproduced through these social interactions.

Most societies have a dominant, mainstream culture which is the source of its norms, values, and traditions, as well as its common language and dominant faith or religion (if any).

In addition, both the concept of society and culture are associated with ethnicities, nationalities, territories or religious groups.

Examples include French culture and French society, or the Western culture and the Western society.

Similarly, both cultures and societies often have their own gender roles , kinship organizations, shared norms, values, and traditions.

Often, societies and cultures appear to be synonymous is because cultures influence societies, and the dominant culture may impose its values upon the whole society.

Both cultures and societies are dynamic concepts. In other words, they constantly change and evolve throughout history.

Cultures refers to shared norms, values, customs and traditions, symbols, and artifacts between a group of people (Meek, 1988). Society refers to a population which has continuous social interactions, who share the same territory and a dominant culture.

Therefore, culture and society are two different concepts, as the former refers to a set of norms and values while a society refers to a population or a large social group.

However, many features of cultures and societies overlap. These include the ways that both are affected by social institutions (such as faith or religion).

Also, culture is often present when there is a society, since both heavily rely on the functions of social interactions.

Finally, despite often having historical main elements, both cultures and societies are dynamic concepts that are subject to change and evolution.

Billington, R., Strawbridge, S., Greensides, L., & Fitzsimons, A. (1991). Culture and society: Sociology of culture . Bloomsbury Publishing.

Cumming, S. (2020). Sociology Unlocked . Oxford University Press.

Kaufmann, E. (1999). American exceptionalism reconsidered: Anglo-Saxon ethnogenesis in the “universal” nation, 1776–1850. Journal of American Studies , 33 (3), 437-457.

Keyton, J. (2010). Communication and organizational culture: A key to understanding work experiences . Sage Publications.

Meek, V. L. (1988). Organizational culture: Origins and weaknesses. Organization studies , 9 (4), 453-473.

Vecco, M. (2010). A definition of cultural heritage: From the tangible to the intangible. Journal of cultural heritage , 11 (3), 321-324.

Sanam Vaghefi (PhD Candidate)

Sanam Vaghefi (BSc, MA) is a Sociologist, educator and PhD Candidate. She has several years of experience at the University of Victoria as a teaching assistant and instructor. Her research on sociology of migration and mental health has won essay awards from the Canadian Sociological Association and the IRCC. Currently, she is am focused on supporting students online under her academic coaching and tutoring business Lingua Academic Coaching OU.

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Chris Drew (PhD)

This article was peer-reviewed and edited by Chris Drew (PhD). The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Dr. Drew has published over 20 academic articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and holds a PhD in Education from ACU.

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3.1 Culture and the Sociological Perspective

Learning objectives.

• Describe examples of how culture influences behavior.
• Explain why sociologists might favor cultural explanations of behavior over biological explanations.

As this evidence on kissing suggests, what seems to us a very natural, even instinctual act turns out not to be so natural and biological after all. Instead, kissing seems best understood as something we learn to enjoy from our culture , or the symbols, language, beliefs, values, and artifacts (material objects) that are part of a society. Because society, as defined in Chapter 1 “Sociology and the Sociological Perspective” , refers to a group of people who live in a defined territory and who share a culture, it is obvious that culture is a critical component of any society.

If the culture we learn influences our beliefs and behaviors, then culture is a key concept to the sociological perspective. Someone who grows up in the United States differs in many ways, some of them obvious and some of them not so obvious, from someone growing up in China, Sweden, South Korea, Peru, or Nigeria. Culture influences not only language but the gestures we use when we interact, how far apart we stand from each other when we talk, and the values we consider most important for our children to learn, to name just a few. Without culture, we could not have a society.

The profound impact of culture becomes most evident when we examine behaviors or conditions that, like kissing, are normally considered biological in nature. Consider morning sickness and labor pains, both very familiar to pregnant women before and during childbirth, respectively. These two types of discomfort have known biological causes, and we are not surprised that so many pregnant women experience them. But we would be surprised if the husbands of pregnant women woke up sick in the morning or experienced severe abdominal pain while their wives gave birth. These men are neither carrying nor delivering a baby, and there is no logical—that is, biological—reason for them to suffer either type of discomfort.

And yet scholars have discovered several traditional societies in which men about to become fathers experience precisely these symptoms. They are nauseous during their wives’ pregnancies, and they experience labor pains while their wives give birth. The term couvade refers to these symptoms, which do not have any known biological origin. Yet the men feel them nonetheless, because they have learned from their culture that they should feel these types of discomfort (Doja, 2005). And because they should feel these symptoms, they actually do so. Perhaps their minds are playing tricks on them, but that is often the point of culture. As sociologists William I. and Dorothy Swaine Thomas (1928) once pointed out, if things are perceived as real, then they are real in their consequences. These men learn how they should feel as budding fathers, and thus they feel this way. Unfortunately for them, the perceptions they learn from their culture are real in their consequences.

The example of drunkenness further illustrates how cultural expectations influence a behavior that is commonly thought to have biological causes. In the United States, when people drink too much alcohol, they become intoxicated and their behavior changes. Most typically, their inhibitions lower and they become loud, boisterous, and even rowdy. We attribute these changes to alcohol’s biological effect as a drug on our central nervous system, and scientists have documented how alcohol breaks down in our body to achieve this effect.

Culture affects how people respond when they drink alcohol. Americans often become louder and lose their sexual inhibitions when they drink, but people in some societies studied by anthropologists often respond very differently, with many never getting loud or not even enjoying themselves.

Melissa Wang – bp tourney – CC BY-SA 2.0.

This explanation of alcohol’s effect is OK as far as it goes, but it turns out that how alcohol affects our behavior depends on our culture. In some small, traditional societies, people drink alcohol until they pass out, but they never get loud or boisterous; they might not even appear to be enjoying themselves. In other societies, they drink lots of alcohol and get loud but not rowdy. In some societies, including our own, people lose sexual inhibitions as they drink, but in other societies they do not become more aroused. The cross-cultural evidence is very clear: alcohol as a drug does affect human behavior, but culture influences the types of effects that occur. We learn from our culture how to behave when drunk just as we learn how to behave when sober (McCaghy, Capron, Jamieson, & Carey, 2008).

Culture and Biology

These examples suggest that human behavior is more the result of culture than it is of biology. This is not to say that biology is entirely unimportant. As just one example, humans have a biological need to eat, and so they do. But humans are much less under the control of biology than any other animal species, including other primates such as monkeys and chimpanzees. These and other animals are governed largely by biological instincts that control them totally. A dog chases any squirrel it sees because of instinct, and a cat chases a mouse for the same reason. Different breeds of dogs do have different personalities, but even these stem from the biological differences among breeds passed down from one generation to another. Instinct prompts many dogs to turn around before they lie down, and it prompts most dogs to defend their territory. When the doorbell rings and a dog begins barking, it is responding to ancient biological instinct.

