Sociology: Definitions, Concepts, Characteristics, and Cultural Diversity

Definition of Sociology

Sociology is the systematic study of human life, groups, and societies. Its scope is broad, encompassing microsocial interactions and macrosocial processes.

Sociological Questions

Sociological questions can be:

• Factual: Questions of fact.
• Comparative: Relating to other societies.
• Developmental: Comparing the present with the past.
• Theoretical: Focusing on knowledge to interpret facts and discover their causes.

Theories

Theories are abstract constructs used to explain a wide variety of empirical situations. They are only valid if they are contrasted with empirical research.

Concept and Content of Culture

Culture refers to the entire lifestyle of members of a society, including dress, work patterns, ceremonies, and assets. Despite the variety of uses and meanings, the notion of culture highlights the difference between human behavior (culturally transmitted through learning) and biologically/genetically regulated behavior.

Culture and Society

Culture differs conceptually from society, but there are close links between both notions.

• Culture: Refers to the lifestyle of members of a given society (habits and customs, along with material goods).
• Society: Refers to the systems of relationships which bring together individuals who share a common culture.

No culture can exist without society, and there can be no society without culture.

Characteristics of Culture

Culture:

• Is specific to humans (with protocultures in some primates).
• Is a fundamental factor of human sociability and can only develop in society.
• Identifies societies and gives individuals a sense of belonging to communities.
• Cultural traits are acquired through processes of learning and socialisation.
• Requires systems of enculturation (internalization) and social coercion/punishment to achieve conformity of individuals to institutionally articulated patterns.
• Has mechanisms that shape the personality of individuals according to social roles.
• Enables better adaptation to the physical environment.
• Recreates its own atmosphere. Man is both architect and subject of their cultural creations.

The Content of Culture

No group or human society can be understood unless we take into account the expectations, knowledge, beliefs, and values involved. The content of culture consists of:

Cognitive Elements

All theoretical and practical knowledge about the physical and social world, as well as knowledge systems and methods.

Beliefs

Ideas that every culture has on the nature of the cosmos and man's place in it.

Ideology

A system of beliefs shared by all group members.

Values

Abstract ideals. Conceptions of the desirable/undesirable that influence behavior and serve as a selection criterion for action.

Cultural Diversity

The social and cultural variability of different human populations is known as cultural diversity. Uniformity is more common in small societies compared to the cultural diversity in industrialized societies, which include many different subcultures.

Cultural Identity

We cannot understand the practices and beliefs of human groups separately from the broader culture of which they are a part. A culture must be examined from its own meanings and values.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism consists of judging other cultures and groups with one's own criteria. We must get rid of our cultural biases in order to see the lifestyles of others without prejudice.