SEM -IV BBA(405)
M. K.Singh,Department of BBA
TYPES OF CULTURE
Culture may be broadly divided into the following types:
1,Material culture refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that
people use to define their culture. These include homes, neighborhoods, cities,
schools, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants,
tools, means of production, goods and products, stores, and so forth. All of
these physical aspects of a culture help to define its members' behaviors and
perceptions. For example, technology is a vital aspect of material culture in
today's United States. American students must learn to use computers to
survive in college and business, in contrast to young adults in the Yanomamo
society in the Amazon who must learn to build weapons and hunt.
Material culture consists of man-made objects such as tools, implements,
furniture, automobiles, buildings, dams, roads, bridges. In fact, the physical
substance which has been changed and used by man. It is concerned with the
external, mechanical and utilization objects. It includes technical and material
equipments like a printing press, a locomotive, a telephone, a television set, a
tractor, a machine gun etc. It includes our banks, insurance schemes, currency
systems etc. The term 'culture' when used in the ordinary sense, means,
non-material culture. It is something internal and intrinsically valuable, it
reflects the inward nature of man. Non material culture consists of the words
the people use or the language they speak, the beliefs they hold, values and
virtues they cherish, habits they follow, rituals and practices that they do and
the ceremonies they observe. It also includes our customs and tastes, attitudes
and outlook, in brief, our ways of acting, feeling and thinking.
2,Non material culture refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have
about their culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language,
organizations, and institutions. For instance, the non-material cultural concept
of religion consists of a set of ideas and beliefs about God, worship, morals,
and ethics. These beliefs, then, determine how the culture responds to its
religious topics, issues, and events.
When considering non-material culture, sociologists refer to several processes
that a culture uses to shape its members' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Four of the most important of these are symbols, language, values, and norms.
Non material culture consists of the words the people use or the language they
speak, the beliefs they hold, values and virtues they cherish, habits they follow,
rituals and practices that they do and the ceremonies they observe. It also
