Rethinking Culture And Society

The meaning of culture

Discuss about the Rethinking Culture and Society.

The following essay focuses on the fact that the characterization of culture in terms of the flows and complexity help the human beings to grapple with the analysis of cultural beliefs, forms, relations and processes.  The culture is a very key term in the shaping up of a society in the best ways. It has to be believed that the cultures of various countries will help the human beings to behave and act in a particular way. In this essay this question will be looked upon with in depth critical analysis indeed. Some important texts will be consulted in this context and the important conclusion will be drawn regarding this matter. The different issues that arise from these cultural beliefs will be discussed as well. The global culture is considered to be the fact where all the cultures of all countries and continents assimilate. The values and beliefs in this global context of culture would be given a special focus.

Culture is believed to be one of the most important aspects in the global aspect. The global or world culture has been seen from many perspectives. This is indeed a very complex term indeed. According to Raymond Williams this term ‘culture’ is considered to be a ‘damned’ word indeed (Bennett, Grossberg and Morris.2005).This entire term of culture should be broken down into some parts and those parts should be discussed individually. These terms are beliefs, traditions, ideas and art. There are some kinds of important cultures like the mass culture, folk culture, popular culture, high culture and others. The difference between the national cultures and the regional cultures will have to be sought as well. The impact of the cultural policies has laid a huge impact on the lifestyles of the human beings globally (Couldry 2000).

The cultural diversity has made a huge place in the modern world. The inner cities in the world need development from various means and the cultural development is really one of them indeed. The need to regenerate themselves from the cultural perspectives and then only they can survive in the modern changing world (Bennett, Grossberg and Morris.2005) The modernization of cultures has led to the self-improvement of the people from various aspects indeed. The harmony between several social groups could be established by the effects of adapting to the changes in the nature. One of the main facts in the modern interpretation of culture is cultural relativism. This has enabled a sense of the standard of perfection in the minds of the people all around the globe. The life of the human beings as related to culture can be described from the aspects of the ethnography and cultural anthropology (Couldry 2000)   

Seeing the world beyond the cultures

It has to be understood that the word ‘culture’ cannot be restrained to only a single aspect to be particular. The word culture has different apprehensions indeed. Culture is not only about the cultural life. It is much more beyond that indeed. The impact of politics is seen from the different aspects of culture (Breidenbach and Nyíri 2009). The cultural analysis of different social groups is indeed very complex. This is why the experts have come to conclusion that culture has to be seen from different aspects like politics, art and many others. The ethical issues in culture are very important only. This is why the experts have put much focus on shaping the culture from these perspectives. The cultural analysis and theories can be depicted from the cultural perspectives. The entity of culture is completely separate and coherent as well. These different kinds of cultures can be treated as inside culture and outside culture. The different forms of culture in the society and its perceptions by the people belonging to different social groups can be interpreted differently as well. The term of following a particular set of cultural beliefs can be ascribed to a set of particular social group only. Many cultural problems can be located in this context of cultures from sociological and anthropological aspects (Breidenbach and Nyíri 2009).

The practice of anthropology is one important perspective of finding the differences in the cultures of different people. The cultural studies of the various disciplines have to be studied very minutely in order to find the differences and similarities of different cultures (Breidenbach and Nyíri 2009). The impact of shared culture has contributed in an enormous manner to build up the nationalism in all respect. This is the very reason as to why the particular, distinctive and shared cultures always help the different cultures to find the best ways to express themselves.

The vulnerability of the cultures for the different social groups has led the different ethnic groups to be dominated by the colonizers in the ancient times. They used the policy of divide, categorize and rule that helped them to inflict their culture within the home culture. This has impacted in two ways. One was positive and other negative. The positive aspect was the assimilation of the two types of cultures. The negative aspect was the fact of the dominance of one culture over another. However, the experts have stressed the fact that a particular national culture goes through several steps and changes. The difference in the cultures can also stem from the ethnic differences of the countries. The skin color has been one very important aspect in bringing in the changes as well. The term ’cultural insiderism’ has been used in this section as it reflects the cultural differences between the different ethnic groups. The impact of racism has laid a great impact on the inside cultures because it has naturalized.

Consciousness of cultures

The consciousness about one’s own culture is very much important aspect for understanding the culture of the human beings and different ethnic groups. The clash of cultures has been a very effective scenario in shaping up the present condition of the globe. The racial discriminations are giving a rise to the clash of cultures. The different issues have been located in the recent culture studies like the ‘honor killing’ of the Muslim women in Germany and the international relationship between America and China. The United Nations had attempted to bridge the distance between the Western civilization and the Muslim society and bring them under the same roof. This would have eradicated the evil of terror from the world and brought the entire people close with one another.

These issues will have to be mitigated in order to establish the world peace in most of the countries. The ‘clash of civilizations’ is a significant thing in designing of the cultures of countries (Bennett, Grossberg and Morris.2005) The union of the western societies and the Muslim societies can be renamed as the Alliance of Civilizations. The entire world in the modern context needs the consciousness of culture to give it a proper shape. This has been really a very important aspect of the entire aspect of defining the cultures. Every man has a good idea about their culture and they are very conscious about preserving their cultures in the best ways. Everyone can see the reflection of these cultures in the daily lives and their behaviors. These are the mere reflections of the cultures of the human beings belonging to different social groups and ethnicities. The concepts that can be interpreted in this context are social class, colonial history of the countries, and technological development of the countries along with the progress in science (Bennett, Grossberg and Morris.2005)

The ethnic conflicts have been the consequences of the difference of cultures and their differences. The global politics have always given the scope for the development of these things in particular. The cultural and ideological differences had laid to the rise of the Cold War in the late twentieth century. This had been the result of the difference that existed between the socialist Russia and the capitalist USA (Bennett, Grossberg and Morris.2005) History tells that the cultural differences have laid to bigger differences in the coming years after those incidents. The liberal democracy or communism that is followed in Russia had advanced towards making it a better society free of the religious and cultural narrowness. The context of the Middle East can be described by saying that it has been based on the religious narrowness and it has divided the people of the countries too. The collapse and damage of the Soviet Union has been caused by the ethnic conflicts.

Conclusion

This essay can be concluded by saying that the ethnic conflicts due to the mismatch of culture has laid to many negative impacts in the society. The cultures are a part of the society but its role is not the negative one to create the differences. The different cultures should be assimilated within the society and it should not grapple to save its existence. Rather its assimilation would create a better society indeed. Thus all the societies should try to create the best form of understanding and make the society a better living place for all the human beings.

References

‘Culture’, Bennett. T, Grossberg. L. and Morris. M (eds) (2005) Oxford,Blackwell: 63-69

Breidenbach, J.  and Nyíri. P. (2009) ‘Introduction’ (excerpt), Seeing Culture Everywhere University of Washington Press:3-5,9-10.

New Keywords; Couldry, N. (2000) ‘Beyond “Cultures”’, Inside Culture SAGE: 91-111.