Culture and Identity
Each and every society has its own distinctive culture as Edward Sapir says:
"Culture is any socially inherited element of the life of man, material and spiritual".
It is a learned behavior and shared by majority in a group. It is a unique possession of man. It includes all that
man has acquired in his individual and social life as E.B. Taylor defines:
"Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, Jaw, customs
and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society".
E.B. Taylor an English anthropologist was the first to coin the term 'culture' in the eighteenth century 18 th
c. The study of society becomes incomplete without proper understanding of culture of that society, because
culture and society go together. Man is a unique person who is born and brought up in a cultural environment.
According to E.B. Taylor: "Culture as that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morale, laws, custom and any other capabilities and habits as acquired by man as a member of society."
R. Redfield defines: "Culture as an organised body of conventional understandings, manifest in art which
persisting through tradition, characteristics a human group".
Culture is a very broad term that includes in itself all our work of life as Mac Iver is of the view that:
"Culture is the expression of our nature in our modes of living, and our thinking, intercourses
in our literature, in religion, in recreation and enjoyment.
It is our modes of behaviors, or customs and traditions, our religion and other types of activities as Redfield
remarks that: "Culture is an organized body of conventional understanding manifest in art and
artifact which persisting through, characterizes a human group".
Hence, Culture is one of the most important and basic concepts of sociology. In sociology, culture has a
specific meaning. The anthropologists believe that the behavior, which is transmitted to us by someone, is called
culture. The way of living, eating, wearing, and singing, dancing and talking is all parts of a culture.
Culture also involves other important subjects such as, family, language, identity, stereotyping and so on.
Therefore, family is the place in which society begins, but in many cases families are part of different cultures,
and the ones that are affected by this situation are the kids. To illustrate this, there are some stories such as: "the
Good Daughter," by Caroline Hwang, "Living in Two Worlds," by Marcus Mabry and "Almost a
Woman," by Esmeralda Santiago which each of them reveals the conflicts children have to confront in the
adjustment in a foreign culture and the roles that family and cultural identity play in accentuating these
dilemmas.
Moreover, Culture has been defined in various ways by sociologists and anthropologists. Following are the
important definitions of culture Malinowski defines:
"Culture the handwork of man and conventional understanding manifest in art and artifact
which persisting through which he achieves his ends".
According to E.S. Bogardus: "Culture is all the ways of doing and thinking of a group".
Culture has several characteristics. Culture is not inherited biologically, but learnt socially by man. It is not
an inborn tendency.
Culture does not exist in isolation neither it is an individual phenomenon. It is a product of society. It
originates and develops through social interaction. It is shared by the members of society. No man can acquire
culture without association with other human beings, For example customs, tradition, beliefs, ideas, values,
morals, etc. are all shared by people of a group or society. Then, these Cultures are capable of being transmitted
from one generation to the next. Hence, Culture is transmitted by means of language that is itself is part of the
culture. Thus, Culture exists, as a continuous process.
Culture, of every society in unique to itself. Cultures are not uniform. Cultural elements such as customs,
traditions, morals are not uniform everywhere. Culture varies from time to time also. No culture ever remains
constant or changeless.
Furthermore, it is always said that the world with no culture or a lack of identity would be a rather boring place.
Identity and culture are what makes this world an interesting place, there is a distinct relationship between
identity and culture and one without the other they could not exists. That is Cultural identity is important for
people’s sense of self and how they relate to others.
Identity is something we all strive to find out about ourselves. In the essay "Real Indians Eat Jell-O" by
Laurie Carlson, it seems that she has trouble finding her own identity and culture. Carlson a Native American
living in a trailer park in Montana wants to know more of her culture to try to give herself an identity. Carlson
states "Indian kids are supposed to live in wide open spaces, in deserts or forests”
A person’s culture helps them to determine their identity in life. Without knowing your own culture, whether it
be a poor Indian growing up in a trailer park or a rich white boy growing up in a huge house, your identity would
be very hard to determine. A person’s culture is the main part of a person’s identity, and without knowing your
culture it would be hard to figure out ones identity.
