Welcome dear students! Today we are going to learn about Man and Culture from Class 8 Social_Science. After studying this chapter you will learn about the concept of culture and its development, as well as cultural diversity and customs. In our daily conversations, the word culture is generally used to refer to good behaviour, customs, traditions and rituals. Let us see how this word is used in sociology. The word culture is derived from the Latin word colere, that means cultivate. Various sociologists have defined this word in different ways. Culture is that complex system involving knowledge, the arts, morality, law, customs, abilities and talents that we learn being members of society. In short, whatever we are, that is our culture. Culture is shaped by the geographical features, traditions and needs of that particular society. That is the reason we cannot call one culture good and another culture bad. Culture is transmitted from one generation to another. The language we have learnt has been passed on to us by our elders. Culture is subject to change constantly. As you might have observed, the style of dressing, hairstyles, food habits have changed a lot over the past ten years. Thus the culture of one society differs from that of another society.
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Now let us move on to cultural diversity. Let us imagine that we are walking along a famous street in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka. We will get to see people dressed in various kinds of clothes, people belonging to different races and people conversing in different languages. There cannot be the same kind of culture in any society. There will be different cultures depending on the religions and life styles followed by the people. We call this pluralistic culture. Even when cultures vary, they can influence one another deeply. For instance, the chudidar worn by women is a kind of dress which has come from the South-West Indians to us. In the same manner, the trousers and shirts that we wear, the English language that we speak have come to us from the British. In India we get to see a pluralistic culture consisting of hundreds of tribes, thousands of castes, many races and hundreds of languages. That is the reason why India is said to have unity in diversity.
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Next, we will learn about customs and traditions. Now that we have understood what culture is and how diverse it can be, let us know what constitutes culture. Culture is made up of beliefs, values, rules, social conventions and morals. These can collectively be called customs and traditions. Freedom, honesty, true friendship, cleanliness, humility, patriotism are values. Values can be understood as the behaviour expected of human beings by society. Values enable us to determine what is good and bad in every culture. There are conventions and moral codes to complement rules. Conventions are the activities we engage in again and again in our daily lives. We engage in eating, sleeping, greeting and other similar activities according to the prevailing conventions without giving much thought to them. These activities are inseparable parts of culture.
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Let us look at a practical example to understand this better. For example, you do not ask your teacher everyday how you have to sit down to eat or sit in the class. You will have learnt all of them just through practice of conventions. Conventions enable us to do our daily duties without any hesitation. Now let us practice the exercises to strengthen your understanding. For the first section, fill in the blanks with suitable words. Question one: Culture means the complex system involving knowledge, the arts, morality, law, customs, abilities and talents that we learn being members of society. Question two: Conventions are activities we engage in again and again in our daily lives. Question three: We get to see unity in diversity in India. Moving to the second section, answer the following in brief. Question four: What is culture? Culture is that complex system involving knowledge, the arts, morality, law, customs, abilities and talents that we learn being members of society. It is shaped by geographical features, traditions and needs, transmitted across generations, and constantly changing. Question five: Give examples of the cultural diversity in your environment. Cultural diversity in our environment can be seen through people wearing different kinds of clothes, belonging to different races, and conversing in different languages, reflecting varied religions and lifestyles. Question six: What are customs and traditions? Customs and traditions are the collective term for the beliefs, values, rules, social conventions and morals that make up a culture. Question seven: Give examples for customs and traditions. Examples include values like freedom, honesty, true friendship, cleanliness, humility and patriotism, as well as daily activities like eating, sleeping and greeting others according to social norms.
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Let us continue with the third section. Answer the following in four to five sentences each. Question eight: What are conventions? Give an example of a convention. Conventions are the activities we engage in again and again in our daily lives. They are performed according to prevailing norms without much conscious thought. For example, we naturally know how to sit down to eat or how to sit in a classroom without asking a teacher every day. We learn these behaviours simply through the repeated practice of conventions. Conventions enable us to carry out our daily duties smoothly and without hesitation. Question nine: Explain cultural diversity. Cultural diversity refers to the existence of different cultures within a society based on varying religions and lifestyles. It is a pluralistic culture where people wear different clothes, belong to different races, and speak different languages. Even though cultures vary, they deeply influence each other, as seen with clothing and language exchanges. India exemplifies this with its hundreds of tribes, thousands of castes, many races and hundreds of languages, leading to unity in diversity. Question ten: Describe the various aspects of culture. Culture encompasses knowledge, arts, morality, law, customs, abilities and talents learned as members of society. It is shaped by geography, traditions and societal needs, making no culture inherently good or bad. It is passed down through generations, constantly evolves over time, and differs across societies. Culture is fundamentally composed of beliefs, values, rules, social conventions and morals that guide human behaviour.
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Finally, let us look at the activity section. Activity one asks you to describe a fair held in your locality and discuss about it with your elders. Thank you for listening! Keep revising and practicing. Goodbye! [CHAPTER_COMPLETE]