Culture and Social Order

Question 1

Culture

Answer 1

is the sum total of learned behavior among human beings which determines how people live.

Question 2

Culture and socialisation

Answer 2

It is transmitted through socialization or inculturation. Culture is not generally determined; it is not a characteristic of one group or individuals but is characteristic of a group. The extent to which an individual is cultured will affect membership within groups. The early humans learnt about their environment, by learning how to adapt to their environment led to the emergence of culture. Therefore, culture emerged as a means of survival

Question 3

Defining Culture

Answer 3

Taylor defined culture as the “complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, laws, moral, customs and many others. The capabilities (learned) by man as a member of society.” It is the totality of learnt, socially transmitted behavior; constantly shaping behavior and consciousness within a human society from generation to generation.
Anthropologists today believe that culture is something fully possessed by all human societies; the notion of one universal culture has been replaced by a modern idea of a great many cultures.

Culture is the learned symbolic; particularly adaptive, ever-changing pattern of behavior and meaning shared by members of a group.
It is important to note that there has been no consensus on a precise definition or means of studying culture.

Question 4

How does culture relate to you, your family community, country, region and the rest of the world?

Answer 4

Culture is transmitted initially by one’s family as the primary unit of socialization. This socialization is essential for the development of the individual identity. Culture identifies societal values, norms or religious traits and language that are found in every culture. No matter where people live in the world they share the universal traits of culture; values, norms, language, religion, despite being universal traits different cultures express them differently.

Question 5

Cultural Plurality

Answer 5

This describes a condition defined by the existence of two or more cultural traditions in a society. In a society characterized by cultural plurality obtains different sections of the total population practicing different forms of common institutions though different in their social organization, their institutional activities and their belief systems and values.

Pluralism- This term implies that various groups in a society may have a mutual respect that allows minorities to express their own culture without prejudice or hostility.

Question 6

Creole Society

Answer 6

is used to describe a native West Indian of European, African or mixed decent. It is sometimes used in reference to any culture/ aspect emerging in the Caribbean from interactions among these groups eg: food, language, holidays. Ideally creole describes a new or modified cultural entity.

Question 7

Acculturation, Inter-culturation and Assimilation

Answer 7

Acculturation
based on the process of creolization, it is the absorption of an imposed culture of a dominant group by another subordinate group eg. during slavery

Interculturation
This is a two- way process, it is more reciprocal and spontaneous; it is the intermixture involving the cultural exchange between two or more groups.

Assimilation
This is a process by which a subordinate individual or group takes on the characteristics of the dominant group within society and is eventually accepted as part of that group.

Question 8

5 reasons why cultural assimilation may take longer

Answer 8

differences between minority and majority are large.
majority is not receptive or minority retains its culture
minority group arrive over a short period
minority group resides in a concentrated area rather than dispersed
Arrival is recent and the homeland is accessible.