Because humans have such a large, complex central nervous system, we are less controlled by biology. The critical question then becomes, how much does biology influence our behavior? Predictably, scholars in different disciplines answer this question in different ways. Most sociologists and anthropologists would probably say that culture affects behavior much more than biology does. In contrast, many biologists and psychologists would give much more weight to biology. Advocating a view called sociobiology , some scholars say that several important human behaviors and emotions, such as competition, aggression, and altruism, stem from our biological makeup. Sociobiology has been roundly criticized and just as staunchly defended, and respected scholars continue to debate its premises (Freese, 2008).

Why do sociologists generally favor culture over biology? Two reasons stand out. First, and as we have seen, many behaviors differ dramatically among societies in ways that show the strong impact of culture. Second, biology cannot easily account for why groups and locations differ in their rates of committing certain behaviors. For example, what biological reason could explain why suicide rates west of the Mississippi River are higher than those east of it, to take a difference discussed in Chapter 2 “Eye on Society: Doing Sociological Research” , or why the U.S. homicide rate is so much higher than Canada’s? Various aspects of culture and social structure seem much better able than biology to explain these differences.

Many sociologists also warn of certain implications of biological explanations. First, they say, these explanations implicitly support the status quo. Because it is difficult to change biology, any problem with biological causes cannot be easily fixed. A second warning harkens back to a century ago, when perceived biological differences were used to justify forced sterilization and mass violence, including genocide, against certain groups. As just one example, in the early 1900s, some 70,000 people, most of them poor and many of them immigrants or African Americans, were involuntarily sterilized in the United States as part of the eugenics movement, which said that certain kinds of people were biologically inferior and must not be allowed to reproduce (Lombardo, 2008). The Nazi Holocaust a few decades later used a similar eugenics argument to justify its genocide against Jews, Catholics, gypsies, and gays (Kuhl, 1994). With this history in mind, some scholars fear that biological explanations of human behavior might still be used to support views of biological inferiority (York & Clark, 2007).

Key Takeaways

• Culture refers to the symbols, language, beliefs, values, and artifacts that are part of any society.
• Because culture influences people’s beliefs and behaviors, culture is a key concept to the sociological perspective.
• Many sociologists are wary of biological explanations of behavior, in part because these explanations implicitly support the status quo and may be used to justify claims of biological inferiority.

For Your Review

• Have you ever traveled outside the United States? If so, describe one cultural difference you remember in the nation you visited.
• Have you ever traveled within the United States to a very different region (e.g., urban versus rural, or another part of the country) from the one in which you grew up? If so, describe one cultural difference you remember in the region you visited.
• Do you share the concern of many sociologists over biological explanations of behavior? Why or why not?

Doja, A. (2005). Rethinking the couvade . Anthropological Quarterly, 78, 917–950.

Freese, J. (2008). Genetics and the social science explanation of individual outcomes [Supplement]. American Journal of Sociology, 114, S1–S35.

Kuhl, S. (1994). The Nazi connection: Eugenics, American racism, and German national socialism . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Lombardo, P. A. (2008). Three generations, no imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell . Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

McCaghy, C. H., Capron, T. A., Jamieson, J. D., & Carey, S. H. (2008). Deviant behavior: Crime, conflict, and interest groups . Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Thomas, W. I., & Thomas, D. S. (1928). The child in America: Behavior problems and programs . New York, NY: Knopf.

York, R., & Clark, B. (2007). Gender and mathematical ability: The toll of biological determinism. Monthly Review, 59, 7–15.

Sociology Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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3.1B: Culture and Society

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Culture is what differentiates one group or society from the next; different societies have different cultures.

Learning Objectives

• Differentiate between the various meanings of culture within society
• Different societies have different cultures; a culture represents the beliefs and practices of a group, while society represents the people who share those beliefs and practices.
• Material culture refers to the objects or belongings of a group of people, such as automobiles, stores, and the physical structures where people worship. Nonmaterial culture, in contrast, consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society.
• In 18th and 19th century Europe, the term “culture” was equated with civilization and considered a unique aspect of Western society. Remnants of that colonial definition of culture can be seen today in the idea of ” high culture “.
• During the Romantic Era, culture became equated with nationalism and gave rise to the idea of multiple national cultures.
• Today, social scientists understand culture as a society’s norms, values, and beliefs; as well as its objects and symbols, and the meaning given to those objects and symbols.
• civilization : An organized culture encompassing many communities, often on the scale of a nation or a people; a stage or system of social, political or technical development.
• high culture : The artistic entertainment and material artifacts associated with a society’s aristocracy or most learned members, usually requiring significant education to be appreciated or highly skilled labor to be produced.
• popular culture : The prevailing vernacular culture in any given society, including art, cooking, clothing, entertainment, films, mass media, music, sports, and style
• nationalism : The idea of supporting one’s country and culture; patriotism.

Culture encompasses human elements beyond biology: for example, our norms and values, the stories we tell, learned or acquired behaviors, religious beliefs, art and fashion, and so on. Culture is what differentiates one group or society from the next.

Different societies have different cultures; however it is important not to confuse the idea of culture with society. A culture represents the beliefs and practices of a group, while society represents the people who share those beliefs and practices. Neither society nor culture could exist without the other.

Defining Culture

Almost every human behavior, from shopping to marriage to expressions of feelings, is learned. Behavior based on learned customs is not necessarily a bad thing – being familiar with unwritten rules helps people feel secure and confident that their behaviors will not be challenged or disrupted. However even the simplest actions – such as commuting to work, ordering food from a restaurant, and greeting someone on the street – evidence a great deal of cultural propriety.

Material culture refers to the objects or belongings of a group of people (such as automobiles, stores, and the physical structures where people worship). Nonmaterial culture, in contrast, consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society. Material and nonmaterial aspects of culture are linked, and physical objects often symbolize cultural ideas. A metro pass is a material object, but it represents a form of nonmaterial culture (namely capitalism, and the acceptance of paying for transportation). Clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry are part of material culture, but the appropriateness of wearing certain clothing for specific events reflects nonmaterial culture. A school building belongs to material culture, but the teaching methods and educational standards are part of education’s nonmaterial culture.

