What Would Society Be Like Without Culture Essays - Anthropology

What would society be like without culture? From the beginning culture has been involved in our society. People living in society share culture. Society refers to the relationships and interactions among human beings. Culture refers to the set of morals, beliefs, and values held in common by a group of people. An intriguing question is whether culture plays a significant role in shaping human behavior, or if there is a cultural template in place prior to us being born. Many think that natural selection explains our shared human traits and instincts. Our instincts to adapt and survive have been evident since the beginning of life. We wonder did these traits and instincts come from our ancestors or have we learned them through the society and culture in which we live. There is scientific research that supports both theories. This brings us to the nature versus nurture debate. Our genetic inheritance plays a large role in determining our personalities and traits. From an evolutionary point of view, certain things we know about the world are instinctive, although easily modified by cultural influences such as family, education, religion and society. An aspect of natural selection that is not often thought of is mental illness. There have been recent studies on how society and culture are contributing to mental illness. We then need to wonder if this is inherited genetically or whether or not our culture and society is contributing to it. Many think that culture and society play a bigger part than once thought of. Our society is not very accepting of people with disabilities. Often we hear that mental illness is attributed to what we eat, where we live or where we work. Although in many cases mental illness is caused by genetics. We wonder how do these individuals with mental handicaps fit into our culture and society. People with severe mental problems are capable of forming their own thoughts and opinions to contribute to culture and society, contrary to what some may believe. One of the most obvious things in the world is that people are all different. They differ in their attitudes, preferences, and behavioral responses to similar situations. This is true not only of individuals from different cultures, but of individuals within the same culture. Thus, from cultural and social influences each of us has formed our own values, morals and standards in which to conduct our lives. We each have our own thoughts, opinions and theories that derive from what we know and what we have been taught. In conclusion, the question to ponder is whether society builds culture or if culture builds society. Culture is reflected in our shared habits. Human society expresses these in ways such as language, fashion, communication, literature, teaching, art, cooking, technology and politics. Groups of people who share a common culture constitute a society, therefore society and culture cannot exist without each other.