Culture and Beliefs
CONTENTS
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Culture what is it, subcultures...
Socialisation primary, secondary, agents...
Nature vs. Nurture how it influences you...
Identity as a person, as a student...
Immigration + multiculturalism religions,
groups...
• Issues abortion, euthanasia, donation...
• Quiz can you ace the quiz?
CULTURE
Culture is the whole way of life for a
community or social group. It is a shared
set of beliefs, values, norms, traditions,
attitudes, practices and customs.
For example, Britain’s culture is that we like
fish and chips, all go to school (and most to
college), and like national events, like
football games or Royal Weddings. It may
seem stereotypical, but it is how other
cultures view our own culture.
The seven parts of culture
• PRACTICES – the way our beliefs and values are put into action,
like how Christians go to church.
• ATTITUDES – positive or negative feelings towards other
things or people, like how Britain is negative towards terrorism.
• BELIEFS – a set of ideas about the world, like how Muslims
believe in Allah.
• TRADITIONS – the handing down from generation to generation
of customs and beliefs, like how it is traditional to eat a roast
dinner on Sunday.
• CUSTOMS – the long-established habits of a society, like how it
is customary to watch national sport.
• NORMS – unwritten rules defining the appropriate behaviour of
a society, like how it is normal to not be rude to someone.
• VALUES – what a person feels is important, like how royalists
value our royal family.
Sub-cultures
• Sub-cultures are cultures within cultures –
for example, a gang culture within a town’s
culture. The gang culture has a different
attitude to the town/country’s culture.
• Gangs differ from mainstream culture
because most people in the mainstream
culture don’t carry weapons to feel
protected, and don’t choose certain areas
of their community as their ‘territory’.
How order is maintained
• LAW – when people in society break norms,
it can be dealt with formally. Sometimes,
breaking social norms becomes illegal, and
then the law and formal agencies of social
control are used (the police, the army,
etc.)
• MORALS – providing guidance on what’s
wrong and what’s right in the society.
• VALUES – identify what someone feels to
be important – for example, Western
societies value achievement.
SOCIALISATION
• Socialisation is the process in which we
learn.
• PRIMARY SOCIALISATION – the first
stages of socialisation, from 0-4 years old.
You learn from family and friends.
• SECONDARY SOCIALISATION – after
the age of 4 to time of death, always
learning from experiences and other
people.
Agencies of socialisation
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FAMILY
EDUCATION
PEER GROUP
MEDIA
WORK
RELIGION
Resocialisation
• When people meet new experiences,
they have to adapt to them. No part of
their socialisation could have prepared
them for this new experience, so it’s
resocialisation. For example, if someone
has experienced bringing up a child,
they would be better at it the second
time round, as they had already
experienced it.
NATURE VS. NURTURE
• Nature vs. Nature is the famous debate
between scientists and members of
society, choosing which is more
important when it comes to your
behaviour as an adult: your upbringing as
a child (nurture) or the genes/attitude
you were born with (nature.)
Nature
• Nature is your instincts and your genes.
You cannot change your natural genes,
but your later identity could be
influenced by your genes – for example,
if you inherited punctuality from your
mother, this could affect your
socialisation process (you could be
known for your punctuality, and be
respected for it.)
Nurture
• Nurture is how you learn, and your
upbringing. It is the socialisation side of
the debate. This involves the people
around you (e.g. kind people would
encourage you to be kind), the area you’re
in (in an area where jobs are hard to find,
you are more likely to work hard to get a
job), and the era in which you were
brought up (children born in the 1940s and
50s would be used to rationing, so would
value food more).
IDENTITY
ethnicity
religion
gender
nationality
Identity
disability
sexuality
age
social class
What is identity?
• Identity is who you are, and you might
have several identities – for example, you
might have the identity of a student,
where you may obey rules and not talk; you
might have an alternative identity of a
daughter/son, obeying your parents and
doing chores; another identity could be
girlfriend/boyfriend, keeping secrets and
being loyal.
• IDENTITY-GIVING: an act or process
that defines part of a person’s identity.
IMMIGRATION +
MULTICULTURALISM
• Multiculturalism is the mix of many cultures in
one country or region. Britain is a multicultural
society, because we have all of the main
religions here, and have a mix of many
ethnicities. We can see this because of recent
census replies, and national questionnaires.
• When people from different countries move to
Britain in order to live and work here, they are
immigrating. To do the opposite (to leave this
country and move to another country to live and
work) you are migrating.
Push + pull factors
• PUSH FACTOR – a push factor is something
that ‘pushes’ someone to another country – they
have been forced to leave. This is often caused
by persecution or invasion from their native
country.
• PULL FACTOR – a pull factor is something that
‘pulls’ someone to another country – they
wanted to leave because they saw something
they would like to have in Britain. This includes
new opportunities and better living and working
standards – many people ‘pulled’ to Britain are
from poor countries where the standards of
living are bad.
What is multiculturalism in the
UK?
events
TV programmes
new words
fashion
art
food
Contributions
to UK culture
music
sporting success
dance
festivals
Issues produced by immigration
• Conflicts of culture can cause problems –
could include religious issues (like arranged
marriages) and terrorism fears.
• Some people think that immigrants steal
jobs that should be given to native people.
• There are often fears that although
immigrants work in the country and
therefore contribute to the economy, they
do not pay their taxes.
ISSUES
• An issue is an argument or situation over
which there are several different views.
• Examples of issues: euthanasia, abortion,
capital punishment (death penalty), organ
donation.
• For your exam, you should probably choose
one of these issues, and study into it so
that you know it off-by-heart! You’ll need
at least one issue memorised to use as an
example!
QUIZ
This is a quiz to test your knowledge on
culture and beliefs! To begin, click any
of the six bubbles.
GREEN BUBBLE
Which of the following is not a push factor?
INVASION
NEW
OPPORTUNITIES
PERSECUTION
DISCRIMINATION
BLUE BUBBLE
Which of these is not an agent of socialisation?
FAMILY
EDUCATION
PEER GROUP
RECREATION
ORANGE BUBBLE
What is a belief?
IDEAS ABOUT
THE WORLD
WHAT YOU FEEL
TO BE
IMPORTANT
FEELINGS
TOWARDS
SOMETHING
LONGESTABLISHED
HABITS OF A
COMMUNITY
RED BUBBLE
Which of these is not a contribution to UK culture?
MAGAZINES
DANCE
FASHION
FOOD
PURPLE BUBBLE
What is an issue? People have...
NO OPINION
ON IT
DIFFERENT
OPINIONS ON
IT
VIOLENT
ARGUMENTS
ABOUT IT
NO RESPECT FOR
IT
GREY BUBBLE
What is multiculturalism?
SEPARATION
OF CULTURES
MANY
CULTURES IN A
COMMUNITY
BELIEFS OF
ONE
CULTURE
MULTIPLE PARTS
OF ONE CULTURE
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