These material and nonmaterial aspects of culture can vary subtly from region to region. As people travel farther afield, moving from different regions to entirely different parts of the world, certain material and nonmaterial aspects of culture become dramatically unfamiliar. As we interact with cultures other than our own, we become more aware of our own culture – which might otherwise be invisible to us – and to the differences and commonalities between our culture and others.

The History of “Culture”

Some people think of culture in the singular, in the way that it was thought of in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries: as something achieved through evolution and progress. This concept of culture reflected inequalities within European societies and their colonies around the world; in short, it equates culture with civilization and contrasts both with nature or non-civilization. According to this understanding of culture, some countries are more “civilized” than others, and some people are therefore more “cultured” than others.

When people talk about culture in the sense of civilization or refinement, they are really talking about “high culture,” which is different from the sociological concept of culture. High culture refers to elite goods and activities, such as haute cuisine, high fashion or couture, museum-caliber art, and classical music. In common parlance, people may refer to others as being “cultured” if they know about and take part in these activities. Someone who uses culture in this sense might argue that classical music is more refined than music by working-class people, such as jazz or the indigenous music traditions of aboriginal peoples. Popular (or “pop”) culture, by contrast, is more mainstream and influenced by mass media and the common opinion. Popular culture tends to change as tastes and opinions change over time, whereas high culture generally stays the same throughout the years. For example, Mozart is considered high culture, whereas Britney Spears is considered pop culture; Mozart is likely to still be popular in 100 years, but Britney Spears will likely be forgotten by all but a few.

This definition of culture only recognizes a single standard of refinement to which all groups are held accountable. Thus, people who differ from those who believe themselves to be “cultured” in this sense are not usually understood as having a different culture; they are understood as being uncultured.

Although we still see remnants of this idea of high culture today, it has largely fallen out of practice. Its decline began during the Romantic Era, when scholars in Germany – especially those concerned with nationalism – developed the more inclusive notion of culture as a distinct worldview. Although more inclusive, this approach to culture still allowed for distinctions between so-called “civilized” and “primitive” cultures. By the late 19th century, anthropologists changed the concept of culture to include a wider variety of societies, ultimately resulting in the concept of culture adopted by social scientists today: objects and symbols, the meaning given to those objects and symbols, and the norms, values, and beliefs that pervade social life.

This new perspective has also removed the evaluative element of the concept of culture; it distinguishes among different cultures, but does not rank them. For instance, the high culture of elites is now contrasted with popular or pop culture. In this sense, high culture no longer refers to the idea of being “cultured,” as all people have culture. High culture simply refers to the objects, symbols, norms, values, and beliefs of a particular group of people; popular culture does the same.

How Does Media Influence Culture and Society?

Introduction.

The impact of social media on culture cannot be overestimated. It had a great influence on the cultural changes in society, so that the role of men and women has been defined by the mass media. In the process, it affected both intercultural and international communication. Many people globally have been trying to understand the meaning of culture and its influence on how human beings behave (Purvis 46).

So, how does media influence culture and society? This essay tries to answer the question in detail, examining the terms separately and discussing the connection. Besides, the author touches upon another crucial question: how does culture affect global media?

Definitions of Culture

Different sociology scholars have tried to come up with various definitions of culture, with many of them having a lot of contradictions. The media has been instrumental in explaining to the public its meaning and enabling everyone to have a cultural identity. The well-being of people can only be guaranteed if they have a strong and definite identity that influences their sense of self and their relationship with other people who have a different cultural identity.

The difference in beliefs and backgrounds helps people from different societies to relate and negotiate well. Intercultural relations have continued to fail because many people are not aware of their cultural identity. The internet and mass media have been instrumental in promoting globalization which has led to many positive influences on the culture of different societies and races across the world.

Many societies have been able to add new aspects to their cultures as a result of globalization, which is greatly facilitated by the internet and the mass media (Purvis 67). Globalization enables us to have an overview of different cultures across the world and, in the end, be in a position to copy some positive aspects. These papers will highlight the importance of media in culture construction and how the media has led to intercultural socialization.

How Does Media Affect Culture?

Learning about other cultures through the media can create some stereotypes, which can be negative at times. The media plays an important role in educating people and making them familiar with some cultures so as to avoid stereotypes. Examples of stereotypes that have been created by the media include portraying Muslims as terrorists and Africans as illiterates.

By educating people about different cultures and emphasizing the positive aspects, the media can play an important role in constructing the cultures of different societies across the world and, in the process, avoiding prejudice and stereotyping. The mass media has got a large audience that gives a lot of power to influence many societal issues. The media advocates for social concerns and enables communication and exchange of positive cultural values among different societies (Purvis 91).

The mass media presents information about a particular region of culture to the whole world, and it s therefore very important for the information to be properly investigated before the presentation. Global sports such as the World Cup enjoy a lot of following across the world, and the media has the power to influence many cultural aspects during such tournaments.

Many ideas concerning males and masculinity have been constructed by the media. The media portrays a man as brave and without emotions and women as fearful and emotional in television programs and movies. The media forms the idea of a real man in society as one who is aggressive and financially stable. Women are portrayed as housekeepers, and the children grow up with this information.

The media has constructed a new image of beauty which has continued to influence many women and even young girls across the world. Since beauty has been associated with having a slim figure, many women and young girls have become very enthusiastic about weight control and have also been influenced to change their diet. Schools and parents have failed to educate children about sexuality and, in the process leaving the media as the only source of information about sexuality (Siapera 34).

According to traditional cultures, it is often taboo to talk about sexuality with children, but this is bound to change because schools and parents realize that it is no longer sensible to avoid talking to children about sex-related issues. The media plays a very important role in ensuring that societal norms, ideologies, and customs are disseminated. Socialization has been made possible and much simpler because of the media.

Through socialization, different societies are able to share languages, traditions, customs, roles, and values. The media has become a significant social force in recent years, especially for young people. Whereas the older generations view the media as a source of entertainment and information, the majority of young people see it as a perfect platform for socialization.

The media highlights different values and norms and the possible consequences of failing to adhere to societal norms and values. Through the media, society is able to learn how to behave in different circumstances according to one’s role and status (Siapera 34). The media helps in portraying models of behavior that are supposed to be followed by society and its members.

How Does Media Influence Culture & Society?

The media is a fundamental agent of socialization whose operations are very basic compared to other agents such as schools, families, and religious groups. The internet has got different forms of socialization, such as Facebook and Twitter, that have completely revolutionalized the way people socialize in recent times.

Apart from the internet, other media agents that have become very fundamental in socialization include the radio, newspapers, magazines, and tabloids, just to mention a few. Through these media agents, ideas and opinions can be shared and exchanged.

