What Do Sociologists Mean By Culture? What Functions Does It Perform In Society? How, If At All, Does It Help Us To Understand The Differences Between Human And Animal Societies, Seen In The Context Of The Long Term Process Of Biological Evolution?

To discuss culture is to discuss society. The two are so closely interconnected that it is impossible to perceive one without the other. A society can be considered as a fluid body constructed of a web of relationships, a network of ties binding together a group of people (Giddens, 1997). These societies can range in size from hundreds of millions, such as the United States, to groups numbering mere hundreds.

Within every one of the world societies culture exists, and indeed, a culture; if it is accepted that the multitudinous individual aspects that make up culture bind together to form a culture. Without culture there would be no society (Giddens, 1997), there would be no common ground on which to stand shoulder to shoulder with our peers, no identity to share and no self-identity. So how does culture shape our relationships? How do we learn to define ourselves? How do we know what is normal? These questions will be examined later. It will be found later in discussion that cultu

If it was not already a little obvious, this essay is primarily concerned with the concept of ‘culture’. In modern day to day use most people would think of it as being the collective term for the high arts: theatre, ballet, classical music, opera and painting. However, while these cultural products are all important aspects of our cultures, it takes in much, much more. Sociologists have adopted a much wider definition of the concept of culture (although activities such as music, art and so on are included within this definition), mainly because they want to use it to say something about the overall nature of a society. Culture is not an easily definable concept, although Giddens fares as well as anyone in saying “…it is the values the members of a given group hold, the norms they follow.” (Giddens: Sociology, 2001, p. 134). A basic interpretation of this concept of culture can be broadly defined as a "way of life", transmitted from one generation to the next.

The gorilla is not concerned with the fripperies of culture; it has no need of ritual or of rules of language or comportment. While we can obviously see that the close family groups resemble our own; even that the relations within these groups are comparable to those in a human home, the concept of culture is alien to the gorilla. Although there appear to be rules within the society, who eats when and what, who mates with who, they are not what they seem. In reality these rules are merely instincts driven by Darwin’s principle of survival of the fittest. They ensure the group becomes physically and mentally fitter with each generation that passes, guaranteeing the continued existence of the species.

As humans we are expected to act in a certain way. Our actions are guided by the actions of our elders and significant others, who have in turn been influenced themselves. Whether it is the way in which we wear our clothes, the way we acquire food or the way we breed everything taught to us in a benign and yet incredibly powerful manner. From the age of only a few months old, culture takes us under its wing. Although we are born with certain instincts (a newborn will smile at a piece of card with only black circles for eyes and mouth, (Gleitman, 1995)) we do not stop there. It is here that the principle difference between humans and animals appears.

Having taken the gorilla family group as the example of animal culture, it has been seen that there are a couple of similarities between the gorilla society and our own: the protection of children by the adults, certain rituals regarding mating and food and the defense of there territory. However, as these traits can be attributed to natural instinct rather than learned behaviour, culture does not real

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