Have you ever wondered what the difference is between high and low culture?
High and low cultures are only two of the many different types of cultures. Previously, cultures of different social classes or ethnicities were viewed hierarchically. However, sociologists today use cultural relativism to argue that all cultures must be studied in relation to the society they exist in and must not be valued against other cultures.
We will discuss the concept of culture.
- We will start by looking at the meaning and concept of culture.
- Then we will look at the Iceberg concept of culture and the anthropological concept of culture.
- We will consider the concept of cultural relativism,
- We will discuss all concepts of culture, including subculture, mass culture, popular culture, global culture, high, and low cultures as part of the concept of cultural diversity.
- Then we will look at the different sociological perspectives on culture in society. We will mention functionalism, Marxism, feminism, interactionism and postmodernism.
Meaning and Concept of Culture
Material and non-material aspects of culture influence each other, thus changing culture over time and influencing the individual behaviour and thoughts of people.
Culture is the collection of common beliefs, values, practices, material products, and symbols of communication in a particular society.
Iceberg Concept of Culture
Edward T. Hall created an iceberg analogy of culture. He argued that some parts of culture are visible while numerous aspects of it are invisible, just like some part of an iceberg is out of the water while a huge part of it is beneath the surface.
Non-material aspects of culture
Communication, language, and symbols
Beliefs and values
Knowledge and common sense
Rules and morals of society
Expression of identity
Practices and ceremonies
Material aspects of culture
Buildings
Clothing and fashion
Entertainment products
Technological products
Anthropological Concept of Culture
The anthropological definition of culture is that it is the dynamic and socially constructed reality of a social group, presenting itself through a shared set of values and rules of behaviour. Anthropologists research cultures through qualitative methods and try to discover how certain cultures overlap and co-exist in society.
Earlier anthropologists were criticised for being ethnocentric in their research and for being 'armchair anthropologists' and making claims of societies and cultures that they did not see and observe in person. Lately, they have tried to immerse themselves in the culture they research and make conclusions through participant observation, leaving their biases and stereotypes behind. This new trend is called 'cultural relativism'. It is a significant part of the anthropological concept of culture.
Concept of Cultural Relativism
Previously, influenced by Social Darwinist anthropology, culture referred to the values, norms, and practices of the white, Western man. Western culture was regarded as superior to the values and practices of any other non-Western culture.
The ethnocentric view of the Social Darwinist anthropologists was later replaced by the concept of cultural relativism.
Cultural relativism is the idea that cultural norms and values are specific (or relative) to a culture, and should not be judged according to other cultural standards. Each culture has its own metric of civilisation, which should not be used to evaluate others.
Concept of Cultural Diversity
Let's go over the many forms of culture that exist or have existed in society.
High culture
High culture refers to cultural artefacts and goods that have been assigned 'high' status. They are usually associated with the activities and tastes of the upper and middle classes.
Classical music, ballet, classical theatre, poetry, among others.
Fig. 1 - Ballet is considered high culture.
Low culture
Low culture denotes cultural artefacts and goods that have been assigned 'low' status. These are generally associated with the activities and tastes of poor people, the working classes, and minority racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. Mass and popular culture is seen as a form of low culture.
Magazines and romance novels, disco, betting, fast fashion, among others.
The distinction between high and low cultures is not always sharp. There are cultural products that were once considered low culture, but over time became part of high culture. A good example of this is the works of Shakespeare.
Subculture
A subculture is a small social group that has the same cultural values and practices, but which differ from those of the wider culture they exist in. They belong to the bigger cultural group and are not critical of those values, but they hold certain beliefs or engage in practices that are specific to them. There are many subcultures within all the major cultural groups in the world.
Ethnic minorities in the UK form subcultures through their common heritage, language, traditions, or food. They still belong to the wider culture of Britain.
Counterculture
A counterculture is a group in society that actively rejects some of the values, norms, or practices of the wider culture it resides in. Countercultural groups can become very radical in terms of establishing their own rules. They often leave wider society and practice their beliefs and lifestyle outside of it.
Cults are often considered counter-cultural, such as The People's Temple, which was connected to an agricultural commune called Jonestown. This was the site of the Jonestown Massacre.
Folk culture
Folk culture existed largely in agricultural societies that were flourishing before industrialisation in the West, predominantly in the countryside. Folk culture was usually expressed at festivals, fairs, and national holidays, so it required active participation. It was passed down from one generation to the next by word-of-mouth.
Folk culture was present in many forms such as music, dance, clothing, mythology, food, and medicine.
Elite theorists of the 20th century believed that folk culture was wiped out by the generic, artificial mass culture that emerged after industrialisation.
Mass culture
The term mass culture was created by a branch of Marxist sociologists, collectively known as the Frankfurt School. It referred to the widespread American low culture that developed during industrialisation. There are many different views around mass culture. Most sociologists in the 20th century were critical of it, seeing it as a danger to ‘real’ authentic art and high culture, as well as to the consumers who are manipulated through it. They believed that the goal of mass culture was the generation of profits. Consequently, it was predictable, intellectually undemanding, and standardised.
Cinema, television, radio, advertisements, tabloid magazines, fast food.
Fig. 2 - Cinema was one of the most important forms of mass and popular culture.
Popular culture
Popular culture refers to the beliefs, norms, practices, and products that exist in mainstream modern capitalist society. It is said to have developed from mass culture and is present in very similar forms, like cinema, television, radio, and music. It is often considered low culture due to its mass appeal and accessibility; however, it can sometimes overlap with high culture.
Football and other popular sports, interest in the lives of celebrities, etc.