The internet has emerged to be very the most powerful audio-visual medium since it can now be accessed by many people across the world. Through the internet, one is able to influence others or be influenced by other people who use the internet to share and exchange their opinions. Television is another media agent that has really enhanced socialization in many ways (Siapera 71).

Television gives people a good platform to give their opinions on various topics and issues affecting human life. The opinions shared on television reach a large number of people because television is a mass media that is capable of reaching a large audience. The media is often rapid and interactive and is a perfect socialization agent for young people who watch the television most of the time compared to elderly people.

Since the youth form the majority of the audience, many media houses are always smart enough to present topics and programs that appeal to young people. Media houses have the power to manipulate their audience in a skillful manner for the audience to buy into their ideas and messages. The media is able to make some products look appealing to the general public, an example being the status one would acquire if they possessed the latest cell phone in the market (Siapera 85).

The mass media has become a very vital agent in the development of children and the behavior of adults. Although the mass media has some negative influences on the audience, its benefits tend to override the negatives. There are some programs on television that have useful information, like the teachings of some foreign languages that are essential for social interaction.

Programs that teach languages are very beneficial to both children and adults in international socialization. Other programs enable children to be creative and dynamic in their thinking. These programs enable both children and adults to be more knowledgeable and affect their way of doing things. It is, therefore, very important for parents and guardians to be wary of the type of programs their children watch because some programs can end up having a negative influence on them.

Programs with vulgar language and violence should be avoided by children because they can influence them negatively. Different networks have really affected the sense of reality in our society. Internet networks have continued to depict some issues that are out of touch with reality (Siapera 85). The issue of stereotypes that have been mentioned in this paper has greatly been cultivated by networks.

People who get information about certain types of people and cultures without real experience can end up having a wrong impression about a particular race, culture, or region that is contrary to the reality of the situation on the ground. Networks have affected our culture by highlighting some cultures as being primitive and, in the process, prompting people to have a cultural shift.

In conclusion, it is important to note that the media has a very important role in shaping our culture. The media has promoted globalization, and in the end, people from different nationalities and cultures are able to exchange values and ideas that are beneficial to their lives.

The mass media and the internet have greatly contributed to the cultural construction of many societies across the world and therefore making them become very important agents of socialization. Mass media agents such as the television, internet, films, and radio have been very instrumental in promoting socialization by providing a perfect platform for exchanging ideas and opinions on various issues that affect life. Networks have also been able to affect different cultures across the world.

Some of the issues highlighted in films and movies are always fiction, but society tends to practice them in reality, which has led to some serious consequences. Networks and organizations have made the world to become a global village. Networks and organizations will no doubt continue to influence the culture of many societies since there is so much information being passed across different networks and organizations. The media will continue to influence people’s way of life both in the present and in the future.

Works Cited

Purvis, Tony. Get Set for Media and Cultural Studies . New York: Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Print.

Siapera, Eugenia. Cultural Diversity and Global Media: The Mediation of Difference. New York: Jon Wiley and Sons, 2010. Print.

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The Importance of Culture

11 January, 2019

11 minutes read

Author:  Richard Pircher

Culture can be defined as “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.” It can also be understood as the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society. Therefore, it’s the shared patterns of our behavior and interaction which are learned through socialization. People of the same culture share a group identity that is fostered by social patterns unique to the group. Culture encompasses for example values, beliefs, symbols, norms, and patterns of behavior. It has a far-reaching impact on our everyday actions, on how we talk and think, what we wear, what we believe, how we sit at the table, and how we behave among other people. But what is the importance of culture in our society? And which components constitute our conception of culture?

Components of culture

• Patterns of behavior

What defines culture?

All cultures are characterized by constant change. As a dynamic phenomenon, cultures are under constant change and they must adapt to environmental changes. This is one of the universal features of a culture. After globalization, the world became more interconnected and today most societies consist of ethnically diverse populations. This has given rise to conflicts associated with ethnicity, religion, and ethical beliefs which are all central concepts in cultures. More than ever before, culture is no longer fixed but rather in constant motion. At a time when cultures adapt and become more fluid, a need has been identified to protect and preserve the past. There are organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) whose objectives include conserving and protecting cultural and natural heritage along with the promotion of international cooperation, peace, and security.

To answer the question about the importance of culture, one has to consider its role in people’s everyday lives. Because culture affects how people behave and interact with each other, it helps you build relationships with others when you understand other cultures and perspectives. It’s also good to understand how much in common we have with other people even if at first glance their cultures might seem completely different. We are all humans and have similar needs, hopes, fears, and things that make us happy. It doesn’t mean, however, that our cultural differences don’t matter at all. A better strategy is to acknowledge that differences exist and to fight against discrimination. The world is becoming more and more diverse as different languages, religions, economic and cultural groups blend together. We need to appreciate and understand different cultures and establish relationships with people from other backgrounds. This is the only way to build successful communities, improve our living conditions, and solve problems.

If we take a closer look at the characteristics of culture, we can identify five basic traits that define the concept of culture.

Five characteristics of culture

• Based on symbols

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Culture is learned

Culture is learned because it’s not biological or ingrained in our DNA. Children don’t inherit culture from their parents. Instead, they learn it and much of this learning occurs subconsciously without us paying any attention to it. We learn our culture not only from our families but also from institutions, other people, and the media. This process of learning is called enculturation. All humans share the same biological needs, for example, food, water, sleep, shelter, and sex, but the way we choose to fulfill those needs varies across cultures.

Culture is shared

Culture is shared because we share our culture with other members of our group. We know how to interact with these other members and we can predict their behavior based on our knowledge and expectations. The shared nature of culture doesn’t mean, however, that cultures are homogenous.

Culture is integrated

Because the various parts of a culture are interconnected, culture is also integrated. All components of culture are connected to one another and to gain a comprehensive understanding of a culture, one must learn about these different components.

Culture is dynamic

Culture is dynamic because cultures interact with each other. Cultures share ideas and symbols and they adapt to changes in the environment. Since cultures are also integrated, it means that if one component of a culture changes, it will affect all the other components, too, forcing the entire system to adapt.

Culture is based on symbols

Symbols are an integral part of every culture and they vary across different cultures. Cultures not only use symbols but they are also based on them. Symbols get their meaning when people in the same culture agree on how they should be used. Language is the most obvious example of the use of symbols within a culture but other things such as art, clothing, and money can also be defined as symbols.

It should also be pointed out that not all cultural adaptation is positive. Not all cultural practices are adaptive, and there are many examples of cultural adaptation that have been detrimental such as fast food, pollution, and climate change. But due to their dynamic nature, cultures have the ability to adapt and find solutions to these problems.

