SOSYOLOJİYE GİRİŞ

Culture, in the eighteenth century, began to turn into a term that expresses social values and behaviors, and thus is used in the social sphere.

The term culture, which was previously used to mean “cultivation,” or “breeding” in relation to agricultural activities, has now turned into a universe of meanings that includes layers of meanings such as the development of the human mind, the development process, the means of progression, and the mental state of the mind.

The elitist approach considers culture a name for the best, the most beautiful, or the most
magnificent products of a society or civilization. In this sense, C is the answer.

Norms are formal / written or informal / non-written rules that are deemed necessary for the integrity and continuity of a society, and regulate the behavior of individuals. Those who do not comply with the norms face negative sanctions and are punished in various forms. In this sense, D is the answer.

Anthropologists like Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) described culture as a system of shared symbols and/or meanings: “an historically transmitted pattern of meaning is embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life” (Geerts, 1973:89).

This approach focuses on the social unity and integrative functions of culture. The answer is B.

The dominant capitalist class, which owns the means of production, uses economic power to shape the culture of the society. The answer is C.

The concept of “culture industry” refers to rationally organized-bureaucratic structures that considerably control and supervise modern culture, such as television networks. The answer is E.

The Birmingham School, which has an emphasis on cultural autonomy, is in the opinion that the culture is shaped primarily by dominant powers/power relations (Smith, 2001:208-227).

The concept of cultural reproduction and habitus is produced by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002), one of the most important theoreticians of the 20th century.

“Culture is a system of meanings and significance created historically, or, in other words, culture is a system of beliefs and customs that a group of people use in order to understand, organize, and structure their individual and collective lives. It is a way of understanding and organizing human life.” (Parekh, 2002: 184) Culture gives consistency to our lives, provides us with the resources we need to make sense of the world, and cultural values and ideals guide us in life by inspiring us. In addition, culture’s “arts, rituals in daily life, songs, stories and literature give us joy, add color and beauty to our lives, and its moral and spiritual wisdom help us deal with the inevitable tragedies of life by relaxing us.” The correct answer is D.

Aesthetic, is a subdiscipline in philosophy that deals with art and beauty, and is closely related to philosophy of art. In general,

the term aesthetic is concerned with the identification of general and universal principles that determine ‘art’ and ‘beauty.’) The correct answer is B.

Although there are 164 definitions of culture, these definitions can be categorized into three general groups. In other words, hundreds of different cultural definitions can be classified into three categories:

Aesthetic Definitions of Culture or Culture as High Culture

Anthropological Definitions of Culture or Culture as a Whole Way of Life

Culture as Shared Meaning Systems

Value: The thoughts or principles that are thought to be true and necessary by the majority of its members in order to sustain the existence of a society or a social group. Values are the criteria that tell us what is right, what is wrong, what is wanted and what is not wanted in determining our behavior within society. Values contain norms, but they are more general and abstract than norms. For example, hospitality is an important asset or value of Turkish society. However, there is no absolute consensus on all values in today’s ethnically and culturally differentiated class societies.

The main interest of functional sociology has been culture as norms, values and a way of lifestyle rather than culture as high culture. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), one of the founders of the functional approach, addressed some basic questions about how culture came into being in his work, Primitive Classification (1903), written with Marcel Mauss (1872-1950), his nephew and the most important student. According to them, culture only became possible when human communities began to separate and classify things in their environment. Humankind cannot classify what they see when they are born and therefore cannot separate one from the other.

The Social Research Institute, founded at the University of Frankfurt in 1923, is known as the Frankfurt School, in short, in the social science literature. The Frankfurt School is also commonly referred to as Critical Theory. Especially, the analyses of Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), Max Horkheimer (1895- 1973), Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), Leo Lowenthal (1900-1993) and Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) on culture, ideology and the media are very important. Representatives of this school conducted important studies in the period after World War II, mostly on fascism, authority, bureaucracy, technology, mass communication, culture industry, and art.

Initially the term ‘Cultural Studies’ referred to the tradition that was started in Britain by Richard Hoggart, Edward Palmer Thompson and Raymond Williams in the late 1950’s, which more recently has been carried on by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at Birmingham University by 1964, also known as the ‘Birmingham School’ since it was established. However, since these early years, the concept has evolved into a more generic term referring to a cross-disciplinary field.

Collective Subjectivity is way of life or outlook adopted by a community or a social class.

Postmodernization

In modern societies, culture is differentiated from other areas of social life and high culture is differentiated from popular culture. However, postmodernization reverses these trends. According to Crook et al., an intensification of some of the processes at work in modernity leads to postmodernization. Differentiation, rationalization and commodification are superseded by hyperdifferentiation, hypercommodification and hyper-rationalization...This leads to a new type of culture: Crook et al. call this new culture postculture.

Hypercommodification: Hypercommodification involves all areas of social life becoming commodified... Consumption increasingly takes place within the home, and members of the same family become inclined to consume different things... Instead of a uniform family culture, each family member chooses their own lifestyle.

Hyper-rationalization: Hyper-rationalization involves the use of rationalized technology to spread cultural consumption more widely and to privatize it. Technology such as the satellite TV allows greater individuals choice about what do watch... Again, this allows individuals to choose their own lifestyle... Media images come to dominate society. Media copies and reproductions begin to replace the authentic, real thing they present. Eventually, images and signs lose their connections with reality and become what Baudrillard calls simulacra.

Hyperdifferentiation: Crook et al., argue: ‘In postmodernization a thousand flowers bloom.’ A fantastic variety of cultural forms develop with no particular type being dominant... The increased fragmentation of culture -hyperdifferentation- leads ultimately to dedifferentiation, in which distinction between different types of culture break down. In particular, the distinction between high culture and popular culture is undermined in postmodernizing societies.

Modern Culture

According to Crook et al., there are three main characteristics of modern culture: differentiation, rationalization and commodification.

Differentiation: Differentiation involves the separating out of different parts of society. Economic, political, social and cultural spheres become increasingly distinct from one another... Culture was therefore separated or differentiated from other aspects of life. It was produced by specialists, trained in particular institutions, and it was consumed in specific places...

Rationalization: According to Crook et al., rationalization also shaped modern culture, but not as completely as differentiation...Technology was used to make it possible to recreate or copy culture... Radios and record players allowed broadcasts and copies of original music to be consumed widely... Nevertheless, in modernity the rationalization of culture can only proceed so far, since the individual creativity of the great artist is still valued.

Commodification: The commodification of culture involves turning cultural products into commodities that can be readily bought and sold...