Cultural Identity

What is culture?

Culture refers to the collective characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, such as traditions, language, religion, food, music, norms, customs, and values. Culture can be represented in two ways:

• Material culture refers to physical objects or artefacts that symbolize or originate from a culture. For example, books, clothes, or decorative items.

• Non-material culture refers to the beliefs, values and knowledge that shape behaviour and thought. For example, religious beliefs, historical practices, or scientific knowledge.

Fig. 1 - Historical artefacts, like statues from Ancient Greece, are part of material culture.

Culture and socialisation

Culture is learned through socialisation, which is the process of learning and adapting to social norms, something we all do from a young age. There are two types of socialisation.

• Primary socialisation takes place in the family. We are taught to carry out and avoid certain behaviours by copying our parents. Conditioning reinforces our ideas of what is right and wrong through reward and punishment.

• Secondary socialisation takes place in the wider world through various institutions that shape our behaviour. Examples include school, religion, the media, and the workplace.

Culture plays a large part in people's behaviour, thoughts, and feelings, as culture often defines what is 'acceptable'. Sociologists are therefore interested in how culture affects our behaviour, both collectively and individually. To understand what a culture deems 'acceptable', we can look at its 'norms' and 'values'.

What are norms?

Norms are practices that are seen as the standard or normal ways of behaving. They are 'unwritten rules' or expectations that dictate appropriate behaviour. Norms can be reflected in big life decisions or in every day (and often unconscious) behaviour.

Both of these norms are examples of standard or normal ways of behaving. You may be able to give more examples, either of the norms you follow or norms that you have heard of.

Fig. 2 - In some cultures, it is the norm to keep shoes out of the home space.

What are values?

Values are beliefs and attitudes towards something, e.g., behaviour or social issue. In culture, values are often the standards of social behaviour, as they determine what is right or wrong. Values can be reflected in our norms.

As you can imagine, values can vary significantly across different cultures.

The definition of cultural identity and social identity

A person's identity can include race, ethnicity, gender, social class, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs. Identity can be seen in different dimensions, namely cultural and social identity. The differences between the two are outlined below.

What is cultural identity?

Cultural identities are the distinct identities of people or groups in cultural or subcultural categories and social groups. Categories that make up cultural identities include sexuality, gender, religion, ethnicity, social class, or region. We are often born into our cultural identities. Therefore, participation is not always voluntary.

Example of cultural identity

What is social identity?

Social identities are parts of the identity that come from being involved in social groups that individuals are personally committed to. These are voluntary commitments to social groups that frequently stem from interests or hobbies.

Example of social identity

Identity and cultural diversity: concepts of culture

It is important to understand there are many types of cultures. Let's look at the most significant types of culture, and how cultural diversity interacts with identity.

Mass culture

Mass culture is commercial and emerges from the centralised production processes of mass media (such as social media, film, and TV) for mass audiences. Mass culture is created for mass consumption. Popular culture is sometimes seen as deriving from mass culture, as mass culture produces products and items meant to be popularised.

Fig. 3 - Magazines are part of mass culture and tell us what to popularise.

Popular culture

Popular culture consists of mainstream interests, ideas, and forms of entertainment.

Global culture

Global culture is shared by people around the world.

Subculture

Subcultures refer to groups within a culture with shared values and behaviours which deviates from the mainstream.

Folk culture

Folk culture is the preserve of small, homogeneous, rural groups living in relative isolation from other groups. Cultures like these are a common feature of pre-industrial society. Folk culture embraces tradition, history, and the preservation of a sense of belonging.

Due to the small size of these groups, folk culture was preserved through oral tradition.

Globalisation and cultural identity

Globalisation became a popular idea towards the end of the 20th century, due to advances in travel, communication, and technology - the world became more connected.

In terms of cultural shifts, globalisation can look a lot like Westernisation or Americanisation. This is because most of the iconic global brands come from the USA, e.g. Coca-Cola, Disney, and Apple. Some sociologists are critical of Americanisation and claim that globalisation is negative because it creates one homogenised culture everywhere in the world, instead of preserving the cultures and traditions of specific countries.

Others, however, point out that globalisation contributed to the introduction of non-Western cultures to the Western world, which is a positive consequence. Bollywood or Asian cuisine, for example, is growing in popularity all over the world.

At the same time, in many countries, people want to retain their traditional culture and identity and resist introducing Western culture and the English language. This is particularly noticeable in the Middle East and parts of Africa. Here, rejections of Western influence have been accompanied by assertions of Islamic identity.

People also develop collective identities that exist in resistance to globalisation. In Scotland, for example, theorists say British identity is waning.

Immigration and cultural identity

People who have moved from one country to another - immigrants - can also struggle with culture and identity, similar to those experiencing globalisation but perhaps even more directly.

This is because they have been uprooted from one culture and settled in another, creating issues of assimilation, belonging, and passing on cultural norms and traditions to future generations.

Theoretical perspectives on culture and identity

Let's introduce some theoretical perspectives on culture.

Functionalism on culture and identity

The functionalist perspective sees society as a system that needs all its parts to function. In this context, culture is necessary to allow society to function smoothly.

Functionalists suggest that the norms and values in culture are a 'social glue' that bonds people together by creating shared interests and values. Everyone internalises societal norms and values. These norms and values become a part of an individual's identity.

Shared norms and values create a consensus. Émile Durkheim called this the collective consciousness of society. Durkheim stated that it is this collective consciousness that socialises people into 'proper' behaviour and prevents society from descending into turmoil, or 'anomie'.

Marxism on culture and identity

The Marxist perspective sees society as inherently conflicted between social classes. Marxists believe that culture upholds the capitalist agenda and reinforces the power dynamic and structural inequality between the bourgeoisie (upper capitalist class) and proletariat (working class). Capitalist society uses cultural institutions to perpetuate culture and to prevent workers from achieving class consciousness. This means the proletariat will not revolt.

Marxists argue that mass culture distracts the proletariat from their problems; cultural ideals and expectations (such as the American Dream) give the working class false hope and motivate them to work hard.

Neo-Marxists argue that cultural beliefs and products help 'glue' people together, specifically the working class, so they feel they have something in common. Therefore, the proletariat expresses its identity through popular culture.

Moreover, the distinction between popular culture and 'elite' culture helps social classes develop identities based on their cultural experiences.

Feminism on culture and identity

Feminists believe that culture enables the patriarchy to maintain male domination over women. Mass culture stereotypes women into roles such as housewives or sex objects. These roles are reinforced in society, particularly through the media. Magazines, advertisements, film and TV are all ways of perpetuating a culture in which women are sexualised or portrayed as subordinate.

Postmodernism on culture and identity

Postmodernists argue that culture is diverse and reject the idea that culture can help unify people. Postmodernists suggest that diversity in culture creates fragmented identities. Individuals can construct their identities from a range of different cultures. Nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, and political beliefs are all layers of identity.

Interactionism on culture and identity

Interactionists believe that people control how they behave, and their behaviour is not the result of social forces. They suggest culture is based on people's own ideas of how they interact with one another. They see culture as having developed at the bottom of society at an individual level. So, if people change the way they interact with each other, culture will change too.