How does geography affect culture?

What influences our cultures then? One of the most profound of these factors is geography. The development of a culture is largely dependent on its geographical location. For example, locations that are ideal for hunting influence that culture by encouraging people to teach their descendants to hunt, tell hunting stories, and organize ceremonies that celebrate hunting skills. A factor such as hunting can thus become a defining characteristic of that culture. Another good example is the Japanese culture which relies heavily on the attribute of water. The fact that Japan is an island surrounded by water has influenced its culture from its creation myth to natural resources such as fish and growing of rice. Even more so, Japan as an island has historically been limited because of its geography, and this has given rise to art forms such as haiku poems and bonsai trees which are characterized by their limitations. Geography affects cultures from the number of languages spoken in a given area to the clothes people wear, their political ideas, and even religions. For example, on the island of Guinea, people speak more than 800 languages. This is because New Guinea is mountainous and it’s difficult for people from one area to come into contact with people from other areas. These different groups, therefore, learned to keep to themselves and developed their own languages. Culture also has its impact on the clothes that people wear, and this has historically been determined by geography, too. People in the Arctic whose culture relies on hunting whales and seals wear several layers of warm clothes, usually manufactured from animal skin. In contrast, tribes in the rainforests wear very little clothing and their economies are centered around plant life. In terms of government and religion, the ancient Greeks, for example, developed a political culture centered around city-states because their geography was mountainous and it was thus difficult for large kingdoms to arise. The Mesopotamian and Egyptian religions, on the other hand, differed in the fact that Mesopotamian gods were considered less kind than the Egyptian gods. This is believed to be the result of unpredictable floods in the Mesopotamian rivers and rather consistent and predictable floods in the Nile.

How does culture affect business?

When looking at modern cultures, we can see the many effects that cultures have, for example, on business. During a business meeting where people from different cultures are communicating with one another, cultural differences have to be taken into account. There is more than merely a language barrier that needs to be overcome. These differences can concern people’s sensitivity to time, the way of communicating, risk-taking, decision-making, and thinking of others, all of which need to be addressed. Cultural differences can often impact the success or failure of multicultural business negotiations. When segmenting target groups for a product or service, businesses have to spend time on examining the cultural expectations and values of different groups. Culture influences people’s tastes and preferences, and the same strategies will not work for all audiences. Americans, for example, have very different expectations from advertising and marketing than Asian consumers. Business owners must account for differences throughout the product’s life cycle, from its design to marketing and beyond.

Culture affects our every facet of life. Most societies these days have become multicultural as more and more people migrate across countries and continents. We live around, socialize and work with people from different cultural backgrounds and different parts of the world. While their values and beliefs might be different from ours, we should accept these differences and broaden our own views in order to attain harmony in these culturally diverse environments. We should acknowledge the importance of culture in communication and in contributing to our identity and sense of belonging as part of a social group. Culture can be seen as a uniting force that is part of our daily lives and an integral part of our being, defining the way we treat other people and ourselves.

• Caplan, L. (2018): “What Factors Influence Culture? What are the Characteristics of Culture?” eNotes. https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-factors-influence-culture-98429
• Community Tool Box (2018): “Understanding Culture and Diversity in Building Communities.” The University of Kansas. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/culture-and-diversity/main
• eNotes (2015): “How Does Geography Affect Culture?” https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-does-geography-affect-culture-474205
• Nowaczyk, J., (2018): “The Five Basic Characteristics of Cultures.” Study.com https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-five-basic-characteristics-of-cultures.html
• OpinionFront (2018): “Why is Culture Important and How Does it Influence People?” https://opinionfront.com/why-is-culture-important
• Oxford Dictionaries (2019): “Definition of Culture.” Oxford University Press. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/culture
• Zimmermann, K. A. (2012): “What is Culture.” Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html

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3.1 What Is Culture?

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

• Differentiate between culture and society
• Explain material versus nonmaterial culture
• Discuss the concept of cultural universals as it relates to society
• Compare and contrast ethnocentrism and xenocentrism

Humans are social creatures. According to Smithsonian Institution research, humans have been forming groups for almost 3 million years in order to survive. Living together, people formed common habits and behaviors, from specific methods of childrearing to preferred techniques for obtaining food.

Almost every human behavior, from shopping to marriage, is learned. In the U.S., marriage is generally seen as an individual choice made by two adults, based on mutual feelings of love. In other nations and in other times, marriages have been arranged through an intricate process of interviews and negotiations between entire families. In Papua New Guinea, almost 30 percent of women marry before the age of 18, and 8 percent of men have more than one wife (National Statistical Office, 2019). To people who are not from such a culture, arranged marriages may seem to have risks of incompatibility or the absence of romantic love. But many people from cultures where marriages are arranged, which includes a number of highly populated and modern countries, often prefer the approach because it reduces stress and increases stability (Jankowiak 2021).

Being familiar with unwritten rules helps people feel secure and at ease. Knowing to look left instead of right for oncoming traffic while crossing the street can help avoid serious injury and even death. Knowing unwritten rules is also fundamental in understanding humor in different cultures. Humor is common to all societies, but what makes something funny is not. Americans may laugh at a scene in which an actor falls; in other cultures, falling is never funny. Most people want to live their daily lives confident that their behaviors will not be challenged or disrupted. But even an action as seemingly simple as commuting to work evidences a great deal of cultural propriety, that is, there are a lot of expected behaviors. And many interpretations of them.

Take the case of going to work on public transportation. Whether people are commuting in Egypt, Ireland, India, Japan, and the U.S., many behaviors will be the same and may reveal patterns. Others will be different. In many societies that enjoy public transportation, a passenger will find a marked bus stop or station, wait for the bus or train, pay an agent before or after boarding, and quietly take a seat if one is available. But when boarding a bus in Cairo, Egypt, passengers might board while the bus is moving, because buses often do not come to a full stop to take on patrons. In Dublin, Ireland, bus riders would be expected to extend an arm to indicate that they want the bus to stop for them. And when boarding a commuter train in Mumbai, India, passengers must squeeze into overstuffed cars amid a lot of pushing and shoving on the crowded platforms. That kind of behavior might be considered rude in other societies, but in Mumbai it reflects the daily challenges of getting around on a train system that is taxed to capacity.

Culture can be material or nonmaterial. Metro passes and bus tokens are part of material culture, as are the buses, subway cars, and the physical structures of the bus stop. Think of material culture as items you can touch-they are tangible . Nonmaterial culture , in contrast, consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society. These are things you cannot touch. They are intangible . You may believe that a line should be formed to enter the subway car or that other passengers should not stand so close to you. Those beliefs are intangible because they do not have physical properties and can be touched.

