CARIBBEAN STUDIES NOTES SOCIETY AND CULTURE The ‘social’ is the totality of explanations describing how people interact and make meanings of their experiences. It is a construct that we create and use to represent all the many ways through which people make meaning in their lives. For a society to exist, there must be arrangements, interactions and relationships that make social life possible. SOCIETY Society is a group of people who have interacted over time in a specific place, developing certain shared purposes and goals that structure their relationship in dynamic ways. It is the largest unit or group to which an individual belongs but the individual is also a member of different groups that comprise relationships within the overall unit of society. Characteristics include: 1. A shared common purpose – Society may refer to a group which shares a common purpose that structures their relationships and interactions. The group members share a common bond or value. This social construction is in terms of consensus, harmony and order that ought to prevail in society. 2. A defined territorial space – This is a political science perspective of society. The society is seen as fused or equated with the state. The boundaries of the country are equivalent to the limits of the society. The state is the container in which all relationships occur. 3. Continuity over time and space – A group of people living together in a place over a long period of time may constitute a society. This construction of society has a strong historical, political and geological perspective. This is a historical perspective where society is thought of as located in time and belonging to a certain period. Society is seen as a set of dynamic relationships between and within different groups. Society may also be seen as evolving towards some ideal over time. 4. Citizenship within a space – This is also a political science view of society. All persons in a region or area are seen as belonging to a society. Therefore, all citizens of a country or state are members of the same society. There is also a geographical perspective of society which says that groups of people living in a region develop ways of interacting that are significantly influenced by the place or space in which they live. In sociology, the functionalist perspective looks at the social structure or society as a means of ensuring peace and stability. The structures that organise relationships and interactions make certain that the collective will of members is satisfied. In this way, society can be seen as a ‘guide to behaviour’. Marxist sociologists say that in capitalist societies, the economic structure dominates interaction and relationships and the interests of the elite are always taken care of. This leads to gross inequalities in the society.
Sociologists describe society as having a framework that is not visible but provides a frame of reference for understanding that groups are necessary for our existence and that society influences how we behave. It is made up of social institutions which are then translated into social organisations. These ideas that people in a society share come out of our history. For example, in education:
Importance is placed on classical and traditional disciplines (mathematics, science, arts, and literature) Schooling should be rigorous and aimed at high standards Education and religion go hand in hand to inculcate discipline and acceptable morals in the young
CULTURE Culture may be broadly defined as the understanding of having common customs and values and deriving meanings in similar ways. Culture is an adaptive method which is learned and shared. Characteristics of culture include: 1. Learned behaviour common to all human beings – People who live together develop symbols which represent significant shared, negotiated meanings for something – referred to as ‘meaning systems’. Lanaguage, gestures, habits, religion, marriage and aspirations act as symbols for a set of shared meanings and values, which for people in that society represents their culture. These symbols are referred to as non-material or symbolic culture, which people interpret every day as part of culture. Learning the shared agreements of a culture is at the heart of how culture is created and maintained. 2. Customs and traditions – These have been passed down from generations over time. They are symbols that people interpret as being desirable or necessary at a particular time or on a particular occasion. For example, it is customary in Guyana to eat pepperpot for breakfast on Christmas morning. 3. Norms and values which provide a guide to behaviour – People choose their behaviours based on how they interpret the set of values and beliefs that are meaningful and intelligible to other members. Norms are expected behaviours, based on these values. Persons who successfully follow them may be rewarded and those who do not may be censured or sanctioned in the form of ridicule, laws or other means. 4. Institutions which prescribe behaviour – Social institutions are a group of cherished ideas and beliefs that a society has about how they want their lives organised. These ideas and beliefs give rise to certain behaviours which are deemed acceptable and in keeping with the values of the society. These institutions are translated into the tangible form of social organizations which are considered necessary for all persons in some form. 5. Gendered practices e.g. child rearing, employment – Culture may also refer to the expected gender roles of persons in a society, and how the different genders behave as a result of these. These behaviours are learnt through gender socialization. For example, a woman is seen as the home-maker and care-giver in child rearing while the man may be seen as the breadwinner of the household. However, the culture of women working is becoming more and more widespread.
Culture may also be described as ways of life or predictable patterns and behaviours e.g. ways of worshipping, celebrating, and interacting with others. Popular culture, high culture and mass
culture are types of culture as products. Culture is the meanings people have for something and those meanings are represented in ordinary life through behaviours, acts, rituals, norms and so on. Culture may be passed on to other persons through enculturation and diffusion, a general process being known as cultural reproduction. From a geographical perspective, culture may be seen as the ways people have found to adapt to, and adapt, the environment in which they live. Culture also has a structural dimension, in that it is the social structure which is seen to generate the kind of culture experienced by different groups e.g. high culture and culture of poverty. According to Clifford Geertz who studied symbolic culture, a person exists within webs of significance. Beliefs and values are at the heart of culture, as it is these that encourage a society to adapt, change or stand still. ‘Ways of life’, ‘learned behaviours’ and as an ‘adaptive mechanism’ are all symbolic perspectives of culture that depend of the society’s beliefs and values. ______________________________________________________________________________ Caribbean culture has been created and formed by the forces of geography (through the Caribbean’s archipelagic nature, mainland territories, problems of definition, mountainous terrain and human activity), colonization and ‘culture-spheres’ resulting from the geo-politics of superpower rivalry over centuries of plantation slavery and mercantilist (relating to trade and commerce) greed. History has impacted on values through slavery, colonialism, indentureship, independence, chronic economic depression, development of plural societies and globalisation. Culture has also been impacted by exposure to the mass media. The struggle of our economies to face EMDCs in the globalised world, e.g. by diversifying, and the availability of foreign products have made an impact on our culture. Culture is conditioned by social location and relationships. We use the understandings of our own culture to view and assess the culture of others. ‘Cultural sensitivity’ occurs where persons acknowledge their own imperfect cultural understandings as well as the fact that others act from their own social location. Social issues, therefore, should not be assessed from an individual viewpoint but it should be kept mindful that there are many other social locations which would affect persons’ perspective. Persons of one view should try to make sense of oppositional views based on the nature of culture.
Culture may be used to define and characterise aspects of a lifestyle that may be peculiar to a particular society.
Due to the group structure of society, it is made up of social institutions. Yet, these are intangible ideas (that is, ideas, beliefs and values) from which tangible organisations were created. Culture may refer to these intangible ideas or the material culture which result from these (e.g. customs, traditions and gendered practices). A society and its culture are rooted in the same values. Bonds between people inhabiting the same area spring from having a set of shared beliefs and values. ______________________________________________________________________________ People learn values, norms and behaviours acceptable in society through socialization. Active socialization continuously occurs throughout one’s life where an individual brings his or her own dispositions and attitudes to bear on decision making. The hierarchy of values of an individual refers to the order in which he/she ranks different values, that is, which ones are seen as more of a priority. ______________________________________________________________________________ Latent or hidden functions refer to the unintended, hidden or unexpected consequences of an act. Surface or manifest functions refer to the anticipated, open or stated goals of an act.
