In common sense, culture acquires different meanings: great knowledge of a certain subject, art, science, “so and so has culture”.
In the eyes of sociology, culture it is everything that results from human creation. They are ideas, artifacts, customs, laws, moral beliefs, knowledge, acquired from social interaction.
Only man has culture.
Whether the society is simple or complex, they all have their way of expressing, thinking, acting and feeling, therefore, they all have their own culture, their way of life.
There is no superior or inferior culture, better or worse, but different cultures.
The functions of culture are:
- meet human needs;
- normatively limit these needs;
- implies some form of violation of man's natural condition. For example: jacket and tie are incompatible with hot weather; depriving yourself of good food in favor of displaying a prestige symbol, such as a car; social pressure for both men and women to achieve the ideal of physical beauty.
What is beautiful in one society may be ugly in another cultural context.
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The concept of mass culture, on the other hand, can be defined as patterns shared by most individuals, regardless of income, education, occupation, etc.
Mass culture is a product of the cultural industry, typically of capitalist societies; it refers to superficial aspects of leisure, artistic taste and clothing.
The cultural industry is always “manufacturing” fashions and tastes, mass culture is only viable because of the invention of mass communication.
Orson Camargo
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Sociology and Politics from the School of Sociology and Politics of São Paulo – FESPSP
Master in Sociology from the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Sociology - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
CAMARGO, Orson. "Culture"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/sociologia/cultura-1.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
