CULTURE AND IDENTITY This essay will aim to critically analyse and evaluate the contribution of modern and post modern perspectives to a sociological understanding of culture and identity. This will be achieved by analysing similarities and differences between three contrasting sociological theories and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Studies will be included as the debate is developed further and their contributions will also be explained. Culture is defined simply as the way of life of a group of people. This relates to how they live their lives, the patterns of social organisation and the ‘norms’ they are expected to follow. Culture varies between societies and across time. It is an extremely important part of everyday …show more content…
He believed that the social structure of society shaped humans identity, primarily through socialisation. For Marx, culture was an ideology of the ruling class, who use their unequal, economic power to achieve and maintain order. He proposed that individual identity should be exchanged for group identity to overthrow the oppressive structure of capitalism. However, this could only happen when the working class became fully aware of the nature of their oppression and developed what he termed as a class consciousness. This would allow the movement from a class ‘in itself’, to a class ‘for itself’. Marx saw this realisation as crucial in the development of a class identity which would ensure solidarity of the masses. The true reality and problems of society would then be revealed as the false consciousness of the past was exposed (Haralambos & Holborn 2008, p.669). According to Marx, this ruling class ideology of culture is socialised among the members of society in various ways such as through religion and education to ensure social cohesion and maintain order. Marx famously referred to religion as ‘the opium of the masses’ and argued that it justified the oppression of capitalism (Haralambos & Holborn 2008, p.399). He viewed education as a way for the ruling class to legitimise their wealth and maintain their power. For the working class, education only serves to produce labour for the future. This is achieved by conditioning the
The concept culture have some difficult meanings. One of them is culture as in music, preforming, theatre and so. The other meaning of it is culture as in Peoples Identity. It tells something about who you are, where you come from, and what you believe in, in this way, we can see that People
There are various aspects that make up a culture in today’s world, ranging from necessities needed for survival, social groups, and the unique traditions they value within the specific culture. That’s why we all are able to conclude that culture is the fluid set of traditions, customs, beliefs, values, and practices developed over time by a specific group or community.
A culture can be defined as a way of life of a group of people- their behaviors, beliefs, values that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. It also includes the customs, arts, literature, morals/values and traditions of a particular society or group (Virginia Encyclopedia). Culture can also be considered as a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in places or organizations. This topic is of huge importance to our society mainly in the state of
Many times I have attempted to comprehend the actions of other people. I always wanted to know why people of different genders, descents, and colors had certain cultural, societal, and religious beliefs. It became apparent to me that all persons are a direct reflection of their environment. In other words, all persons unconsciously, and sometimes consciously, reflect and imitate their environment and
Culture: Culture refers to values, languages, symbols, norms, beliefs, expectations that members of a group possess and the good things they produce and use in their life. Culture is the thing that all the members of a group or society follow.
Marx dismissed the relevance of all but two of these classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, because they didn't have any real impact on society as a whole. They weren't in a position to exploit labor. His theory focuses on the conflict and antagonism between those who owned the modes of production, the bourgeoisie, and those who were forced into selling their labor to them, the proletariat. As Marx saw it, "class is about the transfer of surplus (profit) from below and the exercise of power from above". The class with the means of material production also has the means of intellectual control. Those in charge have a political doctrine to control their interests, at whatever cost. This led to what Marx terms "brain colonization". The concept of ideology was used in the defense of capitalism. It was a strategy used to support the system and keep the workers concerns quieted. Liberalism was the ideology used by the bourgeoisie. Marx said, "Liberal ideology is used to blind the workers to the injustice of exploitation". It was an official veil to persuade the masses that they are free by extolling the myths of progress to them. They argued that since slavery was no longer used for labor, the workers were indeed free. The workers were also told to find happiness and freedom through religion for their material conditions were as
Marx’s main social analysis dealt with class struggle. Marx 's class struggle argument states the the premise that, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx, Ch. 1). According to this view, ever since human society emerged from its primitive and relatively undifferentiated state it has
