Culture and Sociological Perspectives

Culture and Subculture

The word "culture" comes from the Latin word “colere”, which means to cultivate the soil. A culture is inherent in a given society or social group. It is a large system of values, ideas about life and behavioral codes that define life, which forms something peculiar in the way of expression of the individuals and social groups of people. As society breaks down into many groups - national, demographic, social, professional; these societies gradually form their own culture, that is, a system of values ??and rules of conduct. Small cultural worlds are called subcultures. Sub-culture is a system of values, attitudes, behaviors and life styles, which is characterized by a small social community, spatially and socially in a more or less isolated environment. Subculture, as a rule, is a special case of culture in general (McLuhan & Powers, Pp. 97-233).

Functionalist and Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Functionalism studies the society regardless of his history forming and exercising a function within that society. Functionalism is born as a reaction to evolutionism and historical particularities. Part of that culture is an organic whole in which its various elements are inseparable and are interconnected, each having a specific function in the set. Religion, economy, production, rituals, etc., form an interconnected whole. In fact, when they think of a society perceive like a biological organism in which the parts form a whole. The term symbolic Interactionist operates in today's sociology more or less different theoretical, methodological approaches and research strategies and approaches. With this perspective, the actors move, their immediate social experiences and their identity that their actions in specific situations, as well as the mutual interaction and complex interconnections between the individual and society at the center of scientific interest (Ang, Pp. 311-21).

Understanding Culture through Sociological Perspectives

By studying the communities, it helps to know the science of sociology, and the reasoning behind its practical applications, such as community empowerment. The most important contribution to this discipline is that of "sociological perspective", how to define and observe society used by sociologists. The sociological approach to culture is directly linked primarily to the elucidation of its place and role in the regulation of human behavior and social groups in the functioning and development of society as a whole. The social role of culture cannot be overstated, as it defines the actual content of any social phenomenon or process, activity of the whole society ...