Global culture
The world has experienced cultural globalisation in the past decades. Many different cultural ideas, products, and trends have travelled to faraway places where they have adapted to location-specific value systems. Postmodernists like Fabienne Darling-Wolf claim that this is how hybrids of contemporary culture have developed.
The internet and social media have made global culture especially accessible. It encourages active participation and blurs the line between high and low cultures.
Bollywood movies often combine traditional myths and stories with film trends from Hollywood and other sources.
Sociological Theories on the Role of Culture in Society
Let's look at some of the key sociological perspectives on culture.
Functionalism on the role of culture in society
Functionalists claim that the role of culture is to provide protection against foreign elements in society and to create collective consciousness within the society.
Émile Durkheim (1912) on the role of culture in society
Durkheim saw culture as a system of representation that maintains the collective consciousness of society. He saw cultural practices, products, and beliefs as necessary in creating and strengthening social ties and a sense of collective purpose.
Pierre Bourdieu (1979) on the role of culture in society
Pierre Bourdieu based his theory of culture on the concept of habitus. Habitus meant a world-view ingrained in the individuals of a certain social group, that determined their culture. He claims that children are socialised by their parents, families, friends and their school to act in a certain way in life. They learn the habitus of their class as they grow up, which will influence the type of culture they will adopt.
During his research, Bourdieu found that the people of the French upper class enjoyed reading poetry and philosophy, while the French working-class read novels and magazines. Since these all cost around the same, he argues that individual choice was determined by taste (habitus) rather than financial situation.
According to Bourdieu, social mobility was very difficult. However, there could be certain influences in an individual’s life that made them change their habitus and move to different social classes.
Talcott Parsons on the role of culture in society
Parsons argued that an individual learns the patterns, norms, and values of a certain culture primarily through their family. He believed that the two-parent nuclear family provides the perfect environment for children to learn about social and cultural roles. However, he was often criticised by feminists for stating that women’s role was exclusively to be home-makers and carers for children.
Marxism on the role of culture in society
Karl Marx's argument was that the ruling class uses culture to deceive and oppress the working class. He claimed that the bourgeoisie imposes their culture (the ideas, values, art, and consumerist products that benefit them) on the working class through cultural institutions. They aim to make the proletariat believe that the capitalist culture and system is a natural and desirable one, a system that ultimately benefits all of society.
The Frankfurt School on the role of culture in society
The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, led by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, researched society’s consumption of mass culture. They concluded that capitalist values are reinforced through mass media and other forms of mass culture. The working class are manipulated into believing in the success of the capitalist system. They argued that the masses are reduced to passive consumers of ready-made products and ideologies, rid of creativity, identity, and free will. Standardisation for the sake of profit, as the Frankfurt School claimed, turns people into numbers in a system.
Neo-Marxism on the role of culture in society
Neo-Marxist theorists believe that culture has the power to connect people and give them identities. Antonio Gramsci established the concept of cultural hegemony. He claimed that the culture of social classes differs from each other due to the diverse social experiences of each class. These different social classes and their cultures are in constant competition and conflict with each other. One always gains the leading position, either through the real or forced consent of the others.
Interactionism on the role of culture in society
Symbolic interactionists like Erving Goffman (1958) believe that we live in a socially constructed world, based on a culture that is developed through human interactions, language, and memory. Culture for interactionists is a symbolic universe of meaning that people try to navigate through categorisation and labelling. Interactionists see culture as fluid, since people’s interactions and interpretations of meanings change constantly over time.
Feminism on the role of culture in society
Feminists in the second half of the 20th century analysed the ways in which patriarchal culture represents and thus oppresses women. They paid particular attention to commercials addressed to housewives and to the ways women appeared on film and television. Women were usually presented through the lens of male fantasy, either as perfect home-makers or as seductive mistresses. Feminists pointed out that women needed to participate more in the creation of culture in order to gain control over their images and identities.
Postmodernism on the role of culture in society
Postmodernists and pluralist thinkers reject meta-narratives and the idea of one homogenous culture, says John Storey. They believe in cultural diversity and the concept of individual choice. Postmodernist sociologists think individuals actively participate in culture, but their choice of culture is influenced by their background and social circumstances. Different social groups develop different cultural norms, traditions, and values which can overlap with other cultures, but still makes them unique and gives them a sense of belonging.
Dominic Strinati (1995) on the role of culture in society
Dominic Strinati identified five main features of today’s popular culture that are the results of postmodern influence:
Media has enhanced influence on our identity formation and on our sense of reality.
Style and presentation is more important than content. The packaging of a product is more important than its quality.
The mixture of high culture and popular culture. Classical painters’ works are on everyday products.
Confusion of time and space. Concerts or sports events can now be seen all over the world, at the same time.
The decline of ideologies and cultures that are determined by religions, politics, or even science.
Concept of Culture - Key takeaways
- Culture is the collection of common beliefs, values, practices, material products, and symbols of communication in a particular society.
- Cultural relativism is the idea that cultural norms and values are specific (or relative) to a culture, and should not be judged according to other cultural standards. Each culture has its own metric of civilisation, which should not be used to evaluate others.
- The different concepts of culture are: high culture, low culture, subculture, counter culture, folk culture, mass culture, popular culture, and global culture.
- Sociologists of different perspectives viewed the role of culture in different ways. Functionalists claim that culture’s role is to provide protection against foreign elements in society and to create collective consciousness within the society. Karl Marx argued that the ruling class used culture to deceive and oppress the working class.
- Feminists in the second half of the twentieth century analysed the ways patriarchal culture represents and thus oppresses women.
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