Material and nonmaterial aspects of culture are linked, and physical objects often symbolize cultural ideas. A metro pass is a material object, but it represents a form of nonmaterial culture, namely, capitalism, and the acceptance of paying for transportation. Clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry are part of material culture, but the appropriateness of wearing certain clothing for specific events reflects nonmaterial culture. A school building belongs to material culture symbolizing education, but the teaching methods and educational standards are part of education’s nonmaterial culture.

As people travel from different regions to entirely different parts of the world, certain material and nonmaterial aspects of culture become dramatically unfamiliar. What happens when we encounter different cultures? As we interact with cultures other than our own, we become more aware of the differences and commonalities between others and our own. If we keep our sociological imagination awake, we can begin to understand and accept the differences. Body language and hand gestures vary around the world, but some body language seems to be shared across cultures: When someone arrives home later than permitted, a parent or guardian meeting them at the door with crossed arms and a frown on their face means the same in Russia as it does in the U.S. as it does in Ghana.

Cultural Universals

Although cultures vary, they also share common elements. Cultural universals are patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies. One example of a cultural universal is the family unit: every human society recognizes a family structure that regulates sexual reproduction and the care of children. Even so, how that family unit is defined and how it functions vary. In many Asian cultures, for example, family members from all generations commonly live together in one household. In these cultures, young adults continue to live in the extended household family structure until they marry and join their spouse’s household, or they may remain and raise their nuclear family within the extended family’s homestead. In the U.S., by contrast, individuals are expected to leave home and live independently for a period before forming a family unit that consists of parents and their offspring. Other cultural universals include customs like funeral rites, weddings, and celebrations of births. However, each culture may view and conduct the ceremonies quite differently.

Anthropologist George Murdock first investigated the existence of cultural universals while studying systems of kinship around the world. Murdock found that cultural universals often revolve around basic human survival, such as finding food, clothing, and shelter, or around shared human experiences, such as birth and death or illness and healing. Through his research, Murdock identified other universals including language, the concept of personal names, and, interestingly, jokes. Humor seems to be a universal way to release tensions and create a sense of unity among people (Murdock, 1949). Sociologists consider humor necessary to human interaction because it helps individuals navigate otherwise tense situations.

Sociological Research

Is music a cultural universal.

Imagine that you are sitting in a theater, watching a film. The movie opens with the protagonist sitting on a park bench with a grim expression on their face. The music starts to come in. The first slow and mournful notes play in a minor key. As the melody continues, the heroine turns her head and sees a man walking toward her. The music gets louder, and the sounds don’t seem to go together – as if the orchestra is intentionally playing the wrong notes. You tense up as you watch, almost hoping to stop. The character is clearly in danger.

Now imagine that you are watching the same movie – the exact same footage – but with a different soundtrack. As the scene opens, the music is soft and soothing, with a hint of sadness. You see the protagonist sitting on the park bench with a grim expression. Suddenly, the music swells. The woman looks up and sees a man walking toward her. The notes are high and bright, and the pace is bouncy. You feel your heart rise in your chest. This is a happy moment.

Music has the ability to evoke emotional responses. In television shows, movies, commercials, and even the background music in a store, music has a message and seems to easily draw a response from those who hear it – joy, sadness, fear, victory. Are these types of musical cues cultural universals?

In 2009, a team of psychologists, led by Thomas Fritz of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, studied people’s reactions to music that they’d never heard (Fritz et al., 2009). The research team traveled to Cameroon, Africa, and asked Mafa tribal members to listen to Western music. The tribe, isolated from Western culture, had never been exposed to Western culture and had no context or experience within which to interpret its music. Even so, as the tribal members listened to a Western piano piece, they were able to recognize three basic emotions: happiness, sadness, and fear. Music, the study suggested, is a sort of universal language.

Researchers also found that music can foster a sense of wholeness within a group. In fact, scientists who study the evolution of language have concluded that originally language (an established component of group identity) and music were one (Darwin, 1871). Additionally, since music is largely nonverbal, the sounds of music can cross societal boundaries more easily than words. Music allows people to make connections, where language might be a more difficult barricade. As Fritz and his team found, music and the emotions it conveys are cultural universals.

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

Although human societies have much in common, cultural differences are far more prevalent than cultural universals. For example, while all cultures have language, analysis of conversational etiquette reveals tremendous differences. In some Middle Eastern cultures, it is common to stand close to others in conversation. Americans keep more distance and maintain a large “personal space.” Additionally, behaviors as simple as eating and drinking vary greatly from culture to culture. Some cultures use tools to put the food in the mouth while others use their fingers. If your professor comes into an early morning class holding a mug of liquid, what do you assume they are drinking? In the U.S., it’s most likely filled with coffee, not Earl Grey tea, a favorite in England, or Yak Butter tea, a staple in Tibet.

Some travelers pride themselves on their willingness to try unfamiliar foods, like the late celebrated food writer Anthony Bourdain (1956-2017). Often, however, people express disgust at another culture's cuisine. They might think that it’s gross to eat raw meat from a donkey or parts of a rodent, while they don’t question their own habit of eating cows or pigs.

Such attitudes are examples of ethnocentrism , which means to evaluate and judge another culture based on one’s own cultural norms. Ethnocentrism is believing your group is the correct measuring standard and if other cultures do not measure up to it, they are wrong. As sociologist William Graham Sumner (1906) described the term, it is a belief or attitude that one’s own culture is better than all others. Almost everyone is a little bit ethnocentric.

A high level of appreciation for one’s own culture can be healthy. A shared sense of community pride, for example, connects people in a society. But ethnocentrism can lead to disdain or dislike of other cultures and could cause misunderstanding, stereotyping, and conflict. Individuals, government, non-government, private, and religious institutions with the best intentions sometimes travel to a society to “help” its people, because they see them as uneducated, backward, or even inferior. Cultural imperialism is the deliberate imposition of one’s own cultural values on another culture.

Colonial expansion by Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, and England grew quickly in the fifteenth century was accompanied by severe cultural imperialism. European colonizers often viewed the people in these new lands as uncultured savages who needed to adopt Catholic governance, Christianity, European dress, and other cultural practices.

A modern example of cultural imperialism may include the work of international aid agencies who introduce agricultural methods and plant species from developed countries into areas that are better served by indigenous varieties and agricultural approaches to the particular region. Another example would be the deforestation of the Amazon Basin as indigenous cultures lose land to timber corporations.

