Social culture is Definition, concept, foundations and functions performed in society

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Social culture is a system of social norms and rules, knowledge and values by which people exist in society. Although it does not cover a wide range of human life, it perfectly combines both spiritual and moral values. It is also interpreted as a creative activity, which is aimed at their creation. Such a concept is necessary for a person to designate the primary function of the culture of a society.

Social focus

Culture in general and social - these are concepts that differ in breadth of application. The general term is applicable to many areas of human activity - philosophy, history, social anthropology, language and others. The social culture of a society is, first of all, a combination of words, denoting that the term has a social nature, and without it it cannot exist in principle. Such an approachensuring the interaction of individuals in society is essential.

Social culture is a structured system that consists of people's knowledge, their values, life norms and traditions. It is with the help of such elements that a person lives, organizes himself, gives the right attitudes to the mind. The role of this concept is very important, as it is able to regulate people's lives all the time.

Functions

The foundations of social culture are, first of all, functions that are quite diverse in their application and meaning:

1. Humanistic - it is responsible for ensuring that the creative abilities of a person are always in development.
2. Socially informative - all the experience gained by generations is stored, accumulated and eventually transferred to the next one.
3. Communicative - responsible for communication between individuals.
4. Educational and upbringing - there is a socialization of the individual with its subsequent familiarization with traditions and culture.
5. Regulatory - human behavior is controlled by necessary norms and values.
6. Integrating - aimed at uniting society as a whole or a particular country.

Side functions of a person's social culture are the definition of a way of life, the formation of certain guidelines and priorities. The concept is also aimed at making a person construct some system in his mind throughout his life, a program with settings that will put pressure on him if the act is not considered the norm. This has been proven by many researchers, so social culture is an important aspect of life in society. It educates a person in the same way that animals in the wild are educated by their program of behavior, laid down at the genetic level.

Stages of formation

Like everything that exists on earth, social culture has its own history of development, which is conventionally divided into specific stages:

• Primitive community - representatives of this period have similar ideas and opportunities, they do not have any technological means, only the elementary ones necessary in everyday life. The role of the term in this case is not decisive, it is simply responsible for organizing actions.
• Division of labor, the emergence of tribes - all the activities of individual units of the tribe are aimed at achieving common goals, maintaining viability, as well as protecting against hostile neighbors.
• Agrarian civilizations - social and physical culture were aimed at providing benefits to military units and the highest nobility, for which the working classes were forced to work.
• The industrial period, the emergence of a class society - the concept in this case helped to achieve interdependence between classes, which encouraged people to work.
• Post-industrial development - the period is characterized by the fact that the main commodity is information, not things or objects. In this period, the concept has a number of tasks: mutual responsibility between people from different industries, elimination of increasedpopulation migration, solving environmental problems.

Aspects

The development of social culture made it possible to distinguish between two aspects - statics and dynamics. The first one is aimed at studying the structural divisions of the science we are considering, and the second one is aimed at the development of all its processes as a whole.

Also in this concept, there are smaller units that sociologists have identified through long studies, namely the original units, which are also called cultural elements. Such small components also have their own classes - they can be tangible or intangible. They form the corresponding division of culture into two segments.

Material class is all objects, knowledge and skills that acquire a material form in the process of human life. The spiritual class, on the other hand, consists of languages, codes and symbols, beliefs, norms and values, and there is no need for subsequent materialization, since the concepts remain in the mind of a person and regulate his life.

Legacy

Social heritage is a special part of culture that is significant for society and is passed on to subsequent generations. Moreover, it is important that this information be accepted and understood by them. Only in this case can we talk about heritage. The fundamental function of heritage is the expression of cultural universals described in the works of J. P. Murdoch. There are about 70 universals that are the same in all civilizations. For example, language, religion, funeral rituals, games, etc.

Universals, though common to all, but they allowthe existence of many different movements that have their own traditions, manner of communication, ideas, stereotypes, outlook on life. It is against this background that a well-known problem emerges - the perception and understanding of a foreign culture. Introduction to the values of other peoples, their understanding occurs through two trends - ethnocentrism and relativism.

Ethnocentrism

The phenomenon of ethnocentrism is very common among many civilizations. It is expressed by the fact that other cultures are perceived as something inferior. To solve the problem, many try to impose their own views in a foreign country. This, according to some, allows you to make the culture ostensibly better. In the future, such a view of things can give rise to terrible consequences in the form of wars, nationalism, and the destruction of power. Today, while this concept is expressed by tolerance. That is why you can find positive aspects in it, such as patriotism, self-awareness and solidarity.

Relativism

Relativism is a concept related to the fact that any culture has its own history and reasons for being such. Therefore, when assessing, it is important to take these factors into account. An excellent thought came to the American Ruth Benedict, professor at Columbia University, the meaning of which is that it is impossible to understand culture, if we consider its current state. It must be evaluated in a diachronic space. Relativism is usually a consequence of ethnocentrism, with the former helping to move fromnegativity towards tolerance, mutual understanding, since any civilization basically has reasons to be what it is now.

What should I do?

The main rule when traveling to another country or simply assessing a foreign civilization is a combination of ethnocentrism and relativism. It will look something like this: a person will be proud of their strange and rich history, but at the same time will respect someone else's history and traditions that led it to its current state.