Society and Culture – Social and Cultural world - Concepts

The unit "The Social and cultural world" is a study on the interactions between persons, societies, cultures and environments both in contemporary society and societies across time. In this unit there is a list of fundamental concepts which are important to understand as part of the SAC course.

As with my previous post on the concepts of society and culture these definitions are only broad overhangs in efforts to provide a basic understanding of the concepts.

Social and cultural literacy

The goal of the SAC course is to achieve Social and Cultural literacy. A socially and culturally literate person is able to communicate across society and other societies as they understand their place in society and are able to understand the different values, beliefs, customs and behaviors. They understand that people's values and beliefs may differ dramatically both within their society and across societies and are able to communicate to them without bias, judgment or prejudice because of their differing behaviors.

Micro world

A person's micro world is their immediate world of connections, consisting of family, peers, school and work, as well as any other social groups that a person may belong to. It is the world that you are connected to via personal experience, and throughout the SAC course you are often asked to refer to examples from your micro world.

Macro world

This refers to the broad outside world that exists beyond your micro world. It is the world communicated through access to public knowledge. Your country, the international community or the rest of your society outside of your direct connections are your macro world.

Community

The term community generally refers to a group of people who are drawn together by common interests, ideas, values, location and networks.

Communication

Communication is what undermines societies, because communication is the way that people within society interact with one another. Communication can refer to the macro world forms of communication such as television, the internet and newspapers as well as micro world communication in the form of talking. Communication can also refer to the reflected ideas of symbols within a society (eg: flags).

Conflict

Conflict is the disagreements that occur within the various levels of a society. Conflict is caused by inequality within a society, a lack of understanding of differing ideas and values or a struggle for power. (example of conflict: Trade unions and employer organizations frequently disagreeing over workers rewards and conditions).

Socialization

The socialization process is the progression from a child to an adult within a society. Socialization is learning the values and beliefs of your culture as well as developing your personal values and understanding of the world. By the end of the socialization process, an unsocialised child will become a fully functioning and belonging member of their society.

Enculturation

Enculturation is the learning of accepted patterns and behaviors of a culture, and how to implement them in order to fit into a society.

Acculturation

Acculturation is the learning and understanding of other cultures and the transfer of knowledge from one culture to one another.

Cooperation

Collaboration refers to the collaboration of people in a society working together to achieve a common goal. "team behavior" is cooperation in action.

Change

Change is the understanding that something has become different to the way it was before. It refers to the break in a tradition and the differing beliefs and values that occur across time.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism refers to a society in which people with a wide variety of cultural practices are present. Australia for example, is referred to as a multicultural society because even though there are a wide variety of cultural differences between the people within the Australian society, yet they all act as one society. Multiculturalism is an example of intercultural communication in action.

Society and Culture – The Concepts

In Society and Culture (from now on abbreviated SAC) there are 5 Major concepts through which students use in order to interpret and discuss personal experiences from their micro worlds and through observation of their macro world (Micro and Macro worlds to be covered in my next blog post). These concepts (Society, Culture, Persons, Environment and Time) all make up the backbone of the society and culture course and are used in order to gain an understanding of the world, societies and cultures. In addition to the 5 major concepts, there is also 4 secondary concepts (Technology, Power, Authority and Gender) which are often also referred to and used when performing a depth study and throughout the course.

The following is an attempt to make a very brief summary of the fundamental ideas behind the concepts, although, this should not be taken as gospel as these concepts are broad and open to interpretation.

Society

The concept of society refers to the links which connect people together as a group. The connections within a society can be as large scale as the media or as small scale as a sporting group. A society is bacically a collaboration of these groups, to form a network of people. The SAC syllabus defines society as "human relationships from small groups to large systems".

Culture

The concept of Culture refers to the shared ideas, knowledge and beliefs of a society. Values, arts, technology and laws are all examples of the culture of a society, and different cultures may have differing views on these areas. The SAC syllabus defines culture as "Knowledge shared by members of these groups and systems and reflected in their customs, values, laws, arts, technology and artifacts; their way of life.

Persons

The concept of Persons refers to the individuals within a society. Although each person has their own individual values, opinions and connections which differ from those of other people, each person of a society for the most part maintains the beliefs and ideas of their culture. The SAC syllabus defines persons as "The individual human; their relationships with other persons and with society, culture and the environment over time".

Environment

The concept of environment refers to both the physical and meta-physical settings in which a person is situated. The Social environment of a society and psychological environment of a culture are examples of the metaphysical environments. The SAC syllabus defines environment as "Settings where people live and work, the interaction between people and their environment, their perceptions of the environment and their actions to improve their environment"

Time

The concept of time refers to the constant advances through society, and is measured as "past, present and future". The main points of discussion of time in regards to SAC involve the changes that have occurred within a society from the past and perceptions of what the future will be like. The SAC syllabus defines time as "the conscious passage of existence; perceptions of the past, present and future".