W4.1 March 25 (Mon)

  1. Summary

This article focuses on cultural concepts such as the meaning and origin of culture, subculture and counterculture,  and cultural relativism, ethnocentrism and function and change of culture. First, culture is considered an essential part of social life, including both material and symbolic aspects that form human identity and behavior. Culture is a dynamic concept that reflects social inequality and constantly evolves and negotiates through a continuous process. Through culture, people coexist with others by giving meaning to their lives and forming a sense of belonging. Therefore, it can be said that culture is not a completely unified concept but a process of constantly changing. Subculture is one in which some people share and participate within the entire culture. Cultures contain numerous subculture. Subculture incorporates many parts of the entire culture to which they belong, but each subculture can differ fundamentally in detail. Counterculture is a subculture that challenges or represents animosity toward the whole culture or subculture itself. This means counterculture is also subculture. Culture can be divided into 3 pieces, Entire Culture, Subculture which is not a counterculture, and Counterculture. Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism play an important role in sociology and interpersonal relationships, and the two have distinct differences. Ethnocentrism focuses only on the cultures of one's own people, which can lead to social division and prejudice, but cultural relativism emphasizes respect and understanding of differences between cultures. Numerous theoretical approaches have been used to understand culture, but in this article, cultural theory is explained using the model 'Ritzer' argued for. This theory proposes four highly anthropomorphic elements: macro-objective element, micro-objective element, macro-subjective element, and micro-subjective element. It also explains the function of culture, which can function to maintain order as a result of shared understanding and meaning or create and maintain social inequality.


 2. Interesting things

I found it interesting to see the difference in perceptions of cows in the United States and India as an example of cultural relativism. The cultural difference was demonstrated by the fact that meat of cow (aka. beef) is widely consumed as food in the United States, while cows are considered as divine animals that should not be killed in India. Additionally, it seems that it is important example to demonstrate cultural relativism that Americans respect the culture of Indians when they go to India, and that Indians respect the culture of Americans when they go to the United States.

Also, although I thought that culture only had positive functions, it seemed interesting that it could also have a negative function, which is the function of creating and maintaining social inequality.


 3. Any Questions ? 

Usually words have their definitions, but cultures vary from country to country and the world, so they cannot be accurately defined. So how are this word formed if culture cannot be defined as one exact concept?

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