When people find themselves in a new culture, they may experience disorientation and frustration. In sociology, we call this culture shock . In addition to the traveler’s biological clock being ‘off’, a traveler from Chicago might find the nightly silence of rural Montana unsettling, not peaceful. Now, imagine that the ‘difference’ is cultural. An exchange student from China to the U.S. might be annoyed by the constant interruptions in class as other students ask questions—a practice that is considered rude in China. Perhaps the Chicago traveler was initially captivated with Montana’s quiet beauty and the Chinese student was originally excited to see a U.S.- style classroom firsthand. But as they experience unanticipated differences from their own culture, they may experience ethnocentrism as their excitement gives way to discomfort and doubts about how to behave appropriately in the new situation. According to many authors, international students studying in the U.S. report that there are personality traits and behaviors expected of them. Black African students report having to learn to ‘be Black in the U.S.’ and Chinese students report that they are naturally expected to be good at math. In African countries, people are identified by country or kin, not color. Eventually, as people learn more about a culture, they adapt to the new culture for a variety of reasons.

Culture shock may appear because people aren’t always expecting cultural differences. Anthropologist Ken Barger (1971) discovered this when he conducted a participatory observation in an Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic. Originally from Indiana, Barger hesitated when invited to join a local snowshoe race. He knew he would never hold his own against these experts. Sure enough, he finished last, to his mortification. But the tribal members congratulated him, saying, “You really tried!” In Barger’s own culture, he had learned to value victory. To the Inuit people, winning was enjoyable, but their culture valued survival skills essential to their environment: how hard someone tried could mean the difference between life and death. Over the course of his stay, Barger participated in caribou hunts, learned how to take shelter in winter storms, and sometimes went days with little or no food to share among tribal members. Trying hard and working together, two nonmaterial values, were indeed much more important than winning.

During his time with the Inuit tribe, Barger learned to engage in cultural relativism . Cultural relativism is the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of one’s own culture. Practicing cultural relativism requires an open mind and a willingness to consider, and even adapt to, new values, norms, and practices.

However, indiscriminately embracing everything about a new culture is not always possible. Even the most culturally relativist people from egalitarian societies—ones in which women have political rights and control over their own bodies—question whether the widespread practice of female genital mutilation in countries such as Ethiopia and Sudan should be accepted as a part of cultural tradition. Sociologists attempting to engage in cultural relativism, then, may struggle to reconcile aspects of their own culture with aspects of a culture that they are studying. Sociologists may take issue with the practices of female genital mutilation in many countries to ensure virginity at marriage just as some male sociologists might take issue with scarring of the flesh to show membership. Sociologists work diligently to keep personal biases out of research analysis.

Sometimes when people attempt to address feelings of ethnocentrism and develop cultural relativism, they swing too far to the other end of the spectrum. Xenocentrism is the opposite of ethnocentrism, and refers to the belief that another culture is superior to one’s own. (The Greek root word xeno-, pronounced “ZEE-no,” means “stranger” or “foreign guest.”) An exchange student who goes home after a semester abroad or a sociologist who returns from the field may find it difficult to associate with the values of their own culture after having experienced what they deem a more upright or nobler way of living. An opposite reaction is xenophobia, an irrational fear or hatred of different cultures.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for sociologists studying different cultures is the matter of keeping a perspective. It is impossible for anyone to overcome all cultural biases. The best we can do is strive to be aware of them. Pride in one’s own culture doesn’t have to lead to imposing its values or ideas on others. And an appreciation for another culture shouldn’t preclude individuals from studying it with a critical eye. This practice is perhaps the most difficult for all social scientists.

Sociology in the Real World

Overcoming culture shock.

During her summer vacation, Caitlin flew from Chicago, Illinois to Madrid, Spain to visit Maria, the exchange student she had befriended the previous semester. In the airport, she heard rapid, musical Spanish being spoken all around her.

Exciting as it was, she felt isolated and disconnected. Maria’s mother kissed Caitlin on both cheeks when she greeted her. Her imposing father kept his distance. Caitlin was half asleep by the time supper was served—at 10 p.m. Maria’s family sat at the table for hours, speaking loudly, gesturing, and arguing about politics, a taboo dinner subject in Caitlin’s house. They served wine and toasted their honored guest. Caitlin had trouble interpreting her hosts’ facial expressions, and did not realize she should make the next toast. That night, Caitlin crawled into a strange bed, wishing she had not come. She missed her home and felt overwhelmed by the new customs, language, and surroundings. She’d studied Spanish in school for years—why hadn’t it prepared her for this?

What Caitlin did not realize was that people depend not only on spoken words but also on body language, like gestures and facial expressions, to communicate. Cultural norms and practices accompany even the smallest nonverbal signals (DuBois, 1951). They help people know when to shake hands, where to sit, how to converse, and even when to laugh. We relate to others through a shared set of cultural norms, and ordinarily, we take them for granted.

For this reason, culture shock is often associated with traveling abroad, although it can happen in one’s own country, state, or even hometown. Anthropologist Kalervo Oberg (1960) is credited with first coining the term “culture shock.” In his studies, Oberg found that most people are excited at first to encounter a new culture. But bit by bit, they become stressed by interacting with people from a different culture who speak another language and use different regional expressions. There is new food to digest, new daily schedules to follow, and new rules of etiquette to learn. Living with this constant stress can make people feel incompetent and insecure. People react to frustration in a new culture, Oberg found, by initially rejecting it and glorifying one’s own culture. An American visiting Italy might long for a “real” pizza or complain about the unsafe driving habits of Italians.

It helps to remember that culture is learned. Everyone is ethnocentric to an extent, and identifying with one’s own country is natural. Caitlin’s shock was minor compared to that of her friends Dayar and Mahlika, a Turkish couple living in married student housing on campus. And it was nothing like that of her classmate Sanai. Sanai had been forced to flee war-torn Bosnia with her family when she was fifteen. After two weeks in Spain, Caitlin had developed more compassion and understanding for what those people had gone through. She understood that adjusting to a new culture takes time. It can take weeks or months to recover from culture shock, and it can take years to fully adjust to living in a new culture.

By the end of Caitlin’s trip, she had made new lifelong friends. Caitlin stepped out of her comfort zone. She had learned a lot about Spain, but discovered a lot about herself and her own culture.