Culture by definition is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any type of social group that has its own distinct culture. To me that definition couldn't be more spot on but let's go more in depth over the past few months in my English class we have been trying to learn what our culture is and what part culture plays in our daily lives so in this essay I will be sharing with you what I think culture is what it means to me and how I think it impacts our way of living and the way we look at each other as human beings and how we treat each other and how all this makes up my culture
The Communist Manifesto composed by Karl Marx in 1848 is noted as a standout amongst the most powerful political archives on the planet. The distribution of the book earned Marx the notoriety of a conspicuous humanist and political scholar. Regardless of his eminence, there are numerous discussions concerning the thoughts and ideas of socialism figured in the papers that are still heatedly faced off regarding even today. Marx (1998) opened the book with, "The historical backdrop of all up to this point existing society is the historical backdrop of class battles." (p.4). He investigated the class contrasts and social imbalance between the Proletariats and Bourgeoisies, two terms he instituted to speak to social classes that don 't possess the method for creation and social classes. Since The Communist Manifesto was delivered in a period of incredible social trouble, Marx 's craving was to take out the crevice between the two classes keeping in mind the end goal to enhance the social, political, and monetary states of the Proletarians. To accomplish uniformity, Marx urged the Proletarians to scheme against the Bourgeoisies to end the abuse of lower social classes and set up a revolutionary society where class qualification is a jump of creative energy. Nonetheless, his optimal required changes that a general public can 't effectively adjust to and don 't at last give uniformity. Marx 's speculations were set up upon just class stratification and disregarded the numerous
Culture is defined as “The ideas, attitudes, customs, beliefs, values and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society that are passed on from generation to generation” (Brentnall, A., n.d.).
Karl Marx continues his doctrine by acknowledging that the bourgeoisie, “has historically played a most revolutionary part” shamelessly dividing man against nature, leaving man to solely rely on self-interest (Manifesto), describing how the bourgeoisie introduced the industrial revolution, revolutionizing instruments improving machinery, while also playing devil’s advocate by noting how the Bourgeoisie has, “reduced the family relation to a mere money relation” (Manifesto) and that,
Karl Marx came up later with a theory of a classless society to help the working class fight back. Marx came up with many radical ideas to change the way society was proceeding socially which, caused him to be banished from his native land in Germany and then from France, eventually he ended up in England. (Compton's Encyclopedia, 121) Karl Marx believed that social conflict was needed for society to function. He showed people not to be scared of conflict but rather to except it as a way of life. Karl Marx believes that people have a "class consciousness" which means that people are aware of differences between one another and that it causes a separation between groups of people. People mostly look at material objects for a sense of class status. If you are wealthy in life then you have many material objects and if you are poor then you have very little. People need to be educated in order to move up in society, which is why the working class people rarely have a chance to be very successful. Karl Marx realized that the working class deserved more then they were receiving and he tried to help the situation. Marx wanted the wealthy people and the poor to become more economically equal in status. Karl Marx also discusses the economic issues that the working class faces with change. With capitalism growing there is a greater need for production in the factories. More products need to be produced and at
Cultural identity refers to the feeling belonging to a certain culture that is attributed to the upbringing of an individual in the given culture. Cultural identity gives a person the sense of belonging and belonging towards their culture. Modern cultural studies show that cultural identification has taken a new face. Various cultural identifiers can be used to identify the culture of an individual. These identifiers include nationality, language, location, gender, religious beliefs, history, and ethnicity. Culture is important in shaping the identity of an individual. The efforts of people trying to preserve their cultural identities can bring about hatred and division in the society. This is likely to happen especially in large cities
Culture is a way of life. It can be defined as a group of people linked by geographical location, ethnicity, gender or age. Culture can be reflected through language, clothing, food, behavior, spirituality and traditions. The behavioral patterns developed through culture are difficult to change.
Though Marx views the communist revolution as an unavoidable outcome of capitalism, his theory stipulates that the proletariat must first develop class consciousness, or an understanding of its place within the economic superstructure. If this universal character of the proletariat does not take shape, then the revolution cannot be accomplished (1846: 192). This necessary condition does not pose a problem within Marx’s theoretical framework, as the formation of class consciousness is inevitable in Marx’s model of society. His writings focus on the idea that economic production determines the social and political structure (1846, 1859). For Marx, social class represents a person’s relation to the means of production, a relation that he believes is independent of