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Cultural Change Research Paper

Show More Culture is part of every society and is the basis on how people within the society react and live their lives. Every culture is subject to change in order to match the society around the world. However, there are several obstacles that are in the way of such cultural change. Through the different surroundings, a deep social connection to religion , and a lack of technology, cultures have a resistance against change. An example will be given of how it prohibits the growth in certain societies, because within each society, there are certain things that hinder the change and growth of a culture , as well as keep a culture together and unique. Culture is always present and never the same between different societies. Cultures, societies, and their …show more content… In fact it is the basis on which America was founded upon. The freedom of a religion, the American dollar reads, ‘In God We Trust’. With something so prominent in life, something to believe in, it can and does have a direct link to the ability to have change and evolve. It is easy to follow a religion, as humans we like to have rules, not necessarily follow them, but have rules and a religion gives us just that. ‘Societies with religion were more likely to survive than those without because of the community, compassion, lack of anarchy or murder, family structure, etc. enforced by religious beliefs’. An example of a society that is highly dictated by religion would be, the Islamic ones such as Pakistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. These countries base their laws on sharia law, and follow strict Islamic culture. Islamic culture is very simple and easily defined. ‘Submit freely to The Commandments and Will of The One and Only God (Allah). This submission should come from within, from sound belief in and conviction to Allah, with no doubt. It should also come from love, trust, and affection’. It is very simple and yet dictates so much about how a society can react within itself and with others. Muslims practice this, although there are many Muslims around the world, Islamic countries are more incline to be led by Muslims in the Islamic belief system. In Islamic culture women must keep their faces covered, and eat in …show more content… With technology many things can and have been achieved through religious, scientific, health, and educational aspects of the world. The world is ever growing in technological advances. With these changes cultures must learn to adapt to be able to keep up with the rest of the world. Most cultures and countries try to out do the other in scientific achievement. Like the great space race from 1955-1972, which was a competition between USA and the USSR to see who could get to the moon the fastest. It was a way of showing of superior intellect and technologies, in a non-violent way. ‘Each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology’. However in poorer country the cultures there have not been able to adapt to the change in technology and have fallen far behind. For instance Cambodia in homes and outside of the tourist areas there are only old, bulky, windows 98 computers, and never a Television over twenty-five inches. The lack of being able to have, access to, even the smallest amount of technology has little, to no, hope of ever being able to progress technologically. Technology helps society in a way that can be good or bad. It can make daily and work related tasks easier, like the coffee machine or tractor. Or it can cause laziness in people, like the television and video games. Since Cambodia, among other cultures, do not have access to these technologies; they rely on

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How TikTok Changed American Culture

The app’s influence on hollywood, school and more..

Produced by Kaitlin Roberts

Edited by Larissa Anderson

Engineered by Diane Wong and Dan Powell

Featuring Sapna Maheshwari ,  Brooks Barnes ,  Natasha Singer and Amanda Hess

On Wednesday, President Biden signed into law a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the app or face a ban in the United States. Though the government prefers a sale to a ban, a future without the app would be possible if no sale is made within 270 days, or about nine months, a time frame that the president could extend to a year.

Imagining this fate, writers at The New York Times reflected on TikTok’s influence across many aspects of American culture, including the entertainment business, schools and social media.

On today’s episode

Sapna Maheshwari , a reporter for The Times.

Brooks Barnes , a reporter for The Times.

Natasha Singer , a reporter for The Times.

Amanda Hess , a critic at large for The Times.

Additional reading

Love, Hate or Fear It, TikTok Has Changed America

The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Sapna Maheshwari reports on TikTok, technology and emerging media companies. She has been a business reporter for more than a decade. Contact her at [email protected] . More about Sapna Maheshwari

Brooks Barnes covers all things Hollywood. He joined The New York Times in 2007 and previously worked at The Wall Street Journal. More about Brooks Barnes

Natasha Singer writes about technology, business and society. She is currently reporting on the far-reaching ways that tech companies and their tools are reshaping public schools, higher education and job opportunities. More about Natasha Singer

Amanda Hess is a critic at large for the Culture section of The Times, covering the intersection of internet and pop culture. More about Amanda Hess

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Trans patients to be treated in separate rooms in hospital under Tory plans

Ministers accused of dragging NHS into ‘culture wars debate’ with proposal for patient rights update

Transgender people will be treated in single rooms in hospitals in England under new government plans to update the NHS constitution.

The proposal follows a pledge last year by the then health secretary Steve Barclay to prevent people who had changed their gender identity from being treated on male-only or female-only wards.

The plan is included in a raft of proposed changes to the NHS constitution , which sets out what rights patients have in terms of the care they can expect to receive from the NHS.

Hospital bosses responded by accusing ministers of dragging the NHS “into a pre-election culture wars debate” and ignoring much more pressing issues, such as long waits for care.

The proposals also include a reaffirmation of patients’ existing rights to ask to only receive “intimate care” – such as an examination of their breasts, genitalia or rectum – from hospital staff of the same sex as them and to stay on a single-sex ward.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the aim was to enhance the privacy, dignity and safety of all patients, including trans people.

But Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents hospital trusts, told ministers it was important that “the NHS is not dragged into a pre-election culture wars debate”.

The debate around changing the constitution “should not be about grabbing headlines”, he added.

Ministers would be better bringing forward detailed plans to improve NHS funding, tackle the decrepit state of many health facilities and get waiting times for A&E care and planned surgery back to the levels that existed when the constitution was first published in 2012, he said.

Dr Emma Runswick, the deputy chair of the British Medical Association council, also criticised the plans for how the NHS should manage hospital inpatients who are trans.

“Some of the proposed changes to the NHS constitution run the risk of causing more harm than good, with the potential to incite further discrimination, harassment and ostracisation of an already marginalised group,” she said.

“If these proposed changes come into effect, transgender and non-binary patients will potentially find their access to vital NHS services limited.”

Taylor described the proposed new guidance as ambiguous. It does not explicitly tell hospitals that they should routinely put a trans person in a single room. But it appears to presume that this will generally happen.

It says that, when hospitals are considering how the long-established single-sex wards policy should apply to those who have changed gender, the needs of every patient on the ward should be taken into account.

It also highlights “the concerns that patients may have about sharing hospital accommodation with patients of the opposite sex”.

“When making these decisions it is important to balance the impact on all service users and show that there is a sufficiently good reason for limiting or modifying a transgender person’s access,” it says.

Giving a trans person a single room would be justified under the Equality Act 2010, because it “allows for the provision of single-sex or separate sex services if certain conditions are met”.

Maria Caulfield, the minister for the women’s health strategy, said the government wanted the NHS to accommodate requests for same-sex intimate care and to stay on a single-sex ward.

But Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, highlighted that NHS figures showed “the use of mixed-sex wards has exploded under the Tories. Women were forced to spend the night on wards alongside male patients 44,000 times last year, 20 times as many as a decade ago, putting huge numbers of people’s safety at risk.”

• Transgender
